Top court sides with unionists in Hyundai Motor compensation suit

When individual workers who participate in illegal industrial action are held responsible for financial damages, the degree of responsibility should be considered individually according to the degree of contribution in illegal activities, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The Supreme Court on Thursday returned a lower court ruling that sided with South Korean carmaker Hyundai Motor in seeking compensation from unionized workers for inflicting losses during their strike in 2010. Sending the case

June 15, 2023

Daejeon mayor visits Taiwan’s Hsinchu to seek tech cooperation

Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo on Wednesday visited Hsinchu City, northwest of Taiwan, to seek technological cooperation between the two cities with an aim of turning Daejeon into Asia's Silicon Valley. Lee visited the Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan’s national industrial complex built in 1980 which currently houses over 500 acclaimed technology companies, including TSCM, ASE and MediaTek. There, the mayor and officials from the industrial complex discussed Hsinchu’s history of nurturi

June 15, 2023

Seoul mayor elected as co-president of WAMM

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been tapped as the co-president of the World Association of the Major Metropolises at the 14th Metropolis World Congress, the city government said Thursday. Oh will lead the committee for from 2024 to 2026, along with five other co-presidents from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, China’s Guangzhou, Uruguay’s Montevideo, Iran’s Tehran and Belgium's Brussels-Capital Region, the city added. The city government said being able to co-lead the associat

June 15, 2023

Instagram partly to blame for Korea's record-low fertility rate, says star lecturer

A star math lecturer’s diagnosis on South Korea’s persistently falling birth attributing part of the blame to Instagram overflowing with “flex posts” went viral Thursday. In a video clip, uploaded to his YouTube channel, apparently from a lecture, Chung Seung-je shares his thought on the issue, starting with a question, “Koreans had more babies in the past when they were much poorer. Things have gotten a lot better now, but why do people have fewer babies?” &l

June 15, 2023

Appeals court sentences composer Don Spike to 2 years in prison for drug use

Don Spike, a composer and television personality, was imprisoned Thursday after an appeals court handed him a two-year prison sentence for drug use. The 46-year-old musician, whose real name is Kim Min-su, was indicted in October last year for purchasing and using methamphetamine on multiple occasions. In January, a lower court sentenced him to a three-year prison term, suspended for five years. On appeal, the Seoul High Court revised the sentence and imposed a two-year prison term, leading to h

June 15, 2023

[Graphic News] S. Korea’s household debt ratio highest among 34 economies

South Korea’s household debt-to-gross domestic product ratio stood at the highest level among 34 major economies in the first quarter, global financial data showed. The ratio stood at 102.2 percent in the January-March period, followed by Hong Kong with a ratio of 95.1 percent, Thailand with 85.7 percent, Britain with 81.6 percent and the United States with 73 percent, according to the Institute of International Finance. Korea was the only country where household debt exceeded its GDP in t

June 15, 2023

Seoul mayor wanted to ditch 'I.Seoul.U' slogan on 1st day

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wished to scrap the city slogan of "I.Seoul.U" promoted by his predecessor, late Park Won-soon, as soon as he took up the mayoral post in 2021, he said during a Seoul Metropolitan Council questioning Wednesday. Oh's comment came in response to a council legislator's question about who made the decision to change the city slogan despite "unnecessary costs" to do so. "It was I who made the decision," Oh said. "I wished to change the slogan

June 14, 2023

Minor party slams ministry for detaining Mongolian 3-year-old

Minor progressive Jinbo Party blasted the Justice Ministry for detaining a 3-year-old Mongolian child for more than two weeks before his deportation in April, and failing to provide sufficient medical care when the child became ill. Accusing the ministry of child abuse and human rights violations, the party said in a statement Wednesday that the case reflects Yoon Suk Yeol administration's hardline stance "inciting bigotry toward foreign migrants." The child was detained for a tot

June 14, 2023

Gimhae zoo under fire for animal cruelty

A zoo in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province is under fire for allegedly failing to care properly for its animals. The number of complaints filed by Gimhae residents about the zoo on Gimhae City Hall’s website's "Ask the mayor" forum between 2013 and 2021 totaled three, and there were six complaints in 2022, but the number of complaints about the zoo jumped to 33 just this month. Along with their complaints, residents posted photos of poorly cared for animals, according to the

June 14, 2023

Sejong Univ. holds seminar for Arctic route initiative

Sejong University and the Sejong Research Institute proposed to build a new maritime transportation route directly passing through the north pole in a seminar on "Arctic Route Development" on Thursday. In the seminar held at the university’s Daeyang AI Center in Seoul, Choo Myung-gun, the university’s honorary chairman, envisioned the need to develop an Arctic route for maritime transportation. Choo explained that the route would contribute to South Korea’s economic d

