South Korea - The Korea Times

Choi Soon-sil gets 3-year jail term over daughter's illegal college admission

By Kim Bo-eunThe Seoul Central District Court handed Choi Soon-sil a three-year prison term in the first trial Friday over charges she made Ewha Womans University provide favors for her daughter in admissions and grading.This was the first court ruling for Choi over the influence-peddling scandal, which removed her longtime friend former President Park Geun-hye from office in March.Hearings are taking place for other cases including allegedly pressuring conglomerates for funds and receiving bribes from Samsung in return for granting it business favors.Choi has been detained and indicted on charges of work disturbance for making the school’s faculty change rules to admit her daughter Chung Yoo-ra and give her passing grades despite her absence from school. The independent counsel team led by Park Young-soo had sought seven years for that charge.Former Ewha President Choi Kyung-hee and former physical education dean Kim Kyung-sook were each handed two-year sentences. Former admissions chief Namkung Gon also received an 180-month term for his involvement.Professors Lyou Chul-gyun

Jun 23, 2017

Choi Soon-sil gets 3-year jail term over daughter's illegal college admission

1,560 institutes qualified to treat foreign patients

By Lee Kyung-minThe government has granted 1,560 medical institutions, which met strengthened safety requirements, licenses to treat foreign patients, the government said Thursday.The number is almost half the 2,840 from last year, as 1,515 institutions did not seek a license this year as they failed to meet the new requirements.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the medical institutions will be able to offer treatments to foreign patients and 1,047 private businesses can engage in marketing to attract medical tourists over the next three years.Under the law that took effect in 2009, those seeking to attract foreign tourists for medical services must renew their licenses every three years or face a fine of up to 30 million won ($26,300) or a prison term of up to three years.The ministry said all of the 1,560 medical institutions are insured for medical malpractice. Clinics or hospitals with less than 100 beds are insured for up to 100 million won, and hospitals with over 100 beds 200 million won.They are also equipped with at least one doctor who has undergone five year

Jun 22, 2017

PHOTOS Car slams into hospital, two injured

By Park Si-sooA sedan smashed into a hospital in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Thursday, injuring two passengers.The accident happened at 2:50 p.m. at Inje University Ilsan Baik Hospital. The Grandeur sedan suddenly accelerated while leaving a parking lot and crashed into the building. The car hit a stairway leading to the basement first floor.Police are investigating the accident’s cause. 

Jun 22, 2017

Car slams into hospital, two injured [PHOTOS]

Arab tourists biggest spenders in Korea: study

 By Lee Kyung-min One out of ten tourists from Middle Eastern countries spent over $10,000 here largely on medical or beauty treatment as well as fashion items, a government study showed Wednesday.  The Korea Culture & Tourism Institute conducted a survey on 12,003 foreigners who visited here last year including Arabs, Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Singaporeans, Canadians, Americans, French, Malaysians and Hong Kong nationals.Out of the 135 Arab respondents, more than 10 percent said they spent over $10,000. Almost a third, or 32.6 percent, said they spent between $3,000 and $9,900. Arab tourists spent an average of $2,593 per capita. Their favorite shopping items were fashion goods (58.1 percent).According to a separate study conducted a year earlier of 135 Arab tourists, a fifth of them spent over $10,000, and 34.4 percent said they spent between $3,000 and $9,900.This year’s study also showed Chinese spent the second largest amount with their per capita spending tallied at $2,059. Their favorite shopping items were fragrances and cosmetics.Russian tourists

Jun 21, 2017

단독 몸 불편한 홀아버지 살해한 아들

(서울=코리아타임스) 정민호 기자 = 함께 살던 아버지를 살해한 20대 아들이 경찰에 붙잡혔다. 경기 고양경찰서는 19일 오전 덕양구 소재 아파트에서 몸이 불편한 아버지를 살해한 혐의를 받고 있는 아들의 현장 검증을 진행했다. 같은 동 주민들과 관리사무소의 설명을 종합하면, 아들이 평소에도 아버지에게 자주 화를 내고 소란을 피워서, 사건이 발생하기 전에도 신고를 받은 경찰이 수 차례 그 집으로 출동했다. 어느 날부터 그 집에서 소리가 들리지 않고, 전단지가 그대로 방치되고, 역한 냄새가 나기 시작해 한 주민이 지난 주 경찰에 신고했고, 집 안에서 아버지가 숨진 채 발견됐다. 발견 당시 시신은 부패가 상당히 진행된 것으로 전해졌다. 아버지는 평소에 몸이 불편해서 휠체어를 타고 다녔다고 주민들은 말했다. 경찰은 도망간 아들은 검거해 현재 정확한 범행 동기 등을 조사 중이다.

