South Korea - The Korea Times

Reformist tapped to head prosecution

Yoon Seok-youl, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, speaks to reporters at his office, Monday, after being nominated as prosecutor-general. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooYoon Seok-youl, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, has been nominated as prosecutor-general, the presidential office announced Monday.The nomination of the reformist prosecutor to lead the prosecution shows President Moon Jae-in is not backing off in his drive to reform the nation's most powerful law enforcement agency despite its strong resistance.The announcement of the Moon administration's second top prosecutor came an hour after Justice Minister Park Sang-ki recommended Yoon to the President for nomination to replace outgoing Prosecutor-General Moon Moo-il, whose tenure will end late July. Earlier this month, the prosecution's nomination committee shortlisted four candidates including Yoon.“Yoon has shown his strong determination to root out corruption and hold up against external pressure,” Cheong Wa Dae spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said in a press briefing.“Wh

Jun 17, 2019By Kang Seung-woo

Lottery winner who went broke in just eight months under probe for theft

Winning the lottery sounds great, but be careful what you wish for. gettyimagesbankBy Jung Min-hoThe winner of a 1.9 billion won ($1.6 million) lottery lost all the money in just eight months and is now under investigation for alleged theft.According to Busan Yeonje Police Station Monday, the man, 39, is being investigated for allegedly stealing 36 million won from 16 restaurants in Busan and Daegu over the past two years.Investigators found that the man boasted of having won the lottery to a taxi driver. Based on that information, they identified the suspect, who was already put behind bars for extortion and other offenses.According to police, he won the lottery (1.4 billion won after tax) in 2006. But after wasting the money on partying and gambling, he went broke in eight months.A year later, he was arrested for stealing from a jewelry store and was eventually sentenced to a year in prison.Police said he has since been in and out of prison for various crimes, mostly theft.“Winning the lottery could have been a turning point for him, but he blew it,” a police officer re

Jun 17, 2019By Jung Min-ho

Lottery winner who went broke in just eight months under probe for theft

Taxi driver jailed for assaulting female passenger

Despite previous convictions, Bae was able to keep working as a taxi driver because assaulting passengers is not a “disqualifying offense. / gettyimagesbankBy Jung Min-hoA taxi driver has been sentenced to six months in prison for attacking a female passenger.Seoul Western District Court said Monday that it convicted the driver, surnamed Bae, 65, of butting the woman in the face and twisting her arm in Seoul at around 10 p.m. on May 28, 2018, after she complained about “unusually high charges.”Bae, who had received a suspended prison term and fines for assaulting passengers seven times in the past, insisted that the woman hit him during the altercation, but the court did not accept the claim.Despite previous convictions, he was able to keep working as a taxi driver because assaulting passengers is not a “disqualifying offense.”Under the law, a person who receives a two-year sentence or higher for murder, drugs or sexual assault, among other serious crimes, cannot work as a taxi driver for at least two years after finishing the sentence, but use of violen

Jun 17, 2019By Jung Min-ho

Taxi driver jailed for assaulting female passenger

Reform-minded investigator named prosecutor-general nominee

Yoon Seok-youl. Korea Times fileYoon Seok-youl, a reform-minded veteran prosecutor who played a key role in looking into high-profile scandals that occurred under the former conservative governments, has been tapped to lead South Korea's prosecution, according to Cheong Wa Dae on Monday.President Moon Jae-in decided to nominate Yoon, chief of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, as prosecutor general, Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson, Ko Min-jung, said.If appointed after a confirmation hearing, Yoon is to replace Moon Moo-il, who's retiring after a two-year term. His tenure ends July 24.Although the president was on leave, he made the decision after receiving a related report from Justice Minister Park Sang-ki at Cheong Wa Dae earlier in the day.If named to the post, Yoon would be the first prosecutor general with no experience of heading a high prosecutors' office, since South Korean introduced a fixed tenure for prosecution chief in 1988.The nominee is subject to a parliamentary hearing, but the nomination itself does not require lawmakers' consent.Yoon was a core member of th

Jun 17, 2019

Reform-minded investigator named prosecutor-general nominee

Motel operator jailed for having minors as guests

By Park Si-soo A motel operator was jailed for having minors as guests, in a violation of the Public Health Control Act.Suwon District Court recently made the ruling, jailing the operator, 72, for six months. He was charged in December for accepting the check-in for a one-day stay of two minors ― a boy, 17, and a girl, 15. The pair paid 40,000 won ($33.70), according to the court. The public health act bans all types of accommodation from having minors who come without parents or legal guardians as guests. Violators can be jailed or see their business shut. Judge Cho Hyeong-mok said the ruling was made after taking into account similar crimes the operator had committed. “The accused has violated the law six times since 2009,” the judge said. “The most recent conviction against him was a suspended one-year prison term, sentenced in October 2017, but he committed the same crime again.”

