South Korea - The Korea Times

Toxic gas leaks at KAIST; no one injured

By Park Si-soo Toxic chlorine gas leaked at a lab in South Korea's elite tech/science school KAIST in Daejeon on Tuesday. Six students were taken to hospital after inhaling the gas, but were not injured. The accident happened at 11 a.m. at a lab in the school's department of materials science and engineering. Six graduate students were there. They detected a leak when they opened a valve linked to a chlorine gas cylinder and immediately evacuated to the building's roof. School and fire authorities locked down the building and decontaminated it. The school said the students initially felt nausea and showed other typical symptoms of inhaling chlorine. But they were fine after medical treatment, it said. An investigation is under way to find the leak's cause.

Oct 3, 2018

Toxic gas leaks at KAIST; no one injured

Teenage girl found dead at school in Seoul

By Park Si-soo A teenage student was found dead at an elementary school in Eunpyeong-gu, northern Seoul, with a presumed death note, police said Tuesday.The student's parents found the body in the playground at 8:30 p.m., Monday. They were searching for their daughter, who had not come home from school, according to police. The parents took their daughter to hospital, but it was too late.There were no signs of foul play, police said. “A presumed death note was found inside clothing near the body,” said an investigator. An investigation is under way.

Oct 2, 2018

Teenage girl found dead at school in Seoul

Shinsegae's boutique hotel caught for smuggling, illegal employment

By Kang Seung-wooThe L'Escape Hotel, the first stand-alone brand of Shinsegae Chosun Hotel, has been found to have imported goods and hired a foreign employee illegally. According to Shinsegae, Tuesday, the L'Escape imported 77 Spanish-made cocktail glasses to Korea without going through customs, to use them at its top-floor bar Marque d'Amour. The glasses were brought by British-based bartender group Taxonomy, in partnership with Shinsegae, to Korea before the launch of the hotel in July.According to the law, imported business-purpose food “containers” must be declared to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) and go through additional safety inspections. “While they were imported to Korea, relevant procedures were missing,” a Shinsegae Chosun Hotel official said.“We are currently going through due process after declaring them to the Korea Customs Service.” The official added that the smuggled cocktail glasses are not being used at the bar for now. Along with the smuggled cocktail glasses, it was found that a Russian bartender worked for more

Oct 2, 2018By Kang Seung-woo

Shinsegae's boutique hotel caught for smuggling, illegal employment

Ex-top court head's car searched in judicial power abuse scandal

By Kim RahnThe prosecution searched a car of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, Sunday, in its probe into the top court's abuse of power allegations.Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office searched Yang's vehicle, as well as residences and offices of former Supreme Court justices Ko Young-han, Park Byoung-dae and Cha Han-sung who worked under Yang.It was the first time a search warrant has been issued for former top court justices since the prosecution started the investigation into the scandal three months ago, although the prosecution's request to search Yang's home was turned down and only that for the vehicle was accepted.Local courts so far have refused many more search and arrest warrant requests from the prosecution.Yang and the former justices allegedly orchestrated the Supreme Court and the National Court Administration's (NCA) alleged meddling in trials and surveillance of judges critical of the government, to curry favor with the then-Park Geun-hye administration and lobby for another high court. Ko, Park and Cha were heads of the N

Sep 30, 2018By Kim Rahn

Suspect in 'water tank bones' murder found in Philippines

Where the bones were found. YonhapBy Jung Min-hoPolice in the Philippines have confirmed the location of a key suspect in Hwaseong's “factory water tank” murder case.According to the Hwasung Seobu Police Station in Korea, Filipino police recently questioned the Filipino man, who allegedly killed his fellow countryman two years ago and dumped his bones in a factory's water purifying tank in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province.It is unclear whether Filipino police have detained the suspect.Korean police said they are working with Filipino authorities to extradite the suspect to Korea.The investigation started in April 2016 after cleaners found the bones wrapped in a jacket.Police said the skeleton's left side was crushed, a sign that the man had been hit by something blunt. Police believe it happened when he was alive.

