South Korea’s Defense Ministry has allowed a church to turn on Christmas lights at a steel tower of the 155-meter high hill, called “Aegibong,” just three kilometers from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), ministry officials said Wednesday.

The South Korean military granted permission to the Seoul-based Yeouido Full Gospel Church, which boasts the nation’s biggest Protestant Christian congregation, for the first time in seven years, stepping up its propaganda offensive after the North’s artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island Nov. 23.

Runaway Baby bear captured

A baby bear that ran away from Seoul Zoo located in Gwacheon was captured at a nearby mountain, zoo officials said Wednesday.

The 6-year-old Malaysian black bear nicknamed “Ggoma,” kid, escaped from the zoo on Dec. 6 and was seen rambling onto Mount Cheonggye, about 6 kilometers from the zoo. The bear was caught in a trap it had placed at one of mountain peak but appeared to be in good shape, a spokesman of the zoo said.

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Essential Vocabulary:

congregation: 신도들