A man in his 20s has been sentenced to a year and six months in prison for attacking a police officer with a knife, for what he thought was "insincere response" from investigators. The defendant was found guilty by the Seoul Northern District Court of both obstruction of official duties and special obstruction of public duty, which is applied when the crime involves the use of a dangerous weapon. "This crime is very dangerous in both its means and the results, and the defendant ha

Social Affairs May 30, 2024

An appellate court on Tuesday overturned a lower court ruling on a man's attempted murder of his wife, based on the victim's wishes for the husband not to be punished. The Daejeon High Court sentenced the 65-year-old defendant to four years in prison, overturning an earlier ruling that ordered a seven-year prison term. The defendant was accused of stabbing his 61-year-old wife 10 times, with an intent to kill, at their home in Bangok-dong in Sejong at around 10:35 p.m. on July 18, last

Social Affairs May 29, 2024

A total of 1,533 retired couples in South Korea were receiving a combined benefit of 3 million won ($2,200) a month via the state-run pension program as of January of this year, the National Pension Service said Wednesday. According to the NPS, the number of couples getting at least 3 million-won benefit between them has increased each year since three couples passed the threshold for the first time in 2017. The number has increased exponentially since then, going from 196 in 2021 to 565 in 2022

Social Affairs May 29, 2024

South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday appealed a recent court ruling that handed a three-year prison term to a woman in her 30s for falsely accusing 12 men of sexual assault. Officials of the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office challenged the ruling Monday, saying the punishment was too lenient. The prosecution had requested a six-year prison term for the defendant. "A false accusation of sex crime inflicts significant adverse effects on the victim's life. ... (The prosecution has) a

Social Affairs May 29, 2024

Sungsimdang, a renowned bakery that has become one of the biggest tourist attractions in Daejeon, recently said it may close its Daejeon Station branch over a rent dispute with the station operator. Korail has rented out a space to the bakery since 2012, with a five-year contract inked in 2019 due to expire in October. Sungsimdang currently pays 100 million won ($73,300) a month for the space, but Korail is reportedly requesting around 440 million won for the next contract, which would be arou

Social Affairs May 29, 2024

Starting July, the government will start charging extra medical fees for those who use the medical services an "excessive" amount. The recent revision of the National Health Insurance Act will kick in on July 1, which means that the current coverage of the state-run health insurance program will be limited to 365 outpatient treatments in a year. Those visiting the hospital more frequently will still be covered by the National Insurance, but will have to pay 90 percent of the medical bi

Social Affairs May 27, 2024

A violation of military regulation occurred with a recent trainee soldier's death during a training exercise, an Army official told local media Monday. In a meeting with reporters, the unnamed official confirmed that there "had been a situation that was not in accordance with (military) regulation" during the exercise. The official refused to elaborate, saying the case was still under investigation by the police and the military. According to the Army, the trainee soldier died Sat

Social Affairs May 27, 2024

A 41-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after attacking his mother in the street with a knife, police said Monday. The Incheon District Court on Sunday issued an arrest warrant for the suspect on the ground that he is a flight risk, according to the Incheon Michuhol Police Station. The suspect is believed to have stabbed his mother, who is in her 60s, at around 11:52 a.m. on Thursday, in the streets of Michuhol-gu, Incheon. Police detectives who were passing by in a

Social Affairs May 27, 2024

A high school student who had gone missing after jumping into a river was found dead Sunday, close to where he had gone missing. According to officials, The boy jumped into the Ganggyeongcheon in Nonsan, South Chungcheong Province, at around 5:50 p.m., and was swept away. He was found dead three hours later, about 70 meters away from where he had been playing. A boy who had been playing with him told local police that they were "messing around" when they decided to jump into the water.

Social Affairs May 27, 2024

A recent survey suggested that majority of part-time workers in South Korea are positive about using AI, robot and other machines at work. Part-time job-search website Alba Cheonguk said Thursday that it had conducted a survey on 771 part-timers that showed that 71 percent of the respondents had a positive view of adopting recent technology such as food-serving robots, kiosks at their place of work. The percentage was particularly high among those working in shops that already used such technolo

Social Affairs May 25, 2024

In a landmark ruling Thursday, the Supreme Court said that marriage can be nullified after divorce under "special circumstances," allowing separated couples to be freed from potential legal complications and obligations entailing matrimony. The Article 815 of the Civil Act states that a marriage is void if the two parties did not both consent, or if it occurs between certain close relatives. But a precedent set in 1984 by South Korea's highest court has made it impossible to annul

Social Affairs May 24, 2024

In a bid to battle the low fertility rate in South Korea, there are ongoing talks to expand the benefits for childbirth by adjusting the childbirth credit system, which reduces the mandated subscription period of National Pension plans for those who have given birth. There have been demands for changes to the current system in which the government pays for only 30 percent of the increased budget from the various credit systems, with the remaining 70 percent coming out of the National Pension fun

Social Affairs May 24, 2024

Undoing the damage caused by the recent defacement of the Gyeongbokgung walls has cost 150 million won ($109,000), the government body in charge of preservation of cultural heritage in South Korea said Thursday. The Korea Heritage Service, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, revealed the provisional figures on reversing the damage inflicted by the two cases of vandalism in December of last year. Two teens wrote graffiti on the historic walls on Dec. 16, and a man in his 20s did so

Social Affairs May 24, 2024

A Seoul Metro operator recently made all passengers exit the train at the wrong station, mistaking it for its final destination, Seoul Metro said Friday. The operator of subway train No. 6221 of Line No.6 stopped at the Sangwolgok Station at around 6:23 p.m. on Wednesday and notified all passengers to vacate the train, according to the main operator of the greater Seoul's transit system. The passengers were told the train was not bound for Sinnae Station in Jungrang-gu, the last station on

Social Affairs May 24, 2024

A Busan bus driver was recently caught working while under the influence of alcohol, local police said Friday. Passengers of the bus that was operating in Busanjin-gu, Busan suspected that the driver was drunk, based on the strong smell of alcohol, and reported it to the police, according to the Busanjin Police Station. Officers who arrived on the scene stopped the vehicle and tested the driver, who showed blood alcohol content that was high enough to have his driver's license revoked. The

Social Affairs May 24, 2024