South Korea - The Korea Times

Ex-professor convicted of defaming 'comfort women'

By Park Si-soo An appellate court has upheld the conviction of a former professor who was accused of defaming Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japanese troops during World War II. Gwangju Provincial Court made the ruling on Thursday, upholding a lower court's six-month jail term imposed on the former professor at Sunchon National University. The scholar, whose name was withheld, was charged with defaming victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery system, collectively called “comfort women,” during a lecture on April 26, 2017. According to court documents, the ex-professor claimed some women joined the system “voluntarily in pursuit of their sexual pleasure.” He claimed the accuser, a Sunchon-based human rights group, misunderstood the point of his remark. But the court did not agree. “The accused, as a national university professor, committed a crime tarnishing the name of comfort women seriously,” Judge Im joo-hyuk wrote in a ruling statement. “In addition, the accused did nothing to recover the damage to the victims.” The un

Nov 15, 2018

Ex-professor convicted of defaming 'comfort women'

Missing college student found dead in lake

Police investigate the lake area where the body of a missing college student was found in southern Seoul, Wednesday. YonhapInvestigators at the scene in southern Seoul / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoThe body of a college student has been found in Seokchon Lake, southern Seoul.Songpa Police Station said Thursday that investigators are now looking into the death of the student, 19, surnamed Cho, after finding his body at the bottom of the lake about 12:10 p.m. Wednesday.Police also found his bag containing a mobile phone and a laptop computer in the water. Data on the devices will be investigated.The National Forensic Service will carry out an autopsy on the body soon to find the cause of death.Cho, who was a Namyangju resident, went missing on Nov. 8 after drinking in southern Seoul with three friends. Police said they shared four bottles of soju.After texting his family around midnight that he was on his way home, he took a taxi. But for an unknown reason, he got out near Jamsil Station and hailed another taxi by using the Kakao T mobile app, police said.Because of miscommunication with the t

Nov 15, 2018By Jung Min-ho

Missing college student found dead in lake

13 sailors rescued in boat collision in East Sea

Thirteen sailors aboard a South Korean fishing boat were rescued after it collided with a Japanese fishing boat in waters off the easternmost islets of Dokdo on Thursday, officials said.The collision happened at around 9:38 a.m. about 330 kilometers northeast of Dokdo, causing the 48-ton South Korean ship to sink, the Coast Guard said.The rescue team saved all 13 sailors from the Korean boat, but operations are underway in case there could be more damage. No one on the Japanese boat was reportedly hurt. Private vessels near the area also worked on the rescue operations. The Coast Guard is trying to figure out the cause of the collision. (Yonhap)

Nov 15, 2018

Public outrage over customer abusing McDonald's employee

By Kim Hyun-binVideo footage taken at a McDonald's drive-thru has stirred public outrage as a customer is shown throwing food at a female worker. The video clip was first uploaded to an online community Tuesday, titled “The incident at a McDonald's drive-thru.” It was posted by the driver of a car in line behind the customer at a McDonald's drive-thru in Ulsan on Sunday, whose dash cam captured the scene on video.“I was waiting at the McDonald's drive-thru, and the driver in front of me was talking with the part-time worker and soon after threw the meal bag at the worker and left,” the writer wrote in the video description. “My wife and I were at a loss and the worker was crying. Mistakes in orders can happen when ordering from a drive-thru, and if that is the case, the customer should have told the employees and fixed it. The incident was shocking and way out of line.”He again wrote that he thought it would be better for the part-timer herself to contact police, so he saved the footage in a portable memory device and handed it over to the store ma

Nov 14, 2018By Kim Hyun-bin

Autonomous police system drawing concerns

By Kang Seung-wooThe government's “ambitious” plan to introduce an autonomous police system is facing questions from officers even before a test run. The Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization announced, Tuesday, that five jurisdictions and regions will test the municipal police system in the second half of next year.Based on the roadmap, local police forces will assume duties related to traffic law enforcement and sex crimes, as well as school and domestic violence, while the current national police organization will be in charge of matters related to security, intelligence and foreign affairs, counterterrorism, and serious crimes such as murder and other nationwide issues.The plan was one of President Moon Jae-in's key pledges on last year's campaign trail to decentralize the authority of the National Police Agency.Above all, the officers' biggest concern is that each region may have different service levels depending on the financial situation of local governments.Although the central government will carry the financial burden of implementing the auton

