Most Popular
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Yoon, Lee end first talks with differences, agree to meet more
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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China outpaces Korea in smaller OLED shipments for 1st time
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[Grace Kao] Hybe vs. Ador: Inspiration, imitation and plagiarism
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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Unification support falls in S. Korea as talks stall
SEOUL (AFP) - Ever more South Koreans prefer peaceful co-existence with the nuclear-armed North to reunification of the peninsula, a survey found Monday. Despite sharing a common language and ethnicity and centuries of history, North and South Korea have become radically different societies in recent decades. Ruled with an iron grip by three generations of the Kim family, the North has turned itself into a nuclear power -- at the cost of international isolation -- while the South has embraced de
May 13, 2019
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Gov’t asks bus drivers call off strike
The government on Monday pressed unionized bus drivers across the country to call off this week’s general strike as it offered a set of incentives to bus companies. Bus companies “should not stop providing bus services,” Hong Nam-ki, the minister of economy and finance, said during a meeting with leaders of the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and the Korea Automobile & Transport Workers‘ Federation. (Yonhap) The request came days after unionized bus drivers across the country voted overwhelmin
May 13, 2019
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YouTuber in legal dispute with viewer who sent prank parcels
A YouTuber with 3.2 million subscribers is bracing for a legal showdown with the parents of a teenager who allegedly pulled off a prank involving the video channel’s parcel-unpacking series.Cable TV station JTBC on Sunday reported that Bokyem has been sued by the parents of the 17-year-old boy for allegedly making false accusations about their son and making public his personal information. (YouTube channel Bogyem TV)The teenager’s father, in an interview with JTBC, said the YouTuber had exagger
May 13, 2019
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‘Former President Chun Doo-hwan was present in Gwangju on May 21, 1980’
Former US military intelligence specialist Kim Yong-chang, one of the four experts dispatched to Gwangju during the May 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement, on Monday reiterated that former President Chun Doo-hwan was in the city on May 21 -- when soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians in front of the then-South Jeolla Provincial Government Office.He also highlighted there was no North Korean involvement in the uprising and undercover soldiers were deployed to Gwangju from Seoul.Kim was wit
May 13, 2019
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Police raid clinic over propofol abuse allegations involving Samsung heiress
Police raided a plastic surgery clinic under suspicion of having illicitly supplied Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin with propofol on Monday, the third raid since the allegations came to light in March. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Monday seven officers off its search unit had been dispatched to the clinic in Gangnam district, Seoul, at 10 a.m. for search and seizure. Police are looking into the clinic for evidence of unlawful administration of propofol. They had seized a patient obser
May 13, 2019
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Police to investigate journalists following spycam accusations
A group chat where journalists anonymously shared secretly filmed videos of women being sexually assaulted will now be the subject of a formal investigation, according to the police.The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cybercrime unit said Sunday that DSO -- a civic organization dedicated to the elimination of online sex crimes -- filed a police complaint accusing the chat room participants of violating a law dealing with sex crimes and information and communications networks. Accor
May 13, 2019
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S. Korea to revise travel alert system for Africa, Middle East in wake of kidnapping
South Korea will revise the travel warning system for conflict-prone regions in Africa and the Middle East, following the kidnapping of a South Korean woman in western Africa, a foreign ministry official said Monday. The decision comes after a middle-aged Korean woman was freed last week after a nearly month-long captivity. She was held by an apparent Islamic militant group in Burkina Faso. She was safely transported to Paris on Saturday (Paris time) and arrangements are being made for her retur
May 13, 2019
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One dead, 12 injured, as car drives into crowd at Tongdosa Temple on Buddha’s Birthday
One person died and 12 were injured after a man drove into a crowd at a temple in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, police said Sunday.The incident happened at around 12:50 p.m. on a road near the entrance to Tongdosa Temple, where the victims were celebrating Buddha’s Birthday. The car, a SsangYong Motor Chairman sedan driven by a 75-year-old man surnamed Kim, veered off to the side of the road where people were resting and walking. One person died and 12 were injured after a SsangYong Motor
May 12, 2019
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[Newsmaker] All foreign residents required to enroll in National Health Insurance
Foreign nationals without employer insurance who are staying six months or longer in South Korea are required to enroll in the country’s National Health Insurance Service starting in July, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Until now, enrollment in the program was optional for those without employer insurance. Visitors were eligible to enroll if they stayed longer than three months.Marriage immigrants and international students enrolled in degree programs will be covered by the sta
May 12, 2019
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Ex-vice minister grilled again over sex scandal, bribery allegations
