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Mental patient's bomb-threat call leads to mall evacuation

A bomb-threat call from a mental hospital patient led to the evacuation of hundreds of people at a shopping mall. YonhapBy Jung Hae-myoungHundreds of customers and staff at a mall were evacuated after a mentally ill man made a call threatening to blow up the building, Gimpo police said Monday. The call was made to a supermarket in Gimpo. “I have installed an explosive bomb,” the man said. “Evacuate all the customers.” The building was evacuated and searched but no explosives were found. Police tracked the phone call and found it was from a mental hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The caller was a patient, 54.

Aug 22, 2018
Mental patient's bomb-threat call leads to mall evacuation

Man fined W6 million over women's toilet spycam

By Park Si-sooA man in his 20s was fined 6 million won ($5,360) for secretly videotaping inside women's toilets in North Chungcheong Province in May. The Cheongju Provincial Court made the ruling on Wednesday, finding the man, 21, guilty of violating the Sexual Violence Act. The court also ordered the accused to do a 40-hour sexual crime treatment program. “It was a serious crime that deserves a tough punishment,” presiding judge Lee Ji-hyung said. “But the ruling was made after taking into account that the accused had kept the videotapes to himself, not sharing with others, and expressed deep remorse.” It was the latest ruling on so-called “molka” or spycam videos that involve men secretly filming women in schools, offices, trains, toilets and changing rooms. Tens of thousands of women recently took to the streets in protest, calling for a crackdown and heavy punishment for spycam pornography. The number of spycam crimes reported to police has surged from around 1,100 in 2010 to more than 6,500 last year. Offenders have included school teachers, p

Aug 22, 2018
Man fined W6 million over women's toilet spycam

Unauthorized naked photo sharing goes unpunished

By Park Si-soo A man was cleared of sexual violence charges raised after he shared self-taken naked photos of his girlfriend with her. The Supreme Court made the ruling on Wednesday after confirming the naked photos that the man took against her will in 2016 were shared only between him and his girlfriend. The top court said Korean law punishes unapproved sharing of photos or video clips that cause sexual humiliation. But this rule is applied only when the content is shared with a third person, it ruled. “In this case, the sharing was done exclusively between the man and woman,” the court wrote in its ruling statement. “Even though the photos were taken and shared against her will, it's hard to see the woman as a third person.” The top court cleared the man of the sexual violence charge, but upheld a six-month jail term imposed for his physical violence against the woman that occurred when the couple clashed over the naked photos. The court suspended the jail term for two years, meaning unless he commits a similar crime during the period, the prison term will

Aug 22, 2018
Unauthorized naked photo sharing goes unpunished

'Victim angered me with threats to report illegal hostess service'

A brutal murder suspect is being taken to the Gwacheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. YonhapThe suspect in the mutilation and murder of a middle-aged man has said he killed the victim out of rage after the man threatened to report him to police over an illegal hostess service at his karaoke bar, police said Wednesday.Police on Tuesday arrested a 34-year-old karaoke bar owner, identified only by his family name Byun, in Anyang, about 20 km south of Seoul, on charges of murder, body mutilation and others.Byun is accused of stabbing a 51-year-old man to death in his karaoke bar and mutilating the body before disposing of it in a thicket near a parking lot of Seoul Grand Park on Aug. 10.Police were chasing the suspect after the victim's dismembered body was found in a bush in the public park complex in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, on Sunday. Byun has admitted to the charges.Byun told police he killed the victim, who came to his karaoke bar as a customer, because he threatened to file a police report on him for running an illegal hostess business at the bar.The customer a

Aug 22, 2018
'Victim angered me with threats to report illegal hostess service'

Police hunting for Chinese meth cooks

Raw materials and devices used to produce methamphetamine displayed at Busan Police Station, Monday. Courtesy of Busan Police StationBy Jung Min-hoPolice are looking for two Chinese men, who have fled Korea after allegedly trying to make a massive amount of methamphetamine here.Busan police said Monday that they had arrested a Korean man, surnamed Park, for playing a leading role in conspiring and attempting to make 10 kilograms of the illicit drug, which would be worth about 30 billion won ($27 million).Seven other Koreans are also being investigated.According to police, Park offered three Chinese meth production experts, known as “cooks,” work at a drug lab at Hongseong in South Chungcheong Province early this year.Their plan was to make meth with ephedrine and other raw materials and sell it in Korea and Japan.However, their plan started to fall apart when one of the three cooks ― the most advanced one ― pulled out for personal reasons.The two Chinese tried to make meth without him, but failed. Around that time, one of the Korean members, surnamed Kang, was arrest

