The Korea Times

Robbery convicts likely to wear electronic anklets

By Lee Hyo-sik The government will draw up a bill to force people repeatedly convicted of robbery to wear electronic tracing anklets, the same as rapists and murderers who have been released after serving their sentence do, beginning next year. Currently, a total of 401 convicted felons — 208 murderers and 193 sex offenders — are under constant police surveillance in this manner. The Ministry of Justice said Thursday that it will revise the Electronic Anklet Law to also require robbers convicted multiple times to wear the device after serving their sentence. “We plan to submit the revised bill to the National Assembly in September for approval to force repeat burglars to wear the anklets at all times from early next year. If the bill is passed, they will be discouraged from committing another robbery after they are released back into society,” a ministry official said. The ministry had previously tried to include robbers in a list of criminals subject to the electronic monitoring device in December 2009 when it first revised the law. But only murderers w

Jan 20, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Shin Jung-ah, Munhwa settle over nude photo

By Lee Hyo-sik Shin Jung-ah, who was put behind bars for 18 months for faking a university diploma and misappropriating funds of an art gallery she once worked for, has agreed to receive 80 million won in compensation from the Munhwa Ilbo, which posted nude photos it claimed were of her in September 2007. The daily newspaper also published a story accusing Shin of lobbying influential figures by sleeping with them. According to the Seoul High Court, Tuesday, both Shin and the newspaper accepted court arbitration, ending a three-year-long legal battle. Under the terms, Shin will receive 80 million won in compensation from Munhwa Ilbo. In return, the former Dongguk University art professor will drop a suit requesting the paper to publish a correction on the controversial article. The affair started in September 2007 when the newspaper published a story that Shin lobbied politicians, government officials and other prominent figures to gain favors in her career by having sex with them, along with the nude photos. But Shin claimed the story was fabricated and she was never photo

Jan 19, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

FMD likely to dent Seollal exodus

Further spread feared ahead of Lunar New Year holiday By Lee Hyo-sik Many Koreans who work and live in Seoul and other urban areas were born and raised in the provinces. It is a decades-old tradition that they visit their hometowns to see their parents, relatives and friends at least twice a year ― the Lunar New Year (or Seollal) and Chuseok holidays. But this biannual ritual may not materialize during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday from Feb. 2 to 6 as the mass migration could cause the spread of foot-and-mouth (FMD) disease and bird flu to uninfected areas. Since the first FMD outbreak was reported in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, on Nov. 29, the deadly virus has spread to nearly all parts of the country, except for the southern regions ― South Gyeongsang Province, North Jeolla Province, South Jeolla Province and Jeju Island. The central and local governments have so far culled more than 2 million cows and pigs to stop the spread of the virus at an estimated cost of around 2 trillion won. Additionally, government officials and poultry farmers have bee

Jan 19, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Four-river refurbishment project receives legal boost

By Lee Hyo-sik A provincial court rejected a call by a collection of civic groups to cancel the state-funded restoration work on the Yeongsan River, providing fresh momentum to the four-river refurbishment project Tuesday. With the latest ruling, all four lawsuits filed to halt the ongoing restoration scheme on Korea’s four major rivers — the Han, Geum, Nakdong and Yeongsan — were rejected. It is expected to give the government considerable leverage to complete the 22.2 trillion won restoration work by the end of 2011. In response to the latest court decision, environmentalists and civic groups said they will appeal. The Jeonju District Court Tuesday ruled against a suit filed by a group of 673 individuals, aimed at forcing the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to scrap the large-scale public work on the Yeongsan River. “Given the purpose of the project, the scale of the estimated damage resulting from it compared to the state measures that will mitigate the damage, there seems to be no legal procedural problems serious enough to stop it,

Jan 18, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Free school meal plan goes to court

By Lee Hyo-sik The Seoul Metropolitan Government has turned a controversial free school meals program into a legal battle by taking it to the Supreme Court to nullify an ordinance passed by the Seoul Metropolitan Council. The city government said Tuesday that it lodged a lawsuit to invalidate the ordinance as it contains illegal provisions forcing Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to implement the free school meals program against his will. The move is the latest in a months-long conflict between Mayor Oh, a member of the conservative Grand National Party and the council, which is dominated by the progressive main opposition Democratic Party (DP) members, over the controversial free meals issue. On Dec. 30, the city council passed the ordinance and budget bill to provide free lunches to elementary school students this year and to expand the program to include middle and high school students in 2012. But Mayor Oh refused to execute the budget and promulgate the ordinance, saying that the free lunch scheme will damage the city’s fiscal soundness and increase the burden of taxpaye

Jan 18, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Man kissing a female child on street convicted

