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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.

Poet gets eight years' jail for sexually harassing six students

Bae Yong-jae, captured from his SNSBy Chyung Eun-juKorean poet Bae Yong-jae was sentenced to eight years’ jail for sexually assaulting six of his students, according to Seoul District Court on Tuesday.He was also ordered to attend a 200-hour treatment program for sexual offenders.Bae, 53, regularly sexually harassed underage students while teaching literary creation at a high school in Gyeonggi Province. The scandal was brought to light last year when the victims uploaded posts on Twitter with the hashtag ‘#SexualAbuse_in_Literary’.“I want to have you during your most beautiful days,” Bae told one student in the school library as he kissed her in March 2013. He ordered her to text her parents that she was studying late and sleeping over at a friend’s house, according to the tweets.On September 2013, he kissed and touched another student after telling her, “You take my tutoring for granted.”Last year the poet uploaded a written apology on his personal blog, saying “I have used several sexual words and physically touched my students

Sep 12, 2017
Poet gets eight years' jail for sexually harassing six students

Kangwon Land admits massive corruption

Members of civic groups demand the resignation of Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party at Gangneung City Hall, Gangwon Province, Tuesday. / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoCasino operator Kangwon Land has admitted that almost everyone who got their jobs there between 2012 and 2013 did so thanks to their connections with politicians and the former CEO of the company.“We apologize for committing a crime which would have been possible only in the 1960s or '70s,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.But Kangwon Land pointed the finger at former CEO Choi Heung-jip, who led the state-run company from July 2011 to February 2014, saying he made the decision to hire 518 people during that period.The company said 493 of them (95 percent) ended up with jobs thanks to their connections with politicians and other influential people.Among them was a former intern of Rep. Kweon Seong-dong of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, which was the ruling party when the misconduct occurred.“A thing of the past is tarnishing the image of Kangwon Land, which has been

Sep 12, 2017
Kangwon Land admits massive corruption

Korean envoy to Ethiopia accused of harassing staff

By You Soo-sunProsecutors are investigating allegations that Korea’s ambassador to Ethiopia sexually harassed several embassy employees and volunteers.The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office is reviewing a complaint filed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs against Ambassador Kim Moon-hwan, according to prosecutors and ministry officials.Kim is suspected of touching a female embassy employee while taking her home. He previously denied the allegations and said he had once “tapped her on the shoulder” which she “may have taken the wrong way.”However a special in-house investigation by the ministry was met with a string of reports testifying that Kim had drinks with young female volunteers in an “improper manner.” The volunteers were part of the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), a foreign aid organization under the ministry.The ministry filed a complaint to the prosecutors’ office after concluding there were “multiple victims” of “one public official.”This is the first time an incumbent amb

Sep 12, 2017

Judges meet for 3rd time to discuss judicial reform

  By Lee Kyung-min About 100 judges nationwide attended a meeting, Monday, to discuss measures of judicial reform. It was the last meeting before Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Sung-tae resigns later this month.At the meeting, which began at 10:20 a.m. at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, judges discussed how to reform the current seniority-based promotion of judges to vice-ministerial level posts within High Courts nationwide.Many judges have criticized the system under which only a handful of judges chosen by the chief justice are pressured to follow the political inclinations of their superior.During the six-year term, the Supreme Court chief justice has largely been affected by the ideological inclination of a sitting or former president that appointed him (or her) to the post.  The meeting came a day ahead of the National Assembly confirmation hearing for Supreme Court Chief Justice nominee Kim Meong-su, 58.Kim, who late last month was tapped by President Moon Jae-in for the post, has openly criticized the Offic

Sep 11, 2017

Parents not obliged to look after adult children, top court rules

By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-sooParents do not have custodial duties for adult child, the top court has ruled.The Supreme Court set the rule with a case in which an adult son filed a suit against his divorced father, demanding he cover the cost of studying in the United States.The court rejected the claim, stating that the father was not obliged to look after his adult child.The father-son dispute dates back to 2010 when the father’s second son fled to the U.S. at age 15 for study, without his father’s consent. The father refused to support the son there, including school tuition and other living costs.The parents divorced shortly afterward, with the mother given custody and the father obliged to support their basic life.In 2016, the son filed a suit against the father, demanding that he pay 140 million won ($123,000) to cover tuition and living costs at a prestigious university to which he was admitted in 2014.The son claimed his father was obliged to support him financially because “an increasing number of children make their living with money from their parents.&rdq

