Most Popular
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Controversy rekindled over when to name criminals, suspects
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Seoul transit pass for travelers to be available starting July
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[Weekender] Pet food makers bet big on ‘recession-free’ pet food market
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N. Korea says to deploy new multiple rocket launcher starting this year
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[Drama Tour] Romantic trip to ‘Queen of Tears’ filming spots
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[LLG] Unseen inheritance: Trauma of transnational adoption 'trickles down' to adoptees' children
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Battery makers ramp up efforts to diversify graphite supply chain
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Hybe-Ador CEO conflict gets messier
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‘Monk’ DJ spreading Buddhism goes global
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Prosecutors to summon pastor who allegedly gave Dior bag to first lady
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Govt., ruling party unveil measures to root out preschool irregularities
The government and the ruling Democratic Party on Thursday unveiled a set of strict measures to eradicate irregularities and enhance accounting transparency at private kindergartens.Government and DP officials held a meeting amid growing public uproar sparked by a lawmaker's revelation of widespread corruption among preschool owners, including accounting fraud, budget misappropriation and other irregularities.Among the measures, they agreed to boost the ratio of children using state-run kinderga
Oct. 25, 2018
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Driver’s license test for foreigners offered in three languages, down from 10
The written test for driver’s licenses previously available in 10 languages will now only be offered in three, making it more difficult for some foreigners to take the tests.The Road Traffic Authority has stopped providing the written exam part of the driver’s license in seven languages, citing the lack of test-takers for the abolished languages. The remaining three languages are English, Chinese and Vietnamese. A driver’s license examination office in southern Seoul. (Yonhap)The driver’s licen
Oct. 24, 2018
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Firefighters warn over venomous snakes after park sighting
Busan Gijang Fire Department said Tuesday it received a report of a venomous snake in a park in Busan around noon on Sunday. Some 10 people who were walking in the area came across the snake and quickly left, reporting the sighting. (Yonhap)The fire department said it had captured the snake hiding in a flower bed at the park.The captured snake, measuring 1 meter in length and 3 to 4 centimeters in width, was identified as a tiger keelback snake, also locally known as the floral snake, a common s
Oct. 24, 2018
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Warrant sought for court administration body
Prosecutors sought an arrest warrant late Tuesday for a former deputy chief of the National Court Administration accused of abusing his power. In the application, they named former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae as an accomplice, closing in on the high-ranking judge at the center of a massive scandal over judiciary power abuse.Seoul District Court will review the request for the arrest warrant for Lim Jong-hun, the former deputy chief of the court administration body, Friday morning,
Oct. 24, 2018
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Daughter demands father’s execution for mother’s murder
A woman who identified herself as the daughter of a murder suspect filed an online petition with the presidential office Wednesday, demanding that her father be executed for the alleged murder of her mother. About 60,000 South Koreans have signed the petition as of Wednesday afternoon. Police on Wednesday requested an arrest warrant for the 49-year-old suspect, surnamed Kim, for the alleged murder of his 47-year-old ex-wife, surnamed Lee. Lee’s body was found Monday morning in the parking lot o
Oct. 24, 2018
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Military court lax in punishing sex crimes: lawmaker
The military court is too generous in its sentencing of military personnel found guilty of sex crimes, with about 30 percent of cases receiving reduced sentences upon appeal, a lawmaker claimed Wednesday.According to General Military Court data released to Rep. Song Ki-hun of the Democratic Party of Korea, 1,279 military personnel were tried for sex crimes at the court from 2015 to 2017. (Yonhap)More than 34.2 percent of the personnel had allegedly violated military criminal law -- committing s
Oct. 24, 2018
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Gyeonggi governor to appear for police questioning next week
SEONGNAM, Gyeonggi Province -- Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung will appear for police questioning early next week to answer to a series of allegations involving his family and an actress who claims to have had an affair with him.Lee and the police have agreed that the governor undergo the questioning at 10 a.m., Monday, at the Bundang Police Station, south of Seoul, the governor's office said.The influential politician has long been dogged by allegations involving his family and extramarita
Oct. 24, 2018
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Korea's childbirths continue to decline in August
The number of newborns in South Korea fell again in August, government data showed Wednesday, in the latest sign of the chronically low birthrate that has plagued Asia's fourth-largest economy for more than a decade.About 27,300 babies were born in August, down 9.3 percent from 30,100 tallied a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea.In the first eight months of the year, the number of newborns fell 8.7 percent on-year to 226,000, official numbers showed. (Yonhap)The nu
Oct. 24, 2018
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Police refer Orion vice chief to prosecution for embezzlement
Police said Wednesday they referred the vice chairwoman of South Korean confectionery maker Orion Group to the prosecution recommending she be charged for embezzlement. Lee Hwa-kyung had been under police investigation for allegedly spending 20.3 billion won ($17.8 million) of company funds on building a private mansion on the outskirts of Seoul between 2008 and 2014. (Yonhap)Police sought to arrest Lee early this month, but the prosecution dismissed the request citing insufficient grounds for
Oct. 24, 2018
