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Justice minister nominee vows to minimize negative impact of prosecution reform laws

Justice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon / YonhapJustice Minister nominee Han Dong-hoon said he will look for ways to minimize any negative impacts that the recently enacted laws on prosecution reform could have on ordinary people, according to a lawmaker Wednesday.Han made the remark in a document submitted to independent Rep. Yang Hyang-ja for his confirmation hearing, stressing ordinary people will take the brunt of the legislation centering on reducing and ultimately abolishing the prosecution's investigative powers.The legislation, consisting of revisions to the Criminal Procedure Act and the Prosecutors' Office Act, was approved and promulgated Tuesday at the last Cabinet meeting that President Moon Jae-in held before leaving office next week.The ruling Democratic Party, which controls the 300-member National Assembly with 171 seats, rammed the widely unpopular bills through despite strong protests from the main opposition People Power Party, civic groups and other critics."After all, those who get hurt the most would be ordinary people if the prosecution is completely deprived o

May 4, 2022
Justice minister nominee vows to minimize negative impact of prosecution reform laws

Gov't pushes to revise law to allow abused minors to file for termination of parental rights

gettyimagesbank The government is pushing to revise a law to allow minors abused by their parents to directly file for the termination of parental rights, the justice ministry said Tuesday. The ministry made public its plan to revise the Family Litigation Act with a goal to submit the revision bill to the National Assembly for approval after collecting public opinion by June 13.The current family litigation law, enacted in 1991 and little changed since then, has been widely seen as out of date and skewed toward parental rights, not children's.Under the envisioned revision, minors will be given the right to directly file a suit scrapping the parental rights of their mother and father if their wellbeing is hampered by parents' abuse of their parental authority. The current law requires minors to designate a third person to represent them in such suits.The planned revision also dramatically lowers the bar for detaining divorced parents who do not live up to their child

May 3, 2022
Gov't pushes to revise law to allow abused minors to file for termination of parental rights

Police raid Seongnam City Hall over corruption allegations surrounding ex-presidential candidate Lee

Seongnam City Hall / Courtesy of Seongnam City Hall Police raided Seongnam City Hall, Monday, over allegations that former ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung took hefty donations from companies via the city's football club while serving as mayor of the city.Investigators from the Bundang Police Station searched five divisions of the city government, including the city and policy planning divisions, to seize materials related to the allegations, according to officials. Lee, who unsuccessfully ran for the presidential election in March on the Democratic Party's ticket, is facing allegations that he took some 16 billion won ($12.6 million) in corporate donations from Doosan Group, internet portal giant Naver and others during 2014-2016 as the owner of Seongnam FC in return for business favors for the companies. Lee served as the mayor of Seongnam, the second-largest city of Gyeonggi Province, between 2010 and 2018. (Yonhap)

May 2, 2022
Police raid Seongnam City Hall over corruption allegations surrounding ex-presidential candidate Lee

Arrest warrant issued for Woori Bank employee suspected of embezzling 60 billion won

The Woori Bank employee suspected of embezzling more than 60 billion won ($47 million) speaks to reporters at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul, April 30. YonhapAn arrest warrant was issued Saturday for an employee of Woori Bank, one of South Korea's largest commercial banks, suspected of embezzling more than 60 billion won ($47 million).The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant for the employee, whose identity was withheld, ruling that the suspect posed a flight risk and could destroy evidence. According to the bank, the employee, who has worked at Woori for more than 10 years, has taken out a total of 61.45 billion won through three withdrawals, in 2012, 2015 and 2018. Most of the stolen money was from a 57.8-billion won contract deposit that Woori has to return to an Iranian company in connection with a failed acquisition deal.The bank has filed a criminal complaint against the employee. The suspect turned himself to authorities on Wednesday.The brother of the employee was also detained after it was learned that some of the funds were transferred to his

Apr 30, 2022
Arrest warrant issued for Woori Bank employee suspected of embezzling 60 billion won

Cryptocurrency exchange head indicted for selling military secrets to North Korean spy

The Korean National Police Agency in central Seoul / Korea Times fileThe head of a cryptocurrency exchange has been indicted for allegedly colluding with a military officer and leaking military secrets, including login information for the military's command and control system, to a presumed North Korean agent in exchange for money, officials said Thursday.The head of the exchange, surnamed Lee, was charged with violating the National Security Act after he was found to have made contact with the purported spy in July of last year and later helped him gather military secrets.According to police and prosecution officials, Lee, at the order of the purported spy, approached a 29-year-old military captain in August and promised to compensate the officer with cryptocurrency if he provided military secrets.Lee allegedly sent the captain a spy camera disguised as a watch in January, which was taken onto the officer's base, and a "Poison Tap" USB computer hacking device in March.Authorities learned the captain provided Lee and the alleged spy with login information of the Korean Joint Command

Apr 28, 2022
Cryptocurrency exchange head indicted for selling military secrets to North Korean spy

