Articles by Yoon Min-sik
Yoon Min-sik
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com-
Products recalled overseas being sold in S. Korea: report
South Korea's consumer rights watchdog said Thursday that it found 473 faulty products which had been recalled from overseas markets were being sold here in 2023. The Korea Consumer Agency, affiliate of the Korea Fair Trade Commission, said it has pulled the faulty products from the distribution. Nearly a quarter of the products, 113, were food and beverages, 106 were electronic devices, 70 were products for children, while 61 were sports-related items. Some 69.9 percent of the recalls for
Social Affairs March 7, 2024
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Prison term sought for former day care center chief
South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday asked the court to hand down a one-year prison term to the former head of a state-run day care center who is accused of illegally acquiring the content of conversations among teachers at the center last year. The defendant, surnamed Kim, formerly head of the day care center in Sejong City, became the subject of nationwide criticism last year when the center's teachers resigned en mass after raising corruption allegations over textbooks and meals. This i
Social Affairs March 7, 2024
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Companies caught asking job applicants about body type, wealth and parents' job
South Korea's Labor Ministry said Wednesday that it found 281 cases of hiring process violations in October and November of last year, among the most common of which involved asking job applicants questions that had been deemed inappropriate. The ministry said it reviewed employments conducted via the state-run job search website Worknet in the two months by 627 business establishments, and found that 151 of the establishments committed violations of varying degrees in hiring employees. Acc
Social Affairs March 6, 2024
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Pharmaceutical sales rep claims to have run personal errands for doctors
A person claiming to be a sales representative of a local pharmaceutical company recently alleged in an online post that they had been pressured into running all sorts of personal errands by and for doctors. The person uploaded screenshots of the mobile messenger app Kakao Talk which show a 2018-2019 conversation thread between the pharmaceutical representative and a private practitioner who was the client of their drug company. In the conversation, the doctor is seen instructing the sales rep t
Social Affairs March 6, 2024
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Government worker found dead amid cyberbullying, online threats: report
An employee of the Gimpo City Government was found dead Tuesday in what appears to be a suicide, according to South Korean media reports Wednesday. The employee had reportedly been the victim of bullying from an unspecified group of people online. Kyungin Ilbo reported that the employee's body was found inside a car at a parking lot in Seogu, Incheon, at around noon on Tuesday. The employee did not appear to have left a suicide note. The government worker had received complaints from citiz
Social Affairs March 6, 2024
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Part-time worker steals cash, flees on first day of work
A 20-something worker at a local convenience store took cash from the store's cashier and fled the scene, just 20 minutes into his first day of work, local media outlets reported Wednesday. According to the reports, the suspect had been hired as a part-time worker at a convenience store in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. However, just 20 minutes after he started his first shift, the worker took 800,000 won ($600) in cash from the register and a carton of cigarettes and walked out the door. The ma
Social Affairs March 6, 2024
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Van crashes into building in Suwon, injures 8
A van operated by a private Taekwondo academy crashed into a commercial building in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday afternoon, injuring five children and three adults, local rescue authorities said Wednesday. The accident occurred at around 4:35 p.m. in a residential area in Paldal-gu, Suwon, when the van collided with a sedan at an intersection, according to the Gyeonggi Province Fire Services. The impact caused the van to crash into a mobile phone store in an adjacent commercial building.
Social Affairs March 6, 2024
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Man kidnaps ex-girlfriend's dog and threatens to kill it
South Korean police on Tuesday said it is investigating a claim that a man in his twenties had threatened to kill his former girlfriend's dog, after being dumped by the woman. Gimpo Police Station in Gyeonggi Province received a report from woman on Saturday that her dog has gone missing. According to the victim, she had recently ended her romantic relationship with a man, who had also threatened to kill her dog, a female Maltese by the name of Jenny. The suspect sent her a photo of a garba
Social Affairs March 5, 2024
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S. Korea sees 26% increase in reports of financial crimes
The state-run financial watchdog said Tuesday that 2023 saw 13,751 citizen reports of damages caused by financial crimes, up 26 percent from 10,913 recorded the year before. The overwhelming majority of the cases, 12,844, were related to illegal private loans, according to the Financial Supervisory Service. The figure also marked a 24.5 percent increase from 10,350 reported the year before. Others included reports related to the illegal seizure of property of the debtor, which also jumped from 1
Social Affairs March 5, 2024
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Possible ease of ban on marriages between distant blood relatives sparks backlash
As the South Korean government mulls easing a ban on consanguineous marriages, a local authority on the country's traditional rites on Tuesday voiced its strong opposition against what they say is "an act of destroying the concept of family." The Sungkyunkwan Confucian Association, which provides guidelines for the country's traditional rituals, said it commenced one-person protests against the move outside of the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday.
Social Affairs March 5, 2024
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'You can't catch my sports car': Police use 22 patrol cars to catch drunk driver
South Korean police on Tuesday said they were seeking charges against a driver who drunkenly called police and mocked them by saying he "won't get caught because my car is a sports car." Yuseong Police Station in Daejeon, some 140 kilometers south of Seoul, said it was had filed for charges of obstruction of official duties by fraudulent means, driving under the influence of alcohol, and driving without a license. According to officials, the suspected called the 112 emergency serv
Social Affairs March 5, 2024
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1st sighting of the rare tundra swan reported in Ulsan
Bird watchers in Ulsan have reported sightings of two tundra swans, marking the first time the rare bird species has been found within the city, authorities said Monday. The birds were found looking for food in the fields of Onyang-eup and Onsan-eup in Ulju-gun, Ulsan, on Feb.7, according to the Ulsan Metropolitan Government. The swans were first caught on camera by Lee Jae-ho, a member of the local youth bird watchers' club, who later accompanied photographer Yun Gi-deuk to photograph the
Social Affairs March 4, 2024
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What's next for protesting doctors?
South Korean government on Monday refused to give in to doctors' protests against its plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota, as the threat of the mass suspension of medical licenses for striking trainee doctors loomed over the country. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said the government is moving to take "irreversible" measures against trainee doctors who left work, warning of suspensions of their medical licenses for at least three months. "If (the li
Social Affairs March 4, 2024
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S. Koreans spend 40 hours a month watching YouTube on phones
An average South Korean spends about 40 hours a month using YouTube on smartphones, a local report showed Monday, as the video-sharing platform's popularity on its mobile platform proved to be higher than in any other country across the globe. Market analysis firm Wiseapp/Retail/Goods analyzed the apps used by South Koreans via Android and iOS mobile operating systems, which, combined account for roughly 98 percent of smartphones in the country. They found that the combined number of hours
Technology March 4, 2024
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Top 0.1% of Korea's employees averaged 685m won each in yearly bonuses: report
Of all the South Korean employees who reported having received bonuses from their companies in 2022, individuals in the top 0.1 percent got an average of 685.26 million won ($513,000) each, a National Tax Service report showed Saturday. According to a report made public by Rep. Yang Gyeong-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, 9.79 million South Korean workers reported receiving bonuses, with the median figure among them being 4.34 million won. While the median figure marked an i
Social Affairs March 3, 2024
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