The Korea Herald

Three men arrested for secretly recording women

May 24, 2012

Police have arrested a man for lewd behavior after they allegedly found him secretly videotaping women with a miniature camera attached to his shoe.Three men including one surnamed Kang, 41, were booked without detention by the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency cyber terror response team for taking and circulating up-skirt photography.Kang was charged with secretly videotaping under the skirts of women on 221 occasions since July 2004 in supermarkets in and around Jinju.Police investigations re
Controversial canal linking Seoul and West Sea opens

May 23, 2012

After two decades of controversy and two years of construction, the waterway linking Seoul to the West Sea will open Friday, government officials said Wednesday. The Gyeongin Ara Waterway gives the capital a direct link to the open sea ― at a total cost of 2.24 trillion won ($1.9 billion).Eighteen kilometers long, 80 meters wide and 6.3 meters deep, it starts at a section of the Han River in Gaehwadong, western Seoul, and meets the sea off Incheon’s Oryudong. It can accommodate ships with a maxi
APEC agrees to framework for educational cooperation

May 23, 2012

GYEONGJU ― Education ministers from Asia-Pacific agreed on Wednesday to enhance “practical and sustainable” cooperation through Korea’s Educational Cooperation Project.Set up by the Seoul government, the ECP, or Gyeongju Initiative, will carry out collaborative research and host conferences on educational cooperation in the APEC region.As part of the new project, the ECP will launch an education portal on the APEC Knowledge Bank site and share research findings, materials and resources.“Korea’s
Lost parakeet tells police its home address

May 23, 2012

A pet parakeet that escaped from its Japanese home has been reunited with its owner - after it was able to tell police its address.The baby-blue bird flew from its owner's home in Sagamihara, west of Tokyo, into a nearby hotel where it perched on the shoulder of a guest.Its owner, a 64-year-old woman, had lost a pet bird before and was determined to prevent it from happening again - so she taught
Seven Filipinos nabbed for smuggling out remittances

May 23, 2012

Seven Filipinos have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling the equivalent of 16 billion won (US$13.7 million) from South Korea, police said Wednesday.The suspects include a 58-year-old group leader detained under formal arrest and six others who were booked without detention for allegedly smuggling the remittances of Filipino workers in South Korea, according to the international crime investiga
Seoul to curb excessive air conditioning in shops

May 23, 2012

The Seoul municipal government said Wednesday it will discourage shops from leaving their doors open while the air conditioning is on as part of a campaign to save energy in the hot summer months.Starting Thursday, officials from the city government, the central ward of Junggu, the state-run power monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp., and a civic group will visit shops in the shopping district of M
Celebrity writer bashes conservative paper’s comment on her tweet

May 23, 2012

Celebrity writer Gong Ji-young lashed out at conservative paper Chosun Ilbo for criticizing her incorrect Twitter posting.On Tuesday she retweeted a comment by an internet user who urged the public not to buy tickets to a dolphin show at the Yeosu Expo. Gong added, “I would not buy them either” to the tweet.However, an official at the Yeosu Expo immediately corrected her, saying there was no such
South Korea to implement first chemical castration of pedophile

May 22, 2012

A convicted child molester will be the first Korean to undergo chemical castration, the Justice Ministry said Tuesday. The ministry’s panel on medical treatment and custody deliberation reached the decision Monday to administer a set of medicines designed to suppress the libido of a 40-year-old man, surnamed Park, convicted of four counts of sexual assault against children. In addition to the medication which will be administered for three years, he will undergo behavioral and psychological ther
Korea, U.S. to join forces to help poor performers

May 22, 2012

GYEONGJU ― South Korea and the United States will work together to address school violence and improve student performance, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Anthony Miller said. He met with Education Minister Lee Ju-ho on Monday on the sidelines of the fifth APPEC Education Ministerial Meeting in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province. “Ensuring the creation of a safe environment for our students is a common issue,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald following the meeting.“We recog
KT faces labor violation probe

May 22, 2012

The Ministry of Employment and Labor asked the prosecution to investigate KT chairman and CEO Lee Suk-chae and 32 branch managers over unpaid salaries and other labor law violations, officials said.The request was made on May 10 after the ministry conducted a special audit into the company’s labor management between Jan. 30 and Feb. 29, only to find that a total of 150 branches had not paid 3.3 billion won ($2.8 mil.) to their 6,509 workers for overtime or holiday shifts, unused annual leave and
Ministers discuss education challenges

May 22, 2012

Lee calls for APEC countries’ cooperation to solve problemsGYEONGJU ― Education ministers from 21 Asia Pacific countries opened their meeting in Gyeongju on Tuesday to discuss educational responses to future challenges for the region and the world. The 5th Education Ministerial Meeting will focus on technology-based education and regional cooperation during its two-day run, organizers said.“In the globalized and knowledge-based world, we must engage, exchange and collaborate with others to find
Conservation forum boosts Korea’s green drive

May 22, 2012

DMZ among agendas to be discussed at World Conservation Congress in Jeju Environmental problems are indisputably global, but efforts to forge a global response have proven divisive, even polarizing, amid persistent fears of an impact on the economy. The 2012 IUCN World Conservation Congress to be held in Korea later this year will provide a converging point, and hopefully a momentum for a change in thinking, said Lee Hong-koo, former prime minister now leading the country’s preparations for the
Woman accused of trying to infect landlord

May 22, 2012

A Salem, Mass., woman was charged with assault with a dangerous weapon for trying to give her landlord scabies, police say. (MCT)Police were called to the woman's apartment building Saturday after she and her landlord got into an argument over bugs and mice in the building, The Salem News reported.The landlord called an exterminator to the building to deal with the woman's complaint, but the exter
Activists offer grim nuclear scenario

May 21, 2012

A Chernobyl-like radiation leak at Gori 1 nuclear reactor, the country’s oldest in operation, could lead to nearly 900,000 deaths and economic losses of 628 trillion won ($537 billion), anti-nuclear activists claimed in a report Monday. The report, released by a partnership including the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement and a Busan-based anti-nuclear group, analyzed the consequences of a simulated accident at the nuclear power plant using a damage assessment method developed in Japan
No walls, wireless and digital textbook

May 21, 2012

GYEONGJU ― An elementary school student scans her ID card at the school gate. Once she steps in, an electronic signal tells her parents and teacher that she is now at school.The classroom has no wall, but a panel of multi-screens. Tablet computers replace paper textbooks and electronic panels substitute chalkboards in the wireless Internet-powered space. The state-funded Korea Education Research Information Service is offering a glimpse into what classrooms will look like in the coming years in