Court clears man accused of leaving his children on the street

A man who left his three children on the streets temporarily to look for their mother has been cleared of child abandonment charges, after the court decided that he did not intend to actually leave his children. "(The defendant) left his children on the streets so they could meet their mother. It does not appear that his actions were to an extent detrimental to the children's mental health," the appellate division of the Gwangju District Court said in its ruling Wednesday. The 44-

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Daily commute in greater Seoul takes 83 minutes: report

An average worker living in Seoul and its surrounding regions spends an average of 83.2 minutes a day going back and forth from home to work, a state report showed Thursday. The Statistics Korea announced a report on commute time for workers across the country, specifically for who use the mobile services of SK Telecom, one of the country's top three mobile carriers. The agency compared data it had of workers' home addresses and jobs with data compiled by SK's mobile tracking syst

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Top envoys of S. Korea, US, Japan condemn NK missile launch

The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan on Thursday issued a joint statement condemning North Korea's consecutive launches of short and long-range ballistic missiles, pledging concerted efforts to block the Kim Jong-un regime's channels for illicit revenue. The joint statement was issued in the days following the UN Security Council meeting Tuesday, which, unfortunately, failed to produce any tangible actions once again to address North Korea's launches in vi

Foreign AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Freezing temperatures engulf S. Korea

Thursday’s temperatures were recorded to be the lowest so far this year, with morning lows reaching as low as minus 19 degrees Celsius and daytime highs expected to range between minus 10 C and 2 C. However, with winds traveling as fast as 55 kilometers per hour nationwide, the Korea Meteorological Administration stated that it would feel a lot colder than the actual temperature. In Seoul, morning low temperatures were minus 15 C, with high temperatures of minus 7 C and a wind chill of min

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Justice minister becomes interim leader of ruling party

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon on Thursday stepped down to take on the role of interim leader of the ruling party, heeding the growing calls to steer the party through next year's general election. President Yoon Suk Yeol officially accepted Han's offer to resign from his current post, hours after he had expressed his intention to step down earlier in the day. The Justice Ministry explained that Han decided to take on the role of chairman of the People Power Party‘s emergency lea

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Seoul holds first-ever gathering of global influencers

The Seoul city government said Thursday it will host 2023 Seoul Con together with Seoul Business Agency from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1, 2024. Seoul Con is billed as the world’s first-ever convention for social media influencers. Taking place at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, a whopping 3,000 groups representing 50 countries, are to participate in the Seoul Con in its first year, according to city officials. The Seoul Metropolitan Government hopes to promote Seoul through YouTube and TikTok to boost the

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Former prosecutor who sparked #MeToo loses damages suit

Seo Ji-hyun, a former prosecutor who ignited a nationwide #MeToo movement in 2018 with her disclosure of sexual misconduct and abuse of authority by a senior prosecutor, lost a damages suit against him and the state on Thursday. The Supreme Court upheld the lower courts' decision to reject Seo's claim for compensation from former senior prosecutor Ahn Tae-geun over allegations that he sexually harassed her and abused his authority to retaliate against her in personnel reshuffles. Seo f

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Police arrest doctor accused of giving drugs to 'Parasite' actor

A South Korean doctor accused of providing narcotics to actor Lee Sun-kyun, currently under investigation for drug use, has been arrested by police late Wednesday. Incheon District Court issued an arrest warrant for the 42-year-old suspect, on request of the drug unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, saying that there is a risk that he may flee or destroy evidence. The unnamed suspect, a plastic surgeon at a hospital in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, is believed to have provided drugs to

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Teachers' union hits back against complaints over school trip to watch hit film '12.12: The Day'

A teachers’ union on Wednesday criticized a right-leaning civic group for making complaints against a Seoul high school principal for organizing an outing to watch "12.12: The Day," a film about military dictator Chun Doo-hwan's rise to power through the 1979 coup. The civic group, called the Freedom Korea National Defense Corps, has accused the principal of abusing his authority, which is stipulated via Article 123 of the Criminal Act, according to the Korean Teachers and E

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Understanding the use of a recording as evidence in the court in South Korea

Evidence is any information that can be used to support or refute a legal argument. Direct evidence directly proves a fact, while circumstantial evidence does not directly prove a fact yet implies a fact. Evidence includes physical objects, recordings, documents etc. Proving a fact with an evidence in the court hugely affects the outcomes of the trial. At this juncture, a better understanding on the evidence in court in Korea will be examined with Daeun Han, attorney at law. Q. Will a person

