Footballer Hwang's sister-in-law indicted for disclosing his private videos

A sister-in-law of football player Hwang Ui-jo was indicted Friday on charges of exposing his intimate videos online and threatening to make more revelations, officials said. The wife of Hwang's elder brother is accused of sharing intimate photos and videos of him spending time with women on Instagram in June, pretending to be a former lover of Hwang. She also claimed the South Korea forward had slept with several women and inflicted damage on them, threatening Hwang through text message to

Dec. 8, 2023

[Photo News] Korean delegation advocates for climate action in Dubai

The Korean delegation at COP28, consisting of representatives from groups Greenfund and Jeski Social Campaign along with climate and environmental activists and experts, said Friday that they held a performance at the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, calling for opposition to war and solutions to the climate crisis. (Jeski Social Campaign)

Dec. 8, 2023

Cho Hee-dae becomes chief justice, ending monthslong leadership vacuum

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday approved his nomination of Cho Hee-dae as the new chief justice of South Korea's top court, ending the rare, monthslong judiciary leadership vacuum. Yoon's approval came hours after the National Assembly voted 264-18 for the nomination of Cho, who was formerly a Supreme Court justice until his retirement in 2020. Cho passed the parliament's confirmation hearing earlier this week. Cho, 66, will take office on Monday. A chief justice normally serves six years in a

Dec. 8, 2023

Ex-justice minister's daughter attends forgery trial in college admissions scandal

Cho Min, daughter of ex-Justice Minister Cho Kuk, on Friday attended the first hearing for her trial on forgery charges in a college admissions scandal. Cho told reporters she would "faithfully engage in her trial" and declined to comment further, as she appeared at the Seoul Central District Court. The 32-year-old, who was trained as a physician, is accused of fabricating her own credentials when she applied for an undergraduate degree at Korea University and another at Pusan National

Dec. 8, 2023

Seoul awards honorary citizenship to 15 foreign nationals

The Seoul city government named 15 foreign nationals from 13 countries as honorary citizens on Friday for their contribution to the city's development. Rahil Ahmadova, a honorary citizen from Azerbaijan, was recognized for her efforts as a lecturer to spread awareness about multiculturalism and for her efforts to help other foreign nationals adjust to living in Seoul. Daniel Chukwunonso Nwagbala, another recipient from Nigeria, was recognized for his fundraising efforts for people with deve

Dec. 8, 2023

Turkish woman gets jail term for killing abusive boyfriend

A South Korean court on Friday handed a 12-year prison term to a 30-year-old Turkish woman, who stabbed her boyfriend to death after being repeatedly assaulted by him. The defendant has been charged with murder after she killed her boyfriend in Daegu in August. The crime had been spontaneous, as the victim physically assaulted her multiple times in the past and had been beating her up at the time of the crime. "The court took into account that the defendant had been physically assaulted by

Dec. 8, 2023

Woman indicted for claiming to be raped by men she met via dating app

Daegu prosecutors on Friday said that they have indicted a woman in her 30s, on the charge of falsely accusing men of rape after meeting them on a dating application. According to the Daegu District Prosecutors' Office, the accused met six men on the app from October to December of last year and had consensual sexual relations with them. She then filed charges for rape or sexual assault against them. Officials found that she filed multiple charges of sex crimes to police in other regions, a

Dec. 8, 2023

Personality traits linked to risk of dementia

Whether you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitude in life might affect your risk of dementia, new research shows. In a study published by the journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, researchers at the University of California, Davis investigated the link between personality traits and the prevalence of Alzheimer’s diagnoses based on 44,531 participants. Results of the study suggest that specific personality traits such as sociability, goal-oriented behavior and positive emotional

Dec. 8, 2023

South Korea’s birth rate again hits historic low

South Korea’s birth rate reached an all-time low in the January to October period this year, setting off further alarm about the nation’s demographic trends. According to Statistics Korea on Friday, the accumulated number of babies born in the first three quarters stood at 177,000, the lowest figure recorded since the government began collecting data in 1981. The birth rate, which stood at 657,000 during the first three quarters of 1981, plunged to around 300,000 in 2002 and further

Dec. 8, 2023

US trade body finds no patent breaches by Samsung over digital signage: sources

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) concluded Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDS did not violate any patents over outdoor electronics displays in a patent infringement case filed by a US company, industry sources said Thursday. The ITC reached the decision last month after its investigation into the case following a complaint filed by Manufacturing Resources International (MRI) in August last year. MRI, an Atlanta-based manufacturer of outdoor and semi-outdoor digital liquid-crystal dis

