Police on Wednesday said that they were investigating the case of a dead Algerian-Korean couple whose bodies were found in Jeongseon County, Gangwon Province, Tuesday. The dominant presumption at the moment is homicide and suicide by the husband, but the possibility of murder by another person has not been ruled out, according to the police.  (Yonhap)An investigation from the National Forensic Service found that the Algerian wife, 32, had been strangled to death. Based on this, Gangwon Yeongwol

Social Affairs Aug. 25, 2016

Prosecutors on Wednesday asked for seven years in prison for a woman charged with raping her husband. Shim, 41, is being tried in Seoul Central District Court for confining her husband for 29 hours in a flat in Jongno-gu, Seoul, in May 2015. She is also accused of duct-taping the victim’s limbs and raping him. The verdict is due Sept. 9.The two were reportedly going through a divorce suit.  (Yonhap)The victim was allegedly pressured to speak into a voice recorder that the reason he was seeking d

Social Affairs Aug. 25, 2016

South Korea and Hawaii have signed a pact to recognize the validity of noncommercial driver's licenses issued by each other, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Under the agreement, which went into force Wednesday in the US state after being signed, holders of driver's licenses issued by their own authorities are eligible for a driving permit in the counterpart region without additional training or tests, ministry officials said.  (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)Hawaii, home to 4,631 South Koreans

Foreign Affairs Aug. 25, 2016

A 47-year-old woman and a man thought to be her lover are being held responsible for the death of her late husband, police in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, said Monday.The victim, 53, was found dead on April 22, two months in to his first marriage. (Yonhap)Autopsy revealed he had died of a nicotine overdose. Sleep-inducing zolpidem was also found in his system.In the following investigations, the police learned that the first action the deceased man’s wife took upon discovery of his abrupt death

Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2016

A 19-year-old is being charged for fatally stabbing his mother and aunt in Daejeon on Sunday.The Daejeon Yuseong Police revealed Monday that the teenager’s father, who holds US citizenship, had testified to his son’s drug abuse. (Yonhap)According to the father, the accused had spoken of taking illegal substances with his friends. On Sunday at around 4:30 p.m., the accused returned home and allegedly used a kitchen knife to stab his mother and aunt to death. The father, who had also been inside t

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2016

The boyfriend of a mysteriously dead woman, who went missing around the time of her death, was found hanged in a nondescript mountain in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province on Sunday, deepening the riddle of the case.The police presume the man, surnamed Kim, died about a month ago on July 25, which is the day he disappeared in the same clothes he was found dead in. No suicide note was found. (Yonhap)The Sujeong Police in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province said that Kim, 60, had been the prime suspect behind t

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2016

A man who beat his great-aunt to death is being pressed for detention, the Gochang Police said Monday. The 58-year-old surnamed Kim is being accused of stomping on his 85-year-old great-aunt’s head and neck which resulted in her death on Sunday around 2 p.m. (Yonhap)Kim, who lived by himself in the same village as the victim, occasionally visited her for home-cooked meals. Kim told the police that on the day of the crime however, the victim had declined to prepare a table, and that he was infuri

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2016

A 37-year-old man was arrested under charges of stealing around 1,400 female underwear, the Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek Police said Monday.The alleged thief, surnamed Kim, was caught after taking pieces of underwear worth 120,000 won ($106) from some laundry that was drying in the yard of a house in Pyeongtaek on Aug 7 at around 4 p.m.1,156 pieces of underwear (Yonhap)The police confiscated nearly 1,400 stolen pieces of underwear, which were reportedly neatly organized according to color and design, at

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2016

The police on Monday brought in four profilers to investigate the case of a girl who was brutally murdered by her mother and brother who claim the victim was possessed with the spirit of their “demonic” dog. The mother, 54, and brother, 26, allegedly murdered the 25-year-old victim on Aug. 19, at their residence in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. (Yonhap)According to the police findings, the three family members had been fasting together for five days since Aug. 15 for a so-far unexplained reason.Th

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2016

South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co. on Monday said it will shut down its two-year streaming radio service, Milk Music, next month, amid media reports that the service has failed to appeal to users. In a statement posted on the company's website last Friday, Samsung said, "(It is) sun setting its Samsung Milk Music service in the United States on September 22, 2016. "We have made the strategic decision to invest in a partner model focused on seamlessly integrating the best music servi

Companies Aug. 22, 2016

A 20-year-old military serviceman attempted to drown himself in the sea near the southern coastal city of Tongyeong, early on Friday morning. The Tongyeong Korea Coastguard Station said the young man, surnamed Park, had implied he would try to take his own life in a phone conversation with his grandmother just prior to the suicide attempt.  (Yonhap)His grandmother alerted the police, who passed the message on to the coastguard. At around 3:15 a.m., Park was found flailing in the waters around 10

Social Affairs Aug. 19, 2016

A 65-year-old pastor was arrested under charges of sexual misdemeanor involving two high-school students with intellectual disabilities, the Gwangju District Court said Thursday. According to the court, the accused is being questioned for summoning the 16-year-old to his car and the 17-year-old to a karaoke room, where he allegedly touched them inappropriately, between January and March. 　The case came to light through a counselling session between the students and the manager of their residenti

Social Affairs Aug. 18, 2016