Gender pay gap inches down to 26.3% but persists

The gender pay gap in South Korea among companies required to disclose such information -- those with total assets of more than 5 trillion won ($5 billion) in affiliated companies -- narrowed slightly to 26.3 percent last year, a report showed Friday. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's gender pay gap research, the average pay of all 2,647 companies subject to disclosure, including listed companies and companies subject to external audit, was 98.57 million won for men

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Prosecution committee recommends to drop charges against first lady over Dior bag acceptance

A panel under South Korea's top prosecutors office on Friday has advised not to indict first lady Kim Keon Hee over allegations that she broke the country's antigraft law by accepting a luxury Christian Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,248) from a Korean American pastor in 2022. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office's Investigation Review Committee, consisting of 15 outside experts, held the meeting from 2 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. to deliberate whether she is guilty of six different

PoliticsSept. 6, 2024

Criminals who drugged teens' drinks with meth sentenced to up to 18 years

South Korea's top court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced defendants in a high-profile drug scam -- in which drug-laced drinks were deceptively distributed to students, followed by the blackmail of their parents -- to prison terms of up to 18 years, the court announced on Friday. The Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s verdict, sentencing individuals identified by the surnames Gil, Kim, Park and Lee to prison terms of 18, 10, 10 and seven years, respectively. They were found

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

34 students grab prizes at 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest

The award ceremony for the 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest was held on Thursday at the Australian Embassy in Seoul on Friday. This year's contest, themed "My dream, Earth and the 10th Anniversary of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement," focused on the environment and economy. A total of 34 winners were recognized for their outstanding speeches. In attendance were Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Jeff Robinson, Deputy Head of Mission Martin Walker, Heral

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Wartime sexual slavery victims file for Japanese govt. asset disclosure

Victims of Japan's wartime military sexual slavery and their bereaved families filed a legal request with the court on Friday to verify the details of assets owned by the Japanese government in South Korea, in a bid to secure compensation following their civil lawsuit victory last November. Justice for the Comfort Women, a Seoul-based civic group advocating for Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, announced that the victims and their families had submitted the request unde

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Over 1 million train fare evasions since 2019: data

An annual average of 190,926 cases of fare evasions at major train services like KTX occurred here between 2019 and July of this year, data from state-run railway operators showed Friday. Over the last five years, officials caught an average of 4.12 billion won ($3 million) worth of illegal train rides a year, according to Korail data submitted to Rep. Yoon Jong-kun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The railway operator currently runs the high-speed KTX trains as well as the Sa

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

'Trust me and jump': Police catches child escaping burning factory

A police officer managed to catch an elementary school student who had to jump out of a second-floor window of a burning building, local police said Friday. According to the Pyeongtaek Police Station, a fire broke out on the third floor of a factory building in Poseung-eup, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province at 3:58 p.m on Thursday. Police officers evacuated the area but belatedly found the young boy crying for help, stranded on the second floor of the building. Unable to enter the building already i

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

9 out of 10 Seoul five-star hotels use ‘drip pricing’ in promotion

Most of the five-star hotels in Seoul are omitting mandatory additional fees from the room charges displayed on their homepages, the Seoul city government said Friday. Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted a survey of 27 hotels rated five stars by the Tourism Promotion Act and found that only three of them show room charges complete with taxes and additional fees to customers. The rest use "drip pricing," a technique where only a part of an item is advertised and the final amount is

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Two Korean women arrested for stealing tourist's bag in Turkey

Two South Korean women were released after being detained by Turkish authorities for allegedly stealing a bag containing around $17,000 in cash from another tourist, according to news reports on Thursday. Turkey’s Demiroren News Agency and other media outlets reported that the two women were arrested by police on suspicion of theft and released after questioning on Aug. 28. The two women, who were traveling in the country, were accused of stealing a bag belonging to an Albanian tourist on

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2024

Yoon approves appointment of new defense minister

President Yoon Suk Yeol approved the appointment of Kim Yong-hyun, former head of the Presidential Security Service, as defense minister and presented a certificate of appointment on Friday, his office said. Kim, a retired three-star Army general and close aide to Yoon, was nominated to the post last month to replace then minister Shin Won-sik, who has since served as national security adviser. Following Yoon's election in May 2022, Kim led efforts to relocate the presidential office from C