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[Weather] Clear skies ahead, but rain expected later this week
The nation should see clear skies Wednesday, with daytime temperatures that are average for the season, but temperatures will show unusually wide fluctuations between morning and night.The mercury will jump as much as 10 degrees Celsius over the course of the day, from 3-13 C in the morning to 17-21 C in the afternoon. The high forecast for Seoul is 20 C and the low is 8 C. (Yonhap)Drivers are warned to slow down, as a number of inland areas will experience thick fog.The air is expected to becom
Oct. 24, 2018
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Assault victim demands stern punishment for 7 assailants
Only two of seven middle and high school students accused of assaulting a female peer in May have been ordered to transfer schools or put on a 10-day suspension, fueling debate on lenient penalties among victims of assault. According to news reports, the alleged assailants attacked a girl in the open streets of Gangnam, southern Seoul, because they did not like her “attitude.” They then allegedly dragged her to the rooftop of a building where they assaulted her for around four hours. Pictured i
Oct. 23, 2018
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Conflict over kindergarten accounting fraud deepens
A conflict between public and private kindergartens is deepening following a lawmaker’s revelations of thousands of cases of accounting fraud by private kindergartens.As the Education Ministry and government are moving to introduce stronger measures to monitor the private institutes, the kindergartens are lashing back, announcing a move to not admit new students. The Education Ministry is to open the results of all past inspections of private kindergartens that took place from 2013 to 2017 on Th
Oct. 23, 2018
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Seoul taxis to accept QR code payments from January
Passengers in Seoul will be able to pay for a taxi by scanning a QR code from a mobile app, starting in January.The Seoul City government said on Tuesday that it would put standards in place for “taxi QR code contactless payment,” which will be an option in some 70,000 taxis. (Yonhap)While offline payments in Korea typically use a “static QR code” method, a “dynamic QR code” method will be used for Seoul taxis.With the “dynamic” method, QR codes can be created in real time to reflect fares based
Oct. 23, 2018
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[Newsmaker] More Korean women choose to freeze their eggs
The number of South Korean women who chose to freeze their eggs increased 12-fold from 2013-2017, the country's major medical firm said. According to CHA Medical Group, a health care firm which owns a number of major medical facilities nationwide, 288 women froze their eggs at three of their hospitals -- CHA Gangnam Medical Center, CHA Bundang Medical Center and CHA Fertility Center Seoul Station -- a steep rise from the 23 in 2013.The three hospitals currently store the largest number of frozen
Oct. 23, 2018
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2 men apparently electrocuted to death at public bathhouse
Two elderly men died Tuesday after apparently getting electric shocked at a public bathhouse in the town of Uiryeong, southeastern South Korea.A 73-year-old man and a 68-year-old man were found lying in a cold pool and a hot pool, respectively, around 5:40 a.m. The two men, found by the bathhouse's janitor, were whisked to a hospital before being pronounced dead. (Yonhap)At the time of the accident, 10 people were at the bathhouse with only the two men inside the pools, police said. One of the 1
Oct. 23, 2018
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College student spreads self-nude pictures taken at kindergartens
A university student in his 20s was arrested Monday for spreading nude pictures of himself and sex videos, police said.The suspect is accused for taking some 100 nude pictures and videos of himself and spreading them via social media since 2015. He was reported to have taken the photos at public spaces including preschools, elementary schools and kids’ cafes. (Yonhap)The suspect claimed that he has frequently uploaded nude pictures of himself because he enjoyed receiving messages from people who
Oct. 23, 2018
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Parking lot stabbing victim’s ex-husband arrested
A 49-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the death of his ex-wife, whose body was discovered in the parking lot of an apartment building in Deungchon-dong, southwestern Seoul, police said. According to the Gangseo Police Station, officers arrested the suspect, surnamed Kim, at a hospital in Seoul around 9:40 p.m. Monday. A resident of the apartment building had called the police Monday morning around 7:15 a.m. to report a “woman bleeding profusely on the floor (of the parkin
Oct. 23, 2018
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Korea strengthens bird flu quarantine efforts ahead of winter
South Korea's agriculture ministry vowed Tuesday to step up quarantine measures against bird flu as about 40,000 migratory birds have flocked here.The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it has heightened alertness against the avian influenza as several outbreaks have been reported in Russia, where the migratory birds start their journey in late fall. (Yonhap)South Korea has confirmed four H5 strains of avian influenza near bird habitats across the nation this month, with all o
Oct. 23, 2018
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[Weather] Light rain, cloudy skies to clear up in the afternoon
Cloudy skies will continue Tuesday nationwide, and light rain will dampen some parts of the country from morning through early afternoon.According to the Korean Meteorological Administration, the nation will see gray skies throughout the day, but the drizzle is expected to clear in the late afternoon starting from the western areas. In the morning, thick fog will envelop the southern inland areas. Seoul, October 23rd(Yonhap)Temperatures will remain around average, reaching 5-15 C in the morning
Oct. 23, 2018
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[Newsmaker] Internet cafe murder case fuels debate on mental health and violent crimes
A heated debate on mental health and its link to violent crimes is underway after a murder suspect requested that his medical history be considered to mitigate punishment. He had been medically treated for depression before allegedly stabbing a man to death. Kim Seong-su, 29, is suspected of having stabbed a man to death at an internet cafe in western Seoul on Oct. 14. On Monday, he was sent to the Institute of Forensic Psychiatry in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, for a monthlong examinatio
Oct. 22, 2018