South Korea - The Korea Times

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

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

Man fined over $10,000 for beating neighbor's dog to death

By Ko Dong-hwanLeashed barking dogs attracted an angry neighbor intent on beating them with a wooden club in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, in September 2020. One of the dogs died at the scene. The dogs in the photo are unrelated to the story. GettyimagesbankUlsan District Court on Jan. 26 slapped a 12 million won ($10,874) fine on a man in Yangsan for beating his neighbor's dogs with a piece of wood, killing one of them and injuring the other. The court said the accused “had no respect for living creature” and his criminal method was “extremely violent.” Though in sentencing the court also took into account the fact the accused and the dogs' owner reached a compromise and that many residents from the neighborhood signed petitions requesting leniency for the man.In September 2020, the man in his 40s, whose name was withheld, beat the dogs leashed in front of a building in the South Gyeongsang provincial city because they had been barking loudly.The punishment for the defendant was unexpectedly heavy compared to other cases, in which people received much l

Jan 27, 2021By Ko Dong-hwan

Man fined over $10,000 for beating neighbor's dog to death

Man detained by police after allegedly killing father

The symbol of the Korean National Police Agency is seen above. A man was detained by Nowon police after allegedly murdering his father, Tuesday. GettyimagesbankBy Lee Gyu-leeA man has been detained in northern Seoul on suspicion of murdering his father.According to Nowon Police Station, Tuesday, the suspect, 47, was taken into custody and questioned after allegedly killing his father, 79, at their house in Nowon District.A neighbor called the police at 4:47 a.m., saying he heard a man screaming “a person is dead!” When officers arrived they found the body of the victim covered in blood. The suspect has denied the crime, claiming that one of two men who broke into their house killed his father, and that he found him already dead after returning from fighting off the other intruder.Offices said there were no signs of forcible entry, and that they were assessing the evidence before deciding whether to ask prosecutors to request an arrest warrant.Police can hold criminal suspects for up to 48 hours before getting a court-issued warrant through the prosecution for additional d

Jan 27, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

Man detained by police after allegedly killing father

Constitutional petition filed against 'punitive' alternative military service law

GettyimagesbankA conscientious objector, now carrying out his alternative military service as a prison staff member under the current law after refusing to enlist for religious reasons, has filed a constitutional appeal contending that the alternative military service law is unconstitutional due to its punitive nature, judicial officials said Wednesday.By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for 18 to 22 months. But the National Assembly passed the Act on the Assignment and Performance of the Alternative Service in 2019, allowing conscientious objectors who refuse to take up arms for religious reasons to do 36 months of alternative service at local correctional facilities.According to the officials, the conscientious objector, who began his alternative military service at a local prison last year, filed the petition with the Constitutional Court on Monday, saying that the alternative service act violates the freedom of conscience and the rights to happiness and equality.In particular, the petitioner insisted that two clauses of the law, which require

Jan 27, 2021

Constitutional petition filed against 'punitive' alternative military service law

Chinese man gets jail term for helping foreign nationals enter Korea illegally

Korea Coast Guard officials inspect an unregistered six-seater boat at a pier in the western coastal city of Taean, South Chungcheong Province, in this May 25, 2020 photo. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiAn appellate court has upheld a lower court ruling that sentenced a 42-year-old man, an undocumented immigrant from China, to two years and six months in jail as well as 3 million won ($2,710) in fines for helping other foreign nationals enter Korea illegally.The high court division of the Daejeon District Court also ordered him to forfeit 12.1 million won for violating acts on immigration and quarantine. According to the court, the man entered Korea on Sept. 4, 2007 but was deported on Nov. 23, 2013 after overstaying his visa. But he secretly entered Korea again, taking a rubber dinghy with two others on Sept. 24, 2019 through the West Sea from Weihai, Shandong Province, to a beach in Taean, South Chungcheong Province.While illegally working on farms, construction sites and factories, he had also been engaged in activities smuggling Chinese people into Korea since last year. Together with an ac

Jan 27, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Chinese man gets jail term for helping foreign nationals enter Korea illegally

