[Newsmaker] N. Korea seen moving intercontinental ballistic missile: report

South Korean and US intelligence have spotted North Korea moving an intercontinental ballistic missile, along with four mobile launchers, at an auto plant on the outskirts of Pyongyang, a Seoul official told a local media outlet on Saturday. “The missile is larger than the one they fired in 2017 and we believe they will showcase that at a military parade on Oct. 10,” the official said. North Korea fired its first ICBM, Hwasong-15, in 2017 and appears set to stage a show of force on

North KoreaOct. 4, 2020

[Newsmaker] School violence down but juvenile sex offenses up sharply

Overall school violence has been on a steady decline in recent years, but the number of juvenile sex offenders has spiked significantly, police data showed on Sunday. The number of teenagers arrested for acts of school violence totaled 13,584 last year, marking a decrease of 3 percent from 14,000 in 2017, according to the data from the National Police Agency (NPA). School violence is classified into four types -- sexual violence, assaults, extortion and others -- and offenders include elementa

Social AffairsOct. 4, 2020

[Newsmaker] What we know, and what we don't, about Trump's coronavirus

There are many unanswered questions surrounding President Donald Trump's COVID-19 diagnosis and treatment. White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said he only had mild symptoms, and his doctor said Trump was fatigued. But the president was being flown to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was expected to stay a few days. Here's what we know and what we don't know: WHO INFECTED TRUMP? We don't know, although there's no shortage of possible suspects. Trump, who typically shuns masks, was

World NewsOct. 3, 2020

[Newsmaker] Three children show abnormal reactions to mishandled flu vaccines

Three out of the eight South Koreans who have shown abnormal reactions to potentially defective flu vaccines are children, the public health agency said Friday. A total of 1,910 people were injected with the vaccines that were suspected to have been exposed to room temperature, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Out of the eight people who have complained of symptoms that include headaches, chills and nausea, one is under the age of 10, two are teenagers, thre

Social AffairsOct. 2, 2020

[Newsmaker] Smartphone market heats up with new arrivals

Suffering from stalled growth in recent years, the smartphone market remained dull until the first half of this year amid the gloomy sentiment driven by the pandemic. But starting with Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note 20 launch in August followed by LG Electronics’ new swiveling form factor smartphone in September, the market is seeing consumer excitement grow again with the releases of new models. Among others, the launches of new form factors seem to be leading the overall recov

TechnologyOct. 1, 2020

[Newsmaker] Ryu Hyun-jin's successful 1st season with Blue Jays ends with postseason elimination

What has largely been a successful season as a new ace for the Toronto Blue Jays has ended on a bitter note for Ryu Hyun-jin. Ryu was torched for seven runs on eight hits in his season-low 1 2/3 innings against the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 2 of the American League wild-card series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Wednesday (local time). The Blue Jays lost 8-2 and were eliminated from the best-of-three series 2-0. They lost the opener 3-1 on Tuesday. This was the Blue Jays' first

BaseballOct. 1, 2020

[Newsmaker] BTS tops two Billboard charts with latest hit 'Dynamite'

South Korean boy group BTS topped two of Billboard's main charts with its new single "Dynamite" this week, Billboard said Tuesday. "Dynamite" returned to the top spot on Billboard's main singles chart, the Hot 100, after spending two seeks at No. 2. The song had spent two weeks at the top of the singles chart after debuting at No. 1, becoming the 20th song in Billboard's history to spend the first two consecutive weeks of its debut at the top spot. With the rebound of its

K-popSept. 30, 2020

[Newsmaker] Google goes ahead with controversial in-app payment policy

Google said Tuesday that the company is updating its billing policies to require app developers distributing software through Google Play Store to use its own in-app payment system. All developers who are already distributing their software will have to use Google Play Store’s in-app purchase system instead of third-party payment systems, starting in October next yaer. The billing system charges a 30 percent fee to app developers. As for developers newly launching their applications

TechnologySept. 29, 2020

[Newsmaker] N. Korea defector given suspended sentence for collecting info for North

A North Korean defector who collected information for North Korean authorities after being blackmailed has been given a suspended sentence. The defector, identified by the surname Han, was sentenced to an eight-month prison term suspended for two years for violating the National Security Act. The Seoul Central District Court ruled that Han’s actions represented a clear danger of damaging South Korea’s democratic order and national security, as the information Han provided is lik

North KoreaSept. 28, 2020

[Newsmaker] To fight spycams, women’s bathrooms may adopt digital entry

A state-owned property developer in Korea is introducing QR code-based entry systems at public women’s bathrooms in a bid to ward off spy camera crimes. Korea Land and Housing Corp. said in a press release Sunday that smartphone-generated QR codes containing personal data will be scanned at entry points with the aim of protecting against sex crimes occurring inside bathrooms. The pilot project is slated to kick off later this year at six public women’s bathrooms in two cities of

Social AffairsSept. 28, 2020

[Newsmaker] Opposition party slams Cheong Wa Dae’s response to NK’s killing of civilian

