A total of 10,185 government officials in South Korea made more than 20 million won ($15,000) in annual income in addition to their salaries in 2023, National Health Insurance Service data showed Friday. The data, provided by Rep. Choi Hye-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, revealed that 0.67 percent of the 1.51 million civil servants currently enrolled in the National Health Insurance program are paying monthly premiums based on their income and assets. The monthly premium

Social Affairs Jan. 19, 2024

South Korean prosecutors on Thursday requested the death penalty for Choi Won-jong, the 23-year-old man on trial for a stabbing rampage last year near Seohyeon Station in Bundang-gu, Gyeonggi Province, that killed two and injured a dozen people. "Two women lost their lives because of (Choi), and the pain suffered by the bereaved families and the injured cannot be described with words," the prosecution told the Suwon District Court at the hearing, also requesting that Choi be monitored

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

Local police found evidence to believe that a man in his 50s who died after swimming under the influence, had in fact been forced to swim by another man. Officials said Thursday that Changwon District Prosecutor's Office indicted a man in his 40s on charges of coercion, extortion and death by negligence. The suspect is believed to have coerced the victim and another man in his 50s to follow to abide by his will. According to investigators, the three men had consumed 22 bottles of soju b

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

South Korean police on Thursday said they plan to expand the recently implemented system of sending out mobile phone notifications for traffic law violations, instead of having officers print the notification and handing it to offenders directly. The mobile traffic ticket system was implemented by the National Police Agency on Dec. 21 as a measure to minimize the equipment that police officers have to carry. The previous system required officers to submit information on traffic violations to th

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

South Korean police on Thursday said a man had been arrested without warrant on suspicion of hitting a bus driver with a small hammer following an argument. The man is reportedly a Chinese national. According to Anseong Police Station in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, the suspect in his 20s got on a bus at a stop in Miyang-myeon at around 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The man reportedly placed his leg on top of his luggage while sitting at the back of the bus, which prompted the driver to ask the man to

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

A South Korean woman was given a suspended jail term for stalking singer-actress Jung Eunji, a local court said Thursday. Seoul Central District Court handed a one-year prison term, suspended for two years, to the 59-year-old defendant surnamed Jo, who was indicted for violating the Act on Punishment of Crime of Stalking. She was also ordered to pay a 100,000 won ($75) fine, perform 120 hours of community service and complete a 40-hour lecture program to protect against stalking recidivism. Acco

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

About 200 mandarin ducks have been spotted in the stream Jungnangcheon in eastern Seoul, Seongdong-gu district office said Wednesday, sparking excitement here at the sighting of the relatively rare avian species. According to the district office, the birds were sighted near the southern end of the bridge Yonbigyo in Geumho-dong. Yun Mu-bu, a professor of biology at Kyunghee University locally known as "Dr. Bird" for his research of local birds, reported the sightings to Seongdong-gu. &

Social Affairs Jan. 18, 2024

South Korean court said Wednesday it has sentenced a boy band member to a one-year jail term, suspended for two years, for faking a mental disability to avoid active military service. Seoul Northern District Court handed the suspended term to the 32-year-old defendant, who was also ordered to fulfill 80 hours of community service for violating the Military Service Act. South Korean law stipulates that all able-bodied men are mandated to serve in the military for at least 18 months. The defendant

Social Affairs Jan. 17, 2024

A 43-year-old man was sentenced to one year and six months in prison for forcibly taking his father to a mental institute, while his younger brother got a suspended jail term for helping him, local court said Wednesday. Incheon District Court said in its verdict that even though the victim owned a gun, the defendants failed to submit evidence to prove that the victim was a violent person. The court added that the victim's condition did not appear severe enough to justify medical detention.

Social Affairs Jan. 17, 2024

South Korea experienced the hottest year in its recorded history in 2023, marking an all-time high in the average yearly temperature and among the most intense rains and hottest ocean temperatures in recorded history, according to the state weather agency. The Korea Meteorological Administration on Tuesday announced its analysis of temperatures across the country, which showed that South Korea's yearly average was 13.7 degrees Celsius for last year, breaking the previous record of 13.4 degr

Social Affairs Jan. 16, 2024

A 30-year-old South Korean man who pretended to sell tickets for K-pop concerts and swindled 595 million won ($450,000) from his victims has been sentenced to six years in prison, a court said Tuesday. The Seoul Central District Court found the defendant, surnamed Kim, guilty on multiple counts of fraud. An investigation found that Kim had pretended to sell tickets for concerts of popular artists here including IU, Blackpink and Lim Young-woong, some 130 times, pocketing the profits from the sal

Social Affairs Jan. 16, 2024

Yangju city government in Gyeonggi Province said late Monday that it had launched an inspection into one of its first-year employees, who recently claimed on social media to be neglecting their duties while pretending to be on a business trip. "(The city) will hold a thorough investigation on whether the employee in question has violated the Local Public Officials Act by posting what can only be interpreted as a fake business trip on their social media page, thereby demoralizing the other h

Social Affairs Jan. 16, 2024

A local animal rights group and the city of Cheonan said Monday they are planning to file charges of animal abuse and abandonment against the owner of a poodle and a Maltese poodle who is suspected of abandoning the dogs twice last week. According to the city government, the owner left the dogs in front of a convenience store in Seobuk-gu, Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, on Jan. 10. A resident of the area took the dogs to the city's animal protection center, which acquired the informat

Social Affairs Jan. 15, 2024

Using a mobile application has become the standard in catching a taxi in Seoul, as a recent study shows 72.2 percent of its citizens use taxi-hailing apps while only 22.7 percent hail a passing cab on the street. The city-run Seoul Institute announced the result of its annual study on Seoul citizens' perception of the taxi service in the South Korean capital, based on a survey of 4,370 people who used Seoul taxis, another online survey of 1,001 people living in Seoul, and a survey on 42

Social Affairs Jan. 15, 2024

South Korean police said Monday that they have found no indications of a crime in the death of a young woman found floating in Han River with a knife lodged in her chest. In a regular press briefing, a high-ranking official of the National Police Agency said that security camera footage and other evidence showed that it was the victim herself who bought the weapon, and that she did not meet anyone on the day of her death. "We (the police) will check (the victim's) credit card record, f

Social Affairs Jan. 15, 2024