Sep 11, 2017
Parents not obliged to look after adult children, top court rules

Parents, residents spar over school for disabled

By Lee Kyung-minParents of children with disabilities and residents in Gangseo-gu, western Seoul, are engaged in an escalating conflict over the construction of a special needs school there.  Parents say setting up a school designed to take care of children with chronic medical conditions is the only way to educate them because most schools refuse to accept them, saying they “disturb regular classes and other students find them bothersome.”They also point out a lack of such schools, leading some to spend up to three hours commuting every day.However, residents say such a school will decrease house and land prices. They instead prefer the construction of a traditional Korean medicine hospital, as proposed by Rep. Kim Sung-tae of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).The conflict came under the public spotlight after a video clip went viral that showed about 50 parents and 10 residents facing each other for hours kneeling at a public hearing at the Topsan Elementary School last Tuesday. They met to discuss setting up a school on land formerly occupied by Kongji

Sep 10, 2017
Parents, residents spar over school for disabled

Crackdown on hidden camera crimes elusive

Various small cameras are displayed at a customs office in Incheon last month. Calls are growing for a law revision against an increasing number of crimes involving hidden cameras. / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoPolice declared an all-out war against crimes involving hidden cameras last month, but their efforts will likely be futile under current law. The National Police Agency said Sunday it has investigated 301 sellers of small cameras across the country as they have become increasingly used by “peeping Toms” to spy on women in recent years.Police found seven illegal cases in violation of a radio regulation law, which requires sellers of such devices to receive government approval for their transmission technology.“Our goal is to alert sellers of small cameras to the dangers of such crimes,” a police officer said. “But under the current law, we cannot do much to root them out.”There are two main problems. First, the current law allows anyone to have small cameras which have proven to be powerful criminal tools, but the government does not keep track

Sep 10, 2017
Crackdown on hidden camera crimes elusive
  • A glimpse into Seoul's hidden camera hunters

'Salt farm slaves' to get state compensation

By Kim Bo-eunThe Seoul Central District Court on Friday ordered the state to provide 30 million won ($26,560) in compensation to only one of eight victims of labor exploitation at a salt farm in Sinan, South Jeolla Province. The ruling came in a suit filed by the eight against the state and the Sinan and Wando governments.A victim surnamed Park sought help from police but was not offered any. The court did not recognize the state’s responsibility to compensate other victims who had also filed suits, citing lack of evidence of the state’s responsibility.“Park left the salt farm early in the morning to seek help from police, but the police officer did not carry out his duty to protect Park, who has an intellectual disability. The officer did not investigate the irregularities of the salt farm owner,” the court said.“Due to the officer’s negligence, Park was forced to return to the salt farm and we suspect he would have been under severe distress ― we support the total amount of compensation Park has sought.”Of the other seven victims who w

Sep 8, 2017
'Salt farm slaves' to get state compensation

Dismissals of arrest warrants for ex-NIS, KAI officials put brakes on probes

By Kim Bo-eunThe Seoul Central District Court on Friday dismissed an arrest warrant for a former official of the National Intelligence Agency (NIS) who allegedly played a key role in the spy agency’s meddling in the 2012 presidential election.The court on the same day also rejected an arrest warrant for a Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) executive who faced charges of work obstruction due to alleged unfair recruitment, putting the brakes on investigations into both cases.The arrest warrant for the former NIS official surnamed Roh, who faces charges of violating the public official election act and the National Intelligence Service act, was the first sought among leaders of NIS-affiliated cyber teams.An association of retired NIS officials is suspected to have run up to 30 cyber teams with 48 leaders posting favorable online comments of then-presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, in a scheme to sway public opinion in her favor.“The court recognizes Roh’s charges but it was determined there is little likelihood of the suspect fleeing or destroying evidence, based on th

Sep 8, 2017

Debate heats up over juvenile law

By Kim Se-jeong The Juvenile Act, legislated in 1958 to help juvenile criminals re-enter society after imprisonment, has become a subject of heated debate again.This time, it began with the cruel assault of a schoolgirl by a group of her peers in Busan on Sept. 1, footage of which went viral online. The mother of the victim who is being treated for wounds to her lips and scalp and for cigarette burns, insists on justice for her daughter and the abolition of the law.On Cheong Wa Dae’s website, almost 200,000 people have signed a petition to scrap the law. Two girls could possibly be charged with attempted murder.On Wednesday, the discussion reached the National Assembly.Lawmakers of all parties decided to hold a special discussion on Friday.Rep. Ha Tae-keung of one of the minor Bareun Party advocated that teenagers should face the same degree of punishment as adults do for serious crimes they commit. With a few lawmakers expressing concerns, many seemed to agree it’s time to change the law.What makes the law controversial is a clause which states teenagers under 18 ar

Sep 6, 2017
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