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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Gov't to allow abortion in early stage of pregnancy

Members of the Joint Action for Reproductive Justice, a coalition of pro-choice groups, hold a press conference urging the government to completely abolish anti-abortion laws, in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, in this Sept. 28 photo. / YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jinKorea will allow abortion within the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, while maintaining its current anti-abortion laws for those seeking abortions after this period, the Ministry of Justice announced Tuesday.The ministry will officially pre-announce revision bills to the related Criminal Law and Mother and Child Health Law, Wednesday. The move comes after a landmark ruling by the Constitutional Court in April 2019, which concluded that banning abortion in the early stages of pregnancy was a violation of the right to self-determination. In line with the ruling, the court had recommended to guarantee women's rights to terminate a pregnancy within the first 22 weeks, after which a fetus can technically survive independently from the mother. The revision bills from the ministry also include some exceptions to allow the procedure during the fir

Oct 6, 2020By Lee Hyo-jin
Gov't to allow abortion in early stage of pregnancy

Gov't seeks to allow abortion until 14th week of pregnancy

In this Sept. 28, 2020, file photo, activists gather in front of Sejong Center for the Performing Arts to call on the government to abolish the law banning abortion. YonhapThe government will propose revisions to the existing laws to allow abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy, judicial sources said Tuesday.They said the justice ministry will announce its plan to revise the Criminal Act and the Mother and Child Health Act on Wednesday as a follow-up to a Constitutional Court ruling in April last year.The court ruled that anti-abortion provisions of the Criminal Act are unconstitutional as they violate women's right to choose too much and gave the National Assembly until the end of this year to revise the law.Currently, abortion is a crime punishable by up to three years in prison even if it is conducted at an early stage of pregnancy.Under the revisions, no criminal charges should be filed for abortion until the 14th week of pregnancy. Abortion is still possible until the 24th week into pregnancy if there are extenuating circumstances, such as rape.The public will have around 40

Oct 6, 2020
Gov't seeks to allow abortion until 14th week of pregnancy

'Digital Prison' operator detained

The alleged operator of the controversial "Digital Prison" website arrives at Incheon International Airport, Tuesday, after being repatriated from Vietnam. YonhapAn alleged operator of the controversial Digital Prison internet site was repatriated to South Korea on Tuesday, after being captured in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, last month.The man, in his 30s, is suspected of violating privacy law by releasing personal information of alleged pedophiles, child abusers and murderers on the website that claimed to socially punish alleged perpetrators of horrendous crimes. Escorted by police, the suspect did not respond to questions by reporters and was hurriedly taken to a police vehicle outside the terminal at Incheon International Airport. The website was created earlier this year to protest against what the public sees as an unfair criminal justice system, but it carries a perennial risk of punishing falsely accused people.The site has come under intense scrutiny after a 20-year-old university student, whose private details were made public on the site, was found dead in an apparent suici

Oct 6, 2020
'Digital Prison' operator detained
  • 'Digital Prison' reveals identities of child porn site operator and judges who released him

School violence down but juvenile sex offenses up sharply

GettyimagesbankOverall school violence has been on a steady decline in recent years, but the number of juvenile sex offenders has spiked significantly, police data showed on Sunday.The number of teenagers arrested for acts of school violence totaled 13,584 last year, marking a decrease of 3 percent from 14,000 in 2017, according to the data from the National Police Agency (NPA).School violence is classified into four types ― sexual violence, assaults, extortion and others ― and offenders include elementary, middle and high school students and out-of-school youths.Contrary to the downward trend in overall school violence, the number of teenagers arrested for sexual offenses surged 80.5 percent from 1,695 in 2017 to 3,060 last year, the data showed.Among the 40,951 school violence offenders caught by police between 2017 and 2019, out-of-school youths accounted for the largest number at 15,196, followed by high school students (12,718), middle school students (11,231) and elementary school students (1,806)."Increasing sexual offenses committed by teenagers are mostly digital sexual crim

Oct 4, 2020
School violence down but juvenile sex offenses up sharply

No. of teenage gambling addiction patients surges over 5-year period: lawmaker

The number of South Korean teens suffering from gambling addiction has exploded at an alarming rate over the five years from 2015, according to an opposition lawmaker Saturday. gettyimagesbankThe number of South Korean teens suffering from gambling addiction has exploded at an alarming rate over the five years from 2015, according to an opposition lawmaker Saturday.Data from the state-run Korea Center on Gambling Problems, which was released by Rep. Bae June-young of the main opposition People Power Party, showed the number of teenagers who received treatment at the center for gambling addiction increased nearly 14-fold from 71 in 2015 to 981 in 2019.The number of teenage gambling addiction cases reported nationwide increased to 240 in 2016, 345 in 2017 and 714 in 2018; and was 549 as of August this year.By region, Gyeonggi Province had the most patients as of last year, with 143, followed by Seoul, Daejeon and Gwangju with 109, 104 and 101, respectively. The majority of teenage patients, or 60.4 percent, received treatment for sports gambling, followed by 34.6 percent for "mini game

