South Korean Tanker

Eight people died after a South Korean-flagged tanker capsized off Japan on Wednesday, the coast guard said, reversing its earlier statements that they were rescued.

Iran on Friday released a South Korean-flagged tanker it seized amid a dispute over billions in frozen oil funds, and the vessel's captain, the foreign ministry in Seoul said.

Iran denied on Tuesday it was using a South Korean ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker in the Gulf while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under US sanctions.

Iran said Monday its Revolutionary Guards had seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters for breaking "environmental laws," at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

The crew of a Hong Kong-registered ship have been detained for questioning in South Korea since their tanker was impounded in November for transferring oil to a North Korean vessel and breaching UN sanctions, customs officials said Saturday.

Thirteen people were killed and two were missing after a fishing boat collided with a tanker off South Korea's west coast and capsized early Sunday, the country's coastguard said.

In the same narrow waterways where more than 300 people died this spring aboard the ferry Sewol, another ship owned by the same company crashed into an oil tanker 11 years earlier. The ferry's captain had chosen the difficult water path to cut a mere seven miles from its journey.

Eight people died after a South Korean-flagged tanker capsized off Japan on Wednesday, the coast guard said, reversing its earlier statements that they were rescued.

Iran on Friday released a South Korean-flagged tanker it seized amid a dispute over billions in frozen oil funds, and the vessel's captain, the foreign ministry in Seoul said.

Iran denied on Tuesday it was using a South Korean ship and its crew as hostages, a day after it seized the tanker in the Gulf while pressing a demand for Seoul to release $7 billion in funds frozen under US sanctions.

Iran said Monday its Revolutionary Guards had seized a South Korean-flagged tanker in Gulf waters for breaking "environmental laws," at a time of heightened tensions with the United States.

The crew of a Hong Kong-registered ship have been detained for questioning in South Korea since their tanker was impounded in November for transferring oil to a North Korean vessel and breaching UN sanctions, customs officials said Saturday.

Thirteen people were killed and two were missing after a fishing boat collided with a tanker off South Korea's west coast and capsized early Sunday, the country's coastguard said.

In the same narrow waterways where more than 300 people died this spring aboard the ferry Sewol, another ship owned by the same company crashed into an oil tanker 11 years earlier. The ferry's captain had chosen the difficult water path to cut a mere seven miles from its journey.