Police are wrapping up a probe into the cold case serial killings from over 30 years ago before commencement of a retrial over the wrongful conviction of a man in one of the 10 rapes and murders. Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said Tuesday it intends to close the probe into the serial murder cases in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, that stretched from 1986-1991 ahead of the initiation of r...

Korean liquor manufacturers may no longer be allowed to use photos of celebrities on their beverage packaging. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday it would come up with measures banning the images of celebrities on alcohol bottles to discourage the drinking culture. The move follows Rep. Nam In-soon’s exhortation during a parliamentary audit of the ministry last month that featuring ...

SUWON, Gyeonggi Province -- The lawyer of a man claiming wrongful conviction in the 1988 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, said he is “sure of (his client’s) innocence.” Park Joon-young, a lawyer defending a 52-year-old man surnamed Yun who is seeking acquittal on retrial, told reporters Monday he was “convinced (Yun) was wrongly convicted,” and that the defen...

The Ministry of Justice admitted Friday that it had not properly consulted media and other relevant bodies before announcing its recent directive restricting media access and imposing sanctions on journalists for “false reporting.” On Wednesday, the Justice Ministry issued a set of press guidelines that would expel reporters from the prosecution press corps if they are found to have reported “fa...

A 52-year-old man surnamed Yun who claims he was wrongly imprisoned for the 1988 rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is seeking a retrial. Yun’s lawyer Park Joon-young confirmed to The Korea Herald on Thursday that his client will file a petition for retrial in about two weeks’ time. Park said Yun will undergo forensic hypnosis and lie detector tests next Monda...

Family of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died in 2017 shortly after being released from prison in North Korea, is expected to visit Seoul next month for a meeting of international victims of abduction by the North. The Korean War Abductees’ Family Union said Wednesday the American victim’s parents, Fred and Cindy Warmbier, have accepted its invitation for the convention slated fo...

Democratic Party Chairman Lee Hae-chan on Wednesday apologized for the Cho Kuk controversy that gripped the country for months after President Moon Jae-in tapped him as justice minister in August. During a press conference at the National Assembly, the ruling party leader issued his first formal apology over Cho’s family corruption scandal that erupted following his Cabinet nomination. Cho quit ...

An obstetrician was detained on allegations of performing an abortion on a woman who was 34 weeks pregnant and killing the fetus after it survived the procedure. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Tuesday that the 60-something obstetrician faces charges of murder and performing an abortion. According to police, the fetus allegedly survived the hysterotomy abortion, which involves opening...

Gender discrimination in the workplace is responsible for Korea’s low fertility rate, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare and the OECD held a joint conference on Monday to address policy responses to the country’s declining fertility rate. “Governments need to modernize their family policies to provide families with a co...

An earthquake of 3.4 magnitude was reported in South Gyeongsang Province at 3:37 p.m. Sunday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The weather agency said the earthquake, whose epicenter was around 15 kilometers south of Changnyeong County, was about 11 kilometers deep. Reports of tremors came in from the surrounding areas of Changwon, Gimhae, Geoje and Haman. A nuclear power ...

Former President Park Geun-hye’s confidante Choi Soon-sil faces a prosecution probe over allegations that she did not pay taxes on a real estate transaction. The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said Saturday the National Tax Service has reported Choi and her daughter Chung Yoo-ra for violating laws on tax offenses. According to the tax agency, Choi sold a building in Gangnam, southern Seoul,...

Police said Sunday that they are investigating a professor who called Japan’s World War II sexual enslavement of girls and women “a form of prostitution.” Police have interviewed civic groups who lodged a defamation complaint against Lew Seok-choon, a sociology professor at Yonsei University, for his remarks regarding “comfort women,” as the wartime sex slaves are euphemistically called. On Sep...

The government on Wednesday warned against using liquid e-cigarettes, or e-liquids, until health perils associated with them are better understood. “The Health and Welfare Ministry strongly recommends discontinuing the use of liquid e-cigarettes until the link between lung injuries and liquid e-cigarettes is clearly identified,” said Health Minister Park Neung-hoo in a press briefing Wednesday m...

Lawmakers have officially filed a bill that would invalidate the statute of limitations for a series of rape-murders from the mid-1980s and early 1990s in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. On Sept. 20, 13 lawmakers jointly submitted a motion seeking to punish killer Lee Chun-jae, 56, despite the statute of limitations having expired. The police booked Lee on Oct. 14 after they determined there were ...

An orb with a set of ears, blinky eyes and the voice and speech manners of a chatty child is making advances in dementia therapy at a hospital in Seoul. Named Bomy, the robot assists cognitive training for patients in the early stages, or at the risk of developing dementia. Ewha Womans University Mokdong Hospital’s Robot-assisted Cognitive Training Center opened its doors in April, and is heade...