Aug 22, 2018
Police hunting for Chinese meth cooks

Suspect in brutal murder caught

A brutal murder suspect is being taken to the Gwacheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday. Yonhap By Jung Da-minA 34-year-old man sought in the brutal murder of a 51-year-old man has been apprehended, police said Tuesday.According to the Gwacheon Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, police apprehended the suspect at around 4 p.m. at a rest area on the Seohaean Expressway near Seosan, South Chungcheong Province.The police said they tracked down his car after analyzing CCTV footages.The man surnamed Byeon, the owner of a karaoke bar in Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, is suspected of killing the victim, dismembering his body and disposing it at a hiking trail at Seoul Grand Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province.Byeon said that he stabbed several times the victim to death with a knife, after arguing over “karaoke hostess issues.” He said they were strangers.When police found body parts in plastic bags Sunday, the headless corpse had its legs chopped off below the kne

Aug 21, 2018
Suspect in brutal murder caught

'Supreme Court had info on Park's impeachment ruling'

Investigators from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office take materials they seized during a search of the offices and residences of two senior judges in Seoul, Monday, as part of the investigation into the Supreme Court's alleged misdeeds. / YonhapBy Kang Seung-wooThe Supreme Court, under former Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae, is found to have obtained secret documents of the Constitutional Court including one regarding the impeachment trial of former President Park Geun-hye.According to the prosecution, Tuesday, a judge dispatched to the Constitutional Court from February 2015 to February 2018 collected a dozen classified documents and leaked them to the Supreme Court. The document leakage came to light as the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office is currently analyzing a hard drive and a USB device taken from Im Jong-heon, former vice director of the National Court Administration (NCA), as part of its investigation into the judicial abuse scandal. The NCA is the top court's administrative body.Yang is facing allegations of using high-profile trials as bargaining chips i

Aug 21, 2018
'Supreme Court had info on Park's impeachment ruling'

9 killed in electronics factory fire west of Seoul

Nine South Korean workers were killed Tuesday in a factory fire in Incheon, just west of Seoul, authorities said.The fire occurred at around 3:43 p.m. at an electronics goods factory production line that reportedly handles hazardous materials. Some workers jumped out of the building before firefighters arrived and lost their lives. Dozens of firetrucks were sent to the scene located inside the Namdong industrial complex.The blaze appears to have started from the fourth floor, according to firefighters. They are trying to determine the exact cause of the fire. (Yonhap)

Aug 21, 2018
9 killed in electronics factory fire west of Seoul

Man swindles 250 million won over gay community membership

Swindler offered membership of gay community. YonhapBy Jung Hae-myoungA man in his 20s has been sentenced to three years' jail for swindling a total of 250 million won ($223,553) from two victims, Ulsan District Court said Monday. He lured them to pay the money to join an online gay community where they could meet other members. He swindled 164 million won ($46,651) from one victim, who had sent money 19 times since May 2016. The fraudster splurged the money on gambling.The court heard that in 2017 he pretended to be a fund manager, tricking an investor out of 15 million wonThe court said the accused had shown no remorse.

Aug 21, 2018
Man swindles 250 million won over gay community membership

Young woman fined for throwing water bottle at older man scolding her 'public love affair'

By Park Si-soo A young woman has been fined 1 million won ($895) for throwing a water bottle at a mid-aged man who scolded her “love affair” with her boyfriend at a restaurant. Ulsan District Court made the ruling on Tuesday, finding the accused, 20, guilty of injuring the 40-something man. According to court documents, the woman abused the man and threw a plastic water bottle at him at a restaurant in Ulsan in December after he criticized her for lying on her boyfriend's lap.“The accused verbally attacked the man who is 20 years older than her. Above all, she was not cooperative during the investigation and didn't appear at a court hearing,” Judge Song Young-seung wrote in a ruling statement, explaining why the fine was higher than the 700,000 won sought by the prosecution.

Aug 21, 2018
Young woman fined for throwing water bottle at older man scolding her 'public love affair'
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