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Woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for throwing newborn to death

Incheon District Court / Korea Times fileA woman was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday on charges of fatally throwing her newborn to the ground and neglecting him for hours, judicial officials said.The 24-year-old woman was accused of throwing her baby boy on the ground twice at her home in Incheon, just west of Seoul, and leaving him unaided for three hours on April 26, resulting in the baby's death.The newborn, known to have been 40 days old, died from a skull fracture and cerebral hemorrhage, according to autopsy results. The Incheon District Court handed out the 10-year prison term to her on charges of child abuse and murder, recognizing that the woman abused and killed the young victim who was entirely dependent on her to live. The court said the difficulties she faced raising the baby alone were not severe enough to warrant murder.The court dismissed the woman's claims that she committed the crime in the state of mental vulnerability under postpartum depression.The court also ordered her to go under 80 hours of child abuse treatment programs and prohibited her from worki

Aug 17, 2023
Woman sentenced to 10 years in prison for throwing newborn to death

Korea asks for cooperation of Japanese police over email bomb threats

The police's special operations unit and detection dogs arrive at Incheon City Hall to search for explosives, Wednesday, after an email was delivered, threatening to blow up the building. YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeKorean police have requested the cooperation of Japanese authorities for an investigation into emails, which contained threats to blow up some of Korea's most important public buildings and infrastructure such as the Supreme Court and Seoul City Hall. The emails are believed to have been sent from Japan, officials said Thursday.According to police, the fifth such email was delivered at around midnight and threatened to blow up the Japanese School and Embassy in Seoul as well as the Supreme Court and subway stations. The city halls of Daegu, Incheon, Seongnam, Anyang, Bucheon, Ansan and Goyang were also named as target facilities in the email. The police said that the emails explained that bombs would detonate from 3:34 p.m. Friday to 2:07 p.m. Saturday, noting that the sender of the emails was stated as coming from a Japanese law firm with the same address as the one used for the

Aug 17, 2023By Jun Ji-hye
Korea asks for cooperation of Japanese police over email bomb threats

Police raid arms procurement agency over suspected corruption in Aegis destroyer project

A model of an indigenous Aegis-equipped destroyer to be built by Hyundai Heavy Industries is seen on display in this undated photo. YonhapPolice on Thursday raided the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), as part of their investigation into allegations of corruption in the process of selecting Hyundai Heavy Industries as the preferred bidder for an indigenous Aegis-equipped destroyer development project in 2020.The Korean National Police Agency sent investigators to the DAPA headquarters at the Gwacheon Government Complex, just south of Seoul, in the morning to search the DAPA department in charge of the Korea Destroyer Next Generation (KDDX) project to build the next-generation 6,000 ton-class destroyer.They reportedly seized the KDDX-related bidding documents based on suspicions that a high-ranking DAPA official changed the bidding-related regulation in favor of Hyundai Heavy.At that time, Hyundai Heavy beat rival bidder Daewoo Shipbuilding Marine Engineering by a margin of just 0.056 points. Police suspect that the DAPA official deleted a regulation that specifies pe

Aug 17, 2023
Police raid arms procurement agency over suspected corruption in Aegis destroyer project

Volunteer fighter gets suspended prison term for illegal entry into Ukraine

Rhee Keun, right, arrives at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul to attend his sentencing hearing, Aug. 17. YonhapA Korean volunteer fighter indicted for entering Ukraine in 2022 to fight against Russia's invasion in violation of the passport law was given a suspended prison sentence by a court Thursday.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced Rhee Keun, a Navy SEAL-turned-YouTuber, to a prison term of one and a half years, suspended for three years, on charges of passport law violation and a hit-and-run involving the injury of a motorcyclist.The 39-year-old Rhee was also ordered to conduct 80 hours of social service and attend 40 hours of safe driving classes.Rhee returned home from Ukraine in May last year with knee injuries after his three-month service as a volunteer fighter against invading Russian forces. He was also charged with injuring a motorcyclist in an accident while driving in Seoul in July last year and fleeing the scene without offering rescue measures.The court found him guilty of the charges of violating the passport law, saying staying in Ukraine a

Aug 17, 2023
Volunteer fighter gets suspended prison term for illegal entry into Ukraine

