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Appellate court upholds life sentence for man found guilty of killing 3 women

gettyimagesbankAn appellate court upheld a life sentence Wednesday for a man found guilty of stalking a woman he befriended online and killing her and two of her family members in one of the country's most appalling stalking cases.The Seoul High Court confirmed a lower court's life imprisonment for Kim Tae-hyun, 26, commenting "his life sentence should be completely executed without a parole." Kim was charged with killing the woman he met in an online game, along with her mother and younger sister, at their home in Seoul in March last year. As she cut communications with him over his repeated stalking, Kim disguised himself as a deliveryman to enter her home and killed the youngest daughter who was at home alone. He waited for the other two victims to arrive and later stabbed them to death, according to investigation records. The prosecution had sought the death penalty for Kim, arguing the killings were premeditated. Kim had argued only the murder of the online gamer was premeditated.The lower court accepted the prosecutors' argument that the killings of all three were premeditated,

Jan 19, 2022
Appellate court upholds life sentence for man found guilty of killing 3 women

HDC Hyundai Development searched over Gwangju apartment building collapse

Investigators search the headquarters of HDC Hyundai Development Co. in Seoul, Jan. 19, after a recent accident at its construction site in Gwangju. YonhapInvestigators searched the headquarters of HDC Hyundai Development, Wednesday, in connection with the recent accident at its construction site in Gwangju that left one worker dead and five others missing.Officials from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the National Police Agency conducted a joint search of the real estate developer's headquarters in central Seoul to look for evidence in connection with the Jan. 11 accident.Rescue operations have continued for a week after the facade on a 39-story apartment building under construction collapsed and fell to the ground in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers southwest of Seoul.Five construction workers remain unaccounted for, with one worker found dead under the rubble Friday. On Monday, Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of HDC Hyundai Development, offered to step down to take responsibility for the accident. Chung said he will consider terminating the contracts for buyers, and completely demo

Jan 19, 2022
HDC Hyundai Development searched over Gwangju apartment building collapse

23 shippers fined 96.2 billion won for collusion on freight rates

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea's antitrust regulator said Tuesday it has decided to impose a combined fine of 96.2 billion won ($80.7 million) in fines on 23 Korean and foreign shippers for their collusion to fix freight rates.Since 2018, the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) has been looking into allegations that the country's top shipper, HMM Co., and 22 local and foreign shipping lines colluded to fix higher freight rates for Southeast Asian sea routes.The shippers ― 12 South Korean and 11 foreign ― colluded to set the shipping costs of container cargo services 120 times between December 2003 and December 2018 in a bid to hike the minimum level of freight rates and other costs, according to the regulator.The South Korean shippers claimed they are allowed to take collective actions on freight rates and other contract conditions for transportation under the country's maritime shipping act.But the regulator said their acts were "illegal" as they failed to meet certain criteria that are permissible under the law.To be recognized as legitimate collective actions under the shipping act, shipping

Jan 18, 2022
23 shippers fined 96.2 billion won for collusion on freight rates

Rep. Lee Sang-jik, Eastar Jet founder, jailed for embezzlement, breach of trust

Rep. Lee Sang-jik, founder of Eastar Jet / YonhapThe founder of South Korean budget carrier Eastar Jet Co. was sentenced to six years in prison Wednesday for embezzlement of company funds and breach of trust.A district court in Jeonju, 240 kilometers south of Seoul, handed down the sentence to Eastar founder and independent lawmaker Rep. Lee Sang-jik after convicting him on several charges, including embezzlement.The Jeonju District Court also ordered Lee's immediate detention.Lee was indicted for causing about 43.9 billion won ($38.8 million) in losses to the airline by underselling company shares to a subsidiary owned by his children in 2015.He was also charged with embezzling about 5.36 billion won from Eastar and its affiliates. In addition, Lee was accused of causing a loss of about 5.6 billion won to Eastar affiliates by arbitrarily raising or downgrading the value of bonds held by them, or paying off their long-term debts earlier than scheduled from 2016 to 2018.In the previous court hearing last November, prosecutors demanded a 10-year prison term and forfeiture of 55.4 billi

Jan 12, 2022
Rep. Lee Sang-jik, Eastar Jet founder, jailed for embezzlement, breach of trust

Father of Osstem embezzlement suspect found dead

Police officers carry a box of confiscated materials after searching the family residence of the employee of dental implant maker Osstem Implant Co., Monday. Identified by the surname Lee, the employee allegedly embezzled 221 billion won of the company's fund. YonhapThe father of a dental implant maker employee who was arrested for allegedly embezzling 221 billion won ($185 million) in company funds was found dead in the north of Seoul, officials said Tuesday.The 69-year-old was found dead inside a vehicle at an empty lot in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, at around 5 p.m., according to Paju Police Station. Police were searching for him after he went missing earlier in the day, leaving a suicide note.He was scheduled to face police questioning on suspicions of helping his son stash the embezzlement proceeds. Police were looking into whether the father, the wife and the sister-in-law of the 45-year-old Osstem employee, identified only by his surname Lee, played a part in the suspected embezzlement. Lee, who was arrested Saturday, allegedly used the embezzled money to buy 851 gold

