After nearly two decades including a botched initial investigation and series of trials, a movie and a reinvestigation, the murder that took place at a fast-food joint in Itaewon returned to the spotlight Wednesday with the extradition of the key U.S. suspect.Arthur John Patterson, handcuffed and donned in all white, arrived at In­cheon International Airport to face charges of murdering 22-year-old Korean student Cho Joong-pill in 1997.Patterson denied the allegations and said his Korean-America

Social Affairs Sept. 23, 2015

“Welcome to our happy house!” A warm message written in a child’s handwriting on a door greets guests entering the apartment in central Seoul. Opening the door is Alexandre Jollien, a best-selling Swiss author and philosopher. His easygoing smile further comforts the visitor.Jollien speaks and walks slowly due to his cerebral palsy, but it does not deter him from pursuing intellectual work. Instead, it motivates him to create his renowned literature pieces.Since 1999, he has written six French b

Social Affairs Sept. 18, 2015

Participants attend the DDPP conference in Paris on Monday. Attendants included SDSN executive director Guido Schmidt-Traub (from left), DDPP director Jim Williams, IDDRI scientific director Michel Colombier and IDDRI director Teresa Ribera. (Lee Hyun-jeong/The Korea Herald)PARIS ― Deeply reducing greenhouse gas emissions is technically and economically feasible in the world’s largest economies and developing countries, an international research consortium’s report showed Thursday. According to

Sept. 17, 2015

Planning a three-day family vacation at a local resort last summer, serviceman Choi Woo-young was concerned about whether he could take his 15-year-old poodle Rookie on the trip. “I was worried that other guests would not like having Rookie around them, and I wasn’t sure if the resort would allow any pets on the premises either,” said Choi.  An abandoned Maltese is saved by a rescue worker after it was found wrapped in a bag and half-buried in the forest in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, on Aug. 4.

Social Affairs Aug. 11, 2015

As excited children chatter, cyclists swish by and 20-somethings laugh among themselves, a man swiftly hands out chicken delivery leaflets at Banpo Hangang Park in Seoul. His leaflet catches the attention of six college students, who were planning to have a picnic at the riverbank.Picnickers brave the summer heat at a riverside park in Seoul. (The Korea Herald file photo)After leaving an order with the man, three fried chickens, three seasoned chickens and six cans of beer came just 40 minutes l

Social Affairs July 10, 2015

Despite the slowing number of new cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome, the public fear over the deadly disease continued to cause a significant change to life across South Korea, creating rare scenes that no one could have expected a month before. Since the authorities confirmed the first case of a patient with the virus on May 20, the nation has fallen into a deeper state of panic with each passing day, pushing the people to change their life patterns to best prepare themselves for the wo

Social Affairs June 21, 2015

A 48-year-old funeral worker sealed a body in a leakproof bag after wrapping it with a plastic bag. Cleaning and preservation treatments were skipped. The sealed corpse was immediately sent to a cremation facility and turned to ash in just a few hours. Looking at the flames in the distance, the bereaved families remained lethargic.The whole process, rushed and hushed, only seemed to amplify the sudden tragedy that hit the family, to whom Middle East respiratory syndrome was something of a farawa

Social Affairs June 17, 2015

Samsung Medical Center in Seoul was partially shut down Sunday as more cases of Middle East respiratory syndrome were confirmed in the hospital. Meanwhile, the death toll across the country reached 15 and the number of those infected 145. Hospital officials said they would stop receiving outpatients, suspend operations and restrict the visitors of hospitalized patients until June 24 as part of its efforts to contain the virus. As of Sunday afternoon, 19 new cases were reported, according to the

Social Affairs June 14, 2015