Man gets 30-year sentence for raping, killing 20-month-old baby

A man who stunned the nation earlier this year by sexually assaulting and killing a 20-month-old baby girl was sentenced to 30 years in prison by a court in the central city of Daejeon on Wednesday. The Daejeon District Court handed down the sentence to the 29-year-old man, identified only by his surname Yang, after convicting him of raping and killing the baby daughter of his live-in girlfriend in June. Yang was indicted for abusing and killing the baby girl because she did not stop crying on

Dec. 22, 2021

S. Korea begins review of Pfizer's oral COVID-19 pill

South Korea's drug safety agency said Wednesday that it has begun reviewing an emergency authorization of US drug giant Pfizer Inc.'s oral drug to treat COVID-19. Paxlovid is the antiviral pill for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in patients at increased risk of hospitalization or death, according to Pfizer and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. If authorized, Paxlovid would be the first oral antiviral of its kind in South Korea. The drug candidate is a protease inhibitor antivi

Dec. 22, 2021

Ex-school principal accused of spy cam voyeurism admits to charges in court

A former elementary school principal indicted for allegedly installing a spy camera in a female teachers' restroom admitted to all charges against him in his first court hearing Wednesday. The 57-year-old former principal at the school in Anyang, 23 kilometers south of Seoul, was charged with the sexual offenses last month for allegedly fitting a tiny camera inside a tissue box in the restroom in late October to secretly film women while serving as the school's chief. He was dismissed from the

Dec. 22, 2021

Squatter kills landlord after discovery

A man has been arrested in Wonju, Gangwon Province, in connection to the killing of a landlord who was found dead in a residential building she owned on Dec. 15. According to local police on Wednesday, the suspect, in his 40s, had been living secretly in a one-bedroom unit in the victim’s building in Wonju. The attack occurred when the landlord, who lived in Gyeonggi Province, came to check on her property and found the illegal tenant. Police, acting on a missing person report filed

Dec. 22, 2021

S. Korea to secure 10,000 extra beds for COVID-19 patients by mid-Jan.: PM

South Korea will secure an additional 10,000 hospital beds for patients with moderate to serious cases of COVID-19 by the middle of next month, raising their total number to 25,000, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday. The plan comes as the country has experienced a shortage of hospital beds due to alarming increases in the number of critically ill COVID-19 patients. Kim said the additional beds will enable hospitals to cope in a situation where daily COVID-19 cases reach 10,000. Recent

Dec. 22, 2021

New COVID-19 cases spike to over 7,000, critical cases at fresh high

South Korea's new coronavirus cases spiked to above 7,000 on Wednesday, and the number of critically ill patients surged to a record high. The country added 7,456 more COVID-19 cases, including 7,365 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 583,065, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Wednesday's tally is sharply up from 5,318 on Monday and 5,202 on Tuesday. The number of new daily cases usually shrinks at the beginning of the week due to less testing over th

Dec. 22, 2021

Vaccine pass challenged by increasing fraud, rejection

South Korea’s tightened vaccine pass regime has spawned fierce backlash from individuals remaining unvaccinated, with some attempting to get around the rules with fake certificates.  On neighborhood-based secondhand marketplace Carrot Market, a now-deleted posting offered to pay 50,000 won ($42) to fully vaccinated people lending their Naver ID and password earlier this week.  Naver, the country’s No. 1 web portal, is linked to the government’s vaccination record

Dec. 21, 2021

More protests held this year in S. Korea, despite spike in COVID cases

The number of protests held this year has jumped, even as the country’s daily coronavirus tally and the number of critically ill patients have continued to increase throughout this year. According to the National Police Agency’s report released Tuesday, the number of demonstrations held nationwide during the January-November period reached 79,407, around 238 protests per day. Last year, the figure marked 77,453 over the same period, police said. Demonstrations particularly spik

Dec. 21, 2021

Chungcheong Megacity gears up in bid to host 2027 World University Games

Four local governments in the central region of South Korea -- Daejeon, Sejong and the North and South Chungcheong provinces -- are gearing up in their shared bid to host the 2027 FISU World University Games. The Chungcheong Megacity Bid Committee, a joint organization launched by the local governments for the bid, has completed the needed procedures, and is now working on promotions with local residents. According to the CMBC, local residents in the Chungcheong Megacity region are supporti

Dec. 21, 2021

Korean Air union sues YouTuber over video featuring flight attendant uniforms

The labor union of South Korea's biggest carrier Korean Air Lines Co. on Tuesday lodged a complaint against a female YouTuber who appears in underwear in a lookbook video before putting on flight attendant uniforms, alleging that she defamed the reputation of flight attendants. The complaint was filed with Seoul's Gangnam Police Station against the YouTuber who recently triggered a sexual commodification controversy by uploading an 8-minute video in which she appears only in underwear and chang

