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Appeals court upholds prison term for teacher indicted for lying to health officials

GettyimagesbankAn appeals court on Friday upheld a lower court's six-month prison sentence for an Incheon cram school teacher indicted for lying about his job and whereabouts after testing positive for the new coronavirus and subsequently causing some 60 infections.The Incheon District Court's appellate division said that a district court's verdict of six-month imprisonment given in October to the teacher, identified only as a 24-year-old man residing in Incheon, west of Seoul, doesn't seem unfair.The man, who was diagnosed with COVID-19 on May 9 after visits to bars in Seoul, was indicted in August for lying over 20 times to health officials in charge of contact tracing in violation of the Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.During an epidemiological survey, he lied to health authorities and told them he was unemployed, despite his teaching job at a private institute, hampering their efforts to timely isolate people who might have come in contact with him. More than 60 people contracted the virus in chain transmissions traced to the teacher."His offense inflicted huge econ

Dec 4, 2020
Appeals court upholds prison term for teacher indicted for lying to health officials

Prosecutors demand life sentence for child porn offender

Bae Jun-hwan / Korea Times fileProsecutors have demanded life imprisonment for a sex offender indicted for allegedly producing about 1,300 child sexual exploitation photos and videos and distributing some of them online, judicial officials said Friday.The sentencing demand was made during a hearing held at the Jeju District Court on Thursday on the case of Bae Jun-hwan, a 37-year-old who was arrested in July on charges of forcing 44 minors encountered in an open online chat room to produce 1,293 sexual exploitation photos and videos from July last year to June and distributing 88 of them on a pornographic site.Bae is accused of offering gift icons worth between 1,000 won (US$0.90) and 20,000 won to his victims, who ranged from a fifth-grade elementary school student to a high school junior, in return for their performances in his videos.The man was also charged with prostitution or sex trafficking against two of his juvenile victims and with distributing 907 videos, shot while having sex with eight adult women, on a pornographic site.Prosecutors said a life sentence is inevitable for

Dec 4, 2020
Prosecutors demand life sentence for child porn offender

Sex offenders against children face stronger punishment after law revision

GettyimagesbankThose who engage in sex trafficking of children or youths below the age of 16 will face tougher punishment in South Korea.The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Thursday that the revised act on the protection of children and juveniles against sexual abuse passed at the parliament the previous day.According to the law revision, purchasing sex from minors or inducing them to engage in prostitution will result in an additional penalty of up to 10 years in prison or a fine of 50 million won (US$45,000).Previously, only prostitution of disabled children was subject to the additional punishment.The revised law also mandates international schools, juvenile care centers and entertainment agencies to report all sexual crimes against underaged people at their institutions, if any, to the authorities, according to the ministry.The law requires more detailed addresses of convicted sexual criminals to be open to the public as part of efforts to strengthen legal surveillance of such criminals.The legislation comes as the release of Cho Doo-soon, one of the country's most no

Dec 3, 2020
Sex offenders against children face stronger punishment after law revision

EXCLUSIVE Korean pastor in Malaysia under investigation for sexual assault

gettyimagesbankBy Kang Hyun-kyungA Malaysia-based South Korean pastor who has been accused of sexually assaulting an undisclosed number of men and boys, several of whom are deaf or suffer from severe hearing loss, has come under investigation by the local police. The pastor identified by his surname Jee was arrested by the local police in Penang on Nov. 23 after several victims reported his alleged habitual sexual misconduct to the police. The Korea Times has decided not to disclose the pastor's full name because the investigation is in process. Jee, 54, is known to have been working with a Penang-based church of which members are predominantly deaf. The church is a local branch of Seoul's Guro-based megachurch which Korean Protestant church group leaders consider to be a cult. The megachurch's founder is currently in jail after he was sentenced to a 16-years prison term last year for having raped and sexually assaulted several female church members.“I was briefed on the Penang-based South Korean pastor under investigation days ago, although I don't know his name,” South

Dec 2, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung
[EXCLUSIVE] Korean pastor in Malaysia under investigation for sexual assault

Ex-president Chun given suspended jail term in libel case

One of the protestors against former South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan displays a skit where he poses as imprisoned Chun in front of the Gwangju District Court on Monday. YonhapChun leaves the Gwangju District Court after receiving a suspended jail term on Monday on charge of defaming a late democratic activist. YonhapA court here on Monday gave out a suspended jail term to former President Chun Doo-hwan for defaming a late democratic activist in a historically important libel case.The Gwangju District Court sentenced him to eight months in prison, suspending it for two years, after finding Chun guilty of defaming priest Cho Pius, who had testified to witnessing the military shootings at citizens from helicopters during the 1980 Gwangju Uprising against the authoritarian government led by Chun."Given the appraisal by the National Forensic Service, there is reasonable ground to believe that there were shootings from helicopters on May 21, 1980," the court said, rejecting Chun's consistent claims to the contrary.The court also said the biggest responsibility for the brutal crackdown

