South Korea - The Korea Times

Teenagers arrested for fabricated accidents

The Jongno police arrested 23 teenagers Wednesday for collecting settlement fees and insurance money after a number of collaborated accidents. They are charged with fraud. One of them, a Park, and his friends, deliberately bumped into taxis which crossed the median, making it look like accidents. They did this 44 times and took some 110 million won ($100,000) using this scheme.They planned this because they knew that taxis around Jongno-3-ga and the Hongdae area in western Seoul frequently cross the median to avoid the crowd. The police recognized the similarities in the repeated crime around that region,and went on with the investigation. They went through the financial record of the suspects. “Taxi drivers are reluctant to report the bump because they know they violated the law.In fear of the charges and punishment they might face, they rather stay quiet,” said one police officer. “If you are suspicious of something, report,” he added.

Apr 3, 2013

Footballer Cha Du-ri undergoes divorce

Footballer Cha Du-ri is going through divorce procedures, according to legal industry sources Wednesday.Ending a five-year marriage, the 33-year-old footballer filed for divorce mediation with the Seoul Family Court against his 34-year-old wife, Shin Hye-seong, on March 12, they said. Meditation during divorce is a way of finding solutions to issues such as child custody and spousal support without formal court trials. When the agreement is not reached amicably, formal divorce trials can be opened.Cha, the son of South Korean football legend Cha Bum-kun, tied the knot with his wife in 2009. The couple has one daughter and one son.After spending 11 years overseas with seven German clubs and one Scottish team, the younger Cha joined FC Seoul in the domestic K League Classic last month.

Apr 3, 2013

DUP meeting

Rep. Park Ki-choon, left, floor leader of the main opposition DemocraticUnited Party (DUP), speaks with Rep. Moon Hee-sang, the DUP chairman,at a general meeting at the National Assembly, Seoul, Tuesday.     / Yonhap

Apr 2, 2013

Bird flu alert

Chinese tourists from Shanghai arriving at Incheon International Airport, Tuesday, are scanned by a thermographic camera. Two people have died and one is in serious condition due to H7N9 strain of avian influenza in the Chinese city.                                                                                               / Korea Times

Apr 2, 2013

Police play up numbers in sex crimes

Sex trade and crimes are illegal but the police have been playing up the numbers that are beyond general imagination.In one case, the police in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, raided an office room and found six people engaging in sex trade.The proprietor was asked how many clients he entertains each day and he said about 10 to 12.The investigators proceeded to multiply the number by 13 months that the operation was believed to have been run and multiply that by 30 days and 12 clients a day for a result of 4,680.Feeling that the number was too large, they cut it in half and placed in their report that more than 2,300 people had been illegally entertained at the premises. This turned out the number of 320 million won ($290,000) in illegal charges.Such has been the way that the police have been working with numbers to their convenience, observers said.They said there is no real basis for the way the numbers are calculated, numbers which eventually lead to the size of sentencing when the persons involved are indicted and end up in court.

Apr 2, 2013

Born in Vietnam, Serving in Seoul

Pham Thi Quynh Hoa talks on the phone at her office at the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s Multiculturalism Division, Monday. Pham, 33, is one of a handful of foreign-born employees who are lending their voices to policy-making for the increasing number of multiracial families in Korea.                                                                                 / Korea Times photo by Kim Ji-soo 'Grateful to lend my small vocie to policymaking for multicultural households'By Kim Ji-sooPham Thi Quynh Hoa, 33, is busy checking her computer, taking calls and meeting with lecturers at her office in Seoul City Hall.Moving quietly and efficiently, the Vietnam-born manager of the Multiculturalism Division at the Seoul Metropolitan Government is proud to be making a small contribution to the diverse society Korea is growing into.She has lived in Korea since 2005, after marryin

Apr 2, 2013By Kim Ji-soo

High school student allegedly jumps off a building and dies

A high school student was found dead on the ground near his apartment in Daechi-dong, Gangnam on April 1. A security guard called the police right after he found the boy. A CCTV (closed-circuit television) captured the moment he was going up to the top floor of the apartment at about 7.a.m. He was feeling insecure about his prospect as test scores were not measuring up to his expectations, said his bereft family, according to the Suseo police.Kim took the fist exam last Friday and was devastated by the result, their family told the police. Other than test-related stress, no other reason seemed to have factored his death, according to the police.  The boy didn't seem to have suffered from school-bullying, according to the police.There was no suicide note at the scene, they added. The school principal said, “I had no idea he would do such thing. "He was an A student, a vice-class leader, and was a sociable child. At this point, we are unable to confirm the cause of his choice."In the CPSQ test (Problem-Behavior Screening Questionnaire), he showed nothing problematic in

Apr 2, 2013By Lee Kyung-min

Man fined for stalking female prosecutor

The man found the female prosecutor cute and snuck into the prosecutor’s office in southern Seoul in a form of stalking, landing a fine of 5 million won ($4,500).The 42-year-old Shin had been indicted to sneaking into the prosecutor’s office to try and meet the female prosecutor twice last July and August.A judge of the southern Seoul district court said Shin has a long record of stalking but nothing serious happened and the female prosecutor was not harmed in any way.Shin has undergone numerous psychiatric treatments for love sickness since 2000 and had previously been fined 3 million won ($2,600) and handed a sentence of six months suspended for one year in 2007.In 2009, he was given a sentence of six months in prison and mandatory rehabilitation on similar charges.

Apr 2, 2013

Man fined for stalking female prosecutor

U.S. moves warship, sea-based radar to watch North Korea

The U.S. Navy is moving a warship and a sea-based radar platform closer to the North Korean coast in order to monitor that country's military moves, including possible new missile launches, a Defense Department official said Monday.The decision to move at least one ship, the destroyer USS John S. McCain, and the oil rig-like SBX-1 are the first of what may be other naval deployments, CNN has learned.They follow weeks of belligerent rhetoric from North Korea, including threats to use nuclear weapons.The United States and South Korea have gone ahead with joint military exercises despite the threats, and South Korea warned Monday that any provocative moves from North Korea would trigger a strong response "without any political considerations."The United States has bolstered the exercises with shows of force that included overflights by nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers, massive Cold War-era B-52s and F-22 Raptor stealth fighters."If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations," So

Apr 2, 2013

U.S. moves warship, sea-based radar to watch North Korea

Support for Ahn

Independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, left, shakes hands with Lee Dong-sup, head of the Democratic United Party’s Nowon office at Sangye-dong, Seoul, Monday. Lee said he was withdrawing his candidacy in support of Ahn who is running for the National Assembly seat in Nown in the April 24 by-elections.                                                                                               / Korea Times

Apr 1, 2013

Others

Others

Teenagers arrested for fabricated accidents

Footballer Cha Du-ri undergoes divorce

DUP meeting

Bird flu alert

Police play up numbers in sex crimes

Born in Vietnam, Serving in Seoul

High school student allegedly jumps off a building and dies

Man fined for stalking female prosecutor

U.S. moves warship, sea-based radar to watch North Korea

Support for Ahn

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