Nearly a third of Korean legislators, or 94 out of 283 sitting lawmakers, have a criminal record, according to a report by a nongovernmental organization. The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice presented its findings in a press conference Tuesday, detailing the 94 lawmakers' 150 recorded offenses. The report distinguishes between political and non-political crimes, with the former mainly associated with activism during military dictatorship. Excluding political offenses, the numb

Politics July 25, 2023

The police on Tuesday took a man into custody for threatening to kill Korean women at the site of a recent stabbing spree in Sillim-dong, Seoul. The suspect, known to be male and in his 20s, is facing charges for making threats via a post on the online forum, DCinside, Monday. In the post, the suspect stated his plan to "kill 20 Korean women" at Sillim Station, the site of a fatal stabbing spree that left one dead and three injured on July 21, referring to "Korean women" us

Social Affairs July 25, 2023

Following the stabbing spree in Sillim-dong, Seoul, a significant increase in searches for self-defense tools and weapons has been noted across Korean online shopping sites. This trend appears to be largely driven by males aged 20-40, according to data provided by the online commerce platform, Naver Shopping. Throughout the weekend following the incident, self-defense items topped the search rankings on Naver Shopping among men aged 20-40, according to website data. As of Monday, such products m

Social Affairs July 24, 2023

In South Korea, 69 percent of adult smartphone users use a Samsung device, while only 23 percent use iPhones, a Gallup survey of 1,001 adults found. But the survey reveals a starkly different trend in one demographic: younger millennials and Gen Z. Among the younger generation, aged 18 to 29, iPhone’s share rises to 65 percent, double the Samsung's 32 percent, the survey found. This represents a 13 percent increase in iPhone use from last year and stands in sharp contrast to older coh

Technology July 20, 2023

The South Korean government announced a comprehensive five-year plan to address the gender gap in the public sector by increasing the proportion of leadership positions held by women. In South Korea, women occupy only 8.5 percent of senior government positions, significantly below the 37.1 percent average for countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The plan proposes to equal the OECD average within the next five years. The plan, announced Tuesday by a joint task f

Social Affairs July 18, 2023

The prosecution on Monday called for an 18-month prison sentence for Rhee Keun, a former South Korean Navy SEAL and YouTube personality, on charges of violating the ban on traveling to Ukraine, and an unrelated hit-and-run incident in Seoul last July. Gaining popularity for his special operations background and reality show appearances, Rhee announced his decision to participate in the Ukraine war as a volunteer fighter in March last year. There he joined the International Legion, a foreign divi

Social Affairs July 18, 2023

In an uplifting tale amid tragedy, a two-year-old dog was found safe in a rural village -- 27 hours after being swept away by a landslide caused by torrential rain that lashed across the country over the weekend. The dog, named Jinsoon, went missing on Saturday when a flood swept through Yechon, North Gyeongsang Province. Jinsoon's owner, 73-year-old Kwon Ho-ryang, found his dog missing as the floodwater surged up to his face. “I was barely clinging to a tree for survival when I rea

Social Affairs July 17, 2023

A man who became a viral sensation last week for cleaning up vomit in a Seoul subway car has been recognized by the city with a medal of appreciation. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon personally thanked the good Samaritan in a meeting, according to a post on the mayor's Instagram account Sunday. The incident first gained public attention when a passenger posted a video of the act on social media. The video showed a man, known to be in his 20s, cleaning up vomit from a seat on Seoul's Subway Line

Social Affairs July 17, 2023

A South Korean YouTube channel with 673,000 subscribers sparked outrage among Japanese and Korean internet users over incendiary remarks made in a travel vlog about Japan. The controversial comments surfaced in response to a July 9 video titled "Would she like traveling to Japan on a 300,000 won ($232) budget?" which shows a 20-something couple who runs the channel visiting Kitakyushu, a city in the south of Japan. In the video, the two running the channel liken an airplane painted in

Social Affairs July 12, 2023

Sexually derogatory messages allegedly sent by a sixth-grader to his teacher are fanning controversy online. The incident was first reported Monday in a post shared on Blind, an anonymous online community. In the now-deleted post, a person who claimed to be the teacher's boyfriend complained that a sixth-grade student had been sending explicit texts to the teacher. Screenshots included in the post showed KakaoTalk messages sent by the student, where the student tells the teacher to “h

Social Affairs July 11, 2023

A man in his 20s has been sentenced to an 18-month jail term for defrauding his employer with a false property sale. The man, a part-time worker at a PC bang, duped his employer that he would sell him a temple, a property purportedly inherited from his grandfather. He defrauded his boss of nearly $100,000 over 16 instances. The property, however, was unregistered, and had multiple inheritors, meaning he had no sole right to sell it. The man also stole the pin number of his employer's moth

Social Affairs July 11, 2023

Jeju Seogwipo Police arrested a man in his 60s who is suspected of stabbing his friend to death during a Go game on Saturday night. The two men, both unidentified, were reportedly drinking and playing Go when a dispute allegedly broke out, leading to the stabbing at around 11 p.m. The victim, in his 50s, died of multiple stab wounds. Local police responded to the scene early Sunday and recovered the murder weapon. The suspect was apprehended at around 12:30 p.m. The suspect reportedly denied the

Social Affairs July 10, 2023

Police are pursuing arrest warrants for two men, surnamed Kim and Park, for alleged sex crimes against minors. Both suspects, in their 20s, were active users of the web forum Depression Gallery, an anonymous bulletin board on the online community DCinside that has been linked to multiple sex crimes against minors. Kim is accused of assault, blackmail and rape that occurred in 2020 and 2021 at a property in Sindaebang-dong, Seoul, which was reportedly used as a meeting place for forum users. Simi

Social Affairs July 5, 2023