Man caught for murder of ex-girlfriend and her daughter

A 65-year-old man suspected of murdering his former girlfriend and her daughter was caught by local police Friday morning, according to officials. Officers at Bangbae Police Station located the suspect at around 7:45 a.m. near Namtaeryeong Station in Bangbae-dong, Seocho-gu, and apprehended the suspect. The police tracked down the suspect based on surveillance footage. The suspect is believed to have stabbed the woman in her 60s and her daughter to death at a commercial-residential complex in Da

May 31, 2024

Health ministry pledges more support for trainee doctors amid protracted walkout

The health ministry said Friday it will provide more financial support for trainee doctors and begin a trial operation to reduce their working hours, amid protracted walkouts prompted by a plan that boosted the number of medical students. Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang told reporters that the pilot program will decrease the continuous working hours for trainee doctors from the current 36 hours to approximately 24 to 30 hours. "The new law reducing trainee doctors' working hours

May 31, 2024

[Graphic News] Instagram overtakes Naver as 3rd most popular mobile app in S. Korea

Photo-sharing app Instagram overtook Naver, the nation’s leading internet portal, as the third most popular mobile app in South Korea in terms of usage time last month, industry data showed. South Koreans spent a combined 20.9 billion minutes on Instagram in April, according to data from mobile market research firm Wiseapp Retail Goods. It marked the first time Instagram outstripped Naver to become the third most used smartphone app here since Wiseapp began compiling such data in March 2

May 31, 2024

Petition reemerges for return of Fu Bao the panda

A petition calling for the return of a giant panda, which was sent to China after being born and raised in South Korea, has resurfaced here amid lingering concerns over the beloved bear’s wellbeing in China. The petition, titled "Return Fu Bao to Korea” and submitted by a petitioner surnamed Koh, emerged Wednesday on the National Assembly’s online petition platform. It has met the initial requirement of gathering 100 consents and now awaits a review for it to be made pub

May 30, 2024

One in 10 households bought lottery tickets in Q1: data

Over one in 10 households bought at least one lottery ticket during the first quarter of this year, marking the highest first-quarter percentage in the last five years -- over 10 percent -- data showed Thursday. These households spent on average 7,300 won ($5.31) on lotto tickets during the first quarter of 2024, according to data presented by Statistics Korea. The number of households that purchased any type of ticket -- including traditional drawing, scratch-off, one-off jackpot or annuity p

May 30, 2024

Court orders SK chief to pay W1.4tr in divorce settlement

The Seoul High Court on Thursday ruled in favor of Roh Soh-yeong, the estranged wife of SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, in their ongoing divorce settlement, saying that the settlement decided by the lower court was insufficient. The appellate court overturned the initial ruling and ordered Chey to pay 1.38 trillion won ($942 million) in property division and 2 billion won in a one-off alimony payment. It said that the previously ordered alimony of 100 million won was insufficient and should be i

May 30, 2024

1 in 10 Seoul households own dogs: report

One in every 10 households in Seoul has a dog registered as a pet, with Maltese being the most common breed, a report showed Thursday. Some 612,000 dogs are registered in Seoul, 17.5 percent of the total dogs registered across the country. Of the total, some 20 percent of dog owners said they had a Maltese, according to the report released by the Seoul Digital Foundation, affiliated with the Seoul metropolitan government. The list of common breeds also included Poodles, mixed-breed dogs, Pomeran

May 30, 2024

Man jailed for attacking police because of 'insincere response'

A man in his 20s has been sentenced to a year and six months in prison for attacking a police officer with a knife, for what he thought was "insincere response" from investigators. The defendant was found guilty by the Seoul Northern District Court of both obstruction of official duties and special obstruction of public duty, which is applied when the crime involves the use of a dangerous weapon. "This crime is very dangerous in both its means and the results, and the defendant ha

May 30, 2024

Wife forgives husband who tried to kill her

An appellate court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling on a man's attempted murder of his wife, based on the victim's wishes for the husband not to be punished. The Daejeon High Court sentenced the 65-year-old defendant to four years in prison, overturning an earlier ruling that ordered a seven-year prison term. The defendant was accused of stabbing his 61-year-old wife 10 times, with an intent to kill, at their home in Bangok-dong in Sejong at around 10:35 p.m. on July 18, last

May 29, 2024

1,533 retired couples get at least W3m in state pension: report

A total of 1,533 retired couples in South Korea were receiving a combined benefit of 3 million won ($2,200) a month via the state-run pension program as of January of this year, the National Pension Service said Wednesday. According to the NPS, the number of couples getting at least 3 million-won benefit between them has increased each year since three couples passed the threshold for the first time in 2017. The number has increased exponentially since then, going from 196 in 2021 to 565 in 2022