June 14, 2023

Blood donation rebounding, but still below pre-pandemic levels

With peak pandemic days now in the past, blood donations are rebounding in South Korea, though donations have yet to reach pre-COVID levels, according to the Korean Red Cross on Wednesday, which is also World Blood Donor Day. This year’s donations are up 5 percent from the corresponding period in 2022, recording a total of 1,014,000 as of May this year. The blood bank’s website shows that on Wednesday, it has 6.5 days’ worth of blood supplies and that blood type O is in relat

June 14, 2023

Health authority urges hajj pilgrims to take precautions against MERS

As the number of travelers to Saudi Arabia is expected to increase during hajj, the public health authority is urging pilgrims heading to the Middle Eastern country to take extra precautions against Middle East respiratory syndrome. “Large gatherings such as hajj are associated with unique health risks, especially MERS, so travelers should follow sanitation recommendations,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said on Wednesday. Hajj is the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mec

June 14, 2023

Anxious parents are using bugs to eavesdrop on teachers

Reports of parents sending their children to day care or kindergarten with recording devices have sparked controversy online. While the parents claim that they are “collecting evidence of possible abuse,” some teachers complain that the illegal practice is a sign of “unfounded distrust from the parents." Searching for "day care recorder" on the internet turns up numerous small recording devices on sale that come in diverse forms, from necklaces to badges. Some ar

June 13, 2023

Seoul Nat'l Univ. sacks disgraced ex-justice minister

Seoul National University’s disciplinary committee said Tuesday that it has decided to expel former Justice Minister Cho Kuk from the school's law faculty, citing the court decision that sentenced him to two years in prison for abusing his power and influence. The decision comes after he was removed from his teaching position in January 2020. He was indicted without detention on Dec. 31, 2019, on 12 charges, including for bribery and corruption, over his involvement in his children&rs

June 13, 2023

Ghostly figure on top of highway tunnel confirmed to be teen enjoying sunset

Officials confirmed on Tuesday that a ghostly-looking woman who had climbed on top of a highway tunnel near Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, had been successfully rescued. The incident had gained widespread attention after her eery silhouette scared numerous drivers. As fleeting images of her standing on top of the 10-meter-tall tunnel, taken from fast-moving vehicles, went viral Tuesday, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police announced her rescue on Sunday. The person captured in the video and photos is a f

June 13, 2023

[Herald Interview] 56 years overdue: Victim of 1964 sexual assault seeks justice

Ever since one fateful night in the spring of 1964, Choi Mal-ja has endured the weight of her notorious reputation as a “tongue biter" who supposedly ruined a young man’s life over a kiss. At age 18, Choi bit off part of the man’s tongue as she tried to fight off an attempted rape. From today’s perspective, the nature of her actions is of little debate: It was self-defense. But the world was a different place back then. “The court made me -- the victim -- the

June 13, 2023

Thai player opens up amid K League racism row

Amid growing criticism over racist comments between South Korean soccer players, the Thai player referenced in the comments expressed his feelings on Facebook. Instagram comments exchanged between Korean players with Ulsan Hyundai FC went viral online Sunday. The players likened a teammate to former Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' former wing back Sasalak Haiprakhon, apparently because of his dark skin. The 27-year-old Thai player posted a statement on Facebook, “No one knows what we have t

June 13, 2023

Tension reaches new height as unionists accuse Yoon at ILO

The confrontation between Korean labor and the government reached new heights on Tuesday, as unionists took their concerns that President Yoon Suk Yeol has been suppressing labor unions here to the International Labor Organization's general assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, while the presidential office opened a public debate over the legitimacy of nighttime labor protests. "The Constitution recognizes the freedom of assembly and association as citizens' basic rights, and the citizens have c

June 13, 2023

Funeral home accused of directing bereaved to change in room with security camera

A funeral home in Osan, Gyeonggi Province is accused of directing bereaved family members to change in a room with a built-in security camera, said Osan Police Station on Monday. On May 31, a family was allegedly directed by the funeral home’s staff to change in an empty room in the funeral home. The family no longer had access to the bereaved family’s waiting room, as their father’s funeral had already ended. The family members filed a report with the police as soon as they fo

June 13, 2023

No. of obesity patients doubles over 5 years: study

The number of patients recently treated for being obese doubled in five years, data showed. According to the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service, the number of patients visiting hospitals due to obesity doubled from 14,966 in 2017 to 30,170 in 2021. Experts speculated that reasons for the increase in the number of obese patients were poor eating habits, such as ordering unhealthy food and not exercising sufficiently. It is known that people who suffer from obesity are at increased ris

June 13, 2023