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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Court orders gov't, Seoul city to return 127.6 mil. in cancelled tax to Lone Star

This photo shows the Seoul City Hall. YonhapA Korean court ruled Friday that the government and the Seoul city government should return a combined 168.4 billion won ($127.6 million) in tax levied on the U.S. private equity firm Lone Star Funds decades ago over a sell-off of local assets, which was later cancelled.In a ruling partially in favor of the nine entities of Lone Star, the Seoul Central District Court said the government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government should return 153 billion won in corporate tax and 15.2 billion won in income tax, respectively.The ruling aligns with the Supreme Court's 2017 decision, which ordered local tax authorities to cancel the levied tax on the nine titular companies that belong to Lone Star.However, the court only partially recognized the delayed interest worth hundreds of billions of won sought by the Texas-based firm.Controversies surrounding Lone Star's proceeds from purchasing and selling off local assets date back to the early 2000s, when the country faced economic difficulties in the wake of the Asian financial crisis in the late 1990s.

Jun 30, 2023
Court orders gov't, Seoul city to return 127.6 mil. in cancelled tax to Lone Star

Government makes it tougher to obtain permanent residency via investments

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon speaks during a plenary meeting of the Legislation and Judiciary Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. NewsisNew rules take effect immediatelyBy Ko Dong-hwanThe government has made it tougher for foreigners to obtain permanent residency in Korea through financial investments in the country, while scrapping a program that let foreigners retire here and obtain the same visa after investing W300 million.The changes are part of the Ministry of Justice's steps to make it harder for foreigners to obtain permanent residency amid news reports that many Chinese nationals are taking advantage of Korea's public health insurance system.Under the investment immigration system adopted in 2013, foreigners who invest more than W500 million in Korea are given F-2 residency permits, which become F-5 permanent resident visas if they maintain that investment for five years.Also, foreigners who invest more than 1.5 billion won and pledge to maintain that investment for five years receive permanent residency immediately. Foreigners aged 55 or older investing

Jun 30, 2023By Ko Dong-hwan
Government makes it tougher to obtain permanent residency via investments

Infanticide mother killed 2 newborns just one day after their births: police

The suspect arrested for allegedly killing her two newborn babies and storing their bodies in a refrigerator at home is escorted to the prosecutors' office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. YonhapA mother arrested for allegedly killing her two newborn babies and storing their bodies in a home refrigerator was found to have strangled both just one day after their births, police said Friday.Police also determined that the woman in her 30s committed the crime amid economic hardship and deceived her husband into believing that she had abortions. Police investigated the husband on charges of being an accessory to her crime but decided not to charge him.The mother was apprehended last week for allegedly strangling her two babies to death shortly after their births in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and keeping their bodies in a refrigerator in her apartment in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul.On Friday, the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency forwarded the suspect to the prosecution on the charges of murder and concealing of a corpse. She made no comment to reporters as she was esco

Jun 30, 2023
Infanticide mother killed 2 newborns just one day after their births: police

Charges against suspect in newborns' deaths changed from infanticide to murder

Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province / YonhapA mother arrested for killing her two newborn babies and storing their bodies in a home refrigerator is expected to receive a heavier punishment than expected, as police decided Thursday to apply murder charges to her instead of infanticide charges.The woman in her 30s was apprehended about a week ago for strangling her two babies to death shortly after their births in 2018 and 2019, respectively, and keeping their bodies in a fridge in her apartment in Suwon, 30 kilometers south of Seoul. A court issued an arrest warrant for her on charges of infanticide last Friday.But the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said charges against the woman have been changed to murder, which can be punished much more severely than infanticide.The Criminal Act stipulates a prison term of up to 10 years for those convicted of infanticide, and the death penalty, life sentence or an imprisonment of at least five years for those convicted of murder.Police also said they have booked the woman's husband on charges of being an ac

Jun 29, 2023
Charges against suspect in newborns' deaths changed from infanticide to murder

Supreme Court confirms acquittal of ex-presidential aide over Sewol ferry case

Kim Ki-choon, a former chief of staff under ousted President Park Geun-hye / YonhapThe Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed the acquittal of a former presidential chief of staff charged with falsifying a public document in connection with the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry.The final ruling for Kim Ki-choon, chief of staff to ousted President Park Geun-hye, came after the Supreme Court struck down a guilty verdict for him in August last year and the Seoul High Court acquitted him of lying in a Sewol-related document submitted to the National Assembly in a retrial in November of the same year.Kim was indicted in 2018 on charges of falsifying the time Park was briefed on the deadly accident in an attempt to fend off criticism the government bungled its response.Lower courts had previously acknowledged that Kim had forged the Sewol-related documents, but the Supreme Court sent the case back to the Seoul High Court, saying the documents contained both facts and opinions.On April 16, 2014, the 6,800-ton Sewol, carrying 476 passengers en route to the southern resort island of Jeju, capsized

Jun 29, 2023
Supreme Court confirms acquittal of ex-presidential aide over Sewol ferry case