3 officials from McDonald's supplier get suspended prison sentences for selling tainted patties

GettyimagesbankThree officials from a burger patty supplier for McDonald's Korea were given suspended prison sentences by a local court Tuesday for providing patties potentially contaminated with E. coli to the local unit of the global fast-food giant.A managing director of the supplier, whose name was withheld, and two mid-ranking officials in charge of production and quality management, respectively, were indicted without detention in 2018 for allegedly distributing 63 tons of beef patties that tested positive for intestinal hemorrhagic E. coli contamination.In addition, they were charged with selling 2,160 tons of beef patties with Shiga toxin genes detected in a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test, a test method that amplifies DNA. Shiga toxin is a toxin component released from intestinal hemorrhagic E. coli.The Seoul Central District Court convicted all three for violating the Livestock Products Sanitary Control Act but handed out suspended jail terms ranging from two to three years.The managing director, identified only as Song, was sentenced to an imprisonment of three years,

Jan 26, 2021

3 officials from McDonald's supplier get suspended prison sentences for selling tainted patties

Partially clothed girl found dead in rice paddy

A body of a girl, with her clothes partially stripped, was discovered at a rice paddy in Gongju, South Chungcheong Province, on Jan. 25. GettyimagesbankBy Ko Dong-hwanThe South Chungcheong Province Police Agency and the city's emergency rescue services said Tuesday they had found the body of a teenage girl in a rice paddy in the province's Gongju, Jan. 25. They said the body was discovered following a report of a person lying in a rice paddy in the town's Ssangsin-dong area, at around 8:45 a.m.Rescue workers arriving at the site found the girl's body ― with no wounds or signs of injury ― and some of her clothes lying next to her.An investigation by police officers revealed she was a 19 year old high school graduate who had been preparing to attend university. The agency sent the body to the National Forensic Service to ascertain the exact cause of death ― an autopsy is scheduled for today. Gongju police, meanwhile, said they were searching for witnesses and checking surveillance cameras near the scene to uncover any clues leading to the girl's death.

Jan 26, 2021By Ko Dong-hwan

Partially clothed girl found dead in rice paddy

Ex-Seoul mayor Park sexually harassed secretary: watchdog

Civic group members hold banners demanding the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to properly investigate former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's sexual harassment allegation at the commission's headquarters in Jung-gu, Seoul, Monday. YonhapThe state human rights watchdog said Monday that former Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon's actions toward his secretary amounted to sexual harassment.The National Human Rights Commission of Korea said it reached the conclusion after looking into allegations Park sexually harassed the former municipal government employee over several years until his death in an apparent suicide in July.The announcement comes after police wrapped up their probe into the case last month without seeking any indictments.“The victim's claims that former Mayor Park sent inappropriate messages, photos and emojis to the victim late at night, and touched her polished nails and hands in his office, can be recognized as true,” the commission said.“Such actions by former Mayor Park are sexual words and actions that lead to feelings of sexual humiliation or disgust

Jan 25, 2021

Ex-Seoul mayor Park sexually harassed secretary: watchdog

Police demand $100,000 from parents for daycare CCTV access

Public access to closed circuit surveillance television video records from daycare centers can be financially burdensome when they must be censored in accordance with the country's Privacy Act. Korea Times fileBy Ko Dong-hwanThe decision by Busan police to charge over 100 million won ($95,000) to parents wanting to access CCTV footage from a daycare center ― due to suspicions of child abuse ― has raised questions as to whether the financially burdensome demand was appropriate.The parents, who have been sending their child to a state-run daycare center, recently reported to Busan Gijang Police Station their concerns that the child might have been abused at the facility and requested access to two weeks of video recordings from a surveillance camera set up there. However, officers at the station informed the parents, Jan. 20, that they would have to pay the extravagant fee. The money, the police explained to the parents, was to cover the cost of editing the video to censor everyone other than the parents' child to protect their privacy in accordance with the country's Privacy Act. The

Jan 25, 2021By Ko Dong-hwan

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