The education office in Gyeonggi Province announced Thursday that it has found that more than 100 unqualified students were admitted to foreigner schools. The announcement came following the regional education office’s on-site-inspection in December of nine foreigner secondary schools in the region, as part of the government’s ongoing investigation into a massive admission fraud case involving several international schools here.According to the Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education, all of tho

Prosecutors demanded capital punishment Thursday for a man accused of kidnapping and raping a 7-year-old girl in the latest child sex crime to spark public outrage. The 23-year-old suspect surnamed Ko was arrested for allegedly abducting the victim while she was sleeping at her home in Naju, South Jeolla Province, and raping her under a bridge near her house. The accused is also believed to have attempted to kill the victim by choking her. The Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office said that the s

An elderly woman who lived alone was found dead in her apartment a month after she died.An official from Daegu District Court found the 64-year-old woman’s body while visiting her house to conduct a property auction procedure on Wednesday. The woman, identified by her surname Kim, had reportedly suffered from economic difficulties and recently had her apartment auctioned off.Although she expressed her wish to donate her body for medical research in an apparent suicide note, the corpse was too se

Nearly 100 doctors have been caught for misusing narcotics and psychotropic drugs such as propofol, police said Wednesday.Police have uncovered 98 medical workers ― mostly doctors ― and eight hospitals in a two-month nationwide crackdown on illegal use of drugs by hospitals.The crackdown, conducted jointly with the health authorities, came after a local obstetrician was arrested in August on charges of injecting his girlfriend with an anesthetic that caused her death and then abandoning her body

The government on Wednesday approved Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO)'s request to raise electricity rates by an average 4 percent starting next week, a move partly aimed at offsetting the state-run power company's chronic deficits. The price of electricity used by ordinary households will be increased by 2 percent starting from Monday, which will add an additional 930 won (US$0.88) per month to the electricity bill of each house, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a press release.Rates

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced a plan Wednesday to redo the city‘s street signs in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese and standardize their design by 2016 in a move to boost convenience for foreigners and improve the city’s environment.Under the envisioned plan, the city‘s 144,134 signs of 50 different types, including traffic signs and direction boards for major tourist attractions, will be written in Korean, English, Chinese and Japanese by 2016, with the 80,888 signs located n

A new survey found nearly 3.7 million Koreans have psychiatric disorders associated with a high risk of suicide, highlighting the need for the government and society to step up preventive measures.According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, a total of 3.68 million people higher chances of dying by suicide because of their prolonged mental disorders such as depression and mood disorders. About 28 percent of Koreans have suicidal ideas more than once in their lifetime, especial