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State loses suit for disclosing names of conscientious objectors

 By Lee Kyung-min   A Seoul court ruled against the Military Manpower Administration (MMA), Wednesday, for disclosing names of conscientious objectors under the category of draft dodgers.The Seoul Administrative Court granted an emergency injunction filed by 116 conscientious objectors whose names and other personal information were disclosed on the administration body’s website last December.The 116 men who refused to serve military duty which involves using a firearm, on religious grounds, filed the suit against the MMA after it included their personal information among the 237 individuals who unlawfully refused conscription.The group of men claimed the state body’s decision was prejudicial to lump them with others who do not have religious grounds for refusing to serve in the military.“We do not attempt or wish to evade mandatory military duty altogether,” the group said. “We are willing to serve in other forms of mandatory service in the public or private sectors that could replace the acts of taking part in war which goes against our

May 3, 2017

State loses suit for disclosing names of conscientious objectors

 By Lee Kyung-min   A Seoul court ruled against the Military Manpower Administration (MMA), Wednesday, for disclosing names of conscientious objectors under the category of draft dodgers.The Seoul Administrative Court granted an emergency injunction filed by 116 conscientious objectors whose names and other personal information were disclosed on the administration body’s website last December.The 116 men who refused to serve for military duty which involves using a firearm, on religious grounds, filed the suit against the MMA after it included their personal information among the 237 individuals that unlawfully refused to be subjected to conscription.The group of men claimed the state body’s decision was prejudicial to lump them with others who do not have religious grounds for refusing to serve military duty.“We do not attempt or wish to evade mandatory military duty altogether,” the group said. “We are willing to serve in other forms of mandatory service in the public or private sectors required that could replace the acts of taking part

May 3, 2017

Police investigate 569 for election law violations

Police said they are investigating 569 people on charges of breaking the Election Law, Tuesday, just one week ahead of the May 9 presidential election.Of the 530 reported cases, the majority were related to acts of vandalism ― 401 people in 392 cases allegedly damaged election-related property such as posters and banners.Smear campaigning was the second-most-reported case with 68 people accused, followed by physical violence, distribution of handouts and premature electioneering.Among the 569 people currently under investigation, four have been arrested.Damaged election property has become increasingly noticeable since campaigns kicked off, April 17. Police are looking into vandalism incidents concerning 331 posters, 51 placards and 10 other electioneering trucks. Fifty cases of Election Law breaches occurred online, taking up 9.4% of the total.In response to growing acts of vandalism during the election period, police have increased patrols near areas with political campaign posters and placards. It also vowed to take a tough stance against election law violations by holdi

May 2, 2017

Presidential candidates focus more on SNS campaigning

 By Lee Kyung-min   With only a week left before the May 9 presidential election, five major candidates are increasingly devoting their campaigns more to online efforts than off-line, Tuesday.Using social networking services (SNS) is an ideal means of communication with voters, according to campaign offices, as each candidate can exercise full control over which stories to tell along with viewer-specific visual effects.Campaigners emphasize strengths and downplay weaknesses of each candidate through SNS.The candidates have dozens of campaign workers and strategists devoted solely to managing SNS accounts.Frontrunner Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) has 503,000 likes on his Facebook page so far. Every new post gets at least 2,000 likes and 1,000 new comments instantly.Moon unveiled two maps, both called Moonsters, for StarCraft: Brood War, once a considerably popular online game among gamers in the 1990s, using him as a main component in the game.The rather out-of-touch idea to most non-gamers drew huge popularity among those in their 30s and 40s who a

May 2, 2017

Park's lawyer denies all corruption charges at first hearing

Former President Park Geun-hye's lawyer denied all the corruption charges that led to her dismissal during the first preliminary hearing of her trial Tuesday.Park, who has been jailed since March 31, was absent from the hearing at the Seoul Central District Court as her attendance was not mandatory.Yoo Yeong-ha, her lawyer, said he would formally state his position on the charges after completing a review of the prosecution's investigation records, which amount to more than 120,000 pages.A preliminary hearing is held to review the charges brought against a suspect and determine future proceedings.The former leader faces 18 criminal counts of bribery, abuse of power, coercion and leak of government secrets, mostly involving her longtime friend Choi Soon-sil and key former aides."I demand an explanation of the details of the prosecution's indictment sheet," Yoo said.The lawyer took issue with a series of alleged inconsistencies in the charges. He claimed Park's powers were suspended in December after the parliament passed an impeachment motion, but the prosecution made it appear that s

