You wouldn’t think that it would be that hard to kill someone. History indicates that we’ve always been good at it. It took only one generation before Cain killed Abel in a fit of jealousy over divine approbation. Murder had been invented and we’ve never looked back. In fact, we’ve only gotten better at killing. Cain must have used a club or rock on Abel, but in modern times our killing capacity has gone ballistic -- literally. We’ve invented powerful and efficient

Viewpoints Sept. 28, 2023

A new legal effort to prevent Donald Trump from retaking the presidency next year is afoot. Its backers rely on Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which bars from office anyone who has “engaged in insurrection or rebellion … or given aid or comfort to the enemies” of the United States. Numerous lawsuits have been filed arguing that Trump’s participation in an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021 -- either by itself or as part of a larger effort to

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2023

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family has set its budget for next year at 1.7 trillion won ($1.2 billion), marking a 9.4 percent increase from this year. However, funding for teenage sex education and initiatives to prevent the recurrence of sexual and domestic violence have been reduced. The Ministry of Economy and Finance said Sunday that the budget for programs aimed at preventing the recurrence of domestic and sexual violence, including correctional treatment programs for perpetrators

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2023

Only 5 percent of alleged stalkers indicted for harrassment in South Korea were handed down a prison term, according to a report that looked at cases from January to May of this year. The report, released on Thursday, called for the national justice system to come up with a harsher sentencing guideline for stalking offenders. According to data by the Sentencing Commission affiliated with the Supreme Court of Korea, 21 out of 385 stalking offenders who got a final court decision from January to M

Social Affairs Sept. 7, 2023

The southern region of South Korea's most populous province saw a spike in emergency hospitalizations following a string of seemingly unprovoked violent crimes -- dubbed "mudjima" or don't-ask-why crimes -- this summer, a recent report the region's police agency found, suggesting heightened fears over a possible link between mental illness and violence. According to the South Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, the South Gyeonggi region saw a 31 percent increase in emerge

Social Affairs Sept. 7, 2023

A former reporter has become the center of a media bias debate in South Korean politics after accusations emerged that he paid a journalist working for an independent news outlet last year to carry a damaging story against then-presidential candidate Yoon Suk Yeol. The ex-reporter, Kim Man-bae, is described by political insiders as being close to Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the current leader of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea who rivaled Yoon in the 2022 presidential election. He is also a key

Politics Sept. 6, 2023

The Ministry of Justice said on Thursday that the government would seek damages from suspects behind the online murder threats amid a surge in such cases. The government sees the instances as obstruction of official duty that "wastes police resources" and "taxpayers' money," it said in a statement. The Justice Ministry has yet to initiate civil court proceedings in a bid to seek "a considerable amount of compensation" from the individuals, alongside criminal procedu

Social Affairs Aug. 24, 2023

As a series of violent crimes targeting random people stokes public fears in South Korea, the government is mulling introducing a new form of life sentence -- one without the possibility of parole. The announcement claimed that the introduction was necessary to have a safe society and quell public fears about the growing threat of apparently motiveless crimes. A stabbing spree by a 33-year-old man in July killed one and injured three in broad daylight in southern Seoul. This was followed by a fr

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2023

South Korea will penalize carrying weapons openly in public in the wake of a series of mass stabbings that erupted across the country over the past month. The ruling People Power Party said it would be proposing a number of legislations to deter mass attacks in a policy meeting Tuesday with the national police and the ministries in charge of justice and public safety. Tuesday’s meeting follows calls from President Yoon Suk Yeol for policy solutions and action to address mass attacks in pub

Politics Aug. 22, 2023

A woman who stripped down and assaulted a prison guard at a detention center in Incheon was sentenced to an eight-month jail sentence suspended for two years on charges of assault and obstruction of justice Tuesday. The woman, who was imprisoned in Incheon Detention Center for unrelated charges, was reportedly protesting unsatisfactory sleeping arrangements on Feb. 7. She started cursing at the prison guard and swung her arm at guards who tried to stop her. When one of the guards called for back

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

As murder threats are sparking grave fears in South Korea following the recent deadly stabbing rampage in Bundang, the Justice Ministry said Wednesday that it would create new legal provisions to seek punishment for writers of online murder threats or those possessing weapons in public places. Upon the recommendation of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to amend laws related to public intimidation, the ministry said it would set up new criminal punishment provisions after reviewing legislati

Social Affairs Aug. 9, 2023

As South Korea has seen a rise in seemingly random knife attacks this summer, some are saying that law enforcement should be granted the authority to take a tougher stance against violent criminals. Several online comments by presumed police officers, expressing frustration for being personally liable for using excessive physical force while on active duty, were widely shared in social media and online communities following a series of recent violent crimes -- including last week's car-ramm

Social Affairs Aug. 8, 2023

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said Monday that the use of force by police and the general public when confronting a suspect harming or threatening to harm people’s lives and bodies should be considered self-defense. Han’s remarks come after Thursday night’s deadly knife attack in a department store in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, and the stabbing incident near Sillim Station, in Seoul’s Gwanak-gu, in July, which left a total of two dead and 16 people injured. Han said

Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2023

Nearly a third of Korean legislators, or 94 out of 283 sitting lawmakers, have a criminal record, according to a report by a nongovernmental organization. The Citizens' Coalition for Economic Justice presented its findings in a press conference Tuesday, detailing the 94 lawmakers' 150 recorded offenses. The report distinguishes between political and non-political crimes, with the former mainly associated with activism during military dictatorship. Excluding political offenses, the numb

Politics July 25, 2023

A man who went on a deadly stabbing rampage that killed one person and injured three in Seoul said Sunday he committed the crime because "life was hard." "I committed the crime because life was hard for me," he said on his way to the Seoul Central District Court. "I was in a bad situation for a long period of time. I did extremely wrong things. I am a useless human being. I'm sorry." Later in the afternoon, the court said in a statement that it issued an arre

Social Affairs July 23, 2023

Despite differences on abortion and Ukraine, most members of the large Republican presidential field have generally followed former President Donald Trump’s lead in roundly condemning President Joe Biden. While some of that criticism is justified -- his difficulty in taming inflation, or his mishandling of Afghanistan, for example -- some is not. And the most dangerous example of mistaken Republican Party condemnation of Biden is the continuing assertion that the current administration i

Viewpoints July 13, 2023

South Korea had some 4,000 unregistered babies born to foreign mothers between 2015 and 2022, but authorities have no plans to check their whereabouts because the government has no legal obligation to do so, The Korea Herald has learned. Last month, the state audit agency said it has discovered around 6,000 babies born in local hospitals but not logged in the country's birth registration system. Nearly two-thirds of them were born to mothers registered as foreign nationals here, officials s

Social Affairs July 6, 2023