The Korea Times

Working parents have little time with children

By Lee Kyung-minKim, an office worker and father of a nine-year-old, goes home after work at 8 p.m. at the earliest. After taking a shower and eating dinner, it’s almost 9 p.m. and his boy is asleep.“During weekdays, it is almost impossible to play with him,” he said.Some bosses do not like workers who say they need to go home early to take care of their children. “Some ask offensive questions such as ‘Where is your wife, is she cheating on you?’ Putting your family’s needs before work is regarded as a failure in office life,” he said.Kim’s case can be applied to most working parents in Korea. About 80 percent of working parents have difficulty finding time to play and talk with their children after work, mostly because they finish so late, a government study showed Tuesday.According to research by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on 1,000 working parents with children aged under 13, 66 percent said they have no time to do activities with their children other than helping with homework occasionally or putting them to bed

Jul 14, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Court recognizes broken credit card as deadly weapon

By Lee Kyung-minA court ruled Sunday that a piece of broken credit card can become a lethal weapon if used with the intention of harming others.It is the first such ruling.The Seoul Northern District Court sentenced a man, surnamed Kim, 33, to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years, on charges of beating his former girlfriend and destroying property at her house.He was indicted for beating and choking the woman at her home in Seoul at 4:30 a.m. on Dec. 22 last year. He also broke his credit card in half and put it to her neck, threatening to kill her.She suffered cuts to her neck that required two weeks’ hospital treatment. The injuries were not life threatening.During the trial, legal experts argued over whether the broken plastic card could be recognized as a lethal weapon, because if it this was the case, a related law would lead to heavier punishment.Kim’s lawyer claimed the card was not dangerous, bur the court disagreed.“The edge of the broken card is sharp enough to inflict deep cuts. Kim did use the material as a weapon,” the court said in i

Jul 12, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Gov't refuses to recognize two Danwon teachers' death

By Lee Kyung-minThe government has refused to recognize that two part-time teachers at Danwon High School, who perished in the ferry Sewol sinking, died while on duty because they were not full-time teachers who are categorized as public servants.According to the bereaved family members of Kim Cho-won, 26, and Lee Ji-hye, 31, Sunday, the Ministry of Personnel Management recently rejected their request to recognize the deaths of Kim and Lee as that of public servants.The ferry sank off the coast of Jindo Island in April last year claiming more than 300 lives. Of nine Danwon teachers who died, the two were the only ones denied such status because they were non-regular teachers. The other seven regular teachers were recognized as such, and buried at the Seoul National Cemetery.  In a letter to the families, the ministry said the two were not eligible for government compensation for public servants.The families, civic groups and many politicians have claimed that Kim and Lee should be treated the same as other teachers because they also sacrificed themselves to help students ge

Jul 12, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Calls growing for alternative service

Civic group members call for a revision of the law that punishes conscientious objectors who refuse military service, during a press briefing in front of the Constitutional Court building in Seoul, Thursday. / YonhapConstitutionality discussed on conscientious objector issue By Lee Kyung-min  Kim, 33, is in Cheongsong Prison in North Gyeongsang Province. He did not commit a serious crime such as killing someone. Rather, he was put behind bars because he does not want to hold guns that may kill people.He is a Jehovah’s Witness, a religion that forbids believers holding firearms. And because he refused to serve in the military due to that religion, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail.Besides Kim, 706 other conscientious objectors are serving sentences in 43 prisons nationwide for similar reasons, and most are Jehovah’s Witnesses, according to lawyer Oh Du-jin, who represents Kim.Under the law, all able-bodied men age 18 or older are subject to compulsory 22-month military service. Those who fail to do so without legitimate excuses can be jailed fo

Jul 10, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Nation hit by other infectious diseases

By Lee Kyung-minAlthough the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome appears to be waning, the nation should brace itself against infection from other serious diseases health authorities said Thursday.According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), infections and deaths have been steadily reported caused by Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (SFTS), whooping cough, mumps, malaria, and dengue fever.Since June, four people have died due to SFTS, which is passed onto humans through the bite of the haemaphysalis longicornis, a type of tick. Thirteen others became infected but later recovered.The first death was that of a man, 74, on Jeju Island, who was believed to have been bitten by the mite while working on his farm. Another death took place in Gyeonggi Province with the other two occurring in South Gyeongsang Province. All of them were aged 70 or over.SFTS was first reported here in May 2013, with 36 people infected and 17 dying that same year. In 2014, 55 people were infected and 16 died.After becoming infected with SFTS, people show flu-like

Jul 9, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Plastic surgery in Chinese probed

