More than 3 out of 10 deepfake victims are minors

Three out of 10 deepfake victims who sought help from a state agency tackling digital sex crimes were minors, officials said Wednesday, underlining the seriousness of such crimes. A total of 781 deepfake victims asked for help from the Advocacy Center for Online Sexual Abuse Victims between Jan. 1 and Sunday, and 288 of them, or 36.9 percent, were minors, according to the Women's Human Rights Institute of Korea under the gender ministry. The number of underage victims of deepfake crimes rep

Aug. 28, 2024

Yoon vows crackdown on deepfake porn as digital sex crime surges

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday called for a thorough investigation and identification of digital sex crimes involving deepfake pornography, amid growing concerns over the rapid spread of sexually explicit content made using artificial intelligence. “Recently, deepfake videos targeting an unspecified number of people have circulated rapidly on social media,” Yoon said at a Cabinet meeting. “Anyone can be a victim of such digital sex crimes. I urge all authorities involved

Aug. 27, 2024

93% of parents in Korea's youngest city oppose shared kick scooters

Some 93 percent of the parents of children and teens living in Sejong say they do not need any electric kick scooter sharing systems in the city, a survey showed Tuesday. Kim Hyo-sook, city council member of South Korea's youngest city in terms of average age, commissioned the survey from the Sejong City Office of Education of 4,325 parents in the area whose children are currently in kindergarten, elementary, middle or high school. A total of 4,025 said they do not need shared kick scoote

Aug. 27, 2024

Top-earning delivery rider dies after traffic accident

A food delivery rider, who had risen to internet stardom as the highest-earning delivery driver in the nation, died Sunday night, a month after he was struck by a bus while riding his motorcycle. According to the Incheon Yeonsu Police Station on Tuesday, the fatal accident took place at 2:30 p.m. in Yeonsu-go, Incheon, July 31, when an intra-city bus collided with the delivery worker in his 40s at a crossroad. Investigations revealed that the bus driver had violated a traffic signal, striking th

Aug. 27, 2024

Crisis in medical system builds as hospital workers plan walkout

Amid a prolonged medical standoff, concerns are again looming large as more than 22,000 unionized hospital workers plan to strike beginning Thursday if the ongoing arbitration by the labor relations committee fails to reach an agreement on a pay raise and the normalization of hospital operations. The planned walkout comes after 91 percent of the Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union -- which has some 30,000 nurses, caregivers and other medical workers at 61 hospitals as members -- vote

Aug. 27, 2024

Half of S. Koreans have chronic anger issues: study

About half of the South Korean population seems to be suffering from long-term repressed anger issues, with nearly 1 in 10 being severe cases, a local study revealed Tuesday indicated. You Myoung-soon, a professor in Seoul National University's Graduate School of Public Health, conducted a study on the social and psychological well-being of Korean nationals, based on the survey her team conducted of 1,024 adults June 12-14. The team asked the respondents to rank their level of pent-up ang

Aug. 27, 2024

Seoul Metro to replace 3 removed Dokdo models with video displays

After stirring controversy by removing models of the Dokdo islets from three of Seoul subway stations over the past few months, Seoul Metro said Tuesday that it has decided to install TVs in the stations that will play promotional videos of the South Korean islets. According to the subway operator which is owned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the videos will be played at the wall-mounted TVs that will be installed at Jamsil Station, Anguk Station and Gwanghwamun Station by early September

Aug. 27, 2024

Off-duty firefighter puts out flames at barn with no gear, prevents forest fire

An off-duty firefighter stopped what could have become a sizeable forest fire by extinguishing a barn fire that he encountered on his way home, a local fire station said Monday. Lt. Han Jeong-hyeon of the Hwacheon Fire Station was driving home at around 6:30 p.m. on Friday when he saw smoke rising near a mountain in Sinbuk-eup of Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. The 42-year-old firefighter headed toward the site, where he found an senior man trying to extinguish a fire in his barn. The elder man w

Aug. 27, 2024

Fear of deepfake porn chat rooms on Telegram targeting indiscriminate women grips nation

Numerous chat rooms on Telegram suspected of creating and distributing deepfake pornographic material with doctored photos of ordinary women have been discovered recently, stoking fear and outrage across the country. Many victims in these chat rooms -- one of which was found to have over 133,000 members -- were believed to be minors, including middle and high school students, as well as university students, teachers and even military personnel. Through reporting, Yonhap News Agency has learned o

Aug. 26, 2024

In Andong, $1,500 accidentally thrown in trash returns to owner

In Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, $1,500 in US dollar banknotes were accidentally dumped in the trash. Thanks to impressive civil services and a stroke of luck, the cash was retrieved and returned to its owner, according to Andong City Government on Monday. It all started with an urgent call to Andong City Hall at around 1 p.m. Friday. The call was from a citizen who reported accidentally discarding the US dollar bills, meant for upcoming overseas travel, with their trash. Upon realizing the

