Police uncover illegal gambling website made by teens, for teens

Busan police on Thursday arrested the operators of an illegal website that offered illegal gambling services mostly for teenagers, run primarily by teenagers. The cyber investigation unit of the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency arrested a man in his 20s on the charge of operating an illegal online gambling website. Also under investigation are 16 teenagers suspected to be operators of the site, including two suspected to be the founders. Officers believe that the website was created by two boys,

April 18, 2024

Civic groups call on govt. to end crackdown on illegal immigration

A coalition of eight South Korean civic groups and unions on Thursday called on the Yoon Suk Yeol government to end its intensified crackdown on foreign nationals residing illegally in the country. The coalition protested the government's recent joint crackdowns, condemning them as an "anti-human rights measure that will create an atmosphere of fear against unregistered immigrants, justify their oppression by treating them as criminals, and lead to numerous human rights violations.&quo

April 18, 2024

Farming households dip below 1m for first time in 2023

The number of farming households in South Korea fell below 1 million for the first time last year, while over half of the country's farming population was aged 65 or older, latest data showed Thursday. According to Statistics Korea, there were an estimated 999,000 farming households as of Dec. 1, a decrease of 24,000, or 2.3 percent, compared with 2022. This is the first time since the survey began in 1949 that the number has dipped below 1 million. However, Statistics Korea cautioned that

April 18, 2024

‘The Host’ creature sculpture in Han River park to be removed

A sculpture modeled after the mutated fish creature from Bong Joon-ho's 2006 film "The Host" is set for removal this year from Yeouido Han River Park due to its design clashing with the park's aesthetics, Seoul City announced Thursday. The 3-meter-tall and 10-meter-long sculpture was installed in 2014 as part of an endeavor to enrich the area's cultural and tourist allure with a city budget of around 180 million won ($130,900). Following a new urban design initiative l

April 18, 2024

Will tug-of-war between doctors, government end soon?

The Korean government on Thursday broke its silence on its medical student quota expansion plan after over a week of maintaining a low profile following the ruling party's major election defeat, stoking hopes that it could possibly end the monthslong tug-of-war with the medical circle. The government announced plans to resume Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters meetings involving officials from related ministries and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, as well as to brief repo

April 18, 2024

Rolex thief claims to be have ‘too low an IQ’ to know better

Three South Korean men under trial for stealing an expensive watch have pleaded for leniency, with one of the defendants claiming to have too low an IQ to have had a clear idea of what he was getting himself into. Jeju District Court on Wednesday held a hearing on a 19-year-old man who stole a Rolex watch worth about 19 million won ($13,800) in Jeju city, along with his two accomplices, both aged 20. The suspects were caught while trying to sell the watch at a pawn shop in another part of the ci

April 18, 2024

Man jailed for making it rain with fake money

A court recently handed down a two-year prison sentence for a South Korean man for photocopying hundreds of counterfeit banknotes and gift certificates and scattering them through the window of his apartment building. The 43-year-old suspect surnamed Jo has been found guilty on charges including counterfeiting currency, counterfeiting valuable securities and defamation by the Seoul Northern District Court. "The nature of the crime is severe, in that (the defendant) infringed upon the credib

April 18, 2024

5.1 % of Korean population registered as disabled in 2023: report

More than 2.64 million South Koreans, comprising 5.1 percent of the country's total population, were registered as disabled persons in 2023, according to annual statistics released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare on Thursday. Most of the disabled population were also aged 65 and above, making up more than half of the total, the ministry said in the report. The proportion of those with disabilities aged 65 and above has increased annually, with 41.4 percent in 2014, 49.9 percent in 202

April 18, 2024

Board to discuss possible parole of president's mother-in-law

The Ministry of Justice is set to conduct a parole review next week, with President Yoon Suk Yeol's mother-in-law expected to be included among those up for consideration, local media outlets reported Thursday. The ministry is slated to hold a monthly session of the Probation and Parole Board next Tuesday, according to reports citing legal sources. Among the inmates undergoing the review will be Choi Eun-soon, the 77-year-old mother of first lady Kim Keon Hee. Choi has been incarcerated at

April 18, 2024

Fugitive facing W3b fraud charges extradited from Kuwait after 12 years

A South Korean man has been extradited home from Kuwait this week, 12 years after he fled to the Middle Eastern nation to avoid arrest on charges of fraud amounting to some 3 billion won ($2.17 million), officials said Thursday. The suspect, 58, was brought home through Incheon International Airport on Wednesday afternoon to face charges that he defrauded the victim after fabricating a company document ordering construction materials in May 2011, according to police. After he fled to Kuwait in S