‘Surgeons flew in to perform illegal face re-contouring’By Lee Kyung-minTwo plastic surgeons based in the affluent Gangnam area of Seoul are being investigated for performing illegal surgery on 40 people in China.They allegedly repeatedly flew to China from May and performed operations over a two month period at a beauty parlor owned by a Chinese woman, identified as Wang, 26.According to Korean police, Wang is also being questioned by Chinese authorities. She allegedly also acted as a broker linking Chinese customers with Korean clinics.The National Police Agency (NPA) said it received a request from Chinese police to cooperate in the investigation.The two surgeons reportedly flew to Wang’s parlor four times on weekends since early May and performed facial bone re-contouring surgery on 10 people during each visit.Wang and the surgeons divided the money equally, taking cash-only payments from the patients in an attempt to evade the authorities’ monitoring, police said.     The Chinese businesswoman invited the surgeons to her parlor’s

Jul 7, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Gov't ordered to pay for damage caused by US military truck

By Lee Kyung-minA district court ordered the Korean government, Tuesday to compensate a bicyclist injured by a truck being driven by an American soldier on duty.The suit was filed by an insurance company, which sought reimbursement for the surgery and hospital treatment it spent on treatment for the injured bicyclist.The Seoul Central District Court ruled that the Korean government should reimburse the 20.4 million won ($17,800) to the insurance company because it is responsible for the damage under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), which requires the Korean government to cover damage incurred on third parties by U.S. soldiers stationed here.According to court documents, the injured man, who was riding a bicycle, sustained multiple bone fractures in a traffic accident in Suwon in September 2011.The truck was being driven by an on-duty American corporal.“In accordance with the SOFA, the Korean government should assume 90 percent of the damage inflicted by the corporal,” Judge Lee Sang-won said.“However, the bicyclist is to assume 10-percent responsibility, becau

Jul 7, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Gov't, hospitals face class action suit over MERS

By Lee Kyung-minA group of people are moving to file a class action suit against the government and local hospitals, claiming their negligence in handling an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) here resulted in deaths and financial losses.According to the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice (CCEJ), an NGO providing legal counseling services to the victims, the suit will be filed early this week.The group has listened to cases of more than 10 people affected by the virus, and are gathering more plaintiffs to join the lawsuit. The plaintiffs include a relative of a deceased MERS patient, who was healthy and had no history of major illness before becoming infected with the disease, the group said without identifying the victim.The group claimed that infections and deaths resulted from the government’s failure to disclose the names of hospitals where suspected cases were reported in the early stages of the outbreak, coupled with the hospitals’ negligence in taking precautionary measures for medical staff.“The amount of compensation they are se

Jul 6, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Seoul expands algal bloom warning

Water under the Seongsan Bridge on the Han River is green due to algal blooms, Friday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government expanded warnings about the blooms to upper part of the river. / YonhapAlgal blooms attack Han RiverBy Lee Kyung-minThe Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) expanded its algal warning Friday as algal blooms have been expanding to more upper parts of the Han River, advising citizens to refrain from engaging in riverside activities.The SMG said the water between the Yanghwa and Dongjak bridges in the middle part of the river in Seoul is now subject to the warning, in addition to the water between the Haengju and Yanghwa bridges in a lower part, following an increased level of the blue-green algae concentration there.The algae causes odor and taste problems with the water, and is known to cause respiratory problems and neuron paralysis.“We strongly advise citizens, especially children, not to swim in the part of the streams where the warning was issued. Such activities might pose health risks,” a SMG official said.The expanded warning is due to a water shor

Jul 3, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

South Korea

Speeding possible cause of bus crash in China

By Lee Kyung-minSpeeding might have caused Wednesday’s bus accident in Jian, northeastern China, which killed nine Korean civil servants and injured 16, according to government officials, Friday.This comes after Chinese local media released a surveillance camera recording of the accident where the bus veered off a bridge and fell 15 meters into a river.In the 10-second footage, the bus attempts a sharp left turn at the corner of a road before the bridge. The bus was seen leaning to one side before crashing into the bridge rail and plummeting.“After watching the footage and having an on-site inspection, a Chinese traffic official from the region said the plunge might be due to inexperienced driving,” a Korean government official said.It may take more time for an exact cause of the accident to be revealed because Chinese authorities are still conducting an investigation. Faulty brakes have not been ruled out as another possible cause, authorities added.“We don’t plan our own investigation,” an official from the Ministry of Government Administration a

Jul 3, 2015By Lee Kyung-min

Lee Kyung-min

Read more

Working parents have little time with children

Court recognizes broken credit card as deadly weapon

Gov't refuses to recognize two Danwon teachers' death

Calls growing for alternative service

Nation hit by other infectious diseases

Plastic surgery in Chinese probed

Gov't ordered to pay for damage caused by US military truck

Gov't, hospitals face class action suit over MERS

Seoul expands algal bloom warning

Speeding possible cause of bus crash in China

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