Man sent to prosecution for murdering ex-girlfriend and her daughter

A man arrested for allegedly murdering his ex-girlfriend and her daughter last week was referred to the prosecution for possible indictment, police said Friday. The 65-year-old man, identified as Park Hak-sun, was apprehended on charges of stabbing a woman in her 60s and her daughter in her 30s to death at an office in Seoul's southern district of Gangnam on May 30. He had initially fled the scene but was arrested 13 hours later. Emerging out of Seoul's Suseo Police Station on Friday m

June 7, 2024

Doctors at SNU hospitals set to stage walkout from June 17

Doctors at four major hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University are set to stage a walkout from June 17, according to hospital officials on Friday, in a move that would complicate efforts by the government to resolve a protracted walkout by trainee doctors. Medical professors at the four SNU hospitals voted to launch the walkout, calling for the government to fully withdraw administrative steps to punish trainee doctors who have left their worksites since late February in protest of th

June 7, 2024

[Graphic News] Han River, Gwanghwamun Square picked as Seoul’s top landmarks

The 2023 Seoul Survey revealed that the city’s Korean residents consider the Han River to be the capital’s most iconic landmark, while its foreign residents consider Gwanghwamun Square to be Seoul's most representative site. The survey polled 35,881 Korean national residents aged 15 and up about Seoul’s top landmarks. Results showed 48.3 percent selected the Han River, followed by Gwanghwamun Square, the palaces and N Seoul Tower. The survey asked 2,500 foreign residents

June 7, 2024

SNU hospital doctors vow to go on strike amid impasse over striking trainee doctors

Professors at four hospitals affiliated with Seoul National University have voted to go on strike later this month if the current impasse over striking trainee doctors is not resolved, their representative said Thursday. The hospitals conducted surveys on whether to go on strike after the health ministry announced Tuesday it will allow hospitals to accept the resignations of trainee doctors, who have remained off the job since late February in protest of the government's plan to raise the n

June 6, 2024

Marriage race: Koreans get cautious, calculative in search for 'the one'

“Why is it so hard to find someone to marry?” This pressing question torments 28-year-old Kim Jeong-sik (not his real name), who invests significant time and money into his search for a suitable partner. For Kim, it is not all about love or destiny but about finding someone with whom he can build a “decent family,“ ideally someone from a similar or higher economic and social status. “While I used to fall for romance and attraction based on instinct in the past, now

June 6, 2024

Medical professors go on all-out strike after quota hike confirmed

Despite efforts to wrap up the prolonged feud between doctors and the government over the implementation of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's plan to increase the admissions quota for medical schools from next year, medical professors decided on Thursday to take collective action with an en masse walkout. Professors at Seoul National University College of Medicine and Seoul National University Hospital announced that they would push through an all-out strike for an indefinite period of tim

June 6, 2024

3rd grader slaps and curses vice principal, parent accused of child abuse

Education authorities at North Jeolla Province said it has filed charges against the parent of a third-grader, who recently made headlines by physically assaulting and shouting profanity at the vice principal of his school. According to the Jeonbuk State Office of Education, officials have filed a report on the boy's mother as a possible case of child abuse by neglect. The mother had been told by the school multiple times that the boy urgently needed behavioral treatment, but she chose to i

June 6, 2024

Victim of Miryang gang rape never consented to revealing suspects' identities: group

A local YouTuber's quest to reveal the identities of 44 men responsible for a 2004 Miryang gang rape case has faced opposition from a local women's rights group, which disclosed late Wednesday that the YouTuber never got the consent of the crime's principal victim. The Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center said in a press release that the YouTuber's claim to have "communicated with the victim's family via mail, and agreed to reveal (identity) of all 44" is not

June 6, 2024

Nearly 80% of call centers workers suffer from verbal abuse, union survey reveals

Korean call center workers have called for proper government measures to address hostile customer complaints, citing a recent survey that showed a majority of workers "endure" unreasonable treatment. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, revealing the results of a survey conducted among 790 call center workers from May 28 to June 3. According to the survey, 77.9 percent of respondents said they experienced verbal abuse, 12.8 percent

June 6, 2024

Global temperatures likely to rise above 1.5 C mark in next 5 years: WMO

There is an 80 percent chance for global temperatures to rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the next five years, according to the World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday. According to the WMO’s Global Annual to Decadal Update report, the global temperatures for each year between 2024 and 2028 are predicted to range between 1.1 and 1.9 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The report, which is issued annually by the WMO, provides an explanati

