Chinese tourists in Korea are increasingly shopping with mobile phones instead of using China-based bank card giant UnionPay’s cards, according to convenience store chain operator CU on Wednesday.CU analyzed payments made through UnionPay cards and mobile payments for the first half of 2018 and said 87.2 percent of the payments were done through Chinese mobile payment services such as Alipay and WeChat Pay. Payments through UnionPay decreased to 12.8 percent. Caption: A CU store has signs to inf

Industry July 25, 2018

BTS’ upcoming album “Love Yourself: Answer” has sold over 1.5 million albums nationwide, according to BTS’ management agency Big Hit Entertainment on Wednesday.Preorders for the album began July 18 and ended Tuesday with a total of 1,511,910 orders, recording the highest number of preorders for BTS. (Big Hit Entertainment)“Love Yourself: Answer” sold 62,000 more preordered albums than “Love Yourself: Tear,” which was released in April. “Love Yourself: Answer” has also claimed the No. 1 spot in A

Performance July 25, 2018

Police have requested Interpol for support in investigating a Korean restaurant owner accused of scamming several people into investing in a Hallyu street in Asuncion, Paraguay, according to the police and prosecutors on Monday.According to the Herald Business, the restaurant owner, surnamed Hong, went back and forth Korea and Paraguay for over five years. Introducing himself as a “food importer,” Hong allegedly persuaded a cosmetics factory owner in 2013 into pouring funds to build a “Korea Str

Social Affairs July 24, 2018

Jin Air employees plan to hold a rally Wednesday against the Transport Ministry’s decision to have a hearing on whether to revoke the business license held by Korean Air’s budget affiliate Jin Air. The budget carrier is under fire for violating the nation’s aviation law that bans airliners from seating foreign members on their board of directors.Employees said Tuesday they will gather in front of the government complex in Jongno-gu, central Seoul, at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The protest is geared to cr

Industry July 24, 2018

The average monthly tuition fees for “English language-oriented” kindergartens is around 1 million won ($900) which is double the amount of college tuition fees in the nation, according to experts.The average yearly tuition fee for English kindergartens is around 12.2 million won, which is 6.4 times the tuition fee of a private kindergarten of 1.89 million won and twice as much as an annual college tuition fee of 6.7 million won. (Yonhap)The educational campaign group World Without Worries About

Social Affairs July 24, 2018

The Ministry of Education said on Monday it will allow the usage of both “free democracy” and “democracy” in textbooks, in response to controversy that sparked after the announcement on June 21 to change the definition of the national and political system to simply “democracy” in the new guidance for secondary school history textbooks.Domestic history textbooks have used both “free democracy” and “democracy” as terms to define the nation’s political identity, but in order to avoid mistaken inter

Social Affairs July 23, 2018

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it plans to make day care centers use sensors and implement IT systems to check on children’s whereabouts, amid recent child abuse cases.The Health Ministry will report new measures in the Cabinet meeting Tuesday in response to President Moon Jae-in’s request Friday to find a solution to prevent future child abuse cases. (Yonhap) A 4-year-old girl was found dead in a minibus on July 17 after being left inside for around seven hours in the sweltering heat i

Social Affairs July 23, 2018

A funeral service was held in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Monday for the five Marines who died in a Marine Corps helicopter crash on July 17.Around 1,000 bereaved family members, close friends, the minister of national defense, Navy chief of staff, Marines and others attended the service to pay their respects.Before chief funeral commissioner Maj. Gen. Jun Jin-goo read the funeral speech, he read out the names of each of the departed Marines, as mourners lamented the victims. Jun prais

Social Affairs July 23, 2018

Police collected and returned cash that was scattered around Daegu by a woman as she was driving. The woman, 51, threw cash around Buk-gu, Dong-gu and Seo-gu in Daegu on Thursday morning, according to the Daegu Bukbu Police Station on Friday.Police collected a total of 15.8 million won ($13,970) but the total amount scattered across the city could not be determined.  (Yonhap)After checking CCTV and black box footage of cars that drove near the woman’s car, police confirmed the car license plate

Social Affairs July 20, 2018

The police prevented a woman in her 20s from losing 8 million won ($7,030) in a voice phishing scam.According to the Busan Nambu Police Station on Friday, the victim received a call on Wednesday at 3:20 p.m. from a fraudster saying that her account was involved in a crime so she should withdraw 8 million won cash and give it to an official from the Financial Supervisory Service until the case is confirmed.(Yonhap)The fraudster pretended to be a prosecutor from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and

Social Affairs July 20, 2018

The prosecutor’s office launched an investigation Thursday into the daughter of Kim Moo-sung, a lawmaker of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, for allegedly receiving hundreds of millions of won over several years through false employment at her father-in-law’s company.The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office in Busan launched the probe after receiving a petition concerning the lawmaker’s daughter.Kim Moo-sung (Yonhap)Her father-in-law, Park Yoon-so, runs a company named NK Co. based in Busan and R

Social Affairs July 19, 2018

The sweltering heat is forecast to continue nationwide Thursday as temperatures hover from 31 degrees Celsius to 37 C.Heat wave warnings by the Korea Meteorological Administration remain in effect nationwide. Seoul will reach a maximum temperature of 34 C, Daegu 37 C, Gwangju 36 C and Busan 33 C. (Yonhap)The weather agency advised people to take caution to avoid heat-related illness and recommended people to stay indoors.Fine dust levels are expected to hit “bad” levels in Busan, Ulsan and South

Social Affairs July 19, 2018

The CEO of a popular coffee chain has been given a suspended jail sentence for threatening his ex-girlfriend. Seoul Central District Court said Wednesday it had sentenced Coffeesmith chief Son Tae-young, 49, to a year in prison, suspended for two years, and 120 hours of community service for threatening Kim Jung-min, 29. On July 11, 2017, Son was prosecuted without detention after the actress filed a report to the police in April 2017. Kim claimed she had been blackmailed by Son several times fo

Television July 18, 2018

A man was arrested for allegedly installing hidden cameras in motel rooms and transferring the content online, police said Wednesday.The man, 43, had reportedly installed 17 cameras in three motels near Seocho-gu, Seoul, since October 2014. A motel guest made a police report after suspecting that hidden cameras were installed on June 23. A suspect heads out of the police station in Suseo, southern Seoul, to go to the prosecutor’s office on Wednesday after being arrested for installing hidden cam

Social Affairs July 18, 2018

S.M. Entertainment composer Yoo Young-jin, 47, was booked without detention for swapping the license plate on his motorcycle according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Wednesday.Yoo used another license plate on his imported vehicle because it had not passed environmental testing requirements in Korea. He bought the motorcycle in March and swapped the license plate with that of his other motorcycle.This finally came to light in May after a motorcycle accident in Seoul. As Yoo filed for

Performance July 18, 2018