Calls grow for legal measures to protect minors from metaverse sex crimes

Calls for measures to counter sex crimes in the metaverse are rising with an increasing number of predators targeting teenagers. Huh Kyung-mi, a professor of police administration at Keimyung University, said that legal measures are essential to respond to sexual exploitation in the metaverse in a paper published on Sunday. According to Huh, 70 percent of metaverse service users are teenagers, and criminal attempts on the metaverse platform, especially those that target youthful avatars, has bee

Sept. 25, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases under 30,000 for 3rd straight day

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained below 30,000 for the third straight day Sunday in a sign that the virus wave is slowing down at a steady pace. The country reported 25,792 new COVID-19 infections, including 248 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,620,128, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Newly reported virus cases have shown a steady downward trajectory as of late after the COVID-19 omicron variant surged again in early July and peaked above

Sept. 25, 2022

South Korea is keeping mandatory masking indoors

South Korea said Friday it was ending its mask mandate outdoors for the first time it was introduced over a year ago. The mandate, which took effect April last year, has required people to stay masked during outdoor gatherings involving large groups such as rallies, sporting events and concerts. Starting next week, mask-wearing will not be necessary at all outside. The change is an expansion of the easing in the mandate earlier in May, which allowed people to be mask-free in an outdoor settin

Sept. 23, 2022

Ban on single use cups to go on trial run from December

The ban on free single-use cups will kick off in December, going on a test trial run in Sejong and on Jeju Island. A recent report by the Environment Ministry showed the use of disposable cups has soared during the pandemic. The number of single-use plastic and paper cups consumed at 14 cafes and four popular fast-food chains reached 1.02 billion last year, marking a huge surge from 770 million in 2019. After postponing the introduction of a ban on single-use cups at franchise stores due to opp

Sept. 23, 2022

Prosecutors raid media watchdog over suspected score manipulation in cable TV reapprovals

Prosecutors on Friday raided the Korea Communications Commission, the state media regulator, over suspicion of score manipulation in the process of its license renewal for some general programming cable TV channels two years ago. The Seoul Northern District Prosecutors Office sent prosecutors and investigators to the KCC building in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, to secure documents related to the reapproval of cable TV channels in 2020. The raid came after the Board of Audit and Inspection rais

Sept. 23, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases fall to lowest Friday figure in 11 weeks

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest Friday tally in 11 weeks in the latest sign of a downward trend ahead of the planned lifting of all outdoor mask mandates next week. The country reported 29,108 new COVID-19 infections, including 303 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,565,021, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. The new daily figure is the lowest of all Friday tallies since cases dropped to 19,295 on July 8. The daily caseload decreased from

Sept. 23, 2022

Yoon meets Fields Medal winner Huh in New York

TORONTO -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with June Huh, the Korean American mathematician who won this year's prestigious Fields Medal, in New York on Thursday, and discussed ways to foster talented people in science and technology, his office said. Yoon, who was in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, congratulated the 39-year-old professor of Princeton University once again on winning the Fields Medal, which is often dubbed the Nobel Prize in mathematics. He was awarded

Sept. 23, 2022

Jeju logs more than 10 mln visitors amid eased COVID-19 curbs

The number of visitors to South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju has topped 10 million so far this year, recovering from a slump caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Thursday. The number of travelers, including those coming from overseas, to Jeju, one of the most favored travel destinations in South Korea, totaled 10,004,145 as of Monday, up 22.7 percent from a year ago, according to the data from the Jeju Tourism Association, Last year, the 10-million milestone was reached on

Sept. 22, 2022

Sex crime chat rooms resurface, this time with deepfakes

Digital chat rooms that share or sell deepfake pornography content remain prevalent despite a new provision to punish related crimes implemented two years ago. Deepfake content refers to digitally manipulated videos and images that are hard to distinguish from genuine content. Most pornographic deepfake content grafts a person’s face -- usually an acquaintance or celebrity -- onto sexually explicit videos. According to ReSET, a digital sex crime victim support group, one of the Telegram ch

Sept. 22, 2022

Justice Ministry to expand medical custody to child sex offenders

The Ministry of Justice is set to push to expand the "medical treatment and custody" of child sex offenders, Thursday. Medical treatment and custody refers to detaining offenders with high risk of recidivism, such as pedophiles or drug addicts, at state facilities and providing them with psychiatric treatment. According to the current law, sex offenders with psychological disorders including pedophilia can be subject to the measure for up to 15 years if the prosecution requests. The pe