April 18, 2024

[Graphic News] More Koreans say they plan long-distance trips this year

Long-distance travel will be more active this year than before, and many will leave for North America or Europe. A local online tourist agency, yeogi.com, surveyed its 233 mobile app users in March, and 62.2 percent of respondents said they are planning long-distance travel to destinations including the US, Canada, France and the UK. These results show a change from recent preferences for short trips to countries nearby such as Japan and Vietnam. North America was named the most preferred dest

April 18, 2024

K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room

The manager of a K-pop boy band was dismissed on suspicion of installing a hidden camera in a theater dressing room, the band’s label WM Entertainment announced Wednesday. The camera was reportedly spotted by an actor who was starring in the musical “Next to Normal,” in a dressing room located on the sixth floor of the Kwanglim Art Center in southern Seoul on April 9. The actor immediately reported the camera to the police. According to local media reports, the dismissed employ

April 17, 2024

1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse

Amid rapid aging and an increasing number of young people choosing to hold off on marriage, the proportion of one-person households in South Korea increased last year to 33.4 percent, data from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family showed Wednesday. According to the ministry's factual survey of families based on 12,044 households in the country, the number of single-person households nearly doubled in 10 years. The group which accounted for 15.8 percent in 2010 grew to 30.4 percent i

April 17, 2024

Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral

South Korean Muslim YouTuber Daud Kim has again become the subject of media attention, after he announced on his channel that he would build a mosque on land he had purchased in Incheon. Kim, a content creator in his 30s with more than 5.52 million YouTube subscribers, posts videos in English about living as a Muslim in Korea. He gained a lot of followers overseas after publicly announcing on YouTube his conversion to Islam from Christianity in September 2019. In August 2020, he generated contro

April 17, 2024

[Herald Interview] Government to support firms in reducing carbon emissions

Kim Sang-hyup, co-chair of the Presidential Commission on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth, said that the environmental crisis caused by climate change is “not something to consider for the distant future, but a current matter of survival for everyone.” During an interview with Herald Business and The Korea Herald on Mar. 28, Kim mentioned that extreme weather events have recently become more frequent and that climate change has seriously affected people’s daily lives and the

April 17, 2024

1,700 killed for their religion during Korean War: panel

About 1,700 religious people in South Korea were massacred by the North Korean military, pro-North groups, and other hostile forces around the time of the 1950-53 Korean War, the state-run independent investigative committee on past endeavors said Wednesday. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea have verified the complete list of religious people that had been killed across the country, based on records including the 1952 report by the now-defunct Bureau of Public Informatio

April 17, 2024

Man nabbed for protest on top of Han River bridge

Yongsan Police Station in Seoul took into custody a man in his 50s for hanging an illegal banner and staging a five-hour protest on top of a Han River bridge on Wednesday morning. The man demanded that President Yoon Suk Yeol be granted emergency powers. The suspect climbed to the top of the metal structure of the Hangangdaegyo bridge in Ichon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul at around 5:40 a.m., hanging a banner saying, "I demand the government and the ruling party grant emergency powers (to the pr

April 17, 2024

Ministry to hire retired doctors to fill medical void

The Health Ministry on Wednesday started recruiting retired or soon-to-retire physicians to address rural healthcare deserts and essential medical fields as the junior doctors’ mass resignation entered its ninth week. The ministry on Tuesday afternoon opened a center for senior doctors at the National Medical Center in Jung-gu, central Seoul, to entice senior doctors nearing retirement or inactive physicians with experience working in university hospitals to extend their years of service i

April 17, 2024

Man files missing person's case after girlfriend won't return his calls

The South Korean police are investigating a man in his 60s who falsely reported that his girlfriend was missing after she didn't return his calls. Yangcheon Police Station in Seoul is questioning the man on a charge of violating the Punishment of Minor Offenses Act, Article 3 of which states that falsely reporting a missing person's case is punishable by a fine of up to 600,000 won ($432) or 29 days in a detention center. At around 9:19 p.m. on April 13, the suspect reported to the p

April 17, 2024

13,000 medical students to seek injunction against medical school quota hike

Some 13,000 medical students plan to collectively seek court injunctions to halt their schools' expansion of admission quotas, a lawyer said Wednesday, as the walkout by protesting trainee doctors continued for nearly two months. The injunction requests will be filed next Monday by students from 32 medical schools outside Seoul against the presidents of their universities, asking the court to halt the schools' revision of admission plans to reflect increased medical school seats, said

April 17, 2024