The Korea Herald

Mom charged for leaving baby on car top

Jun 5, 2012

A young mother was arrested in Phoenix Saturday after allegedly leaving her baby strapped in a car seat on the roof of her car and driving off, police said.(MCT)The 5-week-old baby was found in the car seat in the middle of a road about 1 a.m. by city fire department officials, who took the infant to a hospital, The Arizona Republic reported. The child was "perfectly OK," police Officer James Holm
Mixed reactions to shorts in City Hall

Jun 4, 2012

The government and businesses have started their annual “Cool Biz” dress campaign. Bureaucrats show up without jackets to save energy during summer, while executives and office workers dress casually to enable air conditioners to be turned down. Seoul Metropolitan Government is going even further, allowing public servants to wear shorts and sandals to work in the most extreme form of the drive. The new dress code plan is attracting mixed reactions from citizens. “I totally agree with Seoul’s ide
Korean poverty rate rises to 7% in 2010: report

Jun 4, 2012

About 7 percent of the population was living under or near the absolute poverty line in 2010, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday. The figure is a slight increase from 6.7 percent in 2006. More than two-thirds of them were jobless, and many lived on their own or suffered from chronic illnesses with expensive medical fees, the ministry said. The report showed that 3.2 percent, or 1.5 million people, were living under the poverty line ― set at 1.4 million won ($1,217) a month for a fami
Crackdown on relocation of foreign workers

Jun 4, 2012

The Labor Ministry said Monday that it will clamp down on illegal job brokers who help foreign employment-permit holders change workplaces. “There have been some reports recently on illegal brokers who lure foreign workers away from their designated workplace into new, often illegal, jobs,” said Lee Tae-hee, director of the ministry’s Manpower Policy Bureau. No one other than officials at the ministry-run support centers are allowed to be involved in recruiting and hiring migrant workers under t
Second SNU professor accused of fabricating stem cell research

Jun 4, 2012

Seoul National University said Monday that it has launched an investigation into allegations that another of its professors, Kang Kyung-sun at the College of Veterinary Medicine, fabricated parts of a stem cell research paper. Kang, who is a leading scientist in stem cell studies, is known as a mentor to scandal-ridden professor Kang Su-kyung, who is accused of manipulating information in 14 research papers published in international journals. According to the school, the probe came as a group o
Seoul to offer support for single women living alone

Jun 4, 2012

The city of Seoul said Monday it will open an online forum to discuss the current needs of unmarried women living alone in Seoul in an effort to provide support for such single-female households, which make up more than 10 percent of the total number of households in the city."Most policies today are centered on assisting women from conventional family systems who give birth to and raise children,
Daegu student, 8th in six months, commits suicide over alleged bullying

Jun 4, 2012

DAEGU (Yonhap News) ― A high-school student was found dead over the weekend in front of his apartment building here in an apparent suicide, police said Monday, in what would be the eighth such case in six months in the city of Daegu over school violence. A security guard found the 16-year-old student’s body on Saturday evening in front of the apartment building and reported it to police. Police have not found a suicide note but they suspect the student jumped to his death. Shortly before the app
Daegu suffers 8th student suicide in 6 months over alleged school violence

Jun 4, 2012

A high-school student was found dead over the weekend in front of his apartment building here in an apparent suicide, police said Monday, in what would be the eighth such case in six months in the city of Daegu over school violence. A security guard found the 16-year-old student's body on Saturday evening in front of the apartment building and reported it to police. Police have not found a suicide
Police probe into suspected drug death of teenager

Jun 4, 2012

MCTA teenage girl from Liverpool died after she became ill at a social club.Friends of Rose Farley, 15, claim that her drink was spiked with ecstasy.Rose collapsed in the early hours of Saturday in her home after celebrating at a friend’s birthday party at the Silvestrian Social Club.Police said a sixteen year-old was being questioned on charges of supplying controlled drugs at the club. Police ha
IAEA to inspect Gori-1 nuclear power plant

Jun 3, 2012

The International Atomic Energy Agency is to inspect Korea’s oldest nuclear power plant Gori-1 in response to the growing public concerns over its safety following a shutdown of the plant earlier this year, officials said.The eight-member IAEA expert team will begin a week-long inspection on Monday in Busan at the request of the operator Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co., the company announced Sunday. The Gori-1 nuclear plant, which began operation in 1978 in the northern part of Busan, had comp
IAEA to conduct inspection of Gori-1 blackout

Jun 3, 2012

ULSAN -- South Korea's oldest nuclear reactors at the Gori-1 nuclear plant will come under a special inspection from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) this week, the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. (KHNP) said Sunday. The KHNP said that the IAEA will conduct an expert mission on the Gori-1 reactors from June 4-11 to look into its blackout accident in February, adding the
Korean tourist arrested for drug possession in Vancouver

Jun 3, 2012

A South Korean tourist has been arrested by Canadian police after he was found to be carrying illegal drugs at Vancouver International Airport, Seoul's consulate office said Friday.The 28-year-old tourist only identified by his family name of Kim was apprehended while trying to leave the country after a four-day visit. He was scheduled to stop in Japan before returning home.The consulate office sa
Adults find it hard to leave the nest

Jun 1, 2012

An increasing number of adults cannot leave their family home due to lack of financial means and rising living costs, according to statistics by Seoul City.Seoul City said the number of people in their 30s and 40s who live with their parents has almost doubled in the past 10 years.According to city government data, around 480,000 Seoulites aged 30 to 49 lived with their parents in 2010, up from 250,000 in 2000. Of the parents, almost 30 percent said the reason is that their children have not bee
Smoking to be banned at all restaurants from 2016

Jun 1, 2012

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday it is pushing to gradually impose a smoking ban for all restaurants in the country by 2016. The Seoul Metropolitan Government also said it will enforce the all-out ban from 2014.Currently, restaurants bigger than 150 square meters are required to allocate half of their space to smoking-free areas. The announcement came on the same day that a law imposing 100,000 won ($86) fines on those caught smoking at 1,950 public spots in the capital came into
‘Dead’ conman’s case still open: prosecutors

Jun 1, 2012

Prosecutors said Friday they were continuing their investigation into suspicions surrounding Cho Hee-pal, one the country’s biggest con artists, who allegedly died in China after hiding out in the country. “It is unclear yet whether the suspect is really dead. So we plan to continue investigating him,” said an official at the Daegu District Public Prosecutors’ Office. Cho had been accused of swindling thousands of investors out of some 3.5 trillion won ($3 billion) in the country’s largest pyram