A man was apprehended in Daejeon for peeping into windows of ground-level dwellings, police said Monday. Targeting unlocked windows in residential areas with mostly one-room studios, the suspect was arrested on suspicions of habitual breaking and entering, said Daejeon Metropolitan Police on Monday. The CCTV footage revealed by the police shows the suspect putting his hands through the steel grating guarding a window and opening the window from the outside. He then put his face up close to the w

Social Affairs April 18, 2023

Another death linked to a growing house rental scam was reported Monday, pushing up the death toll to three. All the deaths are thought to be from suicide. The so-called "construction king" fraud is a massive house rental scam that occurred in Incheon. A woman in her 30s was found unconscious at around 2:12 a.m. at her house in Incheon, along with a suicide note. The woman died in transit to the hospital, Incheon Michuhol District Police Station said. According to the police investigat

Social Affairs April 17, 2023

"What do your parents do for a living?" "Why did you not go to high school?" "Were you ever a victim of school bullying?" These are some of the questions an employment candidate may still encounter while seeking for a job in South Korea. According to data collected by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 84 cases of privacy violations during the employment interviews have been reported in the past two years. Job applicants were asked questions irrelevant to their a

Social Affairs April 13, 2023

Korean star chef Baek Jong-won is facing social media backlash from Moroccan viewers after his cooking program aired on TV last Sunday. Following the broadcast of tvN's "Business Genius, CEO Baek," Moroccan viewers are taking issue with how the program marked a map of Morocco and how they portrayed scenes of locals praying. The program shows the Korean crew selling Korean food in a Moroccan night market. With over 1,500 comments in Arabic and English, viewers criticized that the p

Social Affairs April 12, 2023

A woman who was severely injured after being attacked by an unleashed large dog has been causing outrage on social media. A video posted on a community forum of website Bobaedream on Monday shows a large white dog walking with a little child without a leash. The dog suddenly attacks an unidentified woman. The child tries to stop the dog initially, but then freezes, seemingly in a panic. A passerby kicks the dog but the dog doesn't stop, biting the woman's leg and her neck. The person w

Social Affairs April 11, 2023

With strong wind warnings in effect across half of the nation, a wildfire broke out in Gangneung, Gangwon Province at around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Strong winds of up to 30 meters per second in the area have grounded helicopters, impeding response efforts to a Level 3 wildfire that has broken out. Level 3 is the second-highest level in the four-notch system. The fire agency issued a Stage 3 response, the highest possible. This is the first time this year that such a response has been issued for a wi

Social Affairs April 11, 2023

A woman in her 40s was arrested for offering high school students drug-infused drinks claiming that they would increase their ability to concentrate, sparking a wider police investigation. On Monday, the suspect, with three more accomplices, had approached students on the street in Seoul's Daechi-dong, Gangnam-gu, the country's premier district for private education, feigning a promotional event for a new drink. Contained in a bottle with a sign that reads, "Mega ADHD," the f

Social Affairs April 5, 2023

A former member of a six-person K-pop boy band was indicted on charges of forcibly molesting and sexually assaulting a fellow group member over the course of four years, a local media outlet reported Monday. The former group member was referred to trial in January. He is accused of sexually assaulting the victim at least three times from 2017 to 2021 in their dorms and practice room. The charges against the suspect include "imitative rape," which under Korean law is defined as insert

Social Affairs April 4, 2023

A rare white roe deer has been spotted on a hill in Wonju, Gangwon Province. Considered a mystical creature here, it's known to be a once-in-a-decade discovery. The deer was first observed by residents in the neighborhood last week. The hill it was spotted on is reported to be close to the city area, surrounded by roads and buildings. White deer hold a special place in many cultures’ traditions. Appearing in a tale that dates back to 37 BC during the Goguryeo era, Koreans consider a w

Social Affairs March 30, 2023

A man in his 50s has been indicted for unprovoked attacks on elementary school children he had no connection with. After being on the wanted list for 18 months, the 52-year-old man was charged with assault and child abuse, said the Incheon District Prosecutor's Office on Thursday. The prosecution requested he be detained at a psychological treatment facility following the decision that he has a very high risk of recidivism if not treated medically. The suspect is alleged to have attacked a

Social Affairs March 30, 2023

The illegal entry of two male Kazakh nationals came to an end on Wednesday, as one suspect who absconded from Incheon Airport turned himself in earlier this morning. This comes three days after the police apprehended another fugitive, a man in his 20s, in Daejeon on Sunday. The two, aged 21 and 18, had broken a terminal window and climbed over a fence near a runway of the airport at around 4:20 a.m Sunday while waiting for a repatriation flight. They had been denied entry into Korea, as the purp

Social Affairs March 29, 2023

One of two Kazakhstanis who fled Incheon Airport after being denied entry into South Korea was apprehended Sunday afternoon in Daejeon, nearly 200 km away. A 21-year-old man was captured at around 9:42 p.m. at a convenience store in Daejeon, where he had gone to meet an acquaintance, the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency said. The police are currently checking security footage to track down another individual aged 18 who is still on the run. The two Kazakhstani nationals had broken a termin

Social Affairs March 27, 2023

A zebra that escaped from a Seoul zoo Thursday had begun acting out earlier this year after its parents died, a video revealed. Two-year-old Sero was captured alive after having roamed around a Seoul residential neighborhood for roughly three hours, and was seen galloping through busy traffic and sniffing the garbage bags in the area. Sero reportedly broke free from Seoul Children's Grand Park's zoo by damaging a wooden deck installed around its pen. Early this year, Sero had become ag

Social Affairs March 24, 2023

A soldier was fined for sexual harassment, asking random women on the street to spit on him. The soldier was fined 150,000 won ($115) by the military court under violation of the Minor Offense Law on Monday. In October, the soldier approached a 27-year-old woman in a residential area in Busan, inquiring as to whether she was a smoker and then asking her to spit on him. Then he is reported to had said, "Can you spit on me? If that's too much, could I have the cigarette end when you are

Social Affairs March 22, 2023

The police are after suspects who absconded with money they collected from operating a temporary animal shelter in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, leaving several animals abandoned, abused and even dead. Arrest warrants have been issued for three suspects on the run for violating animal protection law. They face charges of allegedly receiving about 1 million won ($765) per animal "to take care of them" and then vanishing, neglecting or abusing the dogs and cats, said police on Tuesday. The

Social Affairs March 21, 2023