Sep 28, 2018By Jung Min-ho

Suspect in 'water tank bones' murder found in Philippines

Korean police to go after overseas-based porn sites

By Oh Young-jin Korean police will go after overseas-based porn sites in a crackdown with the police of other countries, a top officer said Thursday."We are cooperating with other countries' police and the United States' Homeland Security investigations," National Police Commissioner Min Gap-ryong said. "We will get to the job so no longer can anybody make an excuse for their failure to crack down on the porn sites because they are based overseas and can't be touched."Min made the remarks during the presidential office's Facebook broadcast. Some overseas-based porn sites are easily accessible and offer hardcore porn and uploads of videos taken by hidden cameras. The police commissioner said the latest six-week crackdown caught 1,012 for illegally taking videos with hidden cameras and uploading them, with 63 arrested, 100 percent up from the preceding six weeks. Over 200,000 people have signed a petition on the presidential home page against hidden cameras and videos taken by them.

Sep 27, 2018

Korean police to go after overseas-based porn sites

Handmade cookie maker cheats consumers

By Kang Seung-wooA so-called handmade organic cookie maker has been found selling cookies purchased at Costco that it had repackaged. After angry consumers have called for punishment of the “manufacturer” and launched an online petition on Cheong Wa Dae's website, the company suddenly announced a suspension of its business.Mimi Cookie, based on Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, has been making a name for itself since July as it boasted about using organic ingredients without artificial additives for its range of products from cookies and macarons to sponge and roll cakes.However, some consumers suspected that its handmade cookies seemed to be the same as those sold by big-box retailer Costco.Although the cookie maker initially denied the allegations, the company later admitted that it had sold both handmade cookies and end products from Costco after repackaging them. “It is true that we changed wrappers of Costco-sold products to sell them together with our handmade cookies,” the company said last Friday.“We never did that to make a huge profit.&rdqu

Sep 27, 2018By Kang Seung-woo

POSCO engaged in unfair labor practices: lawmaker

By Kim Hyun-binAn opposition lawmaker claimed Tuesday that POSCO committed unfair labor practices to cripple its workers' recently created union. However, the steelmaker denied this, saying its moves were part of efforts to build a solid labor-management cultureRep. Chu Hye-seon of the minor opposition Justice Party released internal company documents revealing alleged illicit activities by POSCO _ actions believed to get rid of the union. “This is an infringement of the Constitution and a criminal act which needs to be addressed, and the people who were involved should be punished.” Chu said at a press conference at the National Assembly.Since its establishment in 1968, POSCO had operated without a union, but one was formed last week under the stewardship of the Korean Metal Workers' Union _ part of the hard-line Korean Confederation of Trade Unions. Many workers are accusing the POSCO management of trying to remove the union by perpetrating unfair practices.According to the documents, unveiled by the lawmaker, one appears to have been written for field managers stressin

Sep 26, 2018By Kim Hyun-bin

POSCO engaged in unfair labor practices: lawmaker

Man jailed for smuggling drug with international parcels

By Park Si-soo A man was jailed for smuggling drugs from Australia using international parcels. The Daejeon District Court said Wednesday it had sentenced the smuggler to two and a half years in prison for violating laws on narcotics or psychotropic drugs. He was charged with illegally importing a “significant amount” of the drug on eight occasions between February and April from a drug dealer in Australia who he got to know through a smartphone app. The dealer sent the drugs hidden in snack/ramen packets or envelopes to Korea using international parcels. “The amount of drug he smuggled in was huge, so he deserves a heavy punishment,” wrote Judge Sohn Hyun-chan in a ruling statement. “But the ruling was made after taking into account the facts that only a small portion of the smuggled drug was circulated and he committed the crime to make money for living.”

Sep 26, 2018

Man jailed for smuggling drug with international parcels

PHOTOS Chinese man dies in factory blaze; arson suspected

Firefighters attack the blaze at the plastics factory in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Park Si-sooA Chinese man was killed in a fire that destroyed a plastics factory in an industrial complex in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Police, who analyzed CCTV footage, said the man started the fire at 4:10 p.m. after spraying an unidentified flammable liquid on a pile of plastic. The blaze, being treated as arson, destroyed nearly a third of the 2,100-square-meter factory. The fire also damaged nearby buildings. Forty-three fire engines and 106 firefighters were mobilized. The fire was extinguished at 6:20 p.m. Police said the man, whose name and other details were withheld, got a job at the factory in 2016 and quit last October. He held permanent residency here. An investigation is under way to discover why he set fire to his former workplace. Police said there was no record of conflict, such as overdue payment, between the Chinese and the factory. When the fire broke out, about 20 foreign workers were in a dormitory associated with the factory. They evacuated safely.