Ex-special counsel attends arrest warrant hearing over corruption charges

Former special counsel Park Young-soo attends a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, June 28. YonhapFormer special counsel Park Young-soo appeared for a court hearing held Thursday to determine whether he should be arrested over corruption allegations related to a high-profile land development scandal.The former special counsel is suspected of taking 800 million won ($611,000) from private developers in return for helping their project to develop the Daejang-dong district in Seongnam, just south of Seoul, into apartment complexes in 2014, when he served as the chair of the Woori Bank board of directors."I am confident that the truth will be revealed soon," Park told reporters before attending the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court, denying allegations that he peddled influence at the bank for the sake of the project.A court decision is expected to come out as early as Thursday night.Prosecutors also suspect that Park conspired with his former assistant, Yang Jae-sik, and both were promised profits of 20 billion won and two properties. Later, the promised profits alle

Jun 29, 2023
Ex-special counsel attends arrest warrant hearing over corruption charges

INTERVIEW Egyptian details difficult process of gaining refugee status in Korea

In this photo from 2020, Dii from Egypt, then an asylum seeker in Korea, speaks during a rally in front of the National Human Rights Commission of the Republic of Korea in central Seoul demanding the central government provide refugees and migrants in the country with equivalent social welfare given to Koreans. Courtesy of Dii 'Two countries have different goals: helping them or rejecting them'By Ko Dong-hwanDoubts, rejection, endless waiting and an utter feeling of abandonment are what Dii, a former asylum seeker from Egypt, says he had to endure during his three-and-a-half-year stay in Korea. Dii, who requested anonymity and wants to be identified only by his alias, is now in the Netherlands where he obtained refugee status just two months after he filed his case there. He had sought to be recognized as a refugee with the Ministry of Justice in Korea for three and half years before giving up and leaving the country for the Netherlands in November 2021.He was paire

Jun 28, 2023By Ko Dong-hwan
[INTERVIEW] Egyptian details difficult process of gaining refugee status in Korea

2 doctors indicted for illegally prescribing 'zombie drug' to drug addict

This May 1, 2022 file photo shows the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in Seoul. YonhapTwo doctors have been indicted on charges of illegally and habitually prescribing fentanyl, a highly potent opioid used mainly for terminal cancer patients, to a drug addict, prosecutors said Tuesday.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office said it has arrested and indicted a family medicine doctor, surnamed Shin, 59, for prescribing 4,826 fentanyl patches to the 30-year-old drug addict, known only as Kim, between November 2020 and April this year.It marks the first time that a doctor has been arrested and indicted for illegally distributing a medical drug.The prosecution has also indicted an orthopedist, surnamed Lim, 42, without detention on charges of prescribing 686 fentanyl patches to Kim in 2021.Kim was also arrested and indicted for having been prescribed about 7,660 fentanyl patches from 16 hospitals, including the ones run by Shin and Lim, for three years.Fentanyl, nicknamed a "zombie drug," is a powerful narcotic pain reliever that is only used to help patients suffering fro

Jun 27, 2023
2 doctors indicted for illegally prescribing 'zombie drug' to drug addict

Regulator fines major online education platform for misleading ads

This photo, released by the Fair Trade Commission, shows advertisements launched by Champstudy, asserting that the company has produced the highest number of civil servants among its competitors, June 27. YonhapKorea's antitrust regulator on Tuesday decided to slap a fine of 285 million won ($218,900) on an online education platform for launching misleading advertisements on its achievements.The fine on Champstudy came as its advertisements delivered incorrect information that it has ranked the top in the number of students who passed exams, according to the Fair Trade Commission (FTC).The platform is a brand of Hackers Language Institute, a major private education company in Korea that offers online and in-person English courses and preparation programs for civil service examinations."The advertisement slogans that Champstudy ranked No. 1 in terms of civil servant exams and licensed real estate agents were merely based on a consumer satisfaction survey carried out by a media company," the FTC said, noting such information was not clearly delivered to people.The regulator pointed out

Jun 27, 2023
Regulator fines major online education platform for misleading ads

Psychopathic murder suspect said to have stabbed victim over 110 times

Murder suspect Jung Yoo-jung, wearing a hat and a mask, leaves a police detention center en route to the prosecution in Busan, June 2. Yonhap Bizarre behaviors allegedly committed by Jung Yoo-jung, a psychopathic murder suspect in the southeastern city of Busan, have been revealed one by one, as prosecutors said Tuesday she stabbed the victim more than 110 times with a weapon at the time of her crime last month.The 23-year-old Jung has been arrested and indicted on charges of killing a female freelance tutor, with whom she had no personal connection, just out of curiosity about murder, and then dismembering and abandoning her body.According to the prosecutors, Jung displayed extreme cruelty by stabbing the victim, also in her 20s, more than 110 times with a weapon prepared in advance during her crime on May 26.In addition, she damaged many parts of the victim's body apparently in order to avoid fingerprint identification. Jung then dumped the dismembered body parts

Jun 27, 2023
Psychopathic murder suspect said to have stabbed victim over 110 times
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