South Korean basketball player Heo Ung of the 2024 KBL champion KCC Egis has recently filed complaints to the police against his former girlfriend for alleged stalking, intimidation and extortion. The Seoul Gangnam Police Station said Wednesday that it is investigating the case involving Heo and a woman he dated from 2018 to 2021. The 30-year-old athlete has claimed that she has been blackmailing him for the past three years, requesting him to pay her a large sum of money. He also accused her of

Social Affairs June 27, 2024

The South Korean police said Wednesday that they would not press criminal charges against the parents of students or officials at a Daejeon school, saying they found no evidence of wrongdoing on their part related to last year’s suicide death of a teacher. Eight parents and two officials of Daejeon Yonsan Elementary School were under investigation for charges including obstruction of performance of official duties, with claims of alleged "excessive and malicious" complaints aga

Social Affairs June 26, 2024

Korean National Police Agency has been embroiled in a controversy over an anonymous claim that it dispatched a strike unit to Monday's deadly battery plant fire site without gas masks. Police told local media that the controversial action was due to the officers being deployed in the area that was over 100 meters away from the battery plant in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul. A person claiming to be a member of the police special operation unit said Tuesday that the unit had been s

Social Affairs June 26, 2024

Son Woong-jung, father of South Korea national soccer team captain Son Heung-min, and two of the coaches at his soccer academy have been accused of verbally and physically abusing a youth athlete, local police said Wednesday. Parents of the child in question filed a complaint with authorities on March 19 against Son and two coaches at the Son Football Academy, where the elder Son is the director, in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province. They said that Son had verbally abused their son for making mistak

Social Affairs June 26, 2024

Trash-filled balloons sent by North Korea disrupted the takeoff and landing of multiple airplanes at Incheon Airport early Wednesday. According to the Incheon International Airport Corp., the balloons caused delays of operations related to domestic and international flights that were scheduled to take off or land there between 1:46 a.m. and 4:44 a.m. The runways were fully operational as of Wednesday morning. Officials explained that the restriction was due to concerns that balloons could get

Social Affairs June 26, 2024

Government officials and community leaders in the southeastern city of Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, jointly issued a public apology Tuesday for an infamous gang rape case that occurred two decades ago, saying it was "all of our responsibility." "We all share the responsibility to make a better community, yet we (the people of Miryang) have not apologized or reflected on this tragedy, just because it is not directly related to our family or friends," said Mayor An Bye

Social Affairs June 25, 2024

The majority of car owners in South Korea are willing to buy more eco-friendly models for their next vehicle, a survey indicated Tuesday. A local pollster Open Survey recently surveyed 1,500 car owners on what type of car they wish to buy next. Of the 675 who said they plan to buy another car, 39.7 percent said a hybrid vehicle -- powered by both an internal combustion engine and an electric motor -- would be their first choice. Another 26.7 percent who plan to buy another car said they would

Social Affairs June 25, 2024

July 26 will mark the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympics, but the French-bound South Korean delegation for the international sporting event is expected to be the smallest in recent years. A lackluster performance by the men's soccer team in April, and bitter losses by both men's and women's volleyball teams last year, meant that the country would not be participating in these events for the first time in several decades. The women's basketball team also lost its bid for qua

More Sports June 25, 2024

A fire that broke out at a lithium battery factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, has left at least 22 workers dead, eight injured and one missing as of 6:30 p.m., according to local authorities Monday. Most of the deceased were among the 21 workers who were trapped inside and unaccounted for during the initial fire rescue efforts. The Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters confirmed the deaths of 22 people, including 19 foreign workers, following a fire that occurred at 10:31 a.m. at Aricell&

Social Affairs June 24, 2024

The South Korean police said Monday they are investigating a case in which a man and his son were found dead after the two men were heard arguing inside their home. According to the Daejeon Yuseong Police Station, the two were found stabbed and fatally injured at around 3:24 a.m. on Sunday, with the father found inside the master bedroom and the son inside the bathroom. The older victim's daughter reported the case to the police, saying her father appeared to have been murdered. The two m

Social Affairs June 24, 2024

Even foreign students are stuck in Seoul-centric mode. A recent report showed that over half of them were studying in the Greater Seoul area as of last year. A total of 181,842 international students were in South Korea as of 2023, according to a report issued Monday by the government-affiliated Korean Council for University Education, more than double the 85,923 in 2023. Of those, 119,237 were studying for a university degree while 52,602 were in a non-degree programs such as language study cou

Social Affairs June 24, 2024

At least 16 people have been confirmed dead in Monday's battery factory fire in Hwaseong as of 5 p.m., with the final death toll expected to rise above 20. Of the 23 people who had earlier been reported missing in the fire, 20 were confirmed to be foreign nationals. The rescue authorities commenced a search of the lithium primary battery plant, run by Aricell, after firefighters got the blaze under control at 3:10 p.m. It was over three hours after the fire first broke out on the secon

Social Affairs June 24, 2024

Most victims of workplace bullying in South Korea refrain from filing formal complaints about it to the authorities or their employers, a survey showed Monday. Gabjil 119, a civic group that assists victims of workplace abuse, conducted a survey of 1,000 employees and found that only 10.3 percent of respondents said they have filed a report against such cases. The survey allowed respondents to pick multiple responses. Of those who sought outside help, only 8.1 percent reported such cases to th

Social Affairs June 24, 2024

  A messy canine custody battle broke out recently after a woman sued her son's former girlfriend, claiming ownership of a golden retriever who had lived with her for years but is legally owned by the ex-girlfriend. Seoul High Court recently ruled in favor of the ex-girlfriend, overturning an earlier ruling that granted the mother ownership of the animal. "There is no evidence to believe that (the ex-girlfriend) explicitly expressed her will to give the dog to the plaintiff," the

Social Affairs June 22, 2024

Seoul Seobu Police Station said Friday it has sought charges against a man for placing a plastic bag over a statue symbolizing comfort women, the euphemism for the tens of thousands of women coerced into sexual slavery by imperial Japan during World War II. The man surnamed Kim, who is a leader of a controversial civic group calling for the abolishment of the act on supporting former comfort women, has been accused of violating Article 3 of the Punishment of Minor Offenses Act for placing the

Social Affairs June 21, 2024