With local elections just a week away, Incheon police said Monday they had arrested a man for suspected involvement in one of 10 reported cases of vandalism of candidates’ banners. Following the official start of campaigning on Thursday, police said they received 10 reports of vandalism incidents, with only one suspect having been arrested so far. The 78-year-old suspect is accused of setting fire to 11 campaign flyers that were inside his neighbors’ mailboxes at 4 p.m. Sunday in Jung-gu, centra

Social Affairs June 5, 2018

Jang Seon, a 37-year-old real estate developer in Seoul, moved to the capital city from Busan and has lived alone for nearly a decade. Jang said loneliness crept up on him at seemingly random times throughout the day. But, after discovering his new favorite pastime of singing, he learned to embrace solitude within the four walls of a coin-operated karaoke booth, known in Korea as noraebang. The entrance to a room at “Superstar Coin Noraebang” Gangnam Station branch. (Catherine Chung / The Korea

Culture June 4, 2018

Police officers on Monday have finally tracked down the suspect, who allegedly brokered prostitution by promoting 150 sex trade places, after four months of surveillance. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the 30-year-old suspect, surnamed Choi, is being charged with violating the nation’s Act on the Punishment of Acts of Arranging Sexual Traffic.He is accused of having advertised 150 prostitution places operating in clandestine locations of karaoke parlors and rental apartments

Social Affairs June 4, 2018

A man who went missing on Saturday while scuba diving in waters off Yangyang, Gangwon Province, has been found dead Sunday morning, Sokcho maritime police said. According to Sokcho Coast Guard, a scuba diver discovered the 48-year-old victim, surnamed Choi, floating in the waters 1 kilometer northeast of Dongsan-myeon at approximately 10:30 a.m., Sunday.  (Yonhap)Choi was reported last seen scuba diving near the discovery point on Saturday. Marine authorities said they used one helicopter, two p

Social Affairs June 3, 2018

A Busan court on Sunday said it found a male high school teacher guilty of lewd behavior allegations and issued him a fine. The monetary sentence, however, has been suspended. The teacher in his 50s was accused of confiscating his 17-year-old student’s mobile phone and placing it in and out of his underwear about 10 times at the high school where he was teaching in March 2017.  (Yonhap)As some 60 students encircled him, the teacher reportedly undid his belt, put the student’s phone in his underw

Social Affairs June 3, 2018

A Korean Air plane carrying 176 passengers and 13 crew members made an emergency landing at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport Saturday night. No injuries were reported, according to Kyodo News.The Boeing 777-200 heading from Seoul’s Gimpo Airport to Tokyo was forced to land 25 minutes ahead of schedule at 8:40 p.m. Saturday after a fire alarm went off in the cockpit. There was no actual fire on the plane and nobody sustained any injury, Korean Air officials and Japanese aviation authorities said.  (Reuters

International June 3, 2018

Nearly 4 out of 10 young children aged between 2 and 5 in South Korea watch television, while more than 1 in 10 children use smartphones on a daily basis, a report has found Wednesday. Headed by Professor Shin Yoon-mi, the research team at Ajou University Hospital revealed that 39.3 percent of the surveyed children watch television -- of which 48 percent watch for an hour on average at least three times a week -- and 12 percent use smartphones every day. (123RF)The study also revealed that 66.5

Social Affairs May 30, 2018

A woman in her 20s assaulted a female flight attendant after she was caught smoking in the toilet on a plane en route to Vietnam, according to Incheon police Tuesday. The 25-year-old passenger was reportedly drunk when she was caught by the flight attendant smoking in the bathroom of the plane, leaving from Incheon International Airport to Noi Bai International Airport at 11:30 p.m. last year on Aug. 21.  (Yonhap)Budget airline Eastar confirmed that the passenger flew into a rage -- kicking her

Social Affairs May 29, 2018

A studio photographer in his 20s was booked without detention over allegations that he sexually harassed his customers after secretly taking pictures up their skirts, police said Monday. According to Seodaemun Police Station, the 23-year-old photographer is being accused of forcibly touching body parts of 215 clients, who are all college students in the area, and secretly taking pictures up their skirts on 225 occasions between May 4 of last year and Feb. 2 at a studio in Sinchon. (Yonhap)Police

Social Affairs May 28, 2018

Fourteen undocumented foreign workers from Thailand and the executive who hired them at a fish factory were arrested for allegedly seeking illegal employment and violating immigration laws, respectively, marine police said Friday. The Boryeong Marine Police Agency said they raided the fish factory in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, following a tip-off of suspected “illegal hiring of unauthorized migrant workers.”Authorities reportedly confirmed that the 14 Thai nationals all had entered th

Social Affairs May 25, 2018

A man in his 40s has been taken into police custody in a probe into allegations that he murdered a woman, who he claims to be his ex-girlfriend, in a villa in Songpa, Seoul, police said Thursday. According to Seoul Songpa Police Station, the 48-year-old suspect is accused of murdering a woman by stabbing her on the villa stairway at approximately 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.  (Yonhap)Dispatched police officers reportedly arrested the suspect who was lurking near the crime scene. It is said the victim h

Social Affairs May 24, 2018

The annual yellow dust reportedly blown in from China’s Gobi Desert has blanketed the skies over Seoul again, adding to public concerns over health across the Korean Peninsula from polluted air. South Korea saw clear skies in most regions of the country with the exception of Seoul, island regions of the West Coast and parts of Gangwon Province being shrouded in yellow dust as of 10 a.m. Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.  (Yonhap)The density of fine dust particles in

Social Affairs May 24, 2018

A high school student was booked without physical detention over allegations that he secretly filmed up a teacher’s skirt with his phone, Incheon police said Wednesday. The 18-year-old suspect is charged with allegedly violating the Special Act on the Punishment of Sexual Assault Crimes, specifically using a camera to film. He is accused of filming up the victim’s skirt at the teachers’ office at a high school in Incheon at 1:10 p.m. on April 26.  (YouTube-Yonhap)The victim gave her statement to

Social Affairs May 23, 2018

A man in his 50s was booked without physical detention on suspicion of verbal and physical assault against a passerby who reportedly tried to help the man out in the rain, Busan police said Wednesday.According to Busan Yeonje Police Station, the suspect, who was intoxicated at the time, is accused of verbally insulting and slapping the 47-year-old person with an open palm at approximately 1 a.m. Wednesday at a building lobby in Yeonjae-gu, Busan.  (Yonhap)The victim said the man assaulted him af

Social Affairs May 23, 2018

The Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday said it had sentenced a top fashion designer to 8 months in jail, suspended for two years, and 40 hours of substance abuse treatment for injecting methamphetamine. The 49-year-old designer, who is currently a full-time professor at a technical college, was indicted last year in July for allegedly injecting the drug with an unidentified person at a motel in Seodaemun-gu, northwestern Seoul.  (Yonhap)The designer bought the drug via a mobile messaging

Social Affairs May 23, 2018