Prime Minister Han Duk-soo ordered thorough safety measures to prevent possible accidents as a massive gathering is expected in the heart of the city on Saturday evening to celebrate the 10 anniversary of popular K-pop boy group BTS. The event, which is set to be held at the Han River Park in Yeouido, celebrates the debut of the global sensation 10 years ago, as part of a two-week-long city-wide event. "The event is expected to see a large number of people gathering at the same time, and th

Social Affairs June 16, 2023

A local court sentenced a woman in her 40s to 2 1/2 years in prison for making false reports that she had planted a bomb at a court office building. The Cheongju District Court convicted the woman on Thursday, finding her guilty of obstruction of justice and attempted fraud. According to the court, the woman made the report in 2022, claiming that she had installed an explosive device at the court office building. According to reports, as a result of her false claim over 400 court employees and c

Social Affairs June 15, 2023

Daejeon Mayor Lee Jang-woo on Wednesday visited Hsinchu City, northwest of Taiwan, to seek technological cooperation between the two cities with an aim of turning Daejeon into Asia's Silicon Valley. Lee visited the Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan’s national industrial complex built in 1980 which currently houses over 500 acclaimed technology companies, including TSCM, ASE and MediaTek. There, the mayor and officials from the industrial complex discussed Hsinchu’s history of nurturi

Social Affairs June 15, 2023

Sejong University and the Sejong Research Institute proposed to build a new maritime transportation route directly passing through the north pole in a seminar on "Arctic Route Development" on Thursday. In the seminar held at the university’s Daeyang AI Center in Seoul, Choo Myung-gun, the university’s honorary chairman, envisioned the need to develop an Arctic route for maritime transportation. Choo explained that the route would contribute to South Korea’s economic d

Social Affairs June 14, 2023

Amid growing criticism over racist comments between South Korean soccer players, the Thai player referenced in the comments expressed his feelings on Facebook. Instagram comments exchanged between Korean players with Ulsan Hyundai FC went viral online Sunday. The players likened a teammate to former Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors' former wing back Sasalak Haiprakhon, apparently because of his dark skin. The 27-year-old Thai player posted a statement on Facebook, “No one knows what we have t

Social Affairs June 13, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol and OpenAI Chief Sam Altman engaged in an hour-long conversation at the presidential office in Seoul on Friday, discussing various aspects of artificial intelligence, including the trajectory of AI development, potential risks, solutions, and collaboration opportunities between the US firm and Korean startups. "ChatGPT fever is spreading worldwide,” Yoon told Altman during the meeting, according to the written statement by Yoon’s office. "I tested

Social Affairs June 9, 2023

Police raided the office of Korea's major construction workers union on Friday, accusing them of staging an illegal protest last month, amid the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's ongoing crackdown on labor unions. According to police, investigators from the Seoul Namdaemun Police Station were dispatched to the office of the Korean Construction Workers Union, known as the more militant of the nation's two largest labor unions, in Yeongdeungpo-gu, southern Seoul, to carry out an earl

Social Affairs June 9, 2023

Over 10 people were injured on Thursday when an escalator at Sunae Station on the Bundang Line suddenly began operating in reverse. The incident was reported to the South Korean Fire Service at around 8:20 a.m., with multiple injuries caused by the malfunctioning escalator at Exit No. 2 of the station. According to the fire department, three individ­uals who sustained serious injuries were hospitalized, while 11 others who suffered minor injuries were sent home after receiving medical treatm

Social Affairs June 8, 2023

Green Korea United, a local environmental group, staged a protest in front of the Embassy of Japan in Seoul on Wednesday, condemning Japan's plan to discharge approximately 1.32 million tonnes of wastewater from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the ocean. The activists displayed a water purifier attached to a mock barrel of contaminated Fukushima wastewater, provided by Jeski Social Campaign, a research group that creates public service campaigns. They criticized the

Social Affairs June 7, 2023

The wording of an advertisement for an apartment complex in southern Seoul sparked criticism on Wednesday for inciting classism. The ad for a residential complex called The Palace 73 read: “We've built this for those who've always dreamt of an unequal world." The builder said the apartment aspires to be South Korea’s own version of Central Park in New York, establishing a new standard for luxurious living space for centuries to come. As the ad came under attack online,

Social Affairs June 7, 2023

South Korea's top court ruled in favor of two parents' life insurance claim after their son, the policyholder, died by suicide due to chronic depression, recognizing that the man was unable to make decisions of his own free will. The Supreme Court dismissed a lower court's decision on Tuesday to exempt the insurance company from paying out after the parents of the deceased had filed a lawsuit against the insurance company. The lower court had argued that the suicide did not appe

Social Affairs June 6, 2023

A man in his 20s has been indicted on charges of committing sexual abuse against teenagers through online platforms including YouTube, according to the prosecution on Monday. According to the Seoul Northern District Prosecutor's Office on Monday, the suspect enticed minors by posting messages seeking a "slave" on various online platforms, including YouTube, between January 2022 and March of this year. He allegedly demanded the teenagers who responded to his message to send explici

Social Affairs June 5, 2023

An appellate court on Friday ordered prosecutors to obtain a psychological test for a defendant accused of committing animal cruelty, in order to consider the appropriate sentence. The Daejeon District Court stated, “While there already exists a series of tests for sexual crimes, there are none for animal cruelty.” “The prosecutors should submit the results of a psychological test to evaluate the possibility of repetition of the crime,” the court added. In response, the p

Social Affairs June 2, 2023

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency on Thursday revealed the identity of a 23-year-old woman held on suspicion of murdering and dismembering the body of another woman in her 20s. Police said they decided to make the suspect’s identity public after convening a committee to contemplate the disclosure. According to police, the suspect is 23-year-old Jeong Yu-jeong. South Korean law allows police to reveal the identity of a suspect only under certain conditions, where the crime is considered

Social Affairs June 1, 2023

A murder suspect fleeing from South Korean and Philippines' authorities has been apprehended in the Philippines capital Manila, South Korean police said Tuesday. According to the South Korean police agency, the suspect was spotted at a condo in Manilla on Monday. The suspect is a South Korean male in his 30s who fled to the Philippines after allegedly murdering his wife, a national of the Philippines, earlier this year. Police believe the suspect murdered his wife and disposed of the body a

Social Affairs May 30, 2023