The Korea Herald

China preparing to send pandas to South Korea

A top executive of South Korea’s biggest amusement park operator, Samsung Everland, has held talks with China’s Foreign Ministry officials, during which they discussed preparations to send giant pandas to Seoul, according to the Chinese ministry on Saturday.Chinese President Xi Jinping made a state visit to South Korea in July last year. Since then, the two nations have designated Samsung Everland, which operates South Korea’s largest amusement park in south of Seoul, as a host for the bears. Se

Foreign Affairs March 1, 2015

New submarine to be named after revered independence fighter

A new submarine for the South Korean Navy will be named after a revered independence fighter, military officials said Sunday.The Navy announced that its sixth Type 214, 1,800-ton attack submarine will be named after Yu Gwan-sun (1902-1920), a female student activist who played a major part in the 1919 civil uprising against Japan’s colonial regime.“After holding policy meetings over the name of the submarine, we’ve christened it ‘Yu Gwan-sun,’” the Navy said in a statement.“This will be the firs

Defense March 1, 2015

Court scraps adultery ban

The Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down South Korea’s controversial adultery law, ending a decadeslong debate.In a 7-2 decision, the court ruled that the anticheating law breaches the individual’s sexual rights and privacy, and thereby violates the Constitution. Six votes were needed to overturn the law.Under the law, adultery was a crime punishable by up to two years behind bars. Any third person involved in a love affair could also face criminal charges. The regulation was only applic

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2015

Human-to-human transmission of fatal tick virus confirmed

Human-to-human transmission of a deadly tick virus has been reported for the first time in South Korea, health authorities said Wednesday, raising concerns over the potential spread of the disease. Four medical staff in Seoul were confirmed to have been infected with the virus in September last year by a 68-year-old woman who was suffering from severe fever due to thrombocytopenia syndrome, or SFTS, a fatal disease contracted through tick bites. Hospital sources suspect that the virus was transm

Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2015

Court rules filming sex with 17-year-old not a crime

Korea’s top court on Tuesday upheld a lower court’s ruling that filming sex with a consenting teenager is not a crime.The Supreme Court acquitted a 27-year-old man surnamed Kim who was accused of producing and distributing pornographic material after he video-recorded himself having sex with his 17-year-old girlfriend with her consent in January 2012. He later deleted the video upon the teenager’s request, law officials said. Under the youth protection law, producing pornographic material of chi

Social Affairs Feb. 24, 2015

Yellow dust blankets Korea

Public health concerns rose Monday as yellow dust from China prompted the government to issue alerts for the second day running. This year’s first yellow dust warnings swept the capital and a dozen surrounding areas after the advisories were issued and elevated Sunday, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. It was the capital’s fifth yellow dust warning since 2002. A man with a protective mask walks along the Hangang River, where visibility remained low due to high levels of yellow dust i

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2015

Spicy food lovers more vulnerable to stress: study

People who love spicy food are more vulnerable to stress, a study showed Tuesday, indicating that one’s choice of food is related to one’s stress level. According to a study led by psychiatry professor Kim Sung-gon of Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, a group of spicy food lovers showed higher cortisol level in a stress test than those who liked milder food. Cortisol is a steroid hormone that is released in response to stress or low levels of blood glucose. The two groups were asked to

Social Affairs Feb. 17, 2015

Seoul exodus begins for Lunar New Year

The annual migration of South Koreans for the Lunar New Year began Tuesday with millions heading to their hometowns ahead of the traditional holiday.Lunar New Year’s Day, which falls on Thursday this year, is one of the largest holidays in South Korea with this year’s holiday running from Wednesday to Sunday.Lunar New Year, or “seollal,” provides a rare opportunity for South Koreans to go home and spend quality time with family and friends. Families typically eat rice cake soup to mark adding a

Social Affairs Feb. 17, 2015

Professor accused of sexually abusing student

A women’s college in Seoul accused a member of its teaching staff of sexually abusing a student, sources said Monday, amid rising concerns over a series of similar cases reported in other schools. Last month, Duksung Women’s University filed a police complaint against a professor, whose personal information has been withheld, for molesting a student. The professor is alleged to have forcibly kissed the student after drinking together early last year. The school’s unusually proactive response to

Social Affairs Feb. 16, 2015

Professor accused of sexually abusing student

1 dead, 6 injured from hotel gas leak

A gas leak in a boiler room at a hotel in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, killed one and injured six Saturday, officials said. A 45-year-old hotel employee surnamed Park died from carbon dioxide poisoning while working in the underground boiler room at Colon Hotel, the police said. Six others were hospitalized for minor injuries, they added. “The fire alarms suddenly rang while (they were) replacing the insulators, and then there was a leak of carbon dioxide,” the wounded workers testified

Social Affairs Feb. 15, 2015

New foot-and-mouth case

Quarantine officials confirmed a fresh case of foot-and-mouth disease in the country’s central region on Tuesday, adding to fears of the viral disease spreading across the country.Dozens of pigs at a farm in Danyang, North Chungcheong, tested positive for the viral illness, a day after they showed symptoms, officials said. Quarantine authorities restricted access to the farm and enhanced the disinfection measures. Some 4,600 pigs were being raised on the farm, according to officials at the local

Social Affairs Feb. 10, 2015

[Herald Interview] ‘Seoul should be flexible in reopening inter-Korean dialogue’

Seoul needs wider flexibility in reopening inter-Korean dialogue, a political scientist said, urging the Park Geun-hye administration to actively engage in “preventive diplomacy” with Pyongyang to keep cross-border tensions from escalating.Moon Chung-in, a political science professor at Yonsei University, stressed that the nation should be proactive in tackling North Korean issues, noting that after all, the South would have to bear the full brunt of any conflict on the peninsula. Moon Chung-in

Social Affairs Feb. 9, 2015

[Herald Interview] ‘Seoul should be flexible in reopening inter-Korean dialogue’

Ex-spy chief jailed for election meddling

A Seoul appellate court on Monday sentenced a former national intelligence chief to three years in prison for violating state intelligence and election laws, going back on a previous ruling that acquitted him of election meddling. The Seoul High Court ruled that Won Sei-hoon, former director of the National Intelligence Service, interfered in the 2012 presidential election by ordering staff to make political postings online to sway public opinion. “The agency’s cyberactivity interfered in public

Social Affairs Feb. 9, 2015

Ex-spy chief jailed for election meddling

President to push for minimal reshuffle despite call for change

President Park Geun-hye will carry out a “small-scale” Cabinet reshuffle after her prime minister designate gets parliamentary approval, sticking to her plan despite surging demand for a change in her leadership and her unilateral personnel choices.“(The president) is expected to conduct a Cabinet reshuffle with the recommendation of the new prime minister after the parliamentary approval of nominee Lee Wan-koo is completed,” presidential spokesman Min Kyung-wook told reporters on Sunday.“What I

Social Affairs Feb. 8, 2015

President to push for minimal reshuffle despite call for change

Seoul tightens measures as AI detected

Concerns over the bird flu spreading escalated Friday as avian influenza was detected in Seoul for the first time.A highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of avian influenza was confirmed from the feces of migratory birds at Jungnangcheon Stream in the western part of the capital, officials said. The stream is a habitat for more than 4,200 wild birds including mallard ducks. About 600 birds also reside in a national park located near the stream, raising concerns that the virus may further spread.The Seou

Social Affairs Feb. 8, 2015

Articles by Lee Hyun-jeong