Man who let his father die due to financial difficulties to be released on parole

A 25-year-old man currently serving a prison term for patricide will be released next Tuesday on parole, a Daegu-based civic group said Thursday. In a highly publicized case in 2021, the man was convicted after he stopped providing food and medication for his terminally ill father due to financial difficulties. The victim had been bedridden since suffering a brain hemorrhage in September 2020, not being able to eat or relieve himself on his own. But his son, who had been on his mandatory mili

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

TOEIC instructor who sold test answers to test-takers sentenced to 3-year jail term

A Seoul court recently sentenced a former hagwon teacher to a three-year jail term for selling TOEIC test answers to multiple test-takers for money. The Seoul Eastern District Court found the defendant surnamed Hong guilty of obstruction of business as stipulated in Article 314 of the Criminal Act. In addition to the jail term, the court also ordered the seizure of 76.6 million won ($55,000) in assets. Investigators found that the 27-year-old defendant had committed the crimes to fund internet

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

S. Korea, China shifting from tensions to cooperation: Seoul

The vice ministers of South Korea and China committed on Wednesday to achieving tangible outcomes in their bilateral cooperation and exchanges, which have recently regained momentum, departing from the period of diplomatic chill that persisted until last year, the South Korean Foreign Ministry said Thursday. South Korea's First Vice Foreign Minister, Kim Hong-kyun, met with China's Executive Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ma Zhaoxu, the highest-ranking of the vice ministers, in Seou

Foreign AffairsJuly 25, 2024

Police seek arrest warrant for driver in deadly car crash

The police sought an arrest warrant Wednesday for the driver behind the fatal car crash that killed nine pedestrians near Seoul city hall earlier this month, according to officials on Thursday. On July 1, a sedan crashed into pedestrians waiting for a traffic light at an intersection near Exit No. 7 of Seoul’s City Hall Station in Jung-gu, central Seoul. The car drove in the wrong direction and hit the pedestrians before colliding with two other vehicles. The crash resulted in nine fatalit

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

40% of school violence victims felt urge to self-harm: survey

Roughly 4 out of 10 students who were victims of school violence said they had felt the urge to either inflict injury on oneself or commit suicide, a survey by an NGO showed Wednesday. The Blue Tree Foundation, a group dedicated to preventing school violence and help victims, said in a press conference that 3.5 percent of the respondents in their recent survey said they had been subject to violence at school, of which 39.9 percent said they felt the urge to hurt or kill themselves. The foundat

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

Day care centers plummet, senior facilities soar amid demographic shift

Day care centers declined by nearly 2,000 in 2023, while facilities for seniors increased by more than 3,000, reflecting Korea’s continued aging society, data showed Thursday. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of day care centers fell by 1,969, from 30,923 in 2022 to 28,954 last year. The overall decrease was mainly driven by declining private and family day care centers. Private day care centers decreased by 840 from 9,726 to 8,886, while family day care centers

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

District prosecution chief briefed on first lady's questioning before report to prosecutor general 3hrs later

The chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office was briefed on last week's questioning of first lady Kim Keon Hee more than three hours before he reported it to Prosecutor General Lee One-seok, sources said Thursday. The revelation came after the top prosecutor expressed frustrations that he had been in the dark about Saturday's questioning of Kim over a luxury bag scandal for some 10 hours, and ordered an inspection into what happened. The inspection is expected to focus on

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

N. Korea sends some 500 trash balloons into S. Korea earlier this week

North Korea's latest round of its balloon campaign involved around 500 balloons carrying scrap paper and plastic sheets, including those that fell on the presidential office compound in the capital, South Korea's military said Thursday. In what marked the second of its kind this week alone, North Korea launched the trash-carrying balloons the previous day, as the South Korean military blared anti-Pyongyang broadcasts in full scale through its border loudspeakers in response to the repe

North KoreaJuly 25, 2024

US sanctions China-based individuals, entities accused of supporting NK missile, space programs

The United States on Wednesday slapped sanctions on a China-based network of six individuals and five entities for their alleged involvement in the procurement of items supporting North Korea's ballistic missile and space programs. The Treasury Department issued the sanctions after Pyongyang's persistent launches using ballistic missile technology, including a failed attempt at a military spy satellite launch in May, in breach of UN Security Council resolutions. The department stressed

North KoreaJuly 25, 2024

Crowded public transport, long commutes top stressors for Seoul, Gyeonggi workers: survey

Workers living in Seoul identified crowded public transportation as their biggest stressor, according to a survey conducted on Wednesday. The survey, carried out by online recruiting company Job Korea, polled 1,010 people nationwide on the current status of work commutes this month. The survey revealed that the average commute from home to work takes 48.4 minutes per day. By region, those living in Gyeonggi Province had the longest average commute at 58.2 minutes, followed by Seoul residents at