Aug. 26, 2024

Rise in multinational recipients of basic pension spurs review of eligibility

The number of elderly individuals with multiple nationalities receiving South Korea's basic pension has jumped fivefold over the past decade, according to government data released Monday. The data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare shows that the number of pension recipients with multiple nationalities has steadily risen, from 1,047 in 2014, the first year of the pension’s introduction, to 5,699 in 2023. Their proportion also grew from 0.02 percent in 2014 to 0.09 percent last ye

Aug. 26, 2024

Heat wave to end later this week

A temporary end to the scorching heat could be near, as the Korea Meteorological Administration stated Monday that high temperatures will decrease in some parts of South Korea from Wednesday. According to the KMA, the Tibetan and North Pacific high pressure systems -- which brought hot and humid temperatures into Korea -- has shrunk, opening a gap for cold, dry air from the north to enter into the atmosphere above Korea. The weather agency added that while ocean surface temperatures around the

Aug. 26, 2024

Emergency alerts now available in 5 languages

The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Monday that emergency alerts sent through the “Emergency Ready App” will now be available in five different languages. According to the Interior Ministry, the application formally sent out its emergency alerts through the app in English and Chinese only. However, starting Monday, the app will also begin to issue its alerts in Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese. The Emergency Ready App is an application run by the Ministry of Interior and Safet

Aug. 26, 2024

Korean hospital ordered to pay W423m for US national's death

A Seoul court has ordered a local hospital to pay 423 million won ($319,993) to the family of a US national who died from a pulmonary embolism shortly after a hip replacement surgery in 2019, legal sources said Monday. The Seoul Central District Court recently delivered the ruling nearly five years after the bereaved family filed a damages suit against the hospital for negligence that resulted in death. The incident happened in August 2019 when the man, who was a 59-year-old American civilian em

Aug. 26, 2024

Mattress blamed for intensifying fatal hotel fire in Bucheon

The proximity of a mattress to the source of last week's deadly fire at a hotel in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, appears to have significantly contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, authorities investigating the case said Monday. The preliminary investigation suggests an electrical fault in the air conditioning unit as the likely cause, with sparks igniting the nearby sofa and the mattress. Fire authorities suspect that overheating or dust in the aging device precipitated the fault. Ca

Aug. 26, 2024

[Community Discovery] Bringing the vibe back: Yongsan strives to revive Itaewon

Choi Jeong-kyu, CEO of Jonny Dumpling, a Shandong-style dumpling restaurant located in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, reflects on the challenging days his business has faced since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the tragic crowd crush incident nearly two years ago. The local restaurant, well known for its half-moon-shaped dumplings, faced a significant decline in customers over the past four years. However, it has gradually regained its footing after being selected as one of 30 rep

Aug. 26, 2024

Top prosecutor vows to respect investigation review panel in first lady's case

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok said Monday that he will respect the upcoming conclusion by a panel of external private experts on first lady Kim Keon Hee's luxury handbag case. Lee made the remarks after referring the case to the investigation review committee, an external body that deliberates on investigations of high public interest, last Friday. Earlier that week, he was briefed that an investigation team from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office decided not to seek charges ag

Aug. 26, 2024

11 mpox cases reported this year with no new virus strain

Eleven mpox cases have been reported so far this year in South Korea, but all detected cases were the less deadly Clade II variant, health authorities said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the latest case was reported last month, adding that health authorities have bolstered screening at borders to cope with the deadly new variant. South Korea reported 151 mpox cases last year. The majority of patients were males aged 20 to 40 in the greater Seoul area, with cl

Aug. 26, 2024

What went wrong in response to Bucheon hotel fire?

Funerals for the victims of Thursday‘s Bucheon hotel fire were held on Sunday, but the controversy surrounding the tragedy has intensified while authorities have been searching to identify the circumstances that led to seven deaths and a dozen other injuries. Amid the ongoing efforts to determine the exact cause of the fire, a debate about the inflatable rescue mattress used by firefighters erupted, as two of the seven people died attempting to jump onto it. Soon after the blaze broke out,

Aug. 25, 2024

Frequent hotel fires here point to lack of sprinklers

Following Thursday’s hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which claimed seven lives and injured 12 people, concerns have been raised about the lack of fire safety measures in accommodations here. According to the National Fire Agency on Sunday, a total of 1,843 fires occurred at accommodation facilities between 2019 and 2023. These fires resulted in 32 deaths and 355 injuries. By type of lodging, motels had the most fires, with 645 incidents, accounting for 35 percent of the total.

Aug. 25, 2024