Woori Bank employee arrested for allegedly embezzling $47 million

Case expected to dent credibility of nation's No. 4 commercial bankBy Yi Whan-wooA Woori Bank employee was arrested for allegedly embezzling more than 60 billion won ($47.1 million) from the bank, according to police and the lender, Thursday. The amount is far more than that of other financial crimes involving banks in the past, according to financial authorities, which points to the possibility of the country's fourth-largest bank potentially having a serious defect in securely managing money.Woori Bank's headquarters in central Seoul / Korea Times fileThe incident is expected to dent the bank's credibility, especially considering it is responsible for handling money in a stricter manner as one of the nation's first-tier lenders.“A police investigation is underway. We will be notified with the exact amount of embezzlement and other details as the investigation proceeds,” a public relations representative of Woori Bank said.The suspect, identified as a male employee hired by the bank for more than 10 years, has a history of working at Woori Bank headquarters' corporate di

Apr 28, 2022By Yi Whan-woo
Woori Bank employee arrested for allegedly embezzling $47 million

Supreme Court upholds 35-year prison term for adoptive mother in child murder case

A woman walks past photos of Jung-in, a 16-month-old baby girl who was killed in 2020 as a result of abuse by her adoptive mother, near the Seoul District Prosecutors' Office in Seoul, April 28. The Supreme Court confirmed a 35-year prison sentence for the woman, Thursday. YonhapThe Supreme Court confirmed Thursday a 35-year prison sentence for a woman found guilty of murdering her adopted toddler through consistent abuse two years ago in one of the country's most ghastly child abuse cases in recent years.The mother, surnamed Jang, was indicted on murder charges for the death by abuse of the then 16-month-old adopted daughter, Jung-in, in October 2020 and was sentenced to life in prison by a district court and subsequently 35 years in prison by an appeals court.The top court also confirmed a five-year prison term for the husband, surnamed Ahn, who was indicted on child abuse charges for aiding and abetting Jang's violence toward the adopted baby. The child, adopted in February of 2020, died of severe abdominal injuries and internal bleeding that were caused by "strong external force,

Apr 28, 2022
Supreme Court upholds 35-year prison term for adoptive mother in child murder case

Supreme Court confirms acquittal of ex-judge in alleged power abuse case

Lim Seong-geun, a former senior judge of the Seoul High Court / YonhapThe Supreme Court Thursday upheld Thursday lower courts' acquittal of a former judge accused of meddling in several politically sensitive trials during the previous administration.The top court confirmed a not guilty verdict by a district court and an appellate court for Lim Seong-geun, a former senior justice of the Seoul High Court who was indicted in 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of another person's exercise of right for allegedly meddling in several trials between 2015 and 2016.Lim was accused of having exerted his influence in 2015 on a libel suit filed by the government against a Japanese journalist who questioned then-President Park Geun-hye's whereabouts during the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster.He allegedly pressured a judge to state during a hearing that the report by Tatsuya Kato of Japan's Sankei Shimbun was fraudulent. Kato was found not guilty.Lim also allegedly requested another judge rewrite a sentencing statement on left-leaning lawyers charged with illegal demonstrations and stepped

Apr 28, 2022
Supreme Court confirms acquittal of ex-judge in alleged power abuse case

Woori Bank employee turns himself in after embezzling 50 billion won of company funds: police

Woori Bank's main branch in Seoul / Korea Times file An employee of Woori Bank, one of Korea's largest domestic banks, has been taken into custody after he turned himself in for embezzling about 50 billion won ($39.5 million) from the company, police said Thursday.The employee, whose identity was withheld, confessed to his actions at Namdaemun Police Station in central Seoul at around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, according to officials.The confession was made while police were taking measures to issue a travel ban on the employee after they received a report on the case from Woori Bank. "We will review seeking a court arrest warrant after investigating details of this case," police officials said. (Yonhap)

Apr 28, 2022
Woori Bank employee turns himself in after embezzling 50 billion won of company funds: police

2 Seongnam civil servants given suspended sentences for listing information of single female employees

Seongnam City Hall / Courtesy of Seongnam City Hall Two civil servants of the Seongnam city government were sentenced to suspended prison terms Wednesday for producing a list containing information of about 150 single female employees.The Seongnam branch of the Suwon District Court sentenced the two civil servants to six months in prison, suspended for two years, and one year in prison, suspended for three years, respectively.The two were indicted in January for producing the list containing the names, ages, photos, ranks and office information of some 150 single female employees in their 30s at the city government in 2019 by accessing the government's personnel management system. The 12-page list was handed to a mayor's secretary, who later reported it with the state-run Anti-Corruption Civil Rights Commission.The court said the accused misused their authority to illegally use personal information of fellow civil servants. It added the admission and repentance of t

Apr 27, 2022
2 Seongnam civil servants given suspended sentences for listing information of single female employees
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