May 29, 2024

Meth use most widespread but declining, cocaine on rise, sewage reveals

The effects of illegal drug use are difficult to grasp in their full scope, but it leaves traces behind in the environment. Drug residuals enter the wastewater system through human urine. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety’s annual analysis of sewage has found residuals of methamphetamine in all samples collected nationwide last year, although its concentration level was down from previous years. Cocaine, which had so far been detected in limited metropolitan locations only, showed a c

May 29, 2024

Woman convicted of multiple false accusations of rape, sexual assault

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday appealed a recent court ruling that handed a three-year prison term to a woman in her 30s for falsely accusing 12 men of sexual assault. Officials of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office challenged the ruling Monday, saying the punishment was too lenient. The prosecution had requested a six-year prison term for the defendant. "A false accusation of sex crime inflicts significant adverse effects on the victim's life. ... (The prosecution has) a

May 29, 2024

Yoon called ex-minister over marine's death: report

Former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had multiple phone calls with President Yoon Suk Yeol on the day that an internal investigation over a marine corporal's death was transferred to and returned from civilian police in August last year, communication records show. Yoon called Lee directly three times on Aug. 2 between 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. soon after the internal report by a Marine investigator was sent to the police in the morning, according to the records obtained by Yonhap News Agency. T

May 29, 2024

Which day would you take off in a four-day workweek?

If your company were to adapt a four-day workweek, which day would you prefer to be the new day off: Monday or Friday to lengthen your weekend, or Wednesday to split the workweek in half? A recent online survey of South Korea's workers showed that Wednesday was preferred by the largest share of respondents. According to the poll, conducted by local portal site Nate, which is operated by SK Communications, 40 percent of the 11,120 respondents, or 4,528 individuals, chose to take a day off in

May 29, 2024

Med school expansion needed to tackle ER shortage: ministry

A total of 3,752 patients have died between 2017 and 2023 after emergency rooms refused to admit them due to lack of doctors, the Health Ministry said Wednesday, stressing the need for medical school expansion to address the shortage of doctors in ER. Kang Joon, who heads the health care reform task force at the Health Ministry, said that most of the patients had died because there were no doctors who could treat them, adding that the country's critical care is in "extreme trouble.&quo

May 29, 2024

Popular bakery may pull out of Daejeon Station due to rent dispute

Sungsimdang, a renowned bakery that has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in Daejeon, recently said it may close its Daejeon Station branch over a rent dispute with the station operator. Korail has rented out a space to the bakery since 2012, with a five-year contract inked in 2019 due to expire in October. Sungsimdang currently pays 100 million won ($73,300) a month for the space, but Korail is reportedly requesting around 440 million won for the next contract, which would be arou

May 29, 2024

Former SK hynix worker on trial for selling stolen chip tech to Huawei

A Chinese national who worked for South Korean chipmaker SK hynix is on trial accused of smuggling technology to reduce semiconductor defects to the company's Chinese rival Huawei, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said Tuesday. According to police officials, the ex-employee in her 30s was arrested under the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology in April. She was indicted by prosecutors earlier in the month and is currently standing trial at Suwon Dis

May 28, 2024

S. Korea seeks educational support for N. Korean defectors' children born abroad

The unification ministry said Tuesday it will push to provide educational support for North Korean defectors' children who were born in third countries in an effort to tackle the blind spot in the welfare system. The move is part of the fourth three-year basic plan to support the resettlement of North Korean defectors. The ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs held a pan-government meeting earlier in the day to review and approve the 2024-2026 plan. Under the blueprint, the government

May 28, 2024

Spate of Army deaths sparks safety concerns

Recent casualties in the South Korean military, including the deaths of two Army conscripts at boot camps, have prompted calls for a reevaluation of the safety of soldiers in a country where all able-bodied men are required to serve. On Tuesday, two military officers were referred to the police in connection with the death of a trainee soldier last week who collapsed while being disciplined at a boot camp in Inje, Gangwon Province. According to Gangwon police and local reports, the victim, who

May 28, 2024

Mosquitoes increase due to climate change

South Korea is expected to see more mosquitoes this summer as the acceleration in climate change is amplifying mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria across the nation. "The weather agency predicts this year's summer to be hotter than usual. ... Extremely hot weather leads to a surge in mosquito activity. This means that people will notice more mosquito bites this summer, and thus be more uncomfortable," Lee Hee-il, the head of the division of vectors and parasitic diseases at th

May 28, 2024