Dec. 21, 2021

[What’s your say] Abandoned on highway

A husband may face a criminal charge after he abandoned his wife along the expressway at midnight after an argument. The wife was found dead the next morning, about 700 meters from where she was left behind. The severity of her injuries suggested she had been hit by a car. Police are now reviewing the case to see if the husband could be charged with “death by abandonment,” which is punished by imprisonment of at least three years in South Korea. Should he be criminally charged?&

Dec. 21, 2021

Doctors protest 20-day cap on ICU stay of COVID-19 patients

Front-line doctors in Korea are calling on the government to retract new guidelines limiting the amount of time COVID-19 patients can be admitted to intensive care to 20 days. In an effort to ease the bed crisis, the government told hospitals last week that it would be imposing a cap of 20 days for how long a COVID-19 patient can stay in an intensive care unit. Beyond the 20-day period, the national health insurance waiver for COVID-19-related treatment costs will end for patients and hospit

Dec. 21, 2021

Small merchants to hold street protest against toughened virus curbs

Owners of restaurants, cafes and other small businesses plan to hold a rally in Seoul this week to protest the government's implementation of toughened gathering restrictions and business curfews, according an association of small merchants Tuesday. The so-called national emergency association of small business against COVID-19 said it plans to hold the rally Wednesday afternoon near Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. The number of participants was set at 299 in line with the latest gathering

Dec. 21, 2021

Over half of middle-aged people indebted in 2020

More than half of South Koreans aged between 40 and 64 held debt last year as more people took out loans to buy homes amid skyrocketing housing prices, data showed Tuesday. The data by Statistics Korea showed that 56.5 percent of people in the age group borrowed money from banks or other financial institutes last year, up 0.2 percentage point from the previous year. The amount of their median debt reached 52 million won ($43,600) last year, up 7.1 percent from a year earlier. Median debt is a

Dec. 21, 2021

Number of workers taking parental leave up 3.7% in 2020

The number of South Korean workers who took time off to take care of their children rose 3.7 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid more government support for parental leave, government data showed Tuesday. A total of 169,345 workers took parental leave to take care of their children last year, up 6,089 from the previous year, according to the preliminary data from Statistics Korea. Last year's figure was approximately 2.3 times the number 10 years earlier. Women accounted for 77.3 percent

Dec. 21, 2021

61 lawmakers awarded by youth for making positive remarks

The Sunfull Foundation has held a ceremony to present an award in collaboration with the National Assembly to 61 lawmakers who make positive remarks, the organization said Thursday. The Sunfull Foundation is a non-governmental organization founded by English educator Min Byung-chul in 2007 to counter cyberbullying, hate speech, and human rights violations on the internet. The recipients were chosen by 300 high school and college students, the organization said. The students selected 30

Dec. 21, 2021

2,109 Seoul students test positive for COVID-19 in past week

A total of 2,109 students in Seoul have tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week, before the partial reintroduction of remote school classes against the fast spread of infections, officials said Monday. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, elementary school virus cases in the capital from Dec. 13 to Sunday stood at 1,248, followed by those in middle schools and kindergartens at 406 and 169, respectively. The rate of in-class infections was recorded at 24.6 percent, up

Dec. 21, 2021

IFRC allocates $1.2m to help NK fight against COVID-19

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has allocated 1.1 million Swiss francs ($1.2 million) to help North Korea combat the COVID-19 pandemic from January last year to June next year, its interim financial report showed. According to the COVID-19 Outbreak 20-Month Update, the organization had spent around 699,000 Swiss francs as of September, with the largest portion of 296,000 Swiss francs spent on health-related operations. Another 157,000 Swiss francs wa

Dec. 21, 2021

New COVID-19 cases below 6,000 for 2nd day, critical cases at over 1,000 again

South Korea's new coronavirus cases were below 6,000 for the second day in a row Tuesday, but the number of new critically ill patients exceeded 1,000 again. The country added 5,202 more COVID-19 cases, including 5,144 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 575,615, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The number of critically ill patients came to 1,022, after 1,016 on Saturday, an all-time high of 1,025 on Sunday and 997 on Monday, the authorities said. Th

Dec. 21, 2021

Korea reports additional case of highly pathogenic bird flu

    South Korea has confirmed an additional case of highly pathogenic avian influenza in the southeastern part of the country, the agriculture ministry said Monday.    The latest case was reported at a farm where around 12,000 ducks are being raised in Yeongam, 384 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.    Health authorities have cordoned off the site and are culling ducks there to prevent the spread of t

Dec. 20, 2021