May 2, 2017
Park's lawyer denies all corruption charges at first hearing

42.4 million eligible for May 9 poll

Nearly a quarter of voters aged 60 and older By Lee Kyung-min More than 42.4 million people are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, with those aged 60 and older accounting for almost a quarter of the total, the government said Monday.According to the Ministry of the Interior, out of 51,714,900 citizens, the number of eligible voters aged 19 and older is 42,479,710, up nearly 5 percent or 1.971,868 from the 2012 presidential election.The number includes overseas voters and those who are eligible to cast absentee ballots. Almost a quarter, or 24.4 percent of eligible voters, is aged 60 or older.The total number of the oldest age bracket is 10,362,877, up 3.6 percent from the previous presidential election.Those in their 40s account for the second largest age group with their number tallied at 8,736,420 (20.6 percent), followed by those in their 50s with 8,477,808 (19.9 percent), those in their 30s with 7,473,957 (17.6 percent) and those in their 20s, 6,766,283 (15.9 percent).By gender, 21,437,021 are women and 21,042,689 are men.Region-wise, Gyeonggi Provi

May 1, 2017

Ex-president Park hires 3 lawyers to strengthen defense

 By Lee Kyung-min Former President Park Geun-hye hired three defense attorneys ahead of her first pre-trial conference scheduled for today, legal sources said Monday.The three _ Lee Sang-chul, 59, Lee Dong-chan, 36, and Nam Ho-jung, 33 _ joined forces with the two lawyers, Chae Myung-sung and Yoo Young-ha, who have been struggling to devise a strategy following the court-issued arrest warrant that placed Park in a detention facility.  Lee Sang-chul is a former judge at the Seoul Central District Court (SCDC) and works at the same law firm with Nam. The firm’s name is unidentified. Lee Dong-chan is the director-general for a conservative group of lawyers.  The SCDC will convene the pre-trial conference at 10 a.m. in courtroom 417 to hear from both the prosecution about the charges against Park and her defense attorneys about how she will plead. They will set a detailed schedule on each side’s plan to call witnesses.Given the proceeding is a pre-trial conference, the former president is not obliged to appear. However, she might, given past cases where Pa

May 1, 2017

Five killed, 20 injured in crane collapse at Samsung shipyard

/ YonhapFive people were killed and 20 others injured after a crane part fell onto a ship under construction on Monday, authorities said.Two cranes collided at a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in the southeastern port city of Geoje around 2:50 p.m., causing a structure to fall from one of the cranes, according to firefighters and police. The tower crane that broke was between 50 and 60 meters long and weighed 32 tons.Five were confirmed dead, six were seriously hurt, while 14 sustained minor injuries, police said. The injured were rushed to three nearby hospitals."It's still chaotic at the site," said a police official. "We plan to figure out the details through relevant officials."Work has been under way to rescue others who may be buried at the site."We haven't had such a big accident in the past several years," said a company official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "For now, handling the accident is the most important. Please wait for official comments from the company." (Yonhap)

May 1, 2017
Five killed, 20 injured in crane collapse at Samsung shipyard

Leadcorp chief jailed for taking kickbacks

Leadcorp Chairman Seo Hong-min / Screen captured from MBCBy Lee Han-sooChief of private lender Leadcorp was convicted of illegal kickback.The Supreme Court has upheld a guilty verdict against Leadcorp Chairman Seo Hong-min, sentencing him to two years’ jail and fining him 1.4 billion won ($1.2 million).Seo, 52, was indicted for receiving 1.4 billion won in kickbacks from two advertising agencies between July 2009 and Feb. 2016. In return, the agencies secured lucrative deals to produce the lender’s commercials.“We found no legal fault with the ruling from an appellate court,” the top court said in its ruling statement. “Therefore, a guilty verdict against the accused was justified.

May 1, 2017
Leadcorp chief jailed for taking kickbacks

South Korean diplomat fined for taking 'upskirt photos'

By Park Si-sooA South Korean diplomat has been convicted of taking indecent photos of women.Seoul Western District Court fined the lawyer-turned-diplomat, 38, identified only as Kim, 70 million won and ordered him to take a 40-hour education program on sexual crimes.He was apprehended on Aug. 5 last year for taking photos up the skirt of a woman on a bus. Police later confirmed that he had used his smartphone to take photos up women’s skirts 16 times between April 2015 and August last year. One photo was taken in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs lobby in Seoul.“He committed the crime even knowing illegal nature of his behavior,” said Judge Nam Hyun in a ruling statement. “The verdict was made after taking into consideration that he is deeply remorseful for his crime, has no criminal record and is committed to dealing with his problem.” 

May 1, 2017
South Korean diplomat fined for taking 'upskirt photos'
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