South Korea's media regulator said Monday that Telegram has pledged to adopt a zero-tolerance policy and immediately remove deepfake pornography and other illegal content from its platform, in cooperation with local authorities. The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) said it had a face-to-face working-level meeting with Telegram on Friday, raising concerns over deepfake content involving doctored images of Korean women, which has surfaced on Telegram in recent months. In respo

Proposed bill: Real Estate Development Project Management Act Proposed by Rep. Kwon Young-jin (People Power Party) and Rep. Son Myoung-soo (Democratic Party of Korea) ● In the domestic market, real estate project financing is characterized by a low capital adequacy ratio and heavy reliance on third-party guarantees. As the volume of real estate PF increases, the need for systematic government management has become increasingly urgent. Therefore, this bill promotes the effective management of rea

A Seoul court is set to deliver verdicts Monday for the Yongsan Ward office chief and a former chief of the Yongsan Police Station over the deadly 2022 crowd crush in the district of Itaewon. Park Hee-young, head of the Yongsan Ward office, and former Yongsan Police Station chief Lee Im-jae were indicted last year over allegations that they failed to take steps to prevent the crowd crush that left 159 people dead on a Halloween weekend in the Itaewon nightlife district on Oct. 29, 2022. The Seou

Prosecutors on Monday grilled an e-commerce tycoon believed to be at the center of the large-scale insolvency incidents involving online shopping platforms TIMON and WeMakePrice. Ku Young-bae, CEO of the Singapore-based Qoo10 Group, the parent company of TIMON and WeMakePrice, underwent questioning as a fraud and embezzlement suspect at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning. He entered the prosecution office at 8:55 a.m. after telling reporters that he will faithfully unde

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating has fallen to 25.8 percent, the lowest level since he took office in 2022, with the negative assessment of his performance topping 70 percent for the first time, a poll showed Monday. The survey, conducted by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, showed Yoon's positive rating fell 4.5 percentage points from the previous week. The previous record low in Realmeter surveys was 27 percent in the second week of September. The survey att

Prosecutors were set to request a sentence Monday for opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on charges of suborning a former mayoral secretary to make false court testimony in his favor in 2018. Lee, chair of the main opposition Democratic Party, was indicted last year on charges of demanding a secretary of former Seongnam Mayor Kim Byung-ryang to give false testimony in a 2018 election law violation case involving him. The Seoul Central District Court was scheduled to hold the closing hearing on the

The South Korean state telecommunications watchdog on Sunday noted "significant progress" in its recent talks with Telegram over the handling of deepfake content on the encrypted messaging app. The Korea Communications Standards Commission added that its chairman, Ryu Hee-lim, is scheduled to announce the results of those talks with Telegram on Monday. "We met with Telegram's top security officer and others in a third country on Friday and Saturday," a KCSC official said

Prosecutors investigating two beleaguered e-commerce platforms' payment delays to vendors are now trying to determine the nature of huge sums of money changing hands between those firms and their parent company, legal sources said Sunday. According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office secured a management consulting agreement between Qoo10 and their e-commerce affiliates, TMON and WeMakePrice, in June 2023. Under the deal, those affiliates were required to pay the S

The interior ministry held a meeting Sunday with relevant agencies to discuss preparedness for an approaching typhoon. Interior Minister Lee Sang-min presided over the meeting, where attending officials reviewed emergency plans and safety measures with Typhoon Krathon expected to affect the southern island of Jeju and other southern regions, plus the eastern province of Gangwon this week. The Korea Meteorological Administration said the typhoon will likely pass near Taipei on Wednesday with a ma

Seoul’s subway system, which serves 7 million passengers daily, recorded a total of 3,516 crimes in 2023, a 4 percent rise from the previous year, police data revealed. Misappropriation of lost property made up 42 percent of all crimes with 1,408 cases. Sexual assault accounted for 36 percent with 1,230 cases, and theft 25 percent with 855 cases, according to the data made public Sunday by Rep. Yang Bu-nam of the Democratic Party of Korea. The released data did not include comparative figu

Once a superstar in the 1990s K-pop scene, Korean American singer Steve Yoo strongly criticized South Korea’s recent refusal of his visa request. It is the third time his visa application has been denied. The singer, also known as Yoo Seung-jun, posted a statement written by his lawyer Ryu Jeong-sun on his Instagram account on Saturday. According to the statement, the South Korean consulate general in Los Angeles recently refused a visa to Korea for Yoo. Yoo has now been unable to enter Ko

A man showing symptoms of mpox was denied tests for 10 hours, with multiple medical institutions refusing to admit him for testing, local media reported Saturday. According to reports, the patient was receiving treatment for fever and difficulty breathing at a hospital in South Jeolla Province on Sept. 17, when blisters appeared on his hands and feet. Suspecting the blisters to be a symptom of mpox, medical workers at the hospital recommended he get tested for the virus immediately. The man then

● Updated law: Parking Lot Act What it does: Prohibits camping, cooking and lighting fires in public parking lots Took effect: Sept. 20 Punishment: Fine up to 500,000 won ($379.33) In recent years, “chabak,” or the trend of camping in one's car, has become a major trend in South Korea. While it has provided travelers with the benefits of convenient and flexible camping compared to pitching and sleeping in a tent, it has also contributed to a surge in fire hazards. Recent actio

South Korea's main opposition party, whose lawmakers occupy a strong majority of the seats at the National Assembly, is leaning toward delaying the adoption of the financial investment income tax, observers said Sunday. The Democratic Party of Korea will likely agree with ruling People Power Party Chair Han Dong-hoon's request last month to agree on postponing the implementation of the new investment tax policy set to take effect next year. During a press briefing Sunday, Democratic Pa

Environment ministers adopt joint communique for collaboration