A 26-year-old man was indicted for hugging and kissing a nine-year-old girl on the cheek in August last year as he came across her on a street while distributing church fliers and was given a suspended sentence, Monday. The Seoul Central District Court ruled the mentally-disabled man is guilty of harassment and handed a 7.5-million-won ($6,520) suspended fine. It delivered a suspended sentence, taking into consideration the history of his mental illness and the victim family’s unwillingness to punish him. “It was clear that his behavior psychologically hurt the girl at that moment. For that, he should be punished in accordance with the law. But he has been proven to be mentally disabled and his IQ is below 40. Additionally, the young girl seems to be suffering no severe aftereffects and her mother does not want him to be punished. Given all these, we decided to suspend his sentence,” the court said in the ruling. 어린 여아에 키스한 남성 유죄판결 받아 거리에서 우연히 마주친 9세 여아를 껴안고 볼에 키스를 해 기소된 한 남성(26)이 월요일 법원에서 집행유예 퍈결을 받았다. 서울중앙지방법원은 이 정신이상자에 성추행으로 유죄와 함께 750만원 벌금형 집행유예를

Jan 17, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Owners of bakery file suit against rat bread maker

By Lee Hyo-sik A group of bakery owners, who claim they suffered steep falls in sales due to the recent “rat bread” controversy, have filed a compensation suit against the man who cooked up the case, court officials said Monday. An owner of a Paris Baguette store in Pyeongtaek, about 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and six other operators of outlets of the nation’s largest bakery chain filed a suit with the Seoul Central District Court against the 35-year-old owner of a Tous Les Jours shop and his wife, demanding 15 million won in compensation for each store. Kim put the rat’s body into a loaf of bread he baked himself on the morning of Dec. 23, took photos of it and uploaded them onto the Internet to steal customers from a Paris Baguette outlet that is located about 100 meters from his store, according to the police. “His act clearly damaged the reputation of the affected bakery. It also seriously damaged the public image of Paris Baguette as a whole and worsened the bottom line of the affiliated bakeries. Kim should pay due compensation to those affected by his illicit ac

Jan 17, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Treatment cost for breast cancer highest

Patients diagnosed with breast cancer, the most common cancer among Korean women, spend the most for treatments as they fight the disease longer, compared to those with other types of illness, according to the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service (HIRA), Sunday. After examining 12,446 cancer patients who were diagnosed between 2001 and 2005 and died through 2007, the agency said breast cancer patients spent an average of 20.8 million won for chemotherapy and other medical treatments until death, followed by colon cancer at 15 million won, cervical cancer at 14 million won and lung cancer at 12.4 million won. People with liver cancer were found to have spent 10 million won on average, with the total medical costs for those with pancreatic cancer standing at 9.9 million won. After studying 304,681 cancer patients diagnosed between 2001 and 2005, the agency found that about 91.4 percent of breast cancer patients survived through the end of 2007, followed by colon cancer at 69.5 percent and cervical cancer at 84.2 percent. But only 9 percent of pancreatic cancer and 26.5

Jan 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Seoul’s mercury falls to lowest in 10 years

By Lee Hyo-sik A cold spell, created by a strong high pressure system over Siberia, continues to grip the entire nation, sending the Seoul’s mercury to the lowest point in 10 years, Sunday. The cold spell is expected to exert its influence over the Korean Peninsula for the time being, the weather agency said, advising citizens to bundle up when going outside, and to take extra precautions to prevent fire and other safety hazards. The temperature fell to as low as minus 17.8 degrees Celsius in Seoul Sunday morning, the lowest since Jan. 15, 2001 when the mercury dipped to minus 18.6 degrees Celsius, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. Strong winds brought the temperature even lower to minus 23 degrees Celsius in parts of the nation’s capital. The southern port city of Busan also recorded a chilling minus 12.8 degrees Celsius, the lowest in 96 years since 1915. The morning low dipped to minus 24 degrees Celsius in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, the lowest in the nation, with the rest of the country recording around minus 15 degrees Celsius. The day’s high r

Jan 16, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

South Korea

Street ads on intl marriage violate rights of foreign women

By Lee Hyo-sik The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) ruled Thursday that street banners advertizing marriage to women from other countries treated them as merchandise and was a violation of their human rights. It demanded the mayor of Anseong, Gyeonggi Province, remove the banners immediately from the city-managed advertizing zone. The commission also advised it to come up with measures to prevent such advertisements from being put up in public again and give supervising civil servants courses on human rights. In July last year, a 45-year-old man, identified only by his surname Jang, filed a petition with the commission, complaining that about 30 street banners set up by a marriage agency across the city discriminated against foreign women on grounds of gender and race. The banner read: “Blowout sale for 9.8 million won for men wanting to marry Vietnamese women on the commemoration of Korea’s advance into the second round of the World Cup.” “The banners contain “money-for-marriage” expressions that anyone with money can marry Vietnamese women. They imply that wo

Jan 13, 2011By Lee Hyo-sik

Lee Hyo-sik

Read more

Robbery convicts likely to wear electronic anklets

Shin Jung-ah, Munhwa settle over nude photo

FMD likely to dent Seollal exodus

Four-river refurbishment project receives legal boost

Free school meal plan goes to court

Man kissing a female child on street convicted

Owners of bakery file suit against rat bread maker

Treatment cost for breast cancer highest

Seoul’s mercury falls to lowest in 10 years

Street ads on intl marriage violate rights of foreign women

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