Jan 11, 2022
Father of Osstem embezzlement suspect found dead

3 family members of Osstem embezzlement suspect booked on collusion suspicions

An employee of dental implant maker Osstem Implant only identified by his surname Lee is taken into Gangseo Police Station in Seoul, Jan. 6, after officers arrested him in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, the previous day for allegedly misappropriating 188 billion won ($157.7 million) of the company's funds. Yonhap Police have booked three family members of a dental implant maker employee arrested for allegedly embezzling 221 billion won ($185 million) in company funds on suspicions of possible collusion. Police were looking into whether the father, the wife and the sister-in-law of the 45-year-old Osstem employee, identified only by his surname Lee, played a part in the suspected crime, believed to be Korea's single largest embezzlement case.Lee, who was arrested Saturday, allegedly used the embezzled money to buy 851 gold bars. Police have confiscated 755 of them, including 254 from three separate locations in connection with the father, Lee's wife and his sister.The focu

Jan 11, 2022
3 family members of Osstem embezzlement suspect booked on collusion suspicions

Top court dismisses Mitsubishi Heavy's 2nd appeal against wartime labor compensation

In this Oct. 30, 2020 file photo, a group of Japanese civic activists calls for Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to make an apology and provide compensation for the Korean victims of its wartime forced labor in front of the company headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. YonhapThe Supreme Court has dismissed a second appeal filed by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries against an order to sell patent rights the company has in South Korea to compensate a victim of wartime forced labor, according to legal sources Tuesday.The top court dismissed Mitsubishi Heavy's appeal against the forced sale of two patents to compensate Park Hae-ok, a female victim of forced labor during Tokyo's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula, on Dec. 27, the sources said.In 2018, the Supreme Court ordered Mitsubishi to compensate forced labor victims, but the company refused to comply, saying the reparation issue was fully and finally settled by a treaty signed between the two nations in 1965 to normalize ties.The victims later asked a court to seize the company's assets in South Korea, and the court accepted

Jan 11, 2022
Top court dismisses Mitsubishi Heavy's 2nd appeal against wartime labor compensation

Probe into Osstem Implant embezzlement widens to include chairman

An Osstem Implant employee, center, is escorted by police officers into the Gangseo Police Station in Seoul, Jan. 6, after being caught for allegedly embezzling 188 billion won from his company. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe investigation into the country's single largest embezzlement case involving an employee at Osstem Implant is widening to look into possible accomplices or involvement of higher-ranking company officials, following his testimony about “slush funds.”On Saturday, a local court issued an arrest warrant for the employee, surnamed Lee, 45, on charges of embezzlement, saying he was likely to flee or destroy evidence.Lee is accused of manipulating balance sheets so as to embezzle 188 billion won ($156 million) in company funds between March and October last year ― which allegedly accounted for 90.81 percent of the dental implant producer's equity.He allegedly transferred 5 billion won from the company account to his own and then again back to the company account, and repeated this as if testing the firm's accounting inspection system.As this act was not detected, h

Jan 9, 2022By Bahk Eun-ji
Probe into Osstem Implant embezzlement widens to include chairman

Suspect arrested in Osttem Implant embezzlement case

YonhapThe suspect in the country's single largest embezzlement case that has engulfed a local medical equipment producer was formally detained Saturday after a court approved a warrant for his arrest.The Seoul Southern District Court issued the warrant for a 45-year-old employee of Osstem Implant, identified only by his surname Lee, who has been accused of embezzling 188 billion won ($156 million) from the dental implant maker last year. The court said that Lee posed a flight risk and could destroy evidence. Lee did not appear at the arrest warrant hearing after he decided not to appeal his case. Lee has been held in police custody since Wednesday. The police arrested him five days after Osstem Implant filed a complaint against him. The allegedly embezzled funds are estimated to be equivalent to over 90 percent of the company's equity of 205 billion won as of the end of 2020.Police are working to find out if there were any accomplices who helped Lee during his crime. Osstem Implant has repeatedly emphasized that Lee acted alone, but officers suspect that the amount of money was too b

Jan 8, 2022
Suspect arrested in Osttem Implant embezzlement case

Same sex couple loses suit against state health insurer over spousal coverage

So Seong-wook, left, and Kim Yong-min, a gay couple, stand in front of the Seoul Administrative Court in southern Seoul before filing an administrative lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service, in this Feb. 18, 2021 file photo. Yonhap A Seoul court ruled Friday against a same sex couple demanding the same spousal health insurance coverage as heterosexual couples, saying matrimony in South Korea is still considered a union between a man and a woman.In February last year, So Seong-wook filed the administrative lawsuit against the National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) after the agency canceled So's coverage under the insurance program of his male partner's employer."The union of a man and a woman is still understood as the core element of marriage based on existing civic law, and Supreme Court and Constitutional Court ruling precedents," the Seoul Administrative Court said in the ruling.It said there were no legal grounds to expand the concept of marria

Jan 7, 2022
Same sex couple loses suit against state health insurer over spousal coverage
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