Nov 14, 2018By Kang Seung-woo

Autonomous police system drawing concerns

Government to test-operate autonomous police system next year

Kim Soon-eun, right, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Autonomy and Decentralization, speaks during a committee meeting at the Government Complex in Seoul, Tuesday. It was held to announce the government's plan to introduce the local autonomous police system. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooFive jurisdictions and regions will test-run an autonomous police system next year, before it goes into full operation nationwide in 2022, a presidential committee announced, Tuesday.Under the plan, some 43,000 police officers from the national police organization will be transferred to local police forces, where they will assume duties related to traffic law enforcement and sex crimes, as well as school and domestic violence. The current national police body will be in charge of matters related to security, intelligence and foreign affairs, counterterrorism and serious crimes such as murder and other nationwide issues. Currently, Seoul, Sejong and Jeju Island are confirmed to participate in the pilot project and two more areas for the test operation will be picked soon through public invita

Nov 13, 2018By Kang Seung-woo

Government to test-operate autonomous police system next year

'Yang operated a secret unit to upload explicit videos'

By Kim Hyun-binYang Jin-ho, CEO of WeDisk and robot developer Hankook Mirae Technology, has been operating a team that illegally uploaded secretly-taken sexually explicit photos or videos on the file sharing website, according to a whistleblower who disclosed multiple alleged details of Yang's illegal activities.On Tuesday, the whistleblower, who held a press conference in Seoul on condition of anonymity, confirmed the alleged complicity between the file sharing platform operators and “heavy uploaders” of such voyeur clips. He said that after an investigative program broadcasted the allegation in July, he and a few employees within the company conducted an internal-investigation and found that Yang ran a secret unit with two workers to manage frequent uploaders of explicit materials and even directly uploaded such clips themselves.“We know of two people who took part in the illegal acts and we believe there were at most five people involved, including Yang,” he added. The source said that after police investigated the allegations following the broadcast, Yang

Nov 13, 2018By Kim Hyun-bin

Former Asiana model arrested for drunk driving

Former Asiana Airline CF model Park Chae-kyung. Sports Hankook fileBy Lee Min-youngActress Park Chae-kyung, once a CF model for the nation's flag carrier Asiana Airlines, has been arrested for drunk driving after a crash that left another person in hospital. According to local media report on Monday, Park crashed into a car parked in front of a restaurant in Yeoksam-dong, south of Seoul. She registered a blood alcohol reading of over 0.1 percent, high enough for her driver's license to be revoked. She reportedly was so drunk she could hardly keep herself steady. The owner of the other car is currently in hospital with neck and back injuries.The accident comes amid growing calls for tougher punishment for drunk drivers triggered by the death of a soldier, 22, hit by a drunk driver in Busan in September.Park debuted as a CF model in Asiana Airlines' commercials in 2006. She starred in the KBS TV dramas "I Am Sam," and "Unstoppable Marriage."

Nov 13, 2018By Lee Min-young

Former Asiana model arrested for drunk driving

Police conclude teacher leaked exam questions to twin daughters

An officer at Suseo Police Station in southern Seoul shows items confiscated as evidence in an exam leak case at Sookmyung Girls' High School, Monday. The police concluded a teacher there leaked questions on five occasions to his twin daughters attending the same school who memorized the answers before the exams. /Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-hanBy Jung Hae-myoung Police concluded Monday that a teacher at Sookmyung Girls' High School leaked exam questions multiple times to his twin daughters who attended the same school.Wrapping up the two-month investigation and disclosing confiscated material as evidence, Suseo Police Station referred the case to the prosecution, recommending it indict all three.The police said the father copied midterm and final exam papers from June 2017 to July this year, meaning the cheating took place consistently since the first semester's final exams in the twins' freshman year. The twins' notes and flashcards with the answers to the finals in all subjects for this year's first semester, as well as a list of answers scribbled on a copy of actual exam papers

Nov 12, 2018

Police conclude teacher leaked exam questions to twin daughters

Gosiwon fires: Better housing options needed for Seoul's poor

Flower bouquets, tangerines, coffee and other small gifts are left outside the Gukil Gosiwon (a low-cost single-room accommodation) in Jongno, Seoul, Monday, for the seven tenants who died in a fire there Friday. / Korea Times photo by Lee Suh-yoonBy Lee Suh-yoonFlowers and snacks were piled up outside the charred three-story Gukil Gosiwon building, Monday, in a silent memorial to seven tenants who died in a fire there.The fire at the gosiwon (a low-cost single-room type of accommodation) in central Seoul once again reminded people of the unsafe living conditions facing most of its destitute residents.Fire hazards are common in these makeshift housing facilities. Inside, tiny rooms line both sides of a narrow dim corridor. Kitchens and bathrooms are shared facilities and each room is only three to four square-meters in area, barely enough space for a person to stretch their legs. Many do not even have windows. Gukil Gosiwon, like many others, had only one main exit and no sprinkler system. “People should not have to live in such cages,” Yun Sung-no, a member of the Korea