A lower court on Thursday upheld the military’s ban on “seditious” books including bestseller “Bad Samaritans” which criticizes free market economics. In 2008 the Defense Ministry blacklisted 23 books which it deemed could negatively affect soldiers’ morale. Publishers and writers responded by filing a suit demanding 190 million won ($160,000) in damages. The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday ruled the decision lawful and recognized the administration’s autonomy to prohibit some books to

The high-profile project to build a 133-story landmark building in the Digital Media Center in Seoul was nixed due to the main constructor’s failure to pay for its purchase of the land plot, Seoul City said Friday.The metropolitan government began the project in April 2009 when it signed a land purchase deal with the firm Seoul Light Tower.The city said that the firm delayed paying for the land and failed to carry out its responsibility stipulated in the deal.Seoul officials said that they made

The number of adults in their 30s and 40s living with their parents in the capital city of Seoul soared91.4 percent, led by rising house prices and childcare costs, a report showed Friday. The report released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government found that the number of adults aged 30 to 49 who live with their parents jumped to 484,663 in 2010, compared with 253,244 in 2000. The report was based o

A lower court on Thursday upheld the military’s ban of “seditious” books including bestseller “Bad Samaritans” which criticizes free market economics. In 2008 the Defense Ministry blacklisted 23 books which it deemed could negatively affect soldiers’ morale. Publishers and writers filed a suit demanding 190 million won in damages. The Seoul Central District Court on Thursday ruled the decision as lawful and recognized the administration’s autonomy to prohibit some books to protect soldiers’ mora

South Korea’s Pohang University of Science & Technology, also known as POSTECH, has topped the rankings of the world’s top 100 universities under 50 years old.The Times Higher Education, a weekly British magazine based in London, published on Thursday the list that features institutions from 30 countries.POSTECH, which was founded in 1986, headed the list with a total of 71.8 points, followed by Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne with 66.2 points. The Hong Kong University of

Seoul National University and professor Kang Soo-kyung have come under fire for downplaying instances of academic dishonesty two years ago, which may have led to another fabrication in an international journal. According to the Hankook Ilbo newspaper and university insiders, Kang had been called into a school fact-finding ethics committee in 2010 for alleged data fabrication in her paper for the International Journal of Cancer. The committee then found much of the claim to be true. However, they

Seoul’s farmers will be able to bring their fresh harvests to an outdoor market to be set up among Gwanghwamun skyscrapers on Saturdays, city officials said. The Seoul Farmers’ Market, open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., will allow farmers and food producers, not just in the capital but elsewhere in the country, to sell directly to consumers, they said. It will open every Saturday from June 2 till mid-October.“We hope that it becomes more than just a food market and helps bring closer urban and rural c

A selective online game shutdown for youth will take effect in July after a month-long test next month, the culture ministry said Thursday, as it accelerates its bid to ease online addiction among young students.Under the selective shutdown system, teens under the age of 16 will be banned from accessing highly addictive online game sites from midnight to 6 a.m., ministry officials said.Online game

Four in every 100 Korean teenagers are at risk of Internet addiction, a government study showed Wednesday. The survey of 1.74 million youths, conducted by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family in cooperation with the Education Ministry, found that 3.9 percent of the participants, or 68,044, were categorized as high-risk Internet users; or at-risk users, in other words, potential addicts. Although lower than the previous year’s 4.94 percent, the rate is still high, ministry official Kim Sung

The prosecution’s investigation into suspicions surrounding late President Roh Moo-hyun’s daughter’s alleged attempt to purchase a high-end apartment in the U.S. resumed as a key witness was summoned to testify. The questioning is expected to facilitate probes into family members of the deceased president, whose case was closed after his death on May 23, 2009. Officials at the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office said Wednesday that Kyung Yeon-hee, who attempted to sell her Hudson Club complex apartment

Approximately four percent of South Korean teenage students are at risk of Internet addiction, but the number is on the decline, a government survey showed Wednesday.    The survey of 1.74 million students in three age brackets of 11, 14 and 17 found that 68,044 of them, or 3.9 percent, risk becoming addicted to Internet use, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said in a statement.    Of th

A district court sentenced a 54-year-old man to five years behind bars for sexually assaulting a disabled minor on Monday.The man, identified by his surname Um, enticed the 16-year-old girl who is grade 2 mentally disabled into his Ulsan home and molested her. The two met in an online chat room last year.Ulsan District Court also ordered him to undergo a 200-hour a compulsory therapy program and have his name and personal information released to the public for 10 years.(From news reports)<한글 기사>