Jun 20, 2017

School violence prompts public anger again rich, powerful people

By Kim Se-jeong Alleged violence happened in April involving five third-grade students is making unprecedented development, triggering a public uproar against people with power and money.The flash point of the incident was two out of four students who beat their classmate were the children of wealthy and powerful families ― one the son of Yoon Son-ha, a famous actress, and another a grandson of Park Sam-koo, chairman of Kumho Asiana Group and the fact that they got away with getting disciplinary measures from the school.All four are students of Soongeui Elementary School in Seoul, a prestigious school in Seoul, and they were on a school trip when the incident happened.The school’s investigative committee found the four students beat one student with plastic baseball bats and wooden sticks. The victim was covered with a thin blanket. The victim claimed the four students had forced him to drink a bottle of body cleanser when he reached out for water at night.The school committee closed the case concluding it as a mere prank going wild and didn’t hold anyone respon

Jun 19, 2017

President faces resistance in prosecution reform

Ahn Kyong-whan, left, who gave up his nomination for justice minister last week and Cho Kuk, the senior presidential secretary for civic affairs / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoCheong Wa Dae said Monday it is watching closely to see whether prosecutors are taking collective action against the Moon Jae-in government’s campaign to reform the prosecution.According to a senior official, the presidential office is keeping an eye on key figures at prosecution offices following the leaks of private information that forced Ahn Kyong-whan, the nominee for justice minister, to give up the post.The 69-year-old dropped out last week, following media reports that he secretly filed a marriage certificate without the consent of an unwitting bride when he was 27. The woman later filed for an annulment with a Seoul court and won the case.It was the annulment document that brought the issue into the spotlight. Given that only a few knew about his past and had access to the document, Cheong Wa Dae suspects that some prosecutors deliberately leaked the information to remove Ahn, a law professor who pro

Jun 19, 2017

President faces resistance in prosecution reform

Divorced Chinese woman can be naturalized, court rules

By Lee Han-sooIt is illegal to stop a Chinese woman who divorced her husband for constant physical abuse from becoming naturalized, a court ruled Monday.Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the woman, who had filed a suit against the Minister of Justice. She wanted the ministry to nullify the decision to deny her naturalization, according to Korean news agency Newsis.The court ruled that it was illegal to deny naturalization because it was not the woman’s fault that the marriage ended but rather that of the husband who constantly assaulted her.“The marriage broke down because of the husband’s constant abuse,” said the court in a ruling statement. “The plaintiff could not live a normal marriage for a reason not liable to her. Therefore, the legal evaluation that she had a part in the divorce is wrong.”The court also added that the plaintiff had fulfilled legal requirements to apply for naturalization.“In accordance with the naturalization law, a foreigner must have an address in Korea for five years or more to apply for naturalization,

Jun 19, 2017

Divorced Chinese woman can be naturalized, court rules

Over 100 judges to meet to discuss 'blacklist of judges'

 By Lee Kyung-min A total of 101 judges nationwide will attend a meeting today to discuss measures about the “blacklist of judges.”The list was allegedly created by the Supreme Court to deny promotion of those critical of its chief Justice Yang Sung-tae.During the single six-year term, the top justice exercises enormous power over personnel affairs of about 3,000 judges and 15,000 judicial employees including 12 Supreme Court justices.Promotions of judges are reportedly determined to a considerable degree by the political inclinations of the rulings they made on socially and ideologically contentious cases. Yang, appointed by former President Lee Myung-bak, a known conservative, has less than three months until his retirement in September.The meeting, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. at the Judicial Research and Training Institute in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, comes four months after the allegation about the list first emerged.It was alleged that the Office of Court Administration under the Supreme Court, sought to scale down a judges-only academic symposium. Since

Jun 18, 2017

Nepali worker dies in ladder fall at DSME shipyard

DSME shipyard in Geoje Island. / Korea Times file By Park Si-sooA Nepali worker, 30, died after he fell from a ladder while painting a vessel at a Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME) shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, police said Friday.The accident happened at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. He fell five meters from the ladder he had climbed to paint a vessel anchored in the shipyard’s section C. He was taken to a hospital but died at 2:40 a.m. Thursday.An investigation is under way to find the accident’s cause. 

Jun 16, 2017

Law & Crime

Law & Crime

Choi Soon-sil gets 3-year jail term over daughter's illegal college admission

1,560 institutes qualified to treat foreign patients

PHOTOS Car slams into hospital, two injured

Arab tourists biggest spenders in Korea: study

단독 몸 불편한 홀아버지 살해한 아들

School violence prompts public anger again rich, powerful people

President faces resistance in prosecution reform

Divorced Chinese woman can be naturalized, court rules

Over 100 judges to meet to discuss 'blacklist of judges'

Nepali worker dies in ladder fall at DSME shipyard

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