Dec. 7, 2023

Suneung without 'killer questions' still not easy, results show

Test-takers of South Korea’s national college entrance exam, known as the Suneung, are set to receive their test results Friday, amid lingering controversy over whether this year's test succeeded in completely scrapping the highly difficult “killer questions.” Results and analysis of over 440,000 examinees released by the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation on Thursday suggested that exams in all subjects, including Korean language, mathematics and English, were

Dec. 7, 2023

Teens' excessive smartphone use linked to mental health risk: study

Adolescents using smartphones for more than four hours a day are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health issues, a South Korean study found Thursday. The study by researchers at Hanyang University Medical Center analyzed the data of 54,809 teenagers across the country to find the correlation between daily smart phone usage time and adverse outcomes such as stress, depression, suicide, substance use and smartphone overdependence. They used the data from the state-conducted Korea Youth Ri

Dec. 7, 2023

Investigators, not teachers, to handle school violence from next year

Cases regarding school violence will now be in the purview of specialized investigators employed by education offices around South Korea, along with an increase in the number of police officers deployed at schools, starting from March 2024. In a joint press conference Thursday, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Korean National Police Agency said the measures were devised to lessen the burden on teachers handling rising school violence cases among students. &l

Dec. 7, 2023

[Graphic News] Over 1.3 million S. Korean women quit jobs after marriage: data

One out of every 6 South Korean married women suffers from career interruption due mainly to child-rearing, marriage and pregnancy, data showed. The number of married women aged 15-54 who stopped working came to 1.35 million as of April, accounting for around 17 percent of the total 7.94 million married women in the age group, according to data from Statistics Korea. This year’s number of career-interrupted women fell 3.45 percent on-year, or 48,000, because the total female population of

Dec. 7, 2023

Drug offences rise by nearly 50 percent on-year

South Korea’s special investigation unit on drug crimes on Wednesday said it had caught a record-high of 22,393 people suspected of drug offenses from January to October this year. The figure is nearly a 50 percent increase, or up 7,211, from last year’s tally of 15,182, reflecting the troubling trend of rapidly growing drug use here. People in their teens and 20s made up the largest number, accounting for 34.6 percent of the total -- 1,174 were in their teens and 6,580 were in their

Dec. 6, 2023

‘Korea could go extinct without proper immigration policy’: minister

South Korea has reached a point where accepting more immigrants under a solid policy is no longer a choice, but a necessity because the country could face extinction without it, the justice minister said Wednesday. “We have already surpassed the phase of contemplating whether or not to adopt immigration policies,” Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said during a ruling party policy meeting held at the National Assembly. “Korea faces the fate of becoming extinct due to a population

Dec. 6, 2023

Woman sentenced to 13 years for forcing co-worker into prostitution

A 41-year-old woman accused of coercing a close co-worker into prostitution over the course of three years has been sentenced to 13 years in prison by an appellate court on Wednesday, after a lower court sentenced her to 10 years. The defendant, who worked with the victim between October 2019 to September 2022, has been accused of forcing 2,500 accounts of prostitution on the victim, and pocketing the 500 million won ($380,000) profit made from the illegal acts. The police's investigation f

Dec. 6, 2023

Half of young people struggling financially: Seoul

Nearly half of the youth population residing in Seoul now lives in poverty, with many seeking financial support from their parents, according to a new study released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Institute on Wednesday. According to the 2022 Seoul Young Adult Panel Study, 55.6 percent of the youth population in Seoul faced asset poverty, meaning that they lack sufficient liquid assets to cover their basic needs for three months. In particular, the asset poverty rate for the yout

Dec. 6, 2023

Court overturns ruling on fabricated asylum interview: report

A 2021 court ruling that had ordered the South Korean government and two civil servants to compensate for the fabricated asylum interview of an Egyptian human rights activist was overturned recently, as an appellate court acknowledged unlawful acts in the process but did not hold the two civil servants responsible for compensating the victim financially. According to local media outlet The Hankyoreh on Wednesday, the appellate division of the Seoul Central District Court has ruled against Darwis

Dec. 6, 2023

Ideal spouse material? Above-average salary, height and office job

According to a survey of single men and women of Korean nationality, the ideal husband should be earning an annual salary exceeding 60 million won ($45,745) and have a height of 178.7 centimeters, while the ideal wife should earn around 44 million won annually and be 164.2 centimeters tall. The survey, conducted by matchmaking agency Duo on Korean singles between 25 and 39, also showed that both men and women prefer their partner to be working in an office setting. Around 45 percent of males a

Dec. 6, 2023