Appeals court upholds ruling ordering rapper Dok2 to pay unpaid jewelry bill

A Seoul court has ordered rapper Dok2, famously known for his extravagant lifestyle on media, to pay an unpaid jewelry bill to an overseas jeweler, legal sources said Monday. Upholding a lower court's ruling, the Seoul Southern District Court delivered a mandatory mediation, ordering the 31-year-old, Lee Joon-kyung, to pay $34,740 to the jeweler based in Los Angeles. The court's mandatory mediation was delivered last month and took effect Friday after a two-week grace period, they said

July 4, 2022

[Newsmaker] 'Revolutionary' high court term on abortion, guns and more

WASHINGTON -- Abortion, guns and religion -- a major change in the law in any one of these areas would have made for a fateful Supreme Court term. In its first full term together, the court's conservative majority ruled in all three and issued other significant decisions limiting the government's regulatory powers. And it has signaled no plans to slow down. With former President Donald Trump's appointees in their 50s, the six-justice conservative majority seems poised to keep control of the cour

July 3, 2022

Korea to trial state sick pay scheme

South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare is starting a pilot run of sickness benefit program Monday as the country mulls making the welfare scheme a nationwide policy. The ministry announced Sunday that six regions had been selected to act as test beds for the initiative until July 4, 2023. The areas are Seoul’s Jongno-gu; Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province; Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province; Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province; Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, and Suncheon, South

July 3, 2022

S. Korea’s COVID-19 cases rebound, raise concerns over summer surge

South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases topped 10,000 for the second consecutive day, highlighting the risk of a resurgence in the country during the summer season that some experts have pointed out. During the 24 hours of Saturday, the country added 10,059 COVID-19 cases, bringing the total caseload to 18,389,611, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The country added eight COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,570. The fatality rate now stands at 0.13 p

July 3, 2022

Workplace harassment increases as people return to office: survey

With more people returning to the office amid easing of social distancing restrictions, instances of workplace harassment have also been on the rise, a survey showed Sunday. According to a poll by Embrain Public, conducted between June 10 and 16 on 1,000 office workers aged 19 or older, 29.6 percent said they had experienced some form of workplace harassment within the past year. In the same survey conducted in March this year, 23.5 percent had said they had suffered workplace harassment, such a

July 3, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases stay over 10,000 for 2nd day amid resurgence woes

South Korea's new coronavirus cases stayed above 10,000 for the second consecutive day Sunday as the daily cases seemed to be rising again after months of subsiding. The country added 10,059 COVID-19 infections, including 191 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,389,611, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country reported eight COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,570. The fatality rate stood at 0.13 percent. The number of critically

July 3, 2022

[Weekender] Let’s talk about sex

A 17-year-old high school student referred to her first-ever attempt at sexual intercourse last year as “disastrous,” as she and her then-boyfriend had no idea what to do other than to take off their clothes. After searching the internet, the two found a way to give it a go. However, in an interview with The Korea Herald, she said that she still isn’t sure if she did everything right, as nobody has ever told her what a typical sexual relationship entails. “I think my bo

July 2, 2022

Heat wave alert issued nationwide

The third-highest alert against a scorching heat wave was issued nationwide on Saturday, 18 days earlier compared to last year. 　 　The Ministry of the Interior and Safety issues the alert when the daily temperature ceiling in over 40 percent of the country reaches 33 C or higher for at least three straight days. 　 　Under the heat alert, the safety ministry is looking at measures to support workers who are vulnerable to inclement weather, including construction workers, elderly farmers and seni

July 2, 2022

New COVID-19 cases bounce back to over 10,000 amid resurgence woes

　South Korea‘s new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 10,000 Saturday as the daily cases seemed poised to take an upturn again after months of decline. 　 　The country added 10,715 COVID-19 infections, including 173 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,379,552, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 　 　The tally increased from 9,528 the previous day and 6,786 a week ago. 　 　The country added seven COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,562

July 2, 2022

Tropical storm Aere forecast to affect southern parts of Korea next week

   Tropical storm Aere is likely to affect Jeju Island and other southern parts of South Korea early next week after having formed off Japan's Okinawa, the weather agency said Friday.    Aere was moving north-northeast at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour, packing winds of up to 65 km per hour and with a central pressure of 1,002 hectopascals upon its formation in the sea 760 km off south-southeast of Okinawa at 9 a.m. Friday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administr