June 6, 2024

Late transgender soldier to be laid to rest at natl. cemetery

A transgender soldier who died in an apparent suicide in 2021 after forcible discharge will be laid to rest at a national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon, a veterans ministry official said Wednesday, after a state panel recently recognized her as having died in the line of duty. In March, the state review committee affiliated with the defense ministry recognized Sergeant Byun Hee-soo's death as an on-duty one, overturning a previous classification and allowing her remains to be inte

June 5, 2024

Mandatory or voluntary? Korea's dilemma over regulating disposables

Amid global efforts to curb disposable plastic consumption, South Korea has been stuck in a dilemma about whether to regulate disposable cups and straws for food services out of fear of financially burdening smaller businesses. The country has backtracked on previously implemented disposable plastic regulations, with the Environment Ministry lifting its ban on disposable cups, plastic straws and plastic bags at cafes and restaurants, while also giving provisional approval to bring plastic bags b

June 5, 2024

2004 gang rape resurfaces in crusade to reveal alleged criminals' identities

The Miryang gang rape case of 2004 is widely remembered as one of the worst sex crime cases in South Korean history, sparking nationwide furor for not only its brutality, but also for victim blaming by the local community and what has been seen as a lack of proper punishment for those responsible. Forty-four high school boys in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, were found to have taken part in the brutal physical and sexual assault of multiple underage victims over the course of a year. The

June 5, 2024

US bill seeks to close loophole that has denied citizenship to Korean adoptees

A legislative bill that would finally close a loophole that has denied US citizenship to tens of thousands of adult adoptees, including around 20,000 from South Korea, was introduced in the US Congress, the Korean American Grassroots Conference said Wednesday. According to officials from the US-based non-profit organization for Korean American voters, the proposed Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024 was brought forth on Tuesday, local time, by bipartisan leaders Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Su

June 5, 2024

Man with IQ of 65 acknowledged as having disability

A South Korean court on Wednesday ruled in favor of a man in his 40s who had challenged a recent decision by the government not to acknowledge him as having an intellectual disability. In the recent administrative litigation, the Incheon District Court ruled that the man should be considered to have an IQ of 65, as he claims. The plaintiff in 2021 applied to be registered as disabled with the Incheon Metropolitan Government, but the city declined his request, based on an examination by the Natio

June 5, 2024

Man lies to police about committing crimes, gets prison term

A 46-year-old man who filed 112 fake reports to the police in the span of about 10 months was sentenced to 10 months in prison, Jeonju District Court said Wednesday. The defendant filed the fake reports between November of 2022 and September of 2023, falsely claiming that he killed a man, or that he stabbed an acquaintance with a knife. An appellate court of the case found the defendant guilty of obstruction of performance of official duties by fraudulent means, stipulated by Article 137 of the

June 5, 2024

Education minister seeks to foster cooperation with Uganda

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Lee Ju-ho met with Uganda's Vice President Jessica Epel Alupo on Wednesday during the South Korea-Africa summit, which kicked off Tuesday. During the meeting, the two discussed ways to invigorate cooperation and exchanges in the education sector between South Korea and Uganda, including international student exchanges and promoting official development assistance, according to the Education Ministry. They also addressed education in the digital t

June 5, 2024

Police officer suspended for illegally obtaining trot singer's address

A police officer was recently suspended after she illegally obtained the address of a popular trot singer and went to his home, local media outlets reported Wednesday, The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency officer in her 30s obtained the singer's address through an internal police database without permission from her supervisor in April. The singer was startled by her unannounced visit and reported her to the police. The police confirmed the officer had accessed the singer's address fo

June 5, 2024

Female local government workers outnumber males for first time

The number of female local government employees surpassed that of their male counterparts for the first time ever in 2023, data showed Tuesday, but higher-ranked civil servants were still mostly men. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released data on those working in the government bodies of metropolitan and provincial regions or districts, which showed that 157,935 civil servants were women as of late 2023. This figure accounts for 50.4 percent of the total 313,296 workers in local govern

June 4, 2024

Hospitals allowed to process junior doctors' resignations

The Korean government said Tuesday that it would allow training hospitals to accept the resignations of trainee doctors who left their posts in protest of the medical school expansion plan over three months ago. Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said during a briefing that the government would withdraw its return-to-work orders and allow hospitals to accept resignations submitted by junior doctors, while also making efforts to help them return if they choose to do so. Cho added that each hospital ch

June 4, 2024