South Korea's top court said Sunday it has upheld a lower court ruling that found a former Asiana Airlines chief guilty of rejecting menstrual leave for flight attendants. Kim Soo-cheon was indicted in 2017 for declining to approve 138 requests for period leave by 15 flight attendants between May 2014 and June 2015. Under local law, companies are mandated to allow one day of menstrual leave each month upon a female employee's request. A lower court found Kim guilty of breaching employment law

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

Newlywed couples who have owned a home since getting married had a greater chance of having children than newly married couples without homes, data showed Sunday, indicating that owning houses may affect childbirths. Of 212,000 first-time and newly married couples who tied the knot in 2014 and maintained their martial status through 2019, 60,949 couples, or 28.7 percent, had their own home during the five years after getting married, according to the data by Statistics Korea. Among the couples

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

Financial authorities on Sunday unveiled a plan to encourage banks and other financial institutions to provide mid-rate loans to low-income people and non-prime borrowers. Mid-rate loans are not clearly defined, but such loans refer to credit loans with an interest rate of some 10 percent for people with middle credit scores, according to the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Under the plan, about 2 million people with middle credit ratings are expected to take out a total of 32 trillion

Economy April 25, 2021

Doosan Infracore Co., South Korea's top construction equipment maker, said Sunday it has secured a deal to supply 102 excavators and other equipment to Qatar. The value of the deal was not revealed. With the deal with a Qatari construction company, Doosan Infracore will be able to secure the No. 1 position in the construction sector in the Middle Eastern country. Doosan Infracore's market share there stood at 23 percent last year. Doosan Infracore will be able to clinch a 10 percent share in

Industry April 25, 2021

In efforts to clamp down on repetitive drunk driving, South Korean police are looking at introducing automatic lock systems in cars owned by people with drunk driving track records. "Police plan to launch a research project in cooperation with the traffic authority next month, focusing on the details and system for the automatic lock system," a police official told Yonhap News Agency. The National Police Agency recently worked with Rep. Lim Ho-seon of the ruling Democratic Party to p

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

The scions of Samsung Group, South Korea's top conglomerate, are likely to unveil a plan this week on how to finance their massive inheritance tax, which includes the donation of late group chief Lee Kun-hee's art collections. The senior Lee, who was South Korea's richest man, left more than 22 trillion won ($19.6 billion) worth of assets, including stocks valued around 19 trillion won. Lee, who died in October last year at age 78, was survived by his wife, Hong Ra-hee, only son, Jae-yong, and

Industry April 25, 2021

South Korea's biggest bookstore chain has ceased sales of memoirs of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung following a legal and political controversy surrounding the eight-volume series. On Wednesday, a local publishing company said it has begun selling the memoirs, titled "With the Century," here for the first time since the books were published by the North Korean regime in the early 1990s. The memoirs, which mostly feature Kim's anti-Japanese fight, have sparked controversy as they ar

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

South Korea faced a total of 212 import restrictions from trade partners in the first quarter amid growing protectionism, according to a report Sunday. The number of import regulations facing South Korea was up five from three months ago, according to the report from the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA). Import restrictions cover anti-dumping duties, countervailing tariffs and safeguard measures, including investigations into suspected practices. Foreign import restrictions ha

Economy April 25, 2021

SsangYong Motor Co. is seeking to cut some 10 executive jobs as part of its restructuring efforts after being put under court receivership, an industry source said Sunday. SsangYong Motor has been in the debt-rescheduling process since April 15 as its Indian parent Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. has failed to attract an investor amid the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and worsening financial status. According to the source, SsangYong Motor has been considering cutting about 30 percent of its 33 e

Industry April 25, 2021

At the start of the year, Devsisters Corp. was a minor mobile game publisher struggling to turn around, crossing its fingers over the launch of its latest installment of the casual endless runner series Cookie Run. Three months later, "Cookie Run: Kingdom" has dominated South Korea's mobile app store charts, surpassing 10 million downloads. The game's March sales on local app stores are estimated at over 20 billion won ($17.9 million), ranking third after behemoth hardcore games Line

Industry April 25, 2021

South Korea's exports of cosmetics shot up 15 percent in 2020 from a year earlier, data showed Sunday, on the back of growing demand from the United States and Asian countries. Outbound shipments of cosmetics reached $6.12 billion last year, according to the data compiled by the Korea Customs Service and the Korea Cosmetic Association. South Korea's imports of cosmetics fell 10.7 percent on-year in 2020 to $1.07 billion. The country's exports of cosmetics had been maintaining two-digit annual

Economy April 25, 2021

South Korea's daily new virus cases fell below 700 for the first time in five days on Sunday due to fewer tests during the weekend, amid lingering concerns about a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections. The country reported 644 more COVID-19 cases, including 603 local infections, raising the total caseload to 118,887, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The country added one more death, raising the total to 1,813. The daily infections neared 800 last week as cluster infec

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

The music video for the 2018 BTS hit "Idol" has surpassed 900 million views on YouTube in the latest feat for the K-pop dynamo. "Idol," the main track of the seven-piece act's repackaged album "Love Yourself: Answer," hit the milestone at 5:59 a.m. on Sunday, according to Big Hit Music, the group's agency. When adding the views for another version of the song featuring Trinidadian-American rapper Nicki Minaj, total views exceed 1 billion, it added. "Idol&quo

K-pop April 25, 2021

Cases of cyberbullying involving elementary to high school students increased sharply last year as the new coronavirus pandemic turned many classes online, a survey showed Sunday. According to the survey released by the Blue Tree Foundation, cyberbullying accounted for 16.3 percent of all school bullying cases experienced by respondents last year, up more than threefold from 5.3 percent in 2019. The survey canvassed 6,230 students attending elementary, middle and high schools in 17 cities and

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

One day before the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony, veteran actress Youn Yuh-jung is grabbing attention over whether she will become the first South Korean to win an acting award at the Oscars. The 73-year-old screen veteran was nominated for best supporting actress for her role in the immigration film "Minari." Youn plays Soon-ja, an eccentric grandmother who flies to rural Arkansas from South Korea to help her daughter's family striving to build a new life in America. Youn is competi

Film April 25, 2021