The Korea Times

Two additional African swine fever cases confirmed in Paju

Workers fumigate vehicles entering Papyeong in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, where an additional African swine fever case was confirmed at a farm there, Wednesday. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunTwo more cases of African swine fever (ASF) were confirmed Wednesday, raising the number of farms afflicted with the highly infectious diseases to 11 nationwide. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it found one new infection while inspecting a farm at Jeokseong in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, where pigs at another farm had previously tested positive for the contagious disease Sept. 24. Paju is where the deadly virus was first confirmed, Sept. 17The first new case was first reported Tuesday as the provincial government was calling owners of farms in the province to check on the condition of their pigs. The local government found that pigs on the farm were fed with leftover food and there was no fence to protect the livestock from wild boars ― two possible vectors for the spread of the virus. The farm had not been included in the authorities' quarantine system because it was an unregistered

Oct 2, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Two additional African swine fever cases confirmed in Paju

Society

K-water to build hydroelectric power plant in Solomon Islands

Hyundai Engineering CEO Kim Chang-hag, fourth from right, Chief International Officer of K-water Kim Duk-joong, fifth from right, and Minister of Finance and Treasury of the Solomon Islands Harry Kuma, sixth from right, pose for a picture after signing a contract for a hydroelectric power plant construction project on the Tina River, at the Heritage Park Hotel in Honiara, the Solomon Islands, Monday. /Courtesy of K-waterBy Kim Jae-heunThe Korea Water Resources Corp. (K-water) and Hyundai Engineering signed a contract to construct a hydroelectric power facility on the Tina River in the Solomon Islands, the state-run utilities company said Tuesday.Officials from Hyundai Engineering and Tina Hydropower Limited (THL), the company established by K-water for the hydroelectric project, held the signing ceremony in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, the previous day.The project is to construct a 71.5-meter-tall dam and 15-megawatt hydroelectric power plant on the river some 20 kilometers southeast of Honiara, at a total cost of 250 billion won ($211 million).Under the contract, Hyu

Oct 1, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

K-water to build hydroelectric power plant in Solomon Islands

Law & Crime

Daughter of ex-Herald Corp. chief caught smuggling drugs

A daughter of Hong Jung-wook leaves detention center in Michuhol, Incheon, Monday, after she has been apprehended for attempting to smuggle various illegal drugs, last Friday. YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunA daughter of Hong Jung-wook, a former chairman of Herald Corp. and an ex-lawmaker of the Grand National Party, the precursor of the Liberty Korea Party, has been caught smuggling various illegal drugs.According to the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, Monday, the customs authority at Incheon International Airport apprehended the 19-year-old with marijuana, LSD and Adderall in her pockets and luggage, at around 5:40 p.m. last Friday.She was returning to Korea from Honolulu in Hawaii. The prosecution said it would investigate whether she was involved in other drug-related crimes. It requested an arrest warrant but a local court rejected it, saying she was unlikely to flee. The junior Hong, born in 2000 in the United States, entered a university there this year. The senior Hong, 49, is also a graduate of the school. He was a lawmaker of the Grand National Party from 2008 to 2012. He heade

Sep 30, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Daughter of ex-Herald Corp. chief caught smuggling drugs

Society

Typhoon Mitag to hit Korea on Thursday

Typhoon Mitag is expected to hit the Korean Peninsula Thursday, bringing up to 600 millimeters of heavy rain in the mountainous interior of Jeju Island from today. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heun Typhoon Mitag is expected to hit the Korean Peninsula Thursday, bringing up to 600 millimeters of heavy rain to central regions of Jeju Island from today.According to the Korean Meteorological Administration, Monday, the typhoon, which formed in the Philippine Sea on Saturday, is traveling from 410 kilometers south-southeast of Taipei as of 9 a.m. at 16 km/h with wind speeds of up to 32 meters per second.The KMA forecast the typhoon will move toward the peninsula after passing Taiwan and mainland China, and hit Mokpo in South Jeolla Province at around 9 a.m. on Thursday and pass through the southern provinces to the East Sea.The Jeju branch of the weather agency said the island could come under the typhoon's influence as early as today with heavy rain of 30 mm to 50 mm per hour. The agency said flights to and from Jeju could be delayed or canceled due to strong wind and heavy rain on Wednesday and T

Sep 30, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Law & Crime

Man arrested for allegedly beating 5-year-old stepson to death

Reporters ask a murder suspect questions as he leave the police station in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, Sunday, for interrogation at the Incheon District Court. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunA 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of beating his five-year-old stepson to death, according to police. The alleged murder took place only a month after the boy was brought home from a child protection center, where he had stayed following the stepfather's beating and abuse two years earlier.The man allegedly tied the stepson's hands and feet with cables and beat him for 25 hours at his home in Incheon from Wednesday to Thursday, using a meter-long wooden sword, according to Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency, Sunday.He reported to police on Thursday evening that the boy had collapsed and was not breathing. When the police and rescue officers arrived, the boy was unconscious and had no pulse. They found bruises all over his body. An autopsy conducted by the National Forensic Service confirmed that the boy had died from an abdominal injury. The man told police that he assaulted his son as punishmen

Sep 29, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Man arrested for allegedly beating 5-year-old stepson to death

