A bus ran over passengers at Suwon Station in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, killing one and injuring at least 11. The incident occurred at around 1:27 p.m., when the bus rammed into passengers who were crossing the street to the transfer center on the upper level of the station, subsequently moving to the sidewalk where it hit more people. The site of the accident draws high foot traffic, including to adjacent shopping centers. A woman in her 70s was killed, despite being carried to a h

Social Affairs Dec. 22, 2023

The district office of Seocho-gu in southern Seoul has removed all utility poles across Gangnamdaero, officials said Friday. Gangnamdaero is a 7.2-kilometer, 10-lane main road connecting the northern and southern part of the district, and is among the busiest roads in South Korea. It is adjacent to the commercial district of the affluent Gangnam region, along with Gangnam Station and Yangjae Station, among the most populated subway stations here. The district office said it just completed the th

Social Affairs Dec. 22, 2023

Singer-actor IU recently launched a civil lawsuit seeking compensation from an individual who raised plagiarism allegations against her, as local media outlets on Thursday reported that South Korean police have submitted the information related to the individual to court. The 31-year-old singer has been engaged in a legal battle seeking compensation for what her representatives claimed was defamation via groundless acts of slander. After investigators cleared her of plagiarism allegations in Sep

K-pop Dec. 21, 2023

A man who left his three children on the streets temporarily to look for their mother has been cleared of child abandonment charges, after the court decided that he did not intend to actually leave his children. "(The defendant) left his children on the streets so they could meet their mother. It does not appear that his actions were to an extent detrimental to the children's mental health," the appellate division of the Gwangju District Court said in its ruling Wednesday. The 44-

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2023

An average worker living in Seoul and its surrounding regions spends an average of 83.2 minutes a day going back and forth from home to work, a state report showed Thursday. The Statistics Korea announced a report on commute time for workers across the country, specifically for who use the mobile services of SK Telecom, one of the country's top three mobile carriers. The agency compared data it had of workers' home addresses and jobs with data compiled by SK's mobile tracking syst

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2023

A South Korean doctor accused of providing narcotics to actor Lee Sun-kyun, currently under investigation for drug use, has been arrested by police late Wednesday. Incheon District Court issued an arrest warrant for the 42-year-old suspect, on request of the drug unit of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, saying that there is a risk that he may flee or destroy evidence. The unnamed suspect, a plastic surgeon at a hospital in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, is believed to have provided drugs to

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2023

A teachers’ union on Wednesday criticized a right-leaning civic group for making complaints against a Seoul high school principal for organizing an outing to watch "12.12: The Day," a film about military dictator Chun Doo-hwan's rise to power through the 1979 coup. The civic group, called the Freedom Korea National Defense Corps, has accused the principal of abusing his authority, which is stipulated via Article 123 of the Criminal Act, according to the Korean Teachers and E

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2023

Gyeongsang National University said Thursday that a computer error during its admissions process resulted in two students being rejected despite having the necessary credentials for acceptance. The university belatedly notified the two students that they have actually been accepted. According to school officials, its college of pharmacology announced last week the three students who were accepted through its early admissions process. But the computer did not take into account the college entranc

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2023

South Korean police on Wednesday said it has apprehended 1,183 members of organized crime rings across the country, detaining 189 of them on arrest warrants, the majority of whom are younger than 30 and focus more on non-traditional gang activities. The arrests were made after a special crackdown by the National Police Agency during the second half of this year, conducted between Aug. 7 and Dec. 16. The government had apprehended 1,589 gang members after a four-month investigation took place dur

Social Affairs Dec. 20, 2023

South Korean police on Tuesday said they arrested two teenagers suspected to have recently vandalized the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. According to Jongno Police Station, the 17-year-old male suspect was taken in by officers at around 7:08 p.m. near his home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The other suspect, a 16-year-old girl, was also apprehended at her home which was nearby. The pair is accused of spray-painting promotional messages of an illegal video-downloading w

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2023

The number of South Koreans smoking or drinking has risen in the era following the years since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a state-issued report showed Tuesday. The annual report, conducted on 230,000 adults across the country by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), indicated deteriorating health indexes across the board, as obesity and depression were also on the rise in recent years. South Korea's smoking rate had been on a downward trend since reaching 26.7 perc

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2023

An 8-year-old boy from Kyrgyzstan, whose face had been scarred from severe burns, has made full recovery from the facial reconstruction surgery he received at the Asan Medical Center, the hospital said Tuesday. The AMC staff said the boy, named Alinur, has received nasal reconstruction surgeries and operations to remove his scars, and is set to head back home. The medical costs were fully covered by the hospital and the Asan Foundation, headed by Chung Mong-joon. According to the AMC, Alinur sus

People Dec. 19, 2023

Most people can agree that it is ideal for audience members to make as little noise as possible during plays or musicals. But South Korean theater fans have been divided over the widespread policy that takes it to another level: the so-called "siche-gwangeuk," which refer to the practice of watching while being "still as a corpse." Last week, a controversy broke out when a reporter wrote a critical article on a production of the musical "Lee Jin: The Woman of Light.&qu

Performance Dec. 19, 2023

A South Korean teen murder suspect called emergency medical services immediately after her crime and asked what sort of punishment she would get, testimonies revealed at her trial on Monday. The 18-year-old female suspect is accused of murdering her classmate after an argument on July 12 at the victim's home in Daejeon, and is being tried by the Daejeon District Court. After the classmate's death, the suspect called the 119 emergency number to report it and asked, "Is it true that

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2023

South Korean authorities recently shot an escaped bear in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, sparking calls from animal rights groups for the parliament to pass a pending law that bans bear farming. According to the Dangjin Fire Station on Tuesday, officials received reports that a bear escaped from a bear farm in Seokpo-ri, Dangjin, at around 7 p.m. on Sunday. Officials located the animal after two hours of searching and shot the animal dead, upon the request of the farm owner who voiced safe

Social Affairs Dec. 19, 2023