The police plan to refer 23 people to the prosecution for posting malicious online comments about the former secretary of An Hee-jung, a former governor of South Chungcheong Province, who accused the ex-governor of sexual assault but lost her case in a controversial verdict in August. According to the cybercrimes department at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on Saturday, two of An’s former aides were referred to the Seoul Central District Court for indictment on charges of online defamation

Social Affairs Oct. 28, 2018

The government and the ruling party vowed Thursday to reinforce monitoring of accounting practices at private kindergartens and to increase the number of the state-run facilities, after accounting fraud was discovered at thousands of kindergartens across the country.The Education Ministry will also improve transparency at private kindergartens by applying a new accounting system, Minister Yoo Eun-hae and ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers said during a meeting at the National Assembly.Mo

Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2018

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

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2018

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,

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2018

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

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2018

A power blogger, who is standing trial on opinion-rigging charges, and his economic organization aimed to “promote economic democracy by taking over a conglomerate and creating a social community from the profit earned,” investigators said Tuesday. In the hearing of Kim Dong-won, nicknamed “Druking,” and members of his organization, the independent counsel team led by Huh Ik-bum revealed documents and testimony from the group.  (Yonhap)Kim, with his group, has been indicted for manipulating thou

Politics Oct. 23, 2018

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

Social Affairs Oct. 23, 2018

The Education Ministry began operation of a corruption report center to monitor private kindergartens for irregularities Friday, after thousands of private institutes were found with accounting fraud. On Thursday, Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae announced the ministry will open the results of past inspections conducted on private kindergartens across the nation from 2013 to 2017 and also reveal the names of institutes found to have committed accounting fraud. The results will become available on

Social Affairs Oct. 19, 2018

Only 28 percent of schools in Korea have undergone earthquake-resistant construction, and it will take over a decade for all the buildings to be reinforced a lawmaker said Friday. According to the data Rep. Kim Hyun-ah of Liberty Korea Party received from the Education Ministry, only 28.1 percent of 61,670 schools have undergone seismic reinforcement in Korea.(Yonhap)By region, 17.2 percent of schools in Jeju were reinforced to withstand earthquakes; 20.3 percent in North Jeolla Province; 21.3 p

Social Affairs Oct. 19, 2018

Hiking is a hugely popular pastime in Korea, with 32 million of the 51.6 million population said to visit a mountain at least once a year. Hiking’s popularity, and older generations’ apparently love of hiking attire for everyday activities, has led to a massive market for “outdoor” clothing, peaking at over 6 trillion won ($5.2 billion) in 2014. The popularity of hiking also comes with a downside. The sheer number of hikers comes with environmental concerns, especially with trash left behind by

Social Affairs Oct. 18, 2018

Tens of thousands of private and corporate taxi drivers took to the streets Thursday to protest Kakao Mobility, a new carpooling service to be launched by the end of the year. At Gwanghwamun Square, central Seoul, some 70,000 taxi drivers gathered, according to the rally organizers, to fight what they called “illegal carpooling services” to be offered by the mobile messaging giant Kakao. (Kim Sung-woo/The Korea Herald)“Let’s take down Kakao, which is stomping on the taxi industry,” chanted the p

Social Affairs Oct. 18, 2018

The Justice Ministry on Wednesday granted one-year stay permits to 339 of the 458 Yemeni asylum seekers staying on Jeju Island, while granting actual refugee status to none of the applicants. In a press conference, Jeju Immigration Office chief Kim Do-kyun said 339 Yemeni asylum seekers had been granted the one-year humanitarian stay permits, while 34 individuals were denied both the right to stay and refugee status. The office said it is still deciding on the cases of 85 applicants.(Yonhap)Amon

Social Affairs Oct. 17, 2018

Doctors confirmed Tuesday that Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung does not have a distinctive mole on his body after he visited a university hospital to deny an actress’s claim.Actress Kim Bu-seon lodged a police complaint and filed a lawsuit alleging defamation after Lee denied her claims that he had an extramarital affair with her. To back her argument, she described a hidden mole on the governor.To prove he has no such mole, Lee went to Ajou University Hospital on Tuesday afternoon.Gyeonggi

Social Affairs Oct. 16, 2018

The prosecutors grilled a former deputy chief of the top court’s administration affairs body, who is at the center of the massive judiciary power abuse scandal involving former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, Monday.Lim Jong-hun, the former deputy chief of the National Court Administration, appeared in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office at around 9:20 a.m. He is accused of aiding Yang in using politically sensitive trials as bargaining chips to win favor from the

Politics Oct. 15, 2018

South Korean parents are fuming after a lawmaker revealed thousands of cases of financial fraud at private kindergartens during a National Assembly session on Thursday. As more and more parents call for a new oversight system to monitor the financial management of private kindergartens, the Education Ministry said only that it would cooperate with provincial authorities to make public the names of the kindergartens concerned.According to Education Ministry data revealed by Rep. Park Yong-jin of

Social Affairs Oct. 14, 2018