South Korea - The Korea Times

Gender ministry to carry out fact-finding survey on stalking, dating violence

GettyimagesbankSouth Korea's gender ministry said Tuesday that it will carry out a fact-finding survey on stalking and dating violence later this year and map out employment plans for women in the novel coronavirus pandemic.In the 2021 policy plan, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family put its policy priority on preventing sexual crimes against women and promoting gender equality in the job market to help women get employed and continue their careers in an easier way.The ministry said stalking and dating violence will be subject to its triennial research on domestic abuse and sexual violence starting this year in a way to keep up with rising calls for preventing such crimes.To review and monitor the implementation and operation of related policies, a new division in the ministry will be created this year.It will also formulate the legal ground for punishing those who lure underaged people for sex trafficking through social networks and strengthen education for teenagers to prevent online sex crimes.The ministry said it will announce detailed measures to enhance female employment

Feb 2, 2021

Gender ministry to carry out fact-finding survey on stalking, dating violence

Fire in redevelopment zone kills Filipina, grandchildren

Fire spreads in a redevelopment zone in Wonju, Gangwon Province, Sunday. Yonhap By Yi Whan-wooA Filipina grandmother and her two grandchildren were killed in a fire in a redevelopment zone in Wonju, Gangwon Province, police said Sunday.Her daughter barely escaped the fire but is hospitalized after suffering multiple burns and exposure to smoke.The daughter is married to a Korean man who works in China and has been away from home.The fire started at 3:05 a.m., Sunday, in a nearby house and spread to the area where 20 homes that were soon to be destroyed were concentrated.Thirty-five firefighters in 12 firetrucks arrived at the scene on time. But they had trouble putting out the fire because it spread fast due to the strong wind.The woman in her 70s was asleep in the same room with her grandson and granddaughter, aged nine and eight, respectively, and their 35-year-old daughter when their house caught fire.The daughter escaped through a window with help from neighbors

Jan 31, 2021By Yi Whan-woo

Fire in redevelopment zone kills Filipina, grandchildren

Foreigners under deportation order can now avoid being detained with up to $17,800 deposit

Foreigners Detention Center in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. FacebookThe Ministry of Justice said Saturday that it has introduced a deposit program to encourage foreigners subject to deportation to voluntarily leave the country as part of efforts to ease crowding in temporary detention centers amid the coronavirus pandemic.Under the new policy, foreigners who are ordered to leave the country following a violation of the immigration law can avoid being detained if they deposit up to 20 million won (US$17,800) with ministry.The measure was introduced to reduce crowding at detention centers and jails, which are prone to coronavirus outbreaks due to a lack of social distancing and poor hygiene, the ministry said, noting that overcrowding at those facilities has recently became a major public health concern.As of August last year, temporary detention centers for foreigners in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, and Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, saw their populations double to 760, compared with the average numbers seen before the COVID-19 pandemic.Those who pay the deposit can get it back when th

Jan 30, 2021

Foreigners under deportation order can now avoid being detained with up to $17,800 deposit

Parents call for heavy punishment of kindergarten teacher who put insect repellent in children's meals

By Bahk Eun-jiAn online petition has been filed on the Cheong Wa Dae website, calling for harsh punishment of a kindergarten teacher who allegedly put harmful substances in children's meals.The petitioner, who identified himself as the parent of a child at the kindergarten in Seoul, said the teacher put unidentified liquid and powder in children's meals, water and snacks, and the substances turned out to be mosquito repellent and detergent.“A total of 17 children were confirmed to have ingested the substances so far, and they are only between five and seven years old,” he wrote.gettyimagesbankAccording to surveillance footage, the teacher carried a medicine bottle in her apron and sprayed the liquid on the food and drinks, police said.The police asked the National Forensic Service to analyze the components in the bottles, and the liquid turned out to contain mosquito repellent and detergent, requiring immediate medical treatment for the children. The petitioner wrote that the footage showed “the teacher looked so calm when she put the liquid and powder in the meals

Jan 30, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Parents call for heavy punishment of kindergarten teacher who put insect repellent in children's meals

School staffer given 3 years in jail for leaking SAT questions

Getty Images Bank By Jung Da-minA high school staffer has been sentenced to three years in prison for leaking test papers of the U.S. SAT college entrance exam to a broker. The Seoul Central District Court said Friday it convicted the staffer surnamed Lee, who holds a U.S. passport, of obstruction of business for repeatedly leaking SAT exam papers over a period of a year and a half starting in 2017. Lee received a total of 203 million won ($181,300) in return for the leaked papers.In 2009 Lee joined a high school in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, as a counselor for students wanting to apply for overseas colleges, and worked there since 2013 as an SAT coordinator managing and supervising the school's SAT-related affairs. In mid-2017, Lee received a proposal from a broker surnamed Kim, suggesting they take advantage of the fact that the SATs are held at different times in different countries and regions.Lee took photos of the test papers when the SATs were held here and s

