South Korean police on Thursday caught an Uzbekistani con artist who allegedly swindled money out of a Syrian man with threats involving a nude picture of them together. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency requested an arrest warrant for the 28-year-old woman on charges of fraud.(Yonhap)The Uzbekistani woman, who met the 32-year-old Syrian man through a friend, allegedly blackmailed him from March to December last year, getting about 7 million won ($5,800) from him.The woman reportedly threat

Social Affairs March 11, 2016

South Korea’s top court on Tuesday ruled that the government is not responsible for compensating a Korean civilian killed by the U.S. Navy’s shelling during the 1950-53 Korean War. 　The Supreme Court ordered a retrial for the case in a lower court, reversing an earlier verdict that had demanded the government pay 48.8 million won ($39,600) to the victim’s bereaved families. 　 (Yonhap)The victim, identified only by his surname Bang, was one of about a thousand victims killed by artillery fire fro

Social Affairs March 1, 2016

The number of Korean university graduates giving up on looking for a job or not working at all has continued to increase, data showed Monday, highlighting bleak job prospects for young people. According to Statistics Korea, the economically inactive population holding a university degree stood at 3.34 million last year, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)The number of economically inactive university graduates who are neither employed nor have lost a job has more than doubled from 1.59

Social Affairs Feb. 29, 2016

Two days after the Sewol ferry sinking on April 16, 2014, took away 304 lives, mostly students on a school trip, one of the survivors was found dead in an apparent suicide.It was the vice principal of Danwon High School in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, where most of the student victims had attended. He left a note saying he could not bear living while over 200 of his students were still missing. Since the Sewol tragedy, three other surviving students as well as Kim Dong-soo, 51, who saved more than

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2016

South Korea’s monthly spending on private education per child hit a record high in 2015, with seven out of 10 students taking private lessons, government data showed Friday.　According to the survey by Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Education, 68.8 percent of students across the nation received private tutoring last year, up 0.2 percent from a year earlier.(Yonhap)The average amount spent was 244,000 won ($197), up 1 percent from the previous year. However excluding those not receiving priv

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2016

Prosecutors on Tuesday raided the residence and office of a close aide to an ex-chief of South Korea’s rail operator in its widening probe of suspected slush funds in connection with a now-defunct urban development project. Officials carry out boxes of confiscated items Tuesday from the office of an aide to the former president of the Korea Railroad Corp. in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. (Yonhap)The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said that investigators seized computer hard disks, internal re

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2016

South Korea’s state-appointed media monitoring agency said Sunday that it will set out guidelines to enable Web users to request for deletion of personal data online. 　Under the administrative guidelines to be proposed by the Korea Communications Commission, Web users will be able to demand that Web portals remove personal information that they do not want online. 　“We have studied the rights to be forgotten for more than a year through a group composed of legal, academic and industry experts,”

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2016

On a chilly Friday night last month, 24-year-old U.S. citizen Megan Stuckey had one of her most hurtful experiences in Korea. 　She was denied entry to a bar in Hongdae, Seoul, because she was a foreigner. 　 Ock Hyun-ju/The Korea HeraldThe bar named Green Light, infamous in the expat community for refusing foreign customers, is one of a rising number of Korean-style dating joints where people meet blind dates and one-night stands over beer and soju.　“Only Koreans are allowed because our employees

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2016

Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Saturday visited an Aegis-equipped destroyer tasked with immediately detecting North Korea's long-range rocket in case of a launch, his ministry said. Aboard the 7600-ton KDX-III destroyer Seoae Ryu Seong-ryong, Han instructed the troops to maintain full combat posture with North Korea poised to launch what it claims to be a space vehicle. (Yonhap)Pyongyang informed U.N. agencies that it would send a satellite into orbit between Feb. 8-25.  The minister noted that

Defense Feb. 6, 2016

미국 정부가 이라크 및 아프가니스탄 전쟁 당시 미군이 적군 수감자에 자행한 학대 장면이 담긴 사진들 200여장을 추가 공개했다고 AP 통신을 등 미 외신들이 5일 전했다. 미 국방부는 5일 (현지시간) 2004년과 2006년 사이에 미군 병사들이 이라크·아프가니스탄 포로에게 자행한 56건의 학대 장면이 담긴 198장의 사진을 공개했다. (美국방부/AP)사진은 대체로 어둡고 흐리지만 포로들의 팔과 다리에 멍이 들어 있거나 상처가 나있는 것을 보여준다. 이러한 사진 공개는 미국 법원이 지난해 인권단체의 손을 들어주며 정부에게 미군의 이라크·아프가니스탄 포로 학대 사진들을 공개하라고 판결한 것에 따른 것이다.      미국시민자유연맹(ACLU)은 수년간 포로 학대 관련 사진 공개를 요청해왔지만 미국 정부는 사진이 공개되면 폭력적인 반발을 일으킬 수 있고 해외 미군과 미국인이 공격을 받을 위험에 처할 수 있다는 이유로 반대해왔다. 이번에 공개된 사진들과 관련, 56건의 학대사건 중 14건은

한국어판 Feb. 6, 2016

South Korean stocks are expected to move sideways during the holiday-shortened week on signs of a slowing Chinese economy and fluctuating oil prices, though falling odds of a Federal Reserve rate hike could ease downward pressure, analysts said Saturday.The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed at 1,917.79 on Friday, down 0.36 percent from a week ago.  The index got off to a strong start after Japan decided to adopt a negative interest rate to shore up the flagging economy,

Feb. 6, 2016