Jun 16, 2019

Motel operator jailed for having minors as guests

Chinese man caught drug dealing, possessing 150 million won of meth

Police found 150 million won of methamphetamine at the alleged drug dealer's house. GettyimagesbankBy Lee Gyu-leeA Chinese man has been nabbed allegedly distributing illicit drugs in Ansan, west Gyeonggi Province, according to police and media reports, Thursday. Police said the suspect, surnamed Kim, 29, allegedly had been selling methamphetamine. He obtained the drugs from locations given by another dealer in China through the Chinese messenger app WeChat. Kim sold the drugs in Korea by hiding them in public areas such as mailboxes and gas pipes. Buyers were informed of the locations after paying for the drugs. Police said they found 389 grams of methamphetamine, worth about 150 million won, at Kim's house.Kim used phones and cars registered in the names of others to avoid getting caught. But police found him after they arrested a dealer who sold drugs he bought from Kim.

Jun 14, 2019By Lee Gyu-lee

Chinese man caught drug dealing, possessing 150 million won of meth

Koh's husband claims she killed son, too

Murder suspect Koh Yoo-jung is taken from Jeju Dongbu Police Station to the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office, Wednesday. YonhapBy Kim RahnThe current husband of Koh Yoo-jung, who is suspected of murdering her ex-husband, has asked the prosecution to investigate whether she also killed his son. According to the Jeju District Prosecutors' Office, Friday, the man, whose name was withheld, filed a complaint the previous day against Koh, 36.The complaint came a day after police transferred Koh's case to the prosecution, asking it to indict her on charges of killing her ex-husband and dismembering and discarding the body last month.Koh married her present husband in 2017 and has been living in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province. In late February, they brought the husband's four-year-old son, whom he had with his ex-wife and had been in his grandmother's care on Jeju, because the husband wanted to raise the boy. Koh agreed, according to the husband.But the boy was found dead on March 2, two days after coming to their home.The husband told police then that he slept with the son and woke t

Jun 14, 2019By Kim Rahn

Koh's husband claims she killed son, too

Daughter, wife of late Hanjin Group chief get suspended jail terms

By Bahk Eun-jiCho Hyun-ah, the eldest daughter of late Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho, and her mother Lee Myung-hee have been sentenced to suspended prison terms for smuggling luxury goods into the country on multiple occasions using Korean Air planes.Korean Air is a subsidiary of the Hanjin Group.Incheon District Court sentenced Cho, 45, a former Korean Air executive vice president, to eight months in prison suspended for two years, Thursday, fined her 4.8 million won ($4,045) and ordered her to forfeit 63 million won for bringing in personal goods purchased abroad without paying taxes.Lee Myung-hee, left, and Cho Hyun-ah /YonhapThe late chairman's wife and Ilwoo Foundation director Lee, 70, was also sentenced to six months in prison suspended for one year, fined 700,000 won and ordered to forfeit 37 million won on the same charges. The punishments were lighter than the prosecution's earlier requests of 16 months of prison for Cho and one year for Lee.The court also ordered the two to carry out 80 hours of community service.Cho and two Korean Air employees were accused of smuggli

Jun 13, 2019By Bahk Eun-ji

Daughter, wife of late Hanjin Group chief get suspended jail terms

Language school director gets 2.5 years in jail for swindling parents

By Kim Jae-heunA Seoul court handed down a prison sentence of two years-and-six months to a Korean man who ran an English language institute in the Philippines, Thursday, for swindling 290 million won ($244,436) out of parents of students at the institute.The Seoul Northern District Court also ordered the 36-year-old director, surnamed Kim, to pay 42 million won to some of the victims who demanded compensation.Kim has been operating a language institute in Manila since 2008. In 2016, the director swindled 84 million won from a parent by saying he would help him buy an apartment in Manila for the child.Using the same tactic, Kim defrauded another parent of 90 million won under the pretext of paying the deposit for a student's new home.Two years later, he deceived eight more parents by saying their children were accepted to an international school there and he would handle the tuition fees on their behalf. Kim took around 55 million won from the parents.Kim spent most of the money on gambling and paying off his gambling debt to loan sharks.He fabricated the international school's admis

Jun 13, 2019By Kim Jae-heun

LKP lawmaker loses Assembly seat for election law violation

Rep. Yi Wan-young of the Liberty Korea Party leaves his office at the National Assembly, Thursday. / YonhapBy Lee Suh-yoonThe Supreme Court found opposition lawmaker Yi Wan-young guilty of accepting illegal election campaign funds and making a false accusation against a lender Thursday.The ruling stripped him of his National Assembly seat. Yi, a two-term lawmaker of the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), had been fined 5 million won ($4,200) for the Election Law violation and given a four-month prison term suspended for two years for the false accusation, which was upheld by a Daegu appeals court in February. The Supreme Court also upheld the lower court's decision, which said Yi illicitly received considerable financial gain by borrowing the money without interest.“There is no fault in the lower court's interpretation of the relevant laws,” the Supreme Court said. The lawmaker representing several counties in North Gyeongsang Province was indicted in March 2017 for taking 248 million won in interest-free loans from Kim Myeong-suk, a local councilor in Seongju over whom he had th

Jun 13, 2019

Law & Crime