A man was arrested on Tuesday after a failed attempt to take his own life after killing his two children. Gimhae Jungbu Police Station announced Tuesday that a man in his 50s is being investigated on charges of murdering his two children on a hill in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province. According to the police, the man is suspected of murdering his two children -- his 17-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son -- in his vehicle. The daughter's teacher reported the teenager's absence from s

Social Affairs Aug. 29, 2023

An unidentified woman’s body was found at sea near Gyodongdo, an island of Incheon bordering North Korea along the coastline. The Korea Coast Guard announced Monday it had received a report at around 10 a.m. on Sunday of a person who had drowned in the sea near the pier. The body was in an advanced state of decomposition and was found wearing both top and bottom garments. The Coast Guard initially identified the woman as a man, but later made a correction. The Coast Guard believes the body

Social Affairs Aug. 28, 2023

The lights of key landmarks in Korea will be turned off for five minutes Tuesday night, including at Gwanghwamun and N Seoul Tower in Seoul, Busan's major bridge Gwangandaegyo and the landmark Cheomseongdae in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. The event is to mark Energy Day, with an estimated 1.27 million people in South Korea taking part, which is more than twice the number of participants last year. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced that lights-out events will start

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2023

Avoid wearing dark clothing and using strong scents, the local emergency service authorities advise, as casualties from bee and wasp attacks continue to rise. According to local authorities, 11 people died and more than 6,400 people were injured in bee and wasp attacks last year alone. According to the Fire Department, the highest number of bee attacks causing human casualties occur in August, with the three-year average death toll standing at 9.7. Most recently, a man in his 70s died after bein

Social Affairs Aug. 21, 2023

An injured leopard cat kitten was euthanized at an animal shelter in Taebaek, Gangwon Province, after staff mistook the animal to be a domestic cat. While the shelter and the veterinarian have claimed that there was little that could be done to have helped the animal, a number of issues with the handling of the situation has been raised. Leopard cats are listed as class II endangered wildlife, which means they are threatened with imminent extinction, and have been protected by the Ministry of En

Social Affairs Aug. 18, 2023

A man in his 30s has been arrested on charges of raping and seriously injuring a woman in Seoul's Sillim-dong, which was also the site of a recent indiscriminate knife attack. The man is suspected of attacking a woman in her 30s with brass knuckles, and sexually assaulting her in a park near Gwanaksan at around 11:40 a.m. Thursday. Hikers who heard the victim’s screams called the police at around 11:44 a.m. and the police apprehended him in the act at around 12:10 p.m. The suspect and

Social Affairs Aug. 18, 2023

An attempt to remove a beehive has resulted in about 50 trees being burned at a park in Incheon, fire authorities said Wednesday. According to the Incheon Fire Department, the fire broke out in a tree at a sports park entrance in Oryu-dong of Seo-gu, Incheon, at 1:18 p.m. on Wednesday. The fire is said to have started when park employees used a lighter and insecticide spray to remove a beehive found among the branches. No human casualties were discovered, but 50 Dwarf juniper trees were burned.

Social Affairs Aug. 17, 2023

A house cleaner has been charged with animal abuse after allegedly causing injuries to a client's pet cats. According to the cats' owner, the worker was hired through a cleaning service app. The cleaner was notified of the presence of cats beforehand and given instructions not to approach or touch the cats. However, when the cats' owner returned home after running errands, the owner found blood on the floor and on the cats. The cats were immediately taken to a veterinary hospital

Social Affairs Aug. 17, 2023

A man in his 20s was fined 2 million-won ($1,500) for spiking another man's drink with laxatives last year. The victim, a 19-year old preparing for the national college entrance exam, developed enteritis and suffered from emotional distress after the incident, which the victim claimed affected his performance in the exam. The incident took place on Aug. 30 last year, just two months before South Korea’s state-administered college entrance exam, in Seoul's Gangnam area. The suspec

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

A teenage boy has turned himself into the police for allegedly threatening to sexually assault a minor in an online post, police said Tuesday. The high schooler turned up at a police outpost in Guro-gu, southwestern Seoul, confessing to posting the notice, according to Seoul Guro Police Station. A notice, published in an online forum at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, read that a person would sexually assault an elementary school girl aged 8 to 13 near Gangnam Station. The original post has been deleted.

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

The cage recently vacated by a malnourished lion at Bugyeong Zoo, southeastern city of Gimhae is now housing the lion's 4-year old offspring, according to reports Thursday. The offspring, a 4-year old lioness, also appears malnourished, sparking outrage online. Complaints by furious citizens calling for the closure of Bugyeong Zoo are currently being posted on Gimhae City Hall's official website. The zoo has faced complaints and calls for closure over the past few months, with allegati

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2023

Fares for Seoul city buses will rise by 300 won (23 cents) from Saturday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday the fares for trunk (blue) and branch (green) routes will be raised to 1,500 won, while it will be 1,400 won for circulation (yellow) routes and 3,000 won for wide-area (red) routes. The late-night bus fare will be raised to 2,500 won, and village buses, or Maeul routes, to 1,200 won from 3 a.m. on Saturday. By route type, blue, green and yellow routes' fares will be rai

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2023

The commercial district of Sillim-dong in Seoul's Gwanak district continues to reel from the July 21 random stabbing attack there, with some merchants reporting a revenue drop of more than 50 percent. According to local news reports, small businesses in the area have seen sales halve since the attack, and that the drop increased after a similar incident occurred at Seohyeon Station in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province last Thursday. The district seemed to revive after being hit directly by the st

Social Affairs Aug. 9, 2023

Incoming foreign tourists appear increasingly interested in daily life in Korea, including photo studios and hanbok, Korea's traditional costume, data showed Tuesday. According to Creatrip, a Korean content and commerce platform aimed at travelers, the number of searches it handled related to traveling in Korea in the first half of the year came to just over 945,000, up 88 percent from the previous half. Hanbok and photo studios were the most- and second-most searched-for topics, respective

Travel July 26, 2023

The numbers of mosquitoes in central urban areas have nearly doubled from last year, amid concerns that Korea's changing climate may have become more habitable to mosquitoes. According to Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the trap index in central urban areas July 2-8 came to 68.2, a 98.5 percent increase on-year. The trap index refers to the average number of mosquitoes caught in one mosquito trap per day. The frequent heavy rainfall has likely contributed to the rise. Some anal

Social Affairs July 25, 2023