Sept. 22, 2022

New COVID-19 cases hit 11-week low for Thursday amid virus slowdown

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell to the lowest number in nearly three months for a Thursday count, as the virus wave is slowing down at a steady pace. The country reported 33,009 new COVID-19 infections, including 255 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,535,940, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The latest tally is down by more than 8,200 from the previous day and the lowest for a Thursday figure since 18,494 recorded on July 7. The virus wave,

Sept. 22, 2022

S. Korea may fully return to normal in spring

South Korea might be able to return to pre-pandemic normalcy in spring next year, possibly with major antivirus measures lifted, including the country's indoor masking rule, Jung Ki-suck, the head of the government‘s COVID-19 special response committee, said during a radio interview with a local broadcasting company Wednesday. Jung said that South Korea might be able to fully return to normalcy by next year, not because the virus will disappear, but as the country will be more capable of

Sept. 21, 2022

Prosecution launches task force on Sindang Station murder

The prosecutors' office is to launch a task force on the Sindang Station murder, with the suspect now in prosecution custody. The suspect, 31-year old former Seoul Metro employee Jeon Joo-hwan, was transferred to the prosecution Wednesday, accused of murdering a Seoul Metro employee on Sept. 14. Meeting the press at Seoul Namdaemun Police Station, Jeon repeated he was sorry for his actions. Jeon said “I did something truly crazy” when asked by reporters whether he has anything else

Sept. 21, 2022

Gyeonggi Province bus union headed for strike

The bus drivers' union in Gyeonggi Province, under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, appears set for a general strike later this month, with an overwhelming majority of members supporting the plan. The union on Tuesday voted on the plan to strike on Sept. 30 with 97.3 percent of approval rate. According to the union, 14,485 members participated in the vote, and 14,091 of them voted for the general strike. The province's bus drivers' union counts 15,234 members across 47 compa

Sept. 21, 2022

Revenge crimes rising, but arrests still uncommon

Revenge crimes, some resulting in murder, are on the rise, but the number of suspects taken into custody remains low, despite the potential for retaliation being stipulated as a reason for detention. According to National Police Agency data obtained by Rep. Jung Woo-taek of the People Power Party, the number of revenge crimes during the first eight months of the year came to 281 cases. Last year, the figure stood at 434, up sharply from the 298 and 294 recorded in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Ho

Sept. 21, 2022

The past and the present of weather prediction

By Yoo Hee-dong, Administrator of the Korea Meteorological Administration A series of unexpected extreme weather events have been reported this summer in the United States and Europe. In the eastern US, more than 1,400 records for high temperatures were broken in July, and the high temperatures continued for quite some time. Coningsby in England, which has an average July temperature of 20-25 degrees, saw the UK’s hottest-ever temperature of over 40 degrees. In addition, the southern part

Sept. 21, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases dip to 10-week low for Wednesday

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases remained below 50,000 for five days in a row Wednesday, as the pandemic has been in retreat for two months and the country has tried to resume pre-pandemic normalcy. The country reported 41,286 new COVID-19 infections, including 326 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 24,502,968, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily figure is the lowest of all Wednesday tallies since cases dropped to 40,240 on July 13, and declined

Sept. 21, 2022

Subway murder suspect says he was 'truly crazy'

The suspect in the shocking subway murder case said Wednesday he "has done a truly crazy thing" as police referred him to the prosecution for further investigation and indictment. The Seoul Metro employee was apprehended a week earlier at Sindang Station on Line No. 2 after stabbing a female colleague in her 20s to death in the subway station's ladies' room. The case shocked the nation, as it was revealed the killing took place one day before a court was set to sentence him o

Sept. 21, 2022

Visa applications open for additional 10,000 foreign E-9 workers

The South Korean government has started receiving application from foreign workers who hope to work here on a nonprofessional employment visa. From Sept. 19-29, workers are able to apply for a nonprofessional employment E-9 visa via the Employment Permit System, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor. This is in line with the ministry’s decision on Aug. 31 to raise the total quota of E-9 visas by 10,000 this year, from 59,000 to 69,000. The job additions were made in an attempt

Sept. 20, 2022

UCLG Congress to be held at Daejeon next month

Daejeon is making the final preparations for the international summit of local and regional governments in October, along with entertainment to welcome visitors. Daejeon will host the 2022 UCLG Congress World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders at the Daejeon Convention Center from Oct. 10-14. United Cities and Local Governments is the world's largest international organization of local governments recognized by the United Nations, with 240,000 local governments from 140 countries as membe

Sept. 20, 2022