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2024

Yoon appoints new environment minister

President Yoon Suk Yeol appointed Kim Wan-sup, a former vice finance minister with expertise in budget planning, as the new environment minister Wednesday, his office said. Kim, known for his expertise in environment-related budget planning while serving in the finance ministry's key positions, was nominated by Yoon early this month to replace Environment Minister Han Wha-jin. The National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee adopted a report on his confirmation hearing earlier i

PoliticsJuly 24, 2024

N. Korea sweet wrappers, noodles on Seoul streets in balloon blitz

North Korean sweet wrappers and packets of crackers made at a factory once visited by leader Kim Jong Un were seen by AFP reporters on streets in the South Korean capital Wednesday. The nuclear-armed North has sent thousands of balloons carrying bags of trash southwards since May, in a tit-for-tat propaganda war between the two Koreas, with Seoul blasting K-pop and anti-regime messages from loudspeakers along the border in return. South Korea's military warned of a fresh batch of balloons e

DefenseJuly 24, 2024

4-year prison term sought for actor Yoo Ah-in over drug charges

Prosecutors on Wednesday demanded a four-year prison term for actor Yoo Ah-in on charges of habitually abusing illegal drugs. The 37-year-old actor, whose latest works include the dark fantasy Netflix series "Hellbound," faces charges of illegally using propofol, a medical anesthetic, under the pretext of cosmetic procedures on 181 occasions between 2020-2022. He was also accused of abusing three other medical anesthetic drugs, including midazolam and ketamine. Charges against him also

Social AffairsJuly 24, 2024

Lawmaker suggests special law to combat YouTube slander

A ruling party lawmaker on Wednesday addressed the need for legislation to crack down on defamatory YouTube content, citing recent controversy over the blackmail of a popular mukbang star. During a confirmation hearing for Lee Jin-sook, nominee for Korea Communications Commission chair, Rep. Shin Sung-bum pressed for her views on the issue, noting it has inflicted immense harm on the victims. The discussion was prompted by a recent incident involving Tzuyang, a renowned mukbang content creator w

Social AffairsJuly 24, 2024

North Korean trash balloon falls on Seoul presidential office

At least one North Korean balloon carrying trash landed on the grounds shared by the South Korean presidential office and the National Defense Ministry in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Wednesday morning. South Korea’s Presidential Security Service said that some trash dropped by the North Korean balloon was identified on the grounds of the Yongsan presidential office and the adjacent defense ministry. The balloon contained mostly scraps of paper and plastic, according to the South Korean mili

PoliticsJuly 24, 2024

Seoul vows W106.5b to support youth exiting foster care

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it would spend 106.5 billion won ($76.9 million) over the next five years to help youth transitioning out of foster care or child care institutions to adjust to independent living, becoming the first local government to do so in South Korea. The city government’s plan includes providing job consultation services, raising independent living capabilities, subsidizing living costs and providing additional help in adjusting to society

Social AffairsJuly 24, 2024

Han begins as PPP chief; Yoon calls for unity

The new ruling People Power Party leadership kicked off its first day by highlighting unity amid concerns over lingering tensions between President Yoon Suk Yeol and newly elected party Chair Han Dong-hoon. The two met for dinner at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu in Seoul at the invitation of the president, Yoon's office said, noting that the meeting was intended to nurture "a grand harmony." Han was invited along with some other contenders at the party's national conv

PoliticsJuly 24, 2024

Over half of Korea's outpatient visits last under 5 minutes: study

Over half of outpatients in South Korea spent under five minutes with their doctor during medical appointments last year, a study showed Wednesday. The study, commissioned by the Health Ministry and conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, gathered responses from 14,910 individuals between July 24 and Sept. 22 last year. Its findings show that 55 percent of respondents reported spending less than five minutes with their doctor, with 17.6 percent saying consultations lasted

Social AffairsJuly 24, 2024

Largest doctors' group pulls plug on joint committee

South Korea's largest doctors' group said Wednesday that it has decided to pull the plug on a joint committee launched last month to take unified action against the government's planned medical school expansion, after other groups called on it to disband. The Korean Medical Association issued a statement stating that the committee would cease operations after Friday, when its forum to discuss how to salvage the country's health care is scheduled to take place. "The decis

Social AffairsJuly 24, 2024

Koreas in 'fierce' cultural battle to win hearts of N. Koreans: minister

Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho on Tuesday emphasized that South Korea's cultural wave is fiercely battling the cultural indoctrination of the Kim Jong-un regime to win the hearts and minds of North Koreans. "With the influx of external culture and information such as South Korean soap operas and K-pop, many North Koreans are consuming Juche culture by day, South Korean culture by night," Kim said in his keynote speech at the 2024 International Dialogue on North Korean Human Righ

North KoreaJuly 24, 2024