Nov 30, 2020
Ex-president Chun given suspended jail term in libel case

Mastermind of notorious Telegram sex abuse ring sentenced to 40 years in prison

Cho Ju-bin / Korea Times fileA Seoul court on Thursday sentenced the mastermind of one of the country's largest online sex trafficking rings to 40 years in prison.The Seoul Central District Court found Cho Ju-bin guilty of violating laws to protect minors from sexual abuse and of operating a criminal ring to make profits by producing and selling abusive videos.The court also ordered to make public his personal details for 10 years and ban him from working at children-related facilities for 10 years after his release. Cho also has to wear an electronic bracelet for 30 years and pay a forfeiture of 100 million won (US$90,000)."The accused has widely distributed sexually abusive content that he created by luring and threatening many victims," the court said, adding that Cho caused his victims irreversible damage by releasing their private information.The court said Cho should be removed from society for a long time, given "the gravity of his crimes, the sheer number of victims and damage done to them, his evil influence on society and his (unrepentant) attitude."Earlier this year, the o

Nov 26, 2020
Mastermind of notorious Telegram sex abuse ring sentenced to 40 years in prison

Gov't mulls additional post-prison segregation of brutal criminals

GettyimagesbankThe ruling party and the government on Thursday held a meeting to consider establishing an additional post-prison segregation program for criminals convicted of brutal crimes, amid mounting public concerns ahead of the release of a notorious child sex offender.The policy discussion meeting held at the National Assembly comes amid the nearing release of Cho Doo-soon, 69, one of the country's most notorious child rapists, who is set to be freed from prison on Dec. 13. He has been serving a 12-year term for kidnapping and raping an 8-year-old girl in a church bathroom in Ansan, 42 kilometers southwest of Seoul, in December 2008. A huge public outcry has erupted over what has been seen as too lenient a punishment for a horrendous sexual crime against a minor. "Over 110,000 people have responded to the proposition of enacting a 'Cho Doo-soon segregation law.' In order to prevent criminal relapses of certain convicts, we must positively review new security measures that would socialize them in special facilities," Rep. Kim Tae-nyeon, floor leader of the ruling Democratic Par

Nov 26, 2020
Gov't mulls additional post-prison segregation of brutal criminals

Top prosecutor's mother-in-law indicted over medical law violation, fraud

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl / Korea Times fileThe prosecution on Tuesday indicted the mother-in-law of Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl on charges of violating the medical law and fraud.Prosecutors believe the 74-year-old woman, surnamed Choi, established a medical foundation to run a long-term care hospital for seniors in November 2012 even though she was not qualified to do so.The hospital was caught for illegally receiving 2.29 billion won (US$2.06 million) in medical care insurance allowances for two years from May 2013, according to prosecutors.Choi's three co-founders have been found guilty of violating the medical law and fraud for their involvement in the same case. Choi, however, evaded punishment thanks to a document that exonerated her from all legal responsibilities, which was allegedly written when she quit the foundation in May 2014.The prosecution is said to have secured testimony from one of Choi's co-founders that the document was forged. The probe into Choi began in April when several plaintiffs, including Rep. Choe Kang-wook of the minor Open Democratic Part

Nov 24, 2020
Top prosecutor's mother-in-law indicted over medical law violation, fraud

Police investigate disinformation, data breaches related to COVID-19

National Police Agency headquarters / Korea Times fileBy Lee Hyo-jin The police have launched a full investigation into disinformation about COVID-19 cases and misuse of private data collected on visitor registers, according to the National Police Agency, Sunday.“We are closely monitoring illicit activities on distribution of false information online in cooperation with the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). We plan to track down not only the initial source of the  disinformation, but also all the suspects involved in the distribution,” an NPA official said.The authorities have recently received reports on disinformation about COVID-19 infections circulating online in the form of urgent messages shared between employees at a medical institution. Some of the messages read, “COVID-19 update: 412 confirmed cases as of 6 p.m., Nov. 18,” “852 confirmed local cases as of 11 p.m., Nov. 18,” all of which were false. They even included incorrect tracing data of confirmed patients in Sinchon, western Seoul. As the content was soon widel

Nov 22, 2020By Lee Hyo-jin
Police investigate disinformation, data breaches related to COVID-19
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