Health

Alert remains high over suspected cases of swine fever

Quarantine authorities and farmers remain highly vigilant over additional outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF), as suspected cases are being reported ― the latest in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, Sunday. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunQuarantine authorities and farmers remain highly vigilant over additional outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF), as suspected cases are being reported ― the latest in Hongseong, South Chungcheong Province, Sunday.It is the first suspected case reported outside Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, which are close to North Korea where ASF is believed to have been quite widely spread. If the case is confirmed to be ASF, it will mean the contagious disease has spread south.According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, a slaughterhouse in Hongseong reported the deaths of 19 pigs to regional quarantine authorities.Quarantine authority sent workers to fumigate the country's largest piggery town.So far, four farms in Gyeonggi Province ― two in Paju and one each in Yeoncheon and Gimpo ― and five farms on Ganghwa Island in Incheon have been conf

Sep 29, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Alert remains high over suspected cases of swine fever

Foreign Affairs

Yonsei professor under fire for comfort women comments

Lew Seok-choon, a sociology professor at Yonsei University, led the reform committee of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party in 2017. / Korea Times fileBy Kim Jae-heunA Yonsei University sociology professor is under heavy fire for remarks about “comfort women” during a recent lecture.The student council vowed to take all available measures against the professor, while civic groups and politicians slammed his comments. According to an audio file of a Sept. 19 lecture by Lew Seok-choon released by a local media outlet Pressian, a professor at the Department of Sociology of the school, he described Korean victims of sexual slavery as “kind of prostitutes,” adding that Japan did not directly force them into military brothels.Surprised by his remarks, one student asked if the professor saw comfort women as equal to modern day prostitutes. The professor answered, “In the end, similar.”The professor made another controversial remark to another student who objected to his claims. “They lived a life of hostess and that's how they started it. It's p

Sep 22, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Yonsei professor under fire for comfort women comments

Law & Crime

'Prime suspect's DNA matches sample from evidence in serial killing'

By Kim Jae-heunPolice confirmed Thursday that DNA evidence appears to have identified the perpetrator of the nation's worst unsolved case of serial murders that took place in the 1980s, although the statute of limitations on the crimes has expired, meaning the man will not be charged. According to the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency, DNA samples found in evidence collected from the fifth, seventh and ninth murders matched that of the new prime suspect surnamed Lee, 56, who has been behind bars for decades after being found guilty in another murder case.However, during recent questioning at Busan Detention Center, Lee denied that he committed the murders. He has been imprisoned there since 1994 after receiving a life sentence for drugging and raping his sister-in-law before killing her and disposing of her body.Police said they were in the preliminary stages of ascertaining the veracity of the DNA evidence, refusing to comment on the details of their current investigation of the case.“We don't have much to confirm at this stage,” Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Ag

Sep 19, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

'Prime suspect's DNA matches sample from evidence in serial killing'

Photo of 'Hwaseong serial killer' revealed

Society

'It will take 300 years before contaminated water is safe to discharge into sea'

Experts warn there is no safe threshold for radioactive exposureBy Kim Jae-heunNuclear experts from around the world are condemning the Japanese government's possible move to discharge radioactive water from the destroyed Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.The plan is raising concerns especially in Korea, Japan's closest neighbor, as the discharged water will have a direct influence on the marine life and ecosystem in its territorial waters and eventually the people themselves.As of Aug. 22, about 1.1 million tons of contaminated water are being stored in 977 tanks at the power plant in Fukushima, which was destroyed by an earthquake and resultant tsunami in 2011. The Japanese government has said it will only build more facilities through 2020 and this will bring the total stored to 1.37 million tons. By August 2020, all the storage facilities are projected to be filled and there will be no more tanks to hold the 170 tons of radiation contaminated water created every day.Tokyo has remained quite on how it will cope with the radioactive water, not giving any

Sep 18, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

'It will take 300 years before contaminated water is safe to discharge into sea'

Law & Crime

Ex-YG singer admits to marijuana use

K-pop singer B.I. walks out from the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in Suwon, Tuesday, after police questioned him for  14 hours over his allegation of drug abuse. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunB.I., a former member of K-pop band iKON from YG Entertainment, admitted to purchasing and smoking marijuana. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency summoned B.I., whose real name is Kim Han-bin, Tuesday, to question him over whether he had asked his friend to procure the drug for him in 2016 and if he had used it. The investigation started at 9 a.m. and continued for 14 hours. Kim was called upon as a witness initially but later police named him as a suspect after he admitted to some of the alleged crimes, and booked him for violating the Narcotic Control Act. Before he got in a van to return home, Kim told reporters, “I'm sorry for causing problems.”Police will soon transfer his case to the prosecution for indictment.The questioning came about three months after the allegations first emerged following a media report.Kim's friend, who had been caught using marijuana in

Sep 18, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

Kim Jae-heun

Read more

Two additional African swine fever cases confirmed in Paju

K-water to build hydroelectric power plant in Solomon Islands

Daughter of ex-Herald Corp. chief caught smuggling drugs

Typhoon Mitag to hit Korea on Thursday

Man arrested for allegedly beating 5-year-old stepson to death

Alert remains high over suspected cases of swine fever

Yonsei professor under fire for comfort women comments

'Prime suspect's DNA matches sample from evidence in serial killing'

'It will take 300 years before contaminated water is safe to discharge into sea'

Ex-YG singer admits to marijuana use

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