An association of South Korean doctors said Wednesday it was considering a second strike, arguing that the government was not keeping promises it made during recent negotiations.The Korean Medical Association, the country’s largest group of doctors, said it would decide whether to stage the second walkout, which was suspended last week, during a general meeting scheduled for Sunday. “Even though there is a negotiation document based on mutual trust and respect, the government is frustrating us b

A man accused of sexually assaulting his daughter was recently found dead with his wife in what appears to be a double suicide, police said Wednesday. The bodies of the man, 46, and woman, 37, were found Saturday at their home in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. They appeared to have died from smoke inhalation.In a note, the man denied the charges that he had molested his 15-year-old daughter over a year. The supposed victim testified against her father in court last week.“No matter what nonse

The South Korean police arrested on Wednesday a self-taught hacker who allegedly devised a program to break into the nation’s most popular portal site.The suspect, surnamed Hong, finished the hacking program in his last year of high school after learning computer programming on his own when he was 16 years old, according to the Cyber Terror Response Center. The 20-year-old college sophomore is currently pursuing a degree in the restaurant business. Hong hatched his hacking scheme from his observ

A total of 17 people, including a veteran carpenter, have been arrested on various corruption charges related to their participation in the restoration of one of Seoul's ancient city gates, police said Wednesday.Shin Eung-soo, the 71-year-old carpenter who took charge of the carpentry work for the project, is under suspicion of siphoning off timbers, including Korea-grown pine timbers called geumgang, that were supposed to be used to replace burned columns in the wooden gate, police said.Sungnye

Childbirths in South Korea fell for the 13th straight month in January, adding to the concern over the country's chronically low birthrate, a government report showed Wednesday.According to the report by Statistics Korea, the number of babies born in January came to about 41,400, down 6.3 percent or 2,800 from the same month a year earlier. This marked the 13th straight month that childbirths have declined since January 2012.The latest childbirth report comes as South Korea is pushing to raise t

About 1,000 salt producers in South Jeolla Province vowed Tuesday to stamp out forced labor and human rights abuses at salt farms, aiming to fend off mounting public criticism after the recent discovery of slavery at salt farms involving disabled workers.“I’m more than ashamed as a salt producer over the latest human rights abuse case. (The salt farm owners) will ban abusive language and violence and prevent similar cases from happening again,” said Park Hyung-gi, the president of the group of s

The number of sexual offenses on subways in Seoul leaped by more than 20 percent last year, government data showed Tuesday. From 848 cases of sex crimes on the Seoul subway in 2012, the figure rose to over 1,000 cases in 2013, a 20.1-percent increase, according to data from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The number of people arrested on sexual offense charges also rose by 19 percent between 2012 and 2013. Over half of the crimes occurred duri

An appellate court on Tuesday acquitted Korean poet Ahn Do-hyun, who was accused of spreading false rumors and slandering then-presidential candidate Park Geun-hye.The 54-year-old defendant was indicted on charges of violating the election law while working as a chairman of opposition candidate Moon Jae-in’s election committee in 2012. The Gwangju High Court handed down a not-guilty verdict to Ahn, citing a lack of evidence to prove the prosecution’s charges. “To prove the defendant’s crime, it

The number of sex crimes on subways in Seoul jumped more than 20 percent in 2013 from a year earlier, government data showed Tuesday.According to the data compiled by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the number of sexual offenses committed on subway trains and in stations in the capital came to 1,026 last year, up 20.1 percent from a year earlier.The number of people arrested on suspicion of committing related crimes on the subway system also s

Korean lawmakers are pushing to revise a law on private education to prevent tax evasion by private tutors, political sources said Monday.The law revision, which is sought by members of both the ruling Saenuri and the main opposition Democratic parties, seeks to crack down on those who register themselves as private tutors, but run facilities that work like private institutions, or hagwon. “There have been a series of mass-scale private lessons (outside of institutions), but the current law has

The state-run National Health Insurance Service on Monday confirmed that a mid-ranking official had illegal access to personal information of a woman suspected to be a mistress of former prosecution chief Chae Dong-wook. Prosecutors also said they recently summoned the NHIS official to investigate who else was involved in the illegal act, adding that they are looking into allegations the request was made by Cheong Wa Dae officials.The announcement came after local daily Kyunghyang Shinmun report

South Korea’s health authorities on Monday mapped out their plan for staging a legal battle against tobacco firms to recoup rising health costs from smoking-related diseases. The state-run National Health Insurance Service released six possible options for the tobacco lawsuit, seeking compensation ranging from 54 billion won ($50 million) to 330 billion won depending on the smoking history of patients with larynx cancer or lung cancer. “The final plan will be settled no later than Tuesday,” said