A motorboat accident killed one and injured four on Saturday in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province. The victims were students from The University of Oxford having a summer retreat at a private villa.According to the Gyeonggi Yangpyeong Police, a speedboat carrying four students crashed into the pier on Saturday around 4:50 p.m. as it was making a sharp turn. Nine people on the pier were swept-up in the collision.  (YTN YouTube capture)The deceased, Kim, 24, was one of the nine on the pier. He fell in

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2016

A man who menacingly approached a woman he claimed to have fallen in love with over Facebook pictures was arrested on Tuesday for violating the information protection law. The Seoul Seongdong Police said the 28-year-old, surnamed Jeon, had searched for the victim’s private number, bombarded her with over 500 text messages in a week and stalked her in her residential neighborhood and at her workplace.   (123RF)According to the police, Jeon started expressing his one-sided affection for the 27-yea

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2016

A four-year-old child remained in a coma for the fifth day on Tuesday, after being left in an overheated kindergarten bus for nearly eight hours. 　The Gwangju District Police said the teacher in charge, Jeong, 28, the chief teacher Lee, 34, the bus driver Lim, 51, and the kindergarten director Park, 52, have been booked for professional negligence. The four are accused of neglecting the victim between 9:10 a.m. and 4:40 p.m. on July 29. The hottest temperature that day was 35.5 degrees Celsius. 

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2016

Ewha Womans University will suspend the plan to establish a lifelong education college following protests from students, university dean Choi Kyung-hee announced Monday afternoon at a press conference. Tension between the school administration and students has persisted, as students perceive Choi -- with a reputation among the student body for making unilateral administerial decisions -- as merely delaying the plan, while still being reluctant to call it off. Choi Kyung-hee (Yonhap)The establish

Social Affairs Aug. 2, 2016

Japan laid claim to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo again on Tuesday, raising worries that it could deepen diplomatic friction between the two neighboring countries.Earlier in the day, Japan's defense ministry released a white paper in which it referred to Dokdo along with Kuril Islands as its sovereign territory. This marked the 12th consecutive year that Tokyo claimed sovereignty over the islets in the annual paper."The territorial issue over our sovereign territory of the Northern T

Foreign Affairs Aug. 2, 2016

A police officer was fired on Monday for taking up-skirt photographs. The Jinan Police of North Jeolla Province said the 48-year-old officer had been arrested on July 7 for taking inappropriate photographs under the skirt of a female university student at a grocery store in Wansan-gu, Jeonju-si at around 1:50 p.m. (Yonhap)The accused was passed to prosecution for indictment. The police dismissed him for dishonoring his position as a police officer and promised to bolster tougher actions against

Social Affairs Aug. 1, 2016

Swimming on Busan’s Haeundae beach was put on hold for 50 minutes on Monday after floating oil was detected on the water surface. A thin layer of oil, presumed to have leaked from a ship embarked nearby the beach, covered an area 100-meters in length and 10-meters in width between the first and the second watchtower.(Yonhap)After the discovery at 6:35 a.m., the maritime police dispatched nine boats and water motorcycles to remove the oil by 9:45 a.m.The beach, originally slated to open to the pu

Social Affairs Aug. 1, 2016

Presidential pardons, usually given on National Liberation Day, Aug. 15, might help the bus driver behind the five-car pileup on Yeongdong Expressway receive a new driver‘s license, local news reports said.Bang, the bus driver responsible for the crash that killed four and injured 37 on July 17, is currently being pressed in a criminal suit. However, the administrative penalty that nullified his driver’s license might be subject to presidential pardons. (Yonhap)Gangwon Pyeongchang Police, who ar

Social Affairs July 28, 2016

A 14-year-old girl drove a car over 100 kilometers without a driver’s license and overturned the car at a roundabout, injuring herself and three passengers, the Gangwon Hwacheon Police said Thursday. According to police, four teenage girls, including the driver surnamed Song and her older sister, were traveling from Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, to Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, where Song’s maternal grandmother lives.(YTN News capture)The vehicle belonged to Song’s father and was taken out without per

Social Affairs July 28, 2016

A man with the intent of murder realized halfway through the act that he was strangling the wrong woman and tried to escape, but was arrested by the police for attempted homicide.Busan Bukbu Police said Thursday that the 48-year-old surnamed Oh was under investigation for trying to strangle the 50-year-old victim and trespassing in her house in Gupo-dong, Buk-gu, Busan at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Busan Bukbu Police Station (Yonhap)Oh told the police he had been looking for a woman who allege

Social Affairs July 28, 2016

A man who kicked a pregnant cat which resulted in three stillbirths was arrested for violation of animal protection law on Wednesday. Gyeonggi Siheung Police said the 63-year-old had kicked a cat on July 6 around 6:00 p.m., killing three of the ten kittens it was pregnant with. (YouTube Capture)The accused told the police that he kicked the cat because it had “suddenly sprung out on the street.” He was not aware that it was in gestation. The cat belonged to the owner of the supermarket in front

Social Affairs July 28, 2016

A North Korean defector has come to seek refuge at the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong, local media reported Wednesday. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post and other news outlets have said that the defector was presumed to be a member of a North Korean delegation to an academic competition at a local university, which was held about two weeks ago.  (Yonhap)Security was seen bolstered around the Korean consulate in the Far East Finance Centre in Harcourt Road, Admiralty.Neither the South Kor

North Korea July 28, 2016