Jan 29, 2021

School staffer given 3 years in jail for leaking SAT questions

3-month-old girl suffers severe injuries from beating; mother indicted

A woman has been indicted for allegedly abusing her daughter, Thursday, in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. GettyimagesbankBy Lee Gyu-leeA woman has been indicted on charges of severely abusing her three-month-old daughter in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province.The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office said Thursday that the mother, 29, will stand trial for allegedly beating the baby girl, who, as a result, suffered 11 bone fractures including her skull. Her father, 34, has also been indicted on charges of child neglect.According to the prosecution, the mother allegedly turned violent under stress between August and September 2019. She said she became angry after the baby “would not stop crying and sleep.” The prosecution said the mother suffered from postpartum depression and was under extreme pressure as a mother of two daughters.When found by investigators, the baby was also dehydrated and malnourished. Despite the injuries, the mother did not immediately seek proper treatment for her, the prosecution said.The father was aware of the abuse but did not take any action. The baby was eventual

Jan 29, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

3-month-old girl suffers severe injuries from beating; mother indicted

Ex-coach of triathlon team sentenced to 7 years in prison after athlete's death

Kim Gyu-bong, former head coach of the triathlon team at Gyeongju City Hall / YonhapA former triathlon coach accused of abusing triathlete Choi Sook-hyeon was sentenced to seven years in prison on fraud and assault charges on Friday.The Daegu District Court handed down the term to Kim Gyu-bong, former head coach of the triathlon team at Gyeongju City Hall, for verbally and physically abusing Choi and taking money from athletes. Jang Yun-jung, the team's former captain, and teammate Kim Do-hwan were given a four-year prison term and a suspended prison term of 1 1/2 years, respectively, in the same case.Choi took her own life in late June after enduring years of physical and verbal abuse and pointed to the three people as well as team therapist Ahn Joo-hyeon as the main culprits."The accused, abusing their power, verbally and physically assaulted Choi for a long time, causing her to make a fatal choice at 22," the court said. "Even though the accused are showing remorse and seeking forgiveness, she is not able to accept those apologies."Before the sentencing, judge Lee Jin-kwan sought

Jan 29, 2021

Ex-coach of triathlon team sentenced to 7 years in prison after athlete's death

Man jailed for 20 years on wrongful murder conviction seeks $2.2 mil. in state compensation

Yoon Seong-yeo leaves the Suwon District Court in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, in this Dec. 17, 2020 photo, after he was acquitted of a 1988 murder charge, of which he was falsely accused, and for which he served nearly 20 years behind bars. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiYoon Seong-yeo, 54, who was acquitted recently in a retrial after serving 20 years behind bars after having been wrongfully accused of murdering a 13-year-old girl, filed a suit seeking 2.5 billion won ($2.25 million) in compensation for financial losses suffered due to imprisonment, according to the Suwon District Court, Thursday.Korea's criminal law requires the government to compensate financial damages suffered by people who have been unjustly detained or who have spent money on trials over false accusations. Victims of such injustice can claim up to five times the amount of income they would have made per day if the person had not been in jail.In Lee's case, he and his lawyer calculated the amount of compensation by multiplying the number of days he had been jailed, 7,326, by five times the daily minimum wage last year,

Jan 28, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Man jailed for 20 years on wrongful murder conviction seeks $2.2 mil. in state compensation

Man seeks compensation for 20 years behind bars on wrongful murder conviction

GettyimagesbankA man has asked a court to compensate him for serving a prison term after he was wrongfully convicted of raping and killing a girl more than two decades ago, judicial sources said Thursday. According to the sources, Yoon Seong-yeo filed the claim on Monday with the Suwon District Court, south of Seoul, seeking more than 2.5 billion won (US$2.25 million) in compensation for spending 20 years in prison on the wrongful murder conviction of a 13-year-old girl in 1989.The 54-year-old was arrested on July 25, 1989, on charges of committing the eighth murder of the 10 serial killings that had occurred between 1986 and 1991 in Hwaseong, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul. The case was initially concluded as a copycat crime of the other murders in Hwaseong, which had remained as a cold case until recently. Yoon said he was forced to confess to a crime he did not commit. At 22, he was sentenced to a lifetime in prison by a district court. The appeals court and the Supreme Court upheld the lower court ruling, putting him behind bars for 20 years until he was released on parole in

Jan 28, 2021

Man seeks compensation for 20 years behind bars on wrongful murder conviction

Gyeonggi cancels hiring of would-be civil servant over harassment allegations

A screen capture of posts on the online community Ilbe Storage, in which a man shows he has passed the Gyeonggi Province civil service exam. Korea Times fileBy Bahk Eun-jiGyeonggi Provincial Government said Wednesday that it has decided not to hire a person who passed the civil service exam for the local administration after discovering his online posts suggesting sex crimes and abusive language directed at women and the disabled.The provincial government conducted an investigation after an online petition was filed on the Cheong Wa Dae website, Dec. 30, calling for the man's qualification to work as a public servant for Gyeonggi Province to be cancelled.The petitioner said the man posted photos showing he had passed the province's civil service exam on Ilbe Storage, an online community infamous for misogynic and abusive posts by its users, and found he had previously posted photos of women and the disabled, taken secretly, mocking them with abusive words.“He also wrote he bought sex from underage girls, and posted photos of him having sex on at least five occasions with differ

Jan 27, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

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