News In Brief

Seoul is scrapping blacklist compiled during Korean war

South Korea announced Tuesday it was expunging a blacklist of people who cooperated with North Korea during the 1950-53 Korean war, removing social stigma and job restrictions.

Yesterday it freed some 804 convicted prisoners and reduced life sentences to 20 years for 177 others to mark today's National Foundation Day, a Justice Ministry spokesman said. All those granted clemency were ordinary criminals.