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

2 students wrongly rejected from university due to error

Gyeongsang National University said Thursday that a computer error during its admissions process resulted in two students being rejected despite having the necessary credentials for acceptance. The university belatedly notified the two students that they have actually been accepted. According to school officials, its college of pharmacology announced last week the three students who were accepted through its early admissions process. But the computer did not take into account the college entranc

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

Supreme Court again rules in favor of Korean victims of Japan's forced labor

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld two appellate court rulings that ordered Japanese companies to compensate South Koreans forced into wartime labor during Japan's 1910-1945 colonial rule. The top court handed down the decisions on two damages suits filed against Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. between 2013 and 2014. The Supreme Court previously confirmed similar compensation orders for the two Japanese companies in 2018 in response to lawsuits launched in 2012. In

Social AffairsDec. 21, 2023

NK leader vows to launch nuclear attack without hesitation in event of enemy's nuclear provocations

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has said his country will launch a nuclear attack without hesitation in event of nuclear provocations from the enemy, state media said Thursday. Kim made the remarks in an event held Wednesday to praise a missile unit for the successful launch of a solid-fuel Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile earlier this week. Kim said the launch "clearly" showed enemies the North's "offensive countermeasure" to "launch a nuclear attack withou

North KoreaDec. 21, 2023

Yoon calls for strengthening surveillance, reconnaissance against N. Korea

President Yoon Suk Yeol called Wednesday for strengthening surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities to deal better with North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. Yoon made the remark as he presided over a meeting of the presidential defense innovation committee, noting the North's recent launches of a spy satellite and an intercontinental ballistic missile. "North Korea's provocations will continue according to their timetable, so we must always have a full readiness pos

DefenseDec. 20, 2023

S. Korean, Benin FMs hold talks on bilateral ties, regional security

Foreign Minister Park Jin held talks with his Benin counterpart Wednesday on ways to step up bilateral cooperation and discussed the security situation in the region, the foreign ministry said. In his talks with Olushegun Adjadi Bakari, Park voiced hopes for strengthening cooperation in the economic and development areas, and held out expectations that Patrice Talon, Benin's president, will visit South Korea next year to attend the South Korea-Africa summit. Bakari, in response, expressed h

Foreign AffairsDec. 20, 2023

US deploys B-1B bombers near Korean Peninsula after NK ICBM launch

US B-1B strategic bombers took part in a joint aerial exercise that South Korea, the United States and Japan held over waters around the Korean Peninsula on Wednesday in a show of force after North Korea's launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. The exercise took place over waters east of the southern island of Jeju, where the air defense identification zones of South Korea and Japan overlap, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, amid heightened tensions in the wake of the North's f

DefenseDec. 20, 2023

Former USFK base in Incheon fully returned to S. Korea

The US military in South Korea fully returned its former base, Camp Market, to the Asian country Wednesday, the defense ministry said, as part of a broad relocation scheme to consolidate its bases across South Korea. The US Forces Korea handed over about 257,000 square meters of land in Camp Market near Seoul to South Korea, four years after returning some 216,000 square meters of land in the base in the first phase. The agreement was made in a meeting of the South Korea-US Status of Forces Agre

DefenseDec. 20, 2023

[Herald Interview] Hiroshima survivor recounts tragic experience

TOKYO -- A nuclear bomb detonated as a 12-year-old schoolgirl was on her way to her family, on a train fleeing a war nearing its end. “I heard the B-29 bomber flying over, which got me thinking, ‘The air raid warning isn’t on. What is that?’ Then I heard a blast and saw flames roaring,” said Park Nam-joo, recalling the day Hiroshima went up in flames on Aug. 6, 1945, which hastened Japan’s surrender and the end of World War II. The 91-year-old Korean Japanese,

Foreign AffairsDec. 20, 2023

Rival parties reach deal on 2024 budget, enter full election mode

South Korea’s ruling and main opposition parties on Wednesday agreed to pass the 2024 government budget through the National Assembly, propelling the rival parties into a full-fledged election race, widely expected to serve as a litmus test for the Yoon Suk Yeol administration. The parliament’s special committee for budget settlement and floor leaders of the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea announced they agreed on a budget plan with a reduc

PoliticsDec. 20, 2023

Extreme cold, heavy snow to hit S. Korea from Thursday

Temperatures are expected to drop significantly from Thursday as the cold weather continues to persist in the central region, with heavy snow forecast in southwestern parts of South Korea until Friday, according to the national weather agency on Wednesday. As the continental high pressure builds, cold air will begin to move toward the west, causing snow clouds that have formed along the west coast to move inland, it said. This will cause snow to fall near the west coast of South Chungcheong Prov

Social AffairsDec. 20, 2023