A South Korean woman was recently sentenced to one year in prison for falsely accusing a Bangladeshi man of raping her, a local court said Wednesday. Ulstan District Court found the defendant, in her 60s, guilty of false accusation and stalking, based on her sending 2,459 text messages to the victim from January to July of last year. She was also ordered to complete 40 hours in a stalking treatment program. "This crime inflicted great psychological damage to the victim and caused considerab

Social Affairs March 27, 2024

A 41-year-old man was recently sentenced to four years in prison for fraud after he extorted around 738 million won ($550,000) from a BTS fan by pretending he could arrange for the victim to work with the K-pop group, officials said Wednesday. The defendant approached the victim in July 2021 and said that he was in charge of a video production team making content for BTS' agency, Hybe. He promised that he could arrange for the victim to participate as a member of staff in a BTS video shoot

Social Affairs March 27, 2024

Lee A-reum, a former member of K-pop girl group T-ara, is currently receiving medical treatment after pan apparent suicide attempt, local media outlets reported Wednesday. The 29-year-old was reportedly found earlier today with what appeared to be a will, according to her representatives, although its content has not been made public. Lee, who was a member of T-ara for a year starting July 2012, recently made headlines by claiming Monday that she had been a victim of domestic abuse by her estran

Social Affairs March 27, 2024

A woman in her 90s recently suffered a severe heart problem and was taken to a nearby hospital, only to die shortly after being turned away by the emergency medical staff there, local media outlets reported Wednesday. On March 6, the Busan resident had been hit with a myocardial infarction that required an immediate operation. Rescue workers asked a university hospital in the city if the staff could handle her situation, but they said they could not. The ambulance then took a 50-minute trip to a

Social Affairs March 27, 2024

A local barbecue joint that stirred up controversy by charging soldiers extra has been confirmed Tuesday to have closed down. The restaurant, formerly based in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, ceased business operations as of Jan. 2, according to BizNo.net, a website providing information for enterprises across the country. The all-you-can-eat barbecue joint sparked public outrage in December after it was revealed that it charges different fees to soldiers and other adult customers. The price per adult

Social Affairs March 26, 2024

More than half of South Korea's workers are choosing to do minimal work at their jobs without actually resigning, a survey showed Tuesday, indicating that the global trend of "quiet quitting" is growing more prominent among workers here. Local job search website Incruit recently conducted a survey of 1,097 employees across the country about quiet quitting, in which 51.7 percent said they have done so. The term, coined in the early 2020s, refers to an employee doing the absolute m

Social Affairs March 26, 2024

“We have no idea what Ms. Kim Sae-ron’s intent is with this action," actor Kim Soo-hyun's agency Gold Medalist said as it denied dating rumors between the two Kims. The rumor was sparked early Sunday when the 23-year-old actress revealed on Instagram a photo of her and Kim Soo-hyun, which the agency explained had been taken years before when the two had the same agency. Kim Sae-ron has yet to explain why she posted the photo on social media before the crack of dawn, or why

People March 25, 2024

A South Korean internet celebrity has recently been accused of fraud by the bereaved family of a South Korean man who died last year after spending large sums of money in support of the celebrity. The deceased, whose body was found inside his car in May last year, had been a VIP patron of the female's celebrity's online show, spending as much as 50 million won ($37,000) a day in sponsorships. An investigation found that his donations were largely made via borrowing, as he was around 15

Social Affairs March 25, 2024

Men and women who have experienced divorce each have differing interpretations of physical intimacy in their new relationship, a joint survey by local matchmaking agencies showed Monday. The companies Only U and Bien-Alle conducted a survey of 516 men and women who wish to get remarried to ask about physical contact with romantic connotations with their new romantic partners. The survey generally showed that female respondents attribute slightly more meaning to physical intimacy than male respon

Social Affairs March 25, 2024

A South Korean man has been sentenced to eight years in prison for smuggling a large quantity of illegal drugs into the country, a local court said Monday. The defendant in his 30s has been accused of having brought in the drugs, hidden inside bags of snacks, from Hawaii between December 2018 and October 2021. He smuggled a total of 405 pills of ecstasy, 16.35 grams of cocaine and 2.79 kilograms of cannabis. South Korea's Narcotics Control Act bans the possession, transaction or use of what

Social Affairs March 25, 2024

A recent survey showed that about 67.9 of South Koreans working at an enterprise employing less than five people had less than six days of paid leave last year, a civic group said Sunday. Gapjil 119, a civic group focusing on workplace abuse, conducted a survey of 1,000 employees across the country to find how much time off work they got last year, in which they also found that only 12.1 percent of those working in small businesses -- those with less than five workers -- took 15 days of paid l

Social Affairs March 24, 2024

A bullet has been recovered from inside a Korean Air plane that was bound for Milan at Incheon Airport, according to airport police on Sunday. According to the Incheon Airport Police Corps, a staff member who was cleaning the inside of flight KE0927 at around 11:20 a.m. on Sunday found a 9-millimeter bullet for a hunting gun underneath a passenger seat. The aircraft had been scheduled to head for the Italian city at 12:10 p.m. Airport police conducted a thorough search inside the airplane but di

Social Affairs March 24, 2024

A 62-year-old man has been cleared of stalking charges following allegations brought by his former girlfriend after the court found the plaintiff's testimonies to be inconsistent and lacking in credibility, officials said Sunday. The defendant had been given a summary order to pay a 3-million-won ($2,200) fine for charges of stalking his girlfriend and trespassing at her home. He denied the charges and requested a formal trial. The prosecution accused the defendant of stalking based on alle

Social Affairs March 24, 2024

Trainee doctors and medical school students not participating in a nationwide walkout released a statement Saturday, calling for other medical staff to respect their decision not to walk out on patients. Medical Students and Trainee Doctors With Different Opinion, known locally as Dasaengui, posted a statement on its social media page urging colleagues to cease what the group has labeled "authoritative ostracizing and violent coercion" against them to join the walkout. "Doctors wi

Social Affairs March 24, 2024

The average salary of an executive of a major South Korean corporation is almost 11 times that of an average employee working at those companies, a report by an online think-tank monitoring local conglomerates showed Sunday. Chaebol.com analyzed the salaries of the people working for 162 subsidiaries of 20 major conglomerates in South Korea in the 2023 fiscal year, and found that the executives of those companies get paid an average salary of 1.09 billion won ($810,000) a year, compared to 99.6

Industry March 24, 2024