Prosecutors questioned former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui for the second time in three days on Sunday over allegations he received bribes and sexual services in return for business favors.Kim, 63, has been under investigation over allegations that he attended a sex party hosted by construction contractor Yoon Jung-cheon. He arrived at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office around 12:50 p.m. and entered the building without answering questions from reporters. (Yonhap)Prosecutors plan
May 12, 2019
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FAO to open S. Korean office this week
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization will open an office in Seoul this week as South Korea vows to play a greater role in global food-related projects, the Seoul government said SundayThe Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Agriculture Minister Lee Gae-ho and Jose Graziano da Silva, the head of FAO, will attend an opening ceremony for the office on Monday.The office will center on rolling out joint projects on coping with poverty and food security issues, along with sharing
May 12, 2019
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Ex-top court chief justice to stand trial over judiciary power abuse scandal in late May
A court will hold the first hearing in the trial of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae in late May over a judiciary power abuse scandal involving former top court officials. Yang will stand trial on May 29 over allegations that he used trials as bargaining chips in dealings with the office of former conservative President Park Geun-hye to support his bid to establish a court of appeals. Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae (Yonhap) Yang, who headed the top court f
May 11, 2019
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Han Hyo-joo accuses 33 of defamation over Burning Sun scandal rumors
Actress Han Hyo-joo filed a criminal defamation complaint on Friday against 33 people she accuses of spreading false rumors about her in connection with the Burning Sun scandal.Han’s agency, BH Entertainment, released an official statement regarding the defamation complaint against online commenters who spread what it called “misleading rumors” suggesting that Han is somehow involved in the drug scandal. Actress Han Hyo-joo (Yonhap)The actress recently denied allegations that she attended a part
May 10, 2019
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Teacher accused of making sexual comments about 10-year-old student
An elementary school teacher who graduated from Seoul National University of Education stands accused of making sexually oriented comments concerning a female student via a mobile messenger chat room. Poster protesting for investigation into the sexual harassment case hangs on a noticeboard at the Seoul National University of Education campus (Yonhap)The group chat room, with several male students and graduates of the school’s Korean-language education department, had come under fire Tuesday aft
May 10, 2019
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[Newsmaker] Jung Joon-young admits to illicit filming of sex videos, seeks settlement
Singer-songwriter Jung Joon-young admitted to charges of secretly filming and sharing videos of himself having sex with women in an online chat room and sought to settle with the victims, as a local court began to hear his case Friday. (Yonhap)Jung, 30, was indicted on charges of illicitly filming himself have sex with women and sharing the footage on 11 occasions in the chat room where Big Bang’s former member Seungri and FT Island’s ex-member Choi Jong-hoon are also suspected of having shared
May 10, 2019
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Seungri bought sex services himself: police
K-pop band Big Bang’s former member Seungri purchased sex services himself, police have now said, with an arrest warrant hearing for him scheduled for Tuesday. (Yonhap)Requesting an arrest warrant for Seungri on Wednesday, the Seoul Metropolitan Agency brought a new charge -- the purchase of sex -- against him. Police allege he had bought sex services in 2015. The hearing to decide whether to arrest Seungri will be held Tuesday, with the decision likely to come later in the day or early the fol
May 10, 2019
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Ex-FT Island member arrested on allegations of gang rape
Choi Jong-hoon, formerly of K-pop band FT Island, was arrested late Thursday on suspicion of gang rape. (Yonhap)Choi, 30, is suspected of having been involved in the gang rape of a woman on two occasions in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province, and Daegu, respectively, in 2016 with four other people from a larger mobile messenger chat room where singer Jung Joon-young also shared sex videos he had illicitly filmed. Issuing the arrest warrant, the Seoul Central District Court said the charges had been pr
May 10, 2019
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Woman jumps from high-speed train, must pay damages
A woman in her 30s jumped off a running high-speed train at around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday. She was rescued and moved to a hospital, but now faces a hefty bill to compensate the train company. According to Korail and Gongju Police Station, a 31-year-old female passenger, whose name has not been disclosed, threw herself from a KTX train traveling at around 170 kilometers per hour. The train, which had departed from Seoul heading to Mokpo, South Jeolla Province, was traveling between Osong Station i
May 10, 2019
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Police officer arrested for taking bribes to settle Gangnam club case
A police lieutenant was arrested Thursday on charges of accepting bribes in exchange for settling a case involving illegal admission of minors at a club in Gangnam, Seoul.He is the first incumbent police officer to be arrested on suspicion of collusive ties between the police and Gangnam clubs.The officer, who is a member of Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s investigation unit, faces charges of settling a case on admission of a minor at a Gangnam club in exchange for a bribe of several mi
May 9, 2019
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Man injures 3 while resisting hospitalization
A 24-year-old with schizophrenia wounded two police officers and an ambulance driver in the process of refusing to be taken to the hospital at around 5:22 a.m. on Thursday in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province.Chungju Police Station said Thursday the man is being investigated on suspicion of obstruction of official business.The police said the incident occurred at a hallway of a studio apartment building in the city. The police were called in by the suspect’s father, who requested help in
May 9, 2019