PoliticsSept. 6, 2024

Military deploying anti-drone system to counter N. Korean drone threats

The defense ministry said Friday the military has been deploying an integrated anti-drone system in multiple locations across the country to counter threats posed by unmanned aerial vehicles from North Korea. The move comes as South Korea has pushed to bolster its drone response capabilities after five North Korean drones crossed the border in December 2022, with one of them entering Seoul. The military failed to intercept any of them, raising questions over its readiness. "The anti-drone i

DefenseSept. 6, 2024

Japanese PM Kishida due in S. Korea for last summit with Yoon

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to visit South Korea on Friday for talks with President Yoon Suk Yeol as Kishida is preparing to leave office with a legacy of improving long-frayed relations with Seoul. Yoon and Kishida are scheduled to hold summit talks later Friday, their 12th summit in just about two years. It will also be their last summit as Kishida has given up on reelection as prime minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party after three years on the job. Durin

Foreign AffairsSept. 6, 2024

N. Korea sends trash balloons into S. Korea for 2nd consecutive day: JCS

North Korea floated trash-carrying balloons into South Korea for a second straight day on Thursday, South Korea's military said, the latest in its repeated provocations Seoul condemned as "senseless." The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the North launching some 480 trash balloons from late Wednesday until 12 p.m. Thursday, with around 100 trash bundles landing in Seoul and northern parts of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds the capital. In a notice sent to reporters at

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2024

Lawmaker blasted for allegedly asking hospital for favors

A lawmaker with the ruling People Power Party came under fire Thursday for suspicions he solicited favors from a hospital amid disruptions in health care services nationwide. At the plenary meeting of the National Assembly, Rep. Yohan Ihn was photographed by a press camera texting “thanks” on his cellphone to an unidentified recipient who appeared to be telling him about a patient that he knows. In the messages, as captured in the photograph, the person on the other side of the conve

PoliticsSept. 5, 2024

Tokyo hands in list of Koreans who died in 1945 Japanese ship explosion

Tokyo has handed over a long-awaited list of Koreans who perished aboard the Ukishima Maru, a Japanese ship that exploded in 1945 while repatriating thousands of Koreans after Japan's colonial rule ended, the Seoul government announced on Thursday. The announcement by the two countries came just a day before Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida visits Seoul for a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol before leaving his office. The transferred list is incomplete, as the Japanese government has not

Foreign AffairsSept. 5, 2024

Six arrested for oil theft after digging underground tunnel

Police have arrested six people for attempting to steal oil from a public pipeline by digging an underground tunnel in the middle of an urban center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. According to Daejeon Metropolitan Police, the suspects, along with three accomplices, rented a two-story warehouse in Cheonan in February, from where they started digging the secret tunnel over the past four months. The discovered tunnel, located 4 meters underground, measures about 75 centimeters wide and 90

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2024

More dads taking paternity leave while fewer Koreans get married

Amid growing concerns over Korea's low birth rate with the government grappling to tackle the demographic crisis, the proportion of men who took parental leave last year increased by fivefold from eight years ago, recent numbers show. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's "Life of Men and Women through 2024 Statistics" on Thursday, men accounted for 28 percent of the 126,000 people accessing parental leave benefits last year, showing a significant improvem

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2024

Construction of new Namsan gondola lift to finish in 2026

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Thursday that it will soon officially begin construction for the Namsan Gondola, a five-minute gondola lift route from Myeong-dong Station to the top of Seoul's central mountain, to be completed in spring 2026. During the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday, the city government said it will officially begin constructing the 832-meter-long gondola lift route in November this year. Once completed, each gondola

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2024

Lawmakers blame lack of control tower behind surge in deepfake sex crimes

Both ruling and opposition lawmakers have recently highlighted the need for a solid control tower within the Cabinet to tackle the latest surge in digital sex crimes involving deepfake pornography, while criticizing the weak coordination among ministries tasked with handling the issue. During a parliamentary hearing held by the National Assembly's Gender Equality and Family Committee on Wednesday, main opposition Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Nam-hee blamed the Ministry of Gender Equal

PoliticsSept. 5, 2024

Opposition lawmakers reject president's Chuseok gifts

Some opposition party lawmakers took to social media to reject Chuseok gifts sent by President Yoon Suk Yeol, posting photos of the gifts and criticizing the administration. Rep. Kim Joon-hyung of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party posted a picture to Facebook on Wednesday showing him returning the unopened gift to a parcel delivery worker. “I clearly told them not to send gifts,” Kim said in the post. “But just like how he handles diplomacy, appoints ministers as he p

PoliticsSept. 5, 2024