Soldier photos in military intranet made unavailable to prevent deepfake crimes

Intranet photos of soldiers, military and defense ministry officials have been made unavailable over concerns they could be abused to make sexually abusive deepfake images, officials said Sunday. Such photos were made invisible from the military's Onnara System intranet and the websites of military units as of Thursday last week, military officials said. Only those with due authority can access such photos. "There was the possibility of the photos being abused for sex crimes because in

Sept. 8, 2024

Court upholds stripping license of taxi driver who repeatedly overcharged foreign passengers

A taxi driver who was stripped of his license for overcharging foreign national passengers three times in one year took his case to court, claiming it was "unfair," but the court rejected his appeal, according to local media outlets Sunday. A Seoul Administrative Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by a taxi driver, who had challenged the Seoul city government's decision to revoke his taxi license. Most recently, in February last year, the taxi driver dropped off a foreign c

Sept. 8, 2024

Doctors' group demands withdrawal of med school quota hike plan for 2025, 2026

A major doctors' lobby group demanded Sunday the government cancel its plan to raise the medical school admissions quota for 2025 and 2026 and discuss the possible quota adjustment for 2027 or afterward. Officials of the Korean Medical Association made the call after the government last week said it is willing to revise the plan for 2026 if the medical community presents a "reasonable" option. The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has vowed to increase the medical school admissions quo

Sept. 8, 2024

Substitute military doctors to be immune from medical malpractice damages

Military and public health doctors deployed to emergency rooms to help ease medical staff shortages will be granted immunity from liability for damages resulting from medical malpractice, health authorities said Sunday. Since last Wednesday, 250 military physicians have been assigned to emergency rooms and other understaffed departments after a significant number of junior doctors resigned in February to protest the government's decision to significantly increase medical school admissions

Sept. 8, 2024

Oxbridge Society in Korea holds annual reception

The Oxbridge Society, an integrated alumni association in South Korea for graduates from the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, held an alumni reception on Aug. 31, where society members were urged to be at the forefront of leading country relations between Korea and the United Kingdom. According to the alumni association on Friday, around 100 alums from both universities were in attendance at the annual reception, including former Foreign Minister and current President of Oxb

Sept. 8, 2024

LGBTQ+ dating app ad taken down 4 days later due to complaints

A large digital advertisement showing same-sex couples kissing and embracing each other was taken down four days after it began airing on the streets of Seoul's southern district of Gangnam due to a series of complaints. The 20-second dating app ad first appeared on a 6-storey digital billboard set up along the streets of Gangnam's Nonhyeon-dong on Aug. 26 under a contract that calls for the ad's airing at least 100 times a day for one year. The images showed gay and lesbian coupl

Sept. 8, 2024

Another victim of Japan's wartime sexual slavery dies, leaving 8 survivors

A victim of Japan's sexual slavery of Korean women during World War II has died, a civic group said Saturday, bringing down the number of officially registered surviving victims to eight. The woman died recently, the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery by Japan said, without revealing her identity. At 18, the late victim traveled to China with a friend to find work at a sewing factory but was forced into sexual servitude for Japanese troops

Sept. 7, 2024

3 out of 4 shops, restaurants plan to stay open during Chuseok: survey

With the Chuseok holiday period approaching, three out of four small business owners plan to keep their shops and restaurants open during the holiday break, a recent survey shows. Alba Heaven, one of the largest part-time job portals, conducted a survey of 96 small business owners, and 85.4 percent said they would operate their businesses during the Chuseok holidays. This figure marks an increase of 5.7 percentage from the previous year. This year, the Chuseok holiday period will stretch over fi

Sept. 7, 2024

Gov't urges doctors to return to med school quota talks

The government said Saturday that the medical community should draw up its plan for proposed talks over an increase in the medical school admissions quota amid prolonged strikes by junior doctors. On Friday, the presidential office said it is open to readjusting the country's quota for 2026 and would welcome it if a negotiating panel is formed among the rival parties, the government and the medical community to discuss the issue. The ruling People Power Party proposed launching a four-way

Sept. 7, 2024

Prosecution panel advises against indicting first lady over Dior bag acceptance

The Supreme Prosecutors Office's investigation review committee advised Friday against indicting first lady Kim Keon Hee for accepting a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor. The panel, comprising 15 outside experts, reached the conclusion after a meeting at the top prosecutors office to review the first lady's case involving allegations that she illegally received a Dior handbag worth 3 million won ($2,248) and other expensive gifts from pastor Choi Jae-young in 2022. Followin

