The scandal surrounding South Korean soccer player Hwang Ui-jo has continued to escalate, with the national team striker reiterating his stance Sunday that the videos he filmed of a sexual encounter with a woman were taken with consent, while the woman claimed that Hwang is telling lies. A legal representative for the 31-year-old athlete claimed that Hwang has presented evidence to the police backing his claims, stressing that the video in question was filmed with consent as his smartphone

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2024

South Koreans were abuzz over the weekend over an eventually debunked rumor that the government is mulling a fire exit sign depicting a long-haired woman wearing a skirt as a supposedly politically correct move, a rumor which officials denied in a joint statement. Earlier Friday, some media outlets reported that the Ministry of Interior and Safety was reviewing whether to revamp the design of conventional emergency exit signs, which depict a generic image of a person exiting a door. The report s

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2024

A video of a high school student beating up a security guard in his 60s has sparked public outrage here, despite the police closing the case when the victim expressed his wish not to punish his attacker. In the video that went viral through the social media, the teen was filmed launching series of brutal attacks against the man on Friday, as a female voice was heard laughing at the scene. The assault occurred at a commercial complex in Dasan-dong in Namyangju City, Gyeonggi Province. Local polic

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2024

A South Korean man accused of attacking his wife while holding their three-year-old daughter in his arms has been fined 1 million won ($760) for child abuse, Incheon District Court said Sunday. An investigation found that the 44-year-old defendant and his wife got into a physical altercation on June 18, 2022, which saw the man push the woman to the floor and throw her phone out the door when she attempted to record the situation. He grabbed their 3-year-old daughter when he attempted a secon

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2024

The bereaved family of a 19-year-old South Korean college student, who died following complications in postoperative care for a simple knee surgery, has filed criminal charges against medical staff involved in the operation, local police said Saturday. According to Dunsan Police Station in Daejeon, four medical staff of Daejeon Eulji Medical Center have been accused of death by occupational negligence by the student's family. If convicted, the accused can be punished by up to five years in

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2024

The Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games will commence on Jan. 19 in Gangwon Province in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula, bringing together a record 1,803 young athletes from 79 countries across the world. Held under the slogan of "Grow Together, Shin Forever," the event is the fourth edition of the Youth Winter Olympic Games and the first one ever hosted in Asia. The participants will compete in 15 disciplines across seven sports, in a total of 81 events. The sports to be

More Sports Jan. 11, 2024

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday requested a three-year prison term from the court for a 25-year-old woman who is accused of buying a baby from a single mother and selling her to another woman. In a final hearing for the case held at the Incheon District Court, the prosecution said the accused, surnamed Kim, should be jailed for using a child as a means of making profit. Kim is accused of purchasing a 27-year-old woman's newly born daughter for 980,000 won ($750) on Aug. 24, 2019, and

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2024

South Korea's recent ban on the consumption of dog meat has been welcomed by animal rights groups but has drawn the ire of farmers who demand compensation for their loss of business. Since the National Assembly passed the related bill on Tuesday, the local dog meat association has been at loggerheads with the government over how much they should be compensated. Daehan Yukgyeon Hyeophoi (Dog Meat Federation), a group consisting of dog meat farmers and dog meat restaurant owners across the co

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2024

The decision to suspend a judge for three months after he was found to have illegally paid for sex is fanning criticism against the judiciary. According to local reports, the judge in question -- a 43-year old who holds a post in an Ulsan court -- was found to have worked at his regular job for a month before he was suspended by the Supreme Court. He was summarily indicted for the crime of paying money for sexual intercourse in Seoul in June of last year, but South Korea's highest court wai

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2024

A T'way flight was hit by a bird during landing late Wednesday, but the pilots managed to land the aircraft safely in Incheon, the airline said. The TW216 flight, bound for Incheon from Narita International Airport in Tokyo, had been touching down on a runway at the Incheon International Airport around 9:28 p.m., when a bird was sucked into one of its engines. The pilots aborted the landing temporarily, but were able to land the plane safely some 13 minutes later, T'way Air said. Small

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2024

In the small county of Goesan-gun, North Chungcheong Province, a man has been anonymously leaving donations for district officials over the past three years, amounting to a little over 90 million won ($68,000) since 2021. Goesan-gun Office said the unidentified middle-aged man made his most recent contribution on Monday, when he left an employee of the resident welfare team at the Buljeong-myeon office a paper bag, which contained 400 50,000 won bills. He mouthed "I'll leave it her

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2024

State-run broadcaster KBS was recently embroiled in controversy over its abrupt change of the title used for the late Chun Doo-hwan, a former military dictator of South Korea who ruled over the country with an iron fist in the 1980s. Last Thursday, a senior journalist of the public broadcaster, Kim Seong-jin, issued a notice on the company's intranet that its reporters should refer to Chun as "former President Chun," instead of "Chun-ssi (Mr. Chun)." After the notice was

Social Affairs Jan. 10, 2024

The Gwangju High Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court ruling that handed down a jail term for fraud to a woman who faked her marital status and scammed a man into marrying her and giving her money. The 38-year-old defendant, who was given a prison term of three years and six months, had swindled a total of 570 million won ($430,000) from the victim in their one year of marriage that started in 2021. She pretended to be single and got the victim to marry her, when she had in fact been marr

Social Affairs Jan. 10, 2024

A South Korean court on Wednesday handed a six-month prison term to a woman who was convicted of stalking a local celebrity couple, singer and actor Rain and actress Kim Tae-hee. The Seoul Western District Court also ordered 40 hours of psychological treatment for the defendant in her 40s, who was found to be suffering from mental illness. "The defendant is a first-time offender and it does not appear as if she intended to harm the victims," the court said in its verdict, adding that s

Social Affairs Jan. 10, 2024

A man who erased thousands of digital files owned by his former employer has been fined 5 million won ($3,800), a South Korean court said Wednesday. The Seoul Eastern District Court assessed the punishment for a 35-year-old former employee of a local online retailer. The former employee was indicted on interference with business charges for erasing 4,216 files the company had saved to Google Drive in April 2021. He had been feuding with the company over distribution of profit, and quit the compa

Social Affairs Jan. 10, 2024