Fifth email bomb threat warns of blowing up Supreme Court: police

Police special operation units and sniffer dogs search the city hall in Incheon, west of Seoul, after email bomb threats were received nationwide, Aug. 16. Yonhap Police are looking into an email bomb threat targeting the Supreme Court and other locations but found no explosives so far, officials said Thursday, after a fifth such email was sent apparently from Japan. The email, which was received just past midnight, claimed that "high-powered bombs with needles" had been planted at the Japanese Embassy, the Supreme Court and city halls across the country, and would go off from 3:34 p.m. Friday to 2:07 p.m. Saturday.Police searched the locations but found no explosives so far.The email was sent in the name of a Japanese law firm with the same address as the one used for the four previous bomb threats received in the country in recent weeks. The sender was listed as Takahiro Karasawa, an incumbent lawyer in Japan. "This is wrong. I think my name is being misused witho

Aug 17, 2023
Fifth email bomb threat warns of blowing up Supreme Court: police

Mother arrested on charges of smothering newborn daughter to death

Jeju Provincial Police Agency / Courtesy of Jeju Provincial Police AgencyA woman has been arrested on the southern island of Jeju on charges of smothering her newborn daughter to death in late 2020 and discarding her body at a seaport, wrapped in a shopping bag, police officials said Wednesday.The 26-year-old mother is accused of murdering the 3-month-old baby in December 2020 by covering her face with a blanket. The same day, the mother allegedly wrapped the baby's body with a blanket, put it into a shopping bag and threw it away onto a heap of concrete tetrapods at a seaport near her house.The baby's birth had been registered with the government. Police opened an investigation into the case upon a report from the Seogwipo city government in Jeju that the baby, who would be 2 years old if she was alive, had not showed up for regular medical checkups for a long time.In prior investigations, she told police that she had experienced economic difficulties after giving birth, and she had to vacate her rented home by the day after her crime due to overdue rents.A man who she pinpointed as

Aug 16, 2023
Mother arrested on charges of smothering newborn daughter to death

Female rehabilitation center closure raises concerns over support for drug addicts

Getty Images BankSingle drug rehab facility for women shut down By Jung Da-hyunBaek Seung-un, a 27-year-old who had been seeking to overcome drug addiction at “Saebit-teo,” a drug addiction rehabilitation center (DARC), found herself devastated when the nation's first and only drug addiction center exclusively for women was closed last month ― just one month after its opening ― due to financial difficulties.“As the center had helped me stay away from drugs a lot, the closure of Saebit-teo gave me huge concerns over a possible relapse if I deal with addiction at home,” Baek told The Korea Times. Following the shutdown, she had to move to another DARC also located in Gyeonggi, where she is now staying and receiving treatment alongside 13 male addicts. After the closure, a fellow addict from the now-defunct women's only facility was sent back to prison for using drugs again. “No matter how well I get along with men, there is a psychological burden on me … I hope more rehab centers for female addicts will be established,” she added. As Baek sa

Aug 16, 2023By Jung Da-hyun
Female rehabilitation center closure raises concerns over support for drug addicts

State housing developer LH searched in probe into shoddy apartment construction

This photo shows an entrance at state-run housing developer Korea Land & Housing Corp.'s head office in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, Aug. 16. YonhapPolice searched the headquarters of state-run housing developer Korea Land Housing Corp. (LH) on Wednesday as part of an investigation into 15 shoddily-built public apartment complexes that were found to lack reinforcing bars.The Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency sent 16 investigators to the LH head office in Jinju, 280 kilometers southeast of Seoul, its South Jeolla branch and two other places to seize evidence, officials said. The search came after it was found that 15 of the LH-built apartment complexes using the flat-slab design were constructed without sufficient reinforcing bars. A flat slab is a reinforced concrete slab supported directly by concrete columns without the use of beams. The government launched an inspection in early August into other apartment buildings built using the construction method after the parking lot at an LH-built apartment building in Incheon, west of Seoul, collapsed in April due to a lack of re

Aug 16, 2023
State housing developer LH searched in probe into shoddy apartment construction

Police looking into 4th email bomb threat to blow up schools, government offices

Military personnel, along with a sniffer dog, search City Hall in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, after an email sent from a Japanese account to Seoul City Hall said bombs have been planted in hundreds of locations, including schools and government offices, across the country, Aug. 16. YonhapPolice are investigating emails threatening to blow up the Supreme Prosecutors Office, universities and government offices in the fourth email bomb threat believed to have been sent from Japan, officials said Wednesday.Seoul City Hall alerted police Wednesday morning that it received two emails the previous day with threats to detonate explosives at the Supreme Prosecutors Office, the city halls in Busan, Daegu, Suwon and Hwaseong, and several universities, including Seoul National University, according to the police.The emails also said 270 million explosives had already been planted and would be set off Wednesday and Thursday. Police searched the locations subject to the threats but didn't find any explosives, the officials said.The emails were sent in the name of a Japanese law firm with the same ad

Aug 16, 2023
Police looking into 4th email bomb threat to blow up schools, government offices
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