South Korea’s LG Group will provide 10,000 air purifiers at elementary, middle and high school across the country free of charge amid the continued high levels of fine dust blanketing the country, the company said Tuesday.The conglomerate’s decision was shared via Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon’s social media post, “Vice Chairman Kwon Young-soo shared the news with me that was finalized at an executive-level meeting led by Chairman Koo Kwang-mo.”“Vice Chairman Kwon said (LG) ‘hopes to help t

Industry March 12, 2019

Minor conservative Bareunmirae Party Floor Leader Kim Kwan-young proposed a revision to the Special Act on the May 18 Democratization Movement that would allow a fact-finding committee to be launched with only two-thirds of the mandated nine members, in an effort to break a deadlock in the process of forming the committee, the lawmaker said Monday.The revision was proposed on the day of former President Chun Doo-hwan’s trial in Gwangju on libel charges in connection with the military crackdown o

Politics March 11, 2019

The Ministry of Employment and Labor on Friday released a list of 50 companies lagging behind in gender equality in a country with the biggest gender wage gap among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Fifty companies here were categorized as those that need to take action to resolve gender imbalance in employment, up from 42 companies last year and 27 companies in 2017.For the first time since 2006, when the ministry began keeping track of gender imbalance

Social Affairs March 8, 2019

As the European Union ramps up pressure on South Korea to ratify four of the eight essential conventions of the International Labor Organization, the UN agency’s Employment Policy Department Director Lee Sang-heon on Thursday emphasized that doing so would ensure improved protection for temporary workers. 　Korea joined the ILO in December 1991, but has not adopted four of its eight key conventions applied unconditionally to laborers. There are 189 conventions in total.“A common aspect among the

Social Affairs March 7, 2019

Last month, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea submitted a constitutional appeal against Article 41 of the Criminal Law, disputing a ruling for a 31-year-old surnamed Yoon who was given a life sentence for parricide last year.　The prosecutors sought the death penalty for Yoon, who has been suffering from mental illness since childhood. 　Yoon testified to police that he killed his parents because a voice told him to do so in order to save his soul.　“We believe it is the most apt to counter

Social Affairs March 5, 2019

Amid the ongoing Burning Sun scandal, text messages exchanged between K-pop star Seungri and related officials implicating him in sex bribery and collusion with police have been reported to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, police said Tuesday.The messages were reportedly exchanged in a KakaoTalk chatroom with Seungri, the head of Yuri Holdings and a number of celebrities.The latest evidence, if confirmed to be true, would place Seungri in a highly contentious position. (Yonhap)Se

Social Affairs March 5, 2019

The Incheon District Prosecutors’ Office has arrested a sitting high-level police officer of Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province for allegedly running a brothel while on duty as part of a squad cracking down on sex trade, prosecutors said Sunday.The prosecution issued the arrest warrant as he was a flight risk, after questioning the suspect over the weekend. The officer in question, surnamed Seo, 47, faces suspicions of operating a brothel led by a puppet boss for about two year

Social Affairs March 3, 2019

Amid snowballing allegations surrounding a nightclub linked to Seungri, a member of the K-pop boy band Big Bang, the scandal has spilled over to plastic surgery brokers and brokerage firms in Gangnam, southern Seoul.Circumstantial evidence against a worker at the Gangnam-based nightclub Burning Sun, who has been arrested on suspicion of using and selling drugs, led to additional accusations that he was also a plastic surgery broker, introducing patients to plastic surgeons in the area as the all

Social Affairs March 3, 2019

South Korea’s human rights panel concluded assigning a student to cleaning duty for violating a school’s dress code infringes on the right to education.The father of a high school student in Daejeon filed a petition with the National Human Rights Commission in April, arguing it was unfair that the student was given 1 penalty point and placed on cleaning duty during class hours for wearing the student’s own jacket instead of the jacket designated as a school uniform.The school claimed it put the

Social Affairs Feb. 28, 2019

For those who are unfamiliar with the functions of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission, the packed schedule of its chairperson, Pak Un-jong, may come as a surprise.Her engagements include on-site visits, briefings to the National Assembly to provide in-depth understanding of the agency's wide range of efforts to fight corruption, and preparation for next year’s International Anti-Corruption Conference, among others.Perceived as a philosopher of law with rich experience in academia, a

Social Affairs Feb. 28, 2019

Amid new allegations and findings surrounding Gangnam-based nightclub Burning Sun, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Wednesday a suspect surnamed Lee, who had reportedly been working with a former police officer, admitted to transferring money to police officers.Police confirmed Lee had transferred 20 million won ($17,900) received from the Burning Sun head to six accounts, though it is unclear whether any of the accounts belonged to a current police officer.Lee, a known member of an org

Politics Feb. 27, 2019

GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province -- South Korea’s main opposition Liberty Korea Party on Wednesday chose former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn as its chief, alongside new supreme council members to head the party for the next two years, including the upcoming general election and presidential election, the party said Wednesday.The new leadership is tasked with leading the conservative party in next year’s general elections amid falling support from the public due to controversial comments made by some pa

Politics Feb. 27, 2019

GOYANG, Gyeonggi Province-- Members of Korea’s hard-line Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and civic groups staged a surprise protest at the main opposition Liberty Korea Party’s national convention being held at Kintex in Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, on Wednesday afternoon. (Yonhap)The protesters called on the party to disband over offensive remarks by some of its lawmakers about the Gwangju Democratic Uprising and for questioning the legitimacy of the impeachment of former President Park

Social Affairs Feb. 27, 2019

Amid heated competition for leadership of the main opposition party, voter turnout has come in at 24.58 percent, lower than the 25.24 percent recorded in 2017, the Liberty Korea Party said Monday.Former Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn has emerged as a leading candidate, increasingly appealing to ultraright members of the party and taking the lead in opinion polls. However, this year’s turnout has not reached the level seen in 2017, when previous party leader Hong Joon-pyo was elected.During two day

Politics Feb. 25, 2019

US missionaries who lived in Gwangju through the May 18 Democratization Movement in 1980 sent a letter to National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang on Friday, referring to controversial remarks from far-right figures as “blatantly false.”“It was not an organized movement -- it was an illicit assault upon our city of 800,000 people by military forces under the control of Chun Doo-Hwan. … Believe us, we know what happened in Gwangju -- we were eye-witnesses, and we recorded what we saw and experienc

Social Affairs Feb. 22, 2019