Opposition lawmakers are stepping up attacks on President Moon Jae-in over the killing of a South Korean civil servant by North Korea, framing the incident as a case of mishandling or even neglect of duty by the top office. 　 Five members of the People Power Party took turns holding one-person protests outside Cheong Wa Dae, each staging an hourlong rally with a sign that read “President Moon Jae-in, where are you now,” denouncing the president and the government for a “dela

PoliticsSept. 27, 2020

[Newsmaker] Moon briefed 4 times on killed civil servant, UN message too late to be changed: Cheong Wa Dae

President Moon Jae-in was briefed on four occasions between Tuesday and Thursday on developments concerning the South Korean civil servant killed by the North Korean military, Cheong Wa Dae said. According to the presidential office, Moon was first briefed on the matter at 6:36 p.m. on Tuesday in the form of a written report. The report was made about three hours after the South’s military obtained intelligence that the civil servant was spotted by the North Korean military. At 10:30

PoliticsSept. 25, 2020

[Newsmaker] Korean lawmakers to summon Google, Netflix chiefs

The National Assembly of South Korea has selected the chiefs of Google and Netflix’s Korean operations as witnesses at the upcoming audits scheduled for October to ask questions about their business practices. According to the country’s legislative body Thursday, Nancy Mable Walker, who represents Google Korea, will be asked to testify at the Science, ICT, Broadcasting and Communications Committee’s first audit on Oct. 7. The committee’s decision to summon Walker co

IndustrySept. 24, 2020

[Newsmaker] Supreme Court affirms prison terms of singers in rape case

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court's prison sentences for Jung Joon-young and Choi Jong-hoon, two South Korean singers convicted of rape and other crimes. In May, Jung, a disgraced singer and TV personality, and Choi, a former member of boy band FT Island, were sentenced to five years and 2 1/2 years, respectively, in prison by an appeals court on charges including sexually assaulting women in 2016. Jung and Choi received prison terms of six and five years, respectively, from

Social AffairsSept. 24, 2020

[Newsmaker] Trump skips NK for first time in UN speech

US President Donald Trump made no mention of North Korea in his address to the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday (US time), for the first time in any of his four UN speeches since taking office.  In a prerecorded address from the White House, Trump focused his seven-minute speech on attacking China for “unleashing” COVID-19 onto the world and touched on various foreign policy issues, but did not say a word about Pyongyang.  It was the first time Trump has not me

North KoreaSept. 23, 2020

[Newsmaker] Seoul mediates again in diplomat’s alleged groping of New Zealander

The Foreign Ministry has resumed mediation between one of its diplomats and a male staffer in New Zealand who accused the diplomat of groping him in late 2017. 　 The ministry said it has informed the purported victim of its mediation on the case, and is awaiting his reply.　 Under New Zealand labor law, an employee can seek a settlement for an employer’s misconduct against him through the help of a mediator.　 In this case, the administrative staffer, a New Zealander, is the employee, and

Foreign AffairsSept. 22, 2020

[Newsmaker] Irregular workers more susceptible to job loss from COVID-19: survey

Temporary contract workers were more susceptible to job loss due to the coronavirus pandemic than full-time workers, with one in every three irregular workers losing their jobs over the past eight months, a survey showed Monday. According to a survey of 1,000 workers conducted by advocacy group Gabjil 119, 15.1 percent of respondents said they lost jobs during the coronavirus outbreak. Some 31.13 percent of contract workers lost their jobs, much higher than the 4.3 percent of full-time employee

Social AffairsSept. 21, 2020

[Newsmaker] Offline classes to resume in Seoul schools from Monday

Schools in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province will resume in-person classes Monday after South Korea eased its social distancing measures in the capital region. To minimize the risk of infection in classrooms, kindergartens and elementary and middle schools must limit attendance to one-third of the student body until Oct. 11, and high schools must limit attendance to two-thirds, the Education Ministry said. For the next several months, the measures will also apply to high school seniors und

Social AffairsSept. 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] How '70s oil shock led to SK battery biz

For the late SK Group Chairman Chey Jong-hyun, the 1970s oil shock was a wake-up call, a moment of reckoning that a petrochemical company cannot and should not let its destiny be dictated by the price of oil. When SK Group acquired domestic petrochemical company Yukong in 1980, which later became today’s SK Innovation, Chey had a clear vision that reaped rewards for decades. “Countries all over the world are trying to develop alternative energy after suffering from the 1970s oil c

IndustrySept. 20, 2020

[Newsmaker] 2 killed in fire at waste recycling facility

Two foreign workers were killed as a fire gutted a waste recycling facility located south of Seoul, authorities said Saturday. The incident occurred at around 4 a.m. inside a plastic waste recycling plant in Pyeongtaek, Gyeongggi Province. The blaze appears to have been started by the explosion of a transverse kiln, firefighters said. The fire killed two foreign workers, whose identities were withheld, and burned down two buildings. About 100 tons of plastic waste were apparently stored in th

Social AffairsSept. 19, 2020