Oct 3, 2020
No. of teenage gambling addiction patients surges over 5-year period: lawmaker

Women's rights groups call for complete abolishment of anti-abortion law

Members of the Joint Action for Reproductive Justice hold a press conference on Monday urging the government to completely abolish anti-abortion laws, in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. / Yonhap By Lee Hyo-jin Women's rights activists are urging the government to take swift action to revise current laws to ensure the complete decriminalization of abortion, regardless of the length of pregnancy.The country's 67-year-old Anti-abortion Law was declared unconstitutional by a landmark ruling of the Constitutional Court in April last year, which stated that banning abortion in the early stages of pregnancy was a violation of the right to self-determination.In line with the ruling, the court left lawmakers to decide how to legally define the “early stages of pregnancy” when they amend the related law by Dec. 31 this year. The activists held various campaigns both online and offline Monday, marking the annual International Safe Abortion Day, which falls Sept. 28. The Joint Acti

Oct 1, 2020By Lee Hyo-jin
Women's rights groups call for complete abolishment of anti-abortion law

Former prosecutor at center of #MeToo scandal acquitted in retrial of power abuse case

Ahn Tae-geun, a former bureau director at the Ministry of Justice, appears in the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutor's Office to attend a trial in this Feb. 6, 2018. Korea Times fileIn a retrial of a power abuse case that sparked the #MeToo movement in 2018, a former senior prosecutor was acquitted of disadvantaging a junior colleague from work to cover up his sexual harassment of her.The Seoul Central District Court's Appellate Division on Tuesday acquitted Ahn Tae-geun of the charges of abuse of power, overturning a two-year prison sentence delivered by the same court for him in July 2019.The retrial came after the Supreme Court ordered the lower court in January to reconsider the prison sentence for the former prosecutor, saying his acts do not fully constitute abuse of power.Ahn, who had also served as a bureau director at the justice ministry, was accused of groping Seo Ji-hyun, a female prosecutor, during a funeral dinner in 2010 and later reassigning her to an office in the southern coastal city of Tongyeong as rumors of his sexual abuse began to spread within the prosecution.

Sep 29, 2020
Former prosecutor at center of #MeToo scandal acquitted in retrial of power abuse case

Drunk driving incidents up sharply this year

A drunk driver in his 20s drove into a street vendor in Busan, Sunday, causing injuries to at least 12 people, police in the port city said, noting that the driver was taken into police custody. / YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeThe number of traffic accidents caused by driving under the influence (DUI) has been increasing again this year, after it had decreased last year following the enforcement of tougher regulations against drunk drivers, according to a local traffic safety research institute Monday.The number of DUI crashes has increased despite a reduction in traffic volume and the movement of people following the COVID-19 outbreak that began in January in the country.According to the report issued by the Samsung Traffic Safety Research Institute that is affiliated with Samsung Fire and Marine Insurance, the number of DUI accidents reported to the insurance company from January to August has reached 4,627, having already exceeded 3,787 reported last year. The insurance firm had received around 5,000 reports of DUI crashes annually between 2016 and 2018, but the number fell significantly to

Sep 28, 2020
Drunk driving incidents up sharply this year

Prosecutors drop charges against justice minister in special favors probe

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae / YonhapProsecutors on Monday dropped charges against Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and her son, who have been suspected of gaining special favors during the latter's military service in 2017.The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office said it withdrew the charges against Choo, her 27-year-old son surnamed Seo, a former aide to Choo and a former military officer assigned to Seo's base at the time."It is difficult to conclude based on our investigation that a deceptive scheme or external pressure was used to request and take leave," the prosecution said in a statement.Choo came under fire amid allegations that she used her influence as the then chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Party to extend her son's medical leave after he underwent knee surgery in June 2017.Seo did his mandatory military service in the Korean Augmentation to the United States Army (KATUSA) for the 2nd Infantry Division of the U.S. Eighth Army.He took medical leave from June 5-14, extended it once through June 23, and then used four personal vacation days.Whistleblowers have alleged th

Sep 28, 2020
Prosecutors drop charges against justice minister in special favors probe

Gov't blocks access to 'Digital Prison'

YonhapSouth Korea's internet censorship body on Thursday decided to block public access to a controversial doxing website that discloses personal information of alleged sex offenders and pedophiles over concerns of false accusations.The "Digital Prison" website was created earlier this year after public anger mounted over high-profile sex abuse cases that were not properly dealt with under the current judiciary system.The site came under intense scrutiny after a 20-year-old South Korean university student, whose personal details were made public on the site, was found dead in an apparent suicide earlier this month."While freedom of expression needs to be fully protected, acts that undermine the legal system should not be allowed," a subcommittee under the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) said in a statement. "Publishing personal information on Digital Prison could lead to double punishment or falsely accused victims."The decision comes after a previous step taken earlier this month by the sub-commission that decided to only block access to certain posts on the website

Sep 24, 2020
Gov't blocks access to 'Digital Prison'
  • 'Digital Prison' reveals identities of child porn site operator and judges who released him
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