Sept. 6, 2024

S. Korea to freeze health insurance premiums for 2nd year in 2025

South Korea will keep next year's state health insurance premiums unchanged for a second straight year in an effort to help ease people's financial burdens, the health ministry said Friday. Under the plan, the health insurance premium rate will remain unchanged at 7.09 percent in 2025, marking the first time the government has implemented a two-year freeze in the insurance scheme. The government also froze the rate last year. Previously, the government has raised health insurance premi

Sept. 6, 2024

Man to pay W727m for opening plane door before landing

A man who opened an airplane door while the aircraft was still in flight was ordered to pay 727 million won ($547,000) in damages to the airline operator on Thursday. The man in his 30s was convicted in November for the premature opening of the emergency door while the Asiana Airlines plane was preparing to land at about 700-800 feet (213-243 meters) in the air. Thursday’s ruling was to determine compensation, following the criminal trial, and was handed down by Judge Chae Seong-ho of Daeg

Sept. 6, 2024

Gender pay gap inches down to 26.3% but persists

The gender pay gap in South Korea among companies required to disclose such information -- those with total assets of more than 5 trillion won ($5 billion) in affiliated companies -- narrowed slightly to 26.3 percent last year, a report showed Friday. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family's gender pay gap research, the average pay of all 2,647 companies subject to disclosure, including listed companies and companies subject to external audit, was 98.57 million won for men

Sept. 6, 2024

Criminals who drugged teens' drinks with meth sentenced to up to 18 years

South Korea's top court upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced defendants in a high-profile drug scam -- in which drug-laced drinks were deceptively distributed to students, followed by the blackmail of their parents -- to prison terms of up to 18 years, the court announced on Friday. The Supreme Court confirmed the lower court’s verdict, sentencing individuals identified by the surnames Gil, Kim, Park and Lee to prison terms of 18, 10, 10 and seven years, respectively. They were found

Sept. 6, 2024

34 students grab prizes at 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest

The award ceremony for the 53rd Korea Herald English Speech Contest was held on Thursday at the Australian Embassy in Seoul on Friday. This year's contest, themed "My dream, Earth and the 10th Anniversary of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement," focused on the environment and economy. A total of 34 winners were recognized for their outstanding speeches. In attendance were Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea Jeff Robinson, Deputy Head of Mission Martin Walker, Heral

Sept. 6, 2024

Wartime sexual slavery victims file for Japanese govt. asset disclosure

Victims of Japan's wartime military sexual slavery and their bereaved families filed a legal request with the court on Friday to verify the details of assets owned by the Japanese government in South Korea, in a bid to secure compensation following their civil lawsuit victory last November. Justice for the Comfort Women, a Seoul-based civic group advocating for Korean victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, announced that the victims and their families had submitted the request unde

Sept. 6, 2024

Over 1 million train fare evasions since 2019: data

An annual average of 190,926 cases of fare evasions at major train services like KTX occurred here between 2019 and July of this year, data from state-run railway operators showed Friday. Over the last five years, officials caught an average of 4.12 billion won ($3 million) worth of illegal train rides a year, according to Korail data submitted to Rep. Yoon Jong-kun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The railway operator currently runs the high-speed KTX trains as well as the Sa

Sept. 6, 2024

'Trust me and jump': Police catches child escaping burning factory

A police officer managed to catch an elementary school student who had to jump out of a second-floor window of a burning building, local police said Friday. According to the Pyeongtaek Police Station, a fire broke out on the third floor of a factory building in Poseung-eup, Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province at 3:58 p.m on Thursday. Police officers evacuated the area but belatedly found the young boy crying for help, stranded on the second floor of the building. Unable to enter the building already i

Sept. 6, 2024

9 out of 10 Seoul five-star hotels use ‘drip pricing’ in promotion

Most of the five-star hotels in Seoul are omitting mandatory additional fees from the room charges displayed on their homepages, the Seoul city government said Friday. Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted a survey of 27 hotels rated five stars by the Tourism Promotion Act and found that only three of them show room charges complete with taxes and additional fees to customers. The rest use "drip pricing," a technique where only a part of an item is advertised and the final amount is

Sept. 6, 2024

Two Korean women arrested for stealing tourist's bag in Turkey

Two South Korean women were released after being detained by Turkish authorities for allegedly stealing a bag containing around $17,000 in cash from another tourist, according to news reports on Thursday. Turkey’s Demiroren News Agency and other media outlets reported that the two women were arrested by police on suspicion of theft and released after questioning on Aug. 28. The two women, who were traveling in the country, were accused of stealing a bag belonging to an Albanian tourist on

Sept. 6, 2024