The prosecution on Friday requested four years in prison for Kim Ki-choon, ex-President Park Geun-hye’s chief of staff, on charges of abuse of power and perjury in relation to his involvement in the drafting of a white list to illicitly provide support in the form of hundreds of millions of won to pro-Park civic organizations. 　　The prosecution also requested six years in prison and a fine of 100 million won ($90,000) for Cho Yoon-sun, who served as minister of culture, minister of gender equali

Politics Aug. 31, 2018

After a UN anti-discrimination body on Thursday advised Tokyo to adopt a victim-centered approach to achieve a lasting solution on the issue of Japan’s wartime military sexual slavery, which largely involved Korean women, Tokyo’s UN mission has expressed its regret and lodged a protest with the UN committee, according to local media.　　The 18-member UN body stated that Tokyo’s efforts did not “take a fully victim-centered approach (and) that the surviving (victims) were not adequately consulted.”

Foreign Affairs Aug. 31, 2018

Unionized employees of Kangwon Land, a Gangwon Province-based, state-owned casino, reported their former head Ham Seung-hee over corruption allegations Thursday, after a lawmaker accused him of having spent some 70 million won ($63,000) worth of company funds for personal use while in office.　Ham, once a celebrated prosecutor and lawmaker, served as the head of the country’s largest casino from 2014 to 2017. According to Rep. Song Ki-hun of the ruling Democratic Party, the 67-year-old is suspect

Social Affairs Aug. 30, 2018

After a special police investigation team on Tuesday concluded that the 2009 crackdown against SsangYong Motors’ laid-off workers was a form of state violence and that it was orchestrated under the leadership and approval of the former President Lee Myung-bak, former SsangYong employees demanded an apology from the government. 　　“I had to watch my colleagues being beaten by SWAT police officers back in 2009, and the traumatic experience still haunts me to this day,” said Kim Sun-dong, one of the

Social Affairs Aug. 29, 2018

One of the biggest professional organizations of obstetricians and gynecologists in South Korea on Tuesday said its members have discontinued performing abortions, except legally allowed procedures, in spite of existing demand due to the government’s latest law revision that imposes harsher punishments on doctors who perform the illegal but common procedure in the country.The decision is estimated to affect many women in South Korea, where some 3,000 abortions are said to be performed daily -- i

Social Affairs Aug. 28, 2018

The Health Ministry is pushing a proposal that would restrict Korean National Health Insurance coverage for foreign nationals to those who have stayed in the country for at least six months. The current requirement is three months.　Under the proposed changes, to be finalized later this year, only F-5 and F-6 visa holders -- permanent residents and marriage immigrants -- would be eligible to pay insurance premiums equivalent to those paid by Korean nationals. F-1 and F-2 visa holders would have t

Social Affairs Aug. 28, 2018

The number of elderly South Koreans who have committed crimes increased dramatically, by 45 percent in the last five years, while 21.1 percent of the country’s elderly population is experiencing depression, police and government data has showed. 　　Rising elderly poverty rates, social isolation and mental health issues are being blamed for the surge in crime rates among the elderly -- defined as those aged 65 and older -- who account for 14 percent of the Korean population as of this year.　　Accor

Social Affairs Aug. 27, 2018

Former President Chun Doo-hwan, accused of defaming a late Roman Catholic priest over a military crackdown during the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju, did not show up in a Gwangju court Monday for the first day of his trial, saying he has Alzheimer’s and cannot travel as far as Gwangju due to his age. Prosecutors had indicted Chun in May on libel charges concerning the priest Cho Chul-hyun, who said he had seen the military, led by then-President Chun, firing at civilians from helicopters

Social Affairs Aug. 27, 2018

The youth unemployment rate, which tracks Koreans aged 25-34 who have not secured jobs, reached its highest in South Korea in 19 years last month, government statistics showed. Concerns are rising over the effectiveness of the Moon administration’s pro-labor policies, such as the latest minimum wage hike, and whether or not these measures are in any way responsible for the current unemployment crisis.According to Statistics Korea, 338,000 young Koreans were unemployed last month. The number is t

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2018

The National Human Rights Commission Korea said Tuesday that holding young children in prison-like immigration detention centers must be prohibited, revealing that 225 foreign-born children including a 2-year-old were detained in such facilities in South Korea from 2015-2017.　“We strongly advise the government to revise the relevant laws to ban detainment of all children in the country, as it can be a traumatic experience for any child, even if it is for a short period,” the human rights commiss

Social Affairs Aug. 21, 2018

After her alleged rape by her boss, who also happened to be one of the most powerful politicians in the country, Kim Ji-eun did not quit her job. She continued working for him, and praised his character to her acquaintances. She even went to his hotel room to personally hand him a box of cigarettes, instead of respectfully leaving it at his door and walking away.　　All these actions somehow worked against Kim, who in March had publicly accused former South Chungcheong Gov. An Hee-jung of sexual a

Social Affairs Aug. 20, 2018

Some 20,000 South Korean women gathered in central Seoul on Saturday to protest the court’s recent decision to acquit a powerful politician of sexual abuse charges, claiming the judiciary is now complicit in gender-based violence that has prevailed in the country. 　An Hee-jung, the former South Chungcheong Province governor and a onetime presidential contender, was found not guilty of sexual assault through abuse of authority Tuesday. An’s trial had been considered one of the highest profile cas

Social Affairs Aug. 19, 2018

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon announced Sunday that the city government would invest 1 trillion won ($893 million) to tackle regional inequality within Seoul. 　According to the plans, the city government will introduce a set of investment measures to prioritize the development of northern Seoul -- including a plan to establish four new metro lines and relocate a number of government offices to the relatively lesser developed parts of the South Korean capital. 　The announcement was made after Park mo

Foreign Affairs Aug. 19, 2018

Han Ji-young, a professional in her 30s, was almost late for work last week. As she does every morning, she visited her go-to cafe to grab coffee on the way to her office in southern Seoul. The queue was unusually long that day, she said, partly because of the hot weather. When she finally got her coffee, after minutes of waiting, she realized the beverage was served in a glass mug, not the plastic cup that she usually gets for take-out drinks.　“It turns out, one of the staff members at the cafe

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2018

Search and seizure warrants for former and incumbent judges suspected of involvement in the top court’s power abuse scandal, in which the former Supreme Court chief justice is alleged to have used trials as bargaining chips to curry favor with then-President Park Geun-hye, have been denied, leaving the prosecution little evidence to work with. Meanwhile, prosecutors have seized computer hard disks and other materials from the home and office of a former judge surnamed Moon and of a businessman s

Social Affairs Aug. 15, 2018