July 1, 2022

[Newsmaker] Adoptee readies for legal fight to be recognized as daughter of Korean father

The life story of Eva Yoo Ri Brussaard, a Korean adoptee in the Netherlands, is heartbreaking, yet it is sadly familiar. At age 2, she was abandoned by her biological father and was sent oversea with her blind sister to be adopted by a Dutch couple. The couple got divorced only three years later, her sister was sent to an orphanage, and she stayed with the Dutch mother, only to live in neglect. “I always dreamt about my (birth) parents and thought that I could have a better life in Kor

July 1, 2022

South Korea joins EU’s digital COVID-19 certificate system

South Korea has joined the European Union’s digital COVID-19 certificate system, to come into effect from Friday. The connection to the system allows certificates of vaccination issued in South Korea to be valid in EU countries, and vice versa. “The equivalent COVID-19 certificates will facilitate travel between South Korea and the 31 member states of the EU,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s commissioner Peck Kyong-ran said in a press release Friday.

July 1, 2022

Gangwon Province gets special autonomous status

Gangwon Province, on the east coast of South Korea, is set to have more autonomy as a municipality. A Cabinet meeting on June 7 voted in favor of laws giving Gangwon Province new status as a “special autonomous province,” which will come into effect from June 11 next year. The special status was proposed as a pledge during the 2012 and 2017 presidential campaigns, but was never fulfilled. Gangwon Province’s new powers mean it can now have its own police, park services and

July 1, 2022

Sejong University recognized for impactful research

Sejong University was recognized for its research ability, taking the top place among local general universities in the Leiden Ranking for five consecutive years. The Leiden Ranking, provided by Leiden University in the Netherlands, ranks universities worldwide by number of academic publications, evaluating the volume and citation impact of the publications. While Sejong University was the No. 1 among local general universities on the list, it came in second among all local universities in

June 30, 2022

Why do desperate people kill their own children?

Initial investigation by the police into the deaths of 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents found no evidence of foul play, fueling suspicion that the child has been a victim of so-called “family suicide.” The family of three, who went missing in late May, were found inside the submerged family car that was salvaged near Wando-gun, South Jeolla Province, on Wednesday. It was discovered that the family had tremendous debts and testimonies from acquaintances suggest that they may ha

June 30, 2022

Decriminalizing abortion did not reverse declining trend in Korea

There was no significant change in the number of abortions in the first year since the procedure was decriminalized in South Korea, government researchers said Thursday.  According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the overall declining trend in abortions appeared to continue through the recent years. Ending a pregnancy was no longer deemed a crime in Korea as of Jan. 1 last year, after the Constitutional Court ruled in April 2019 that the ban on abort

June 30, 2022

Missing family found dead in submerged car

The bodies found in a submerged car found on an island off the southern coast were those of a family reported missing, police said Wednesday. The police suspect suicide, as the family had been going through financial difficulties. The Gwangju Nambu police station confirmed the three bodies found inside an upturned Audi sedan the day before in the waters of Wando, South Jeolla Province as those of 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents, who were reported missing. They confirmed the identities t

June 30, 2022

[Herald Interview] Not like in movies: Police director talks about cross-border investigations

   In the latest action thriller “The Round Up,” a tenacious Korean detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee) chases after a ruthless murderer Kang Hae-sang (Son Suk-ku) in Vietnam who kidnapped and murdered a Korean tourist there.  Mostly set in the Southeast Asian country, the film’s bloody fight and chase scenes between the two protagonists have enthralled more than 10 million moviegoers, making it one of the biggest box office hits since th

June 30, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases slip back below 10,000

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell back below 10,000 Thursday amid the slowdown of the virus. The country added 9,595 new COVID-19 infections, including 142 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,359,341, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Daily cases remained below 10,000 from June 10 until Tuesday but rose above 10,000 Wednesday before falling back down again. While the virus curve is generally trending downward, Thursday's figure is up

June 30, 2022

Major expressway, river bridge in Seoul closed off due to heavy downpours

A major expressway linking southeastern Seoul to northeastern Gyeonggi Province and a bridge over the Han River were closed off Thursday as heavy downpours pounded the capital and central regions, officials said. The city government said all entrances to the Dongbu Expressway that runs from Seoul's Songpa district to Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, have been blocked off since 6:43 a.m. as heavy rain in the areas pushed up the water level in a nearby river. The Jamsu Bridge crossing the Ha

June 30, 2022