The top court ruled Friday that the country’s elite military academy should reverse its decision to expel a cadet for having sex with his girlfriend off campus and failing to report it. The cadet, whose identity was withheld, was kicked out of the Korea Military Academy in 2012, just one semester before graduation, for failing to confess to school authorities that he had sex with his girlfriend while on weekend leave.Upholding a lower court’s decision and rejecting an appeal by the Korea Militar

Some civilian divers and a private rescue ship have withdrawn from a search operation of a passenger ferry that sank off the southwest coast last month, officials said Friday.Thirty days after the 6,825-ton ferry Sewol carrying an estimated 476 passengers capsized and sank off the southwestern island of Jindo, 281 people have been confirmed dead with 20 others still missing. A total of 172 people were rescued on the day of the sinking.Of the hundreds of Coast Guard, Navy and civilian divers who

The national police agency decided on Thursday that it will use subminiature surveillance cameras that can transmit video in real time as part of a plan to crack down on prostitution and illegal gambling.Currently, the majority of prostitution establishments and gambling sites use CCTV or install steel doors to delay police entry and gain time to destroy evidence.The cameras, each weighing 500 g, will be given to police officers to conceal on their persons and transmit images to the investigatio

A civic group filed a lawsuit Thursday against the police, accusing them of abusing their authority when they blocked citizens and the families of victims in the Sewol ferry disaster from marching to Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office in Seoul.People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, a left-leaning civic group, claimed that it was an unlawful exercise of authority when the police restricted the families and citizens from joining rallies or protests.Last month, the victims’ families a

Opinion is divided on whether to apply the jury system to the upcoming court proceedings of the Sewol ferry’s crew members, who are accused of abandoning more than 300 passengers to drown as the ship sank off the south coast last month.Those favoring a jury trial say the magnitude of the accident requires a transparent legal review, while those in disagreement say public opinion is already prejudiced against the defendants, preventing an objective trial.“We cannot allow the Sewol victims to have

A long line of shuttle buses in front of an elementary school gate waiting for students is a typical after-school scene. These vehicles will take them to private institutes teaching various subjects from math to English, and taekwondo.The buses represent Korean parents’ educational zeal as well as their lack of time to take care of their children at home. From one institute (called hagwon in Korean) to another, little children travel on the buses, taking a brief respite from a heavy daily dose o

Seoul National University said Wednesday it has found cracks and other minor defects in some of its buildings.Last month, the university carried out a safety check on six of its buildings in response to requests from student representatives of SNU’s graduate schools. The joint student council said in March that there were cracks in several of the school buildings.SNU found cracks in the walls of a building used by the college of natural science, along with the research hall used by graduate stud

Tick viruses are more common in older people in Korea, a report showed Wednesday, following the recent death of a Korean man due to a tick bite. Ticks transmit viruses, some potentially lethal, through bites. Patients commonly show fever, body aches, rashes, diarrhea and vomiting if infected by a virus-infected tick.According to a report released by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 60 percent of officially confirmed tick virus infections in the country occurred among people