Kim Tae-chon, former boss of South Korea’s noted criminal syndicates in the 1970s and 1980s, died early Saturday at a hospital in Seoul after about a year of treatment for diseases. He was 64. The cause was said to be heart failure, according to officials at Seoul National University Hospital, where Kim had been admitted since December 2011 for treatment of a type of thyroid disease. Kim had been under intensive care since March because of difficulty breathing. Kim “died early today after being

The number of locals and foreigners going in and out of South Korea rose 10.8 percent in 2012 from a year earlier, surpassing the 50-million mark last year for the first time, the Justice Ministry said Sunday.The tally came to some 50.32 million, with the number of locals reaching 28.14 million, while that of foreigners came in at 22.18 million, the ministry said.Some 3.49 million Japanese visited South Korea last year, followed by China with 2.48 million, according to the ministry. The Korean w

Civic groups on Friday criticized a court’s sentence of forced chemical castration for a repeat rapist of teenage girls, saying it violates human rights.The Seoul Southern District Court ruled on Thursday that a 31-year-old convict should be put under hormonal treatment for three years to shut down his sexual desire.It was the first chemical castration order by a court since the National Assembly passed in 2011 a bill allowing the administration of anti-sex hormone medication for convicted child

Kim Ji-ha, 72, a renowned poet, has been acquitted after 39 years of charges of violating the National Security Act and the presidential emergency rule, and inciting rebellion.Kim was convicted for publishing a poem “Ojeok” or “Five Enemies,” which criticized political and financial elites during the iron-fisted rule of late President Park Chung-hee, President-elect Park Geun-hye’s father, and participating in a students’ democracy movement in 1974. He received the death penalty, but was freed a

Much of Korea will shiver under the sharpest cold of this winter Thursday, with temperatures in Seoul dropping to minus 16 degrees Celsius and remaining well below zero throughout the day. Morning lows are expected to reach minus 22 degrees Celsius in Cheolwon, minus 20 degrees in Chuncheon, both in the mountainous Gangwon Province and 10 degrees in central cities of Gwangju and Daegu. Midday highs will range between minus 10 to plus 1 degrees, with that of Seoul forecast at minus 8.  “It will b