Another teacher investigated for allegedly ignoring school violencePolice have opened an investigation into another local teacher on suspicions of neglecting a bullied student, police said Wednesday, two days after launching an unprecedented investigation into a teacher on similar suspicions. The Gangseo Police Station in western Seoul said the investigation was launched after the father of a middle school student submitted a petition for the investigation into the teacher, who the father said

An appellant court on Wednesday found not guilty a woman formerly convicted of homicide in a sensational case known as “the murder without a corpse.” The 40-year-old woman was arrested in June last year for killing a 26-year-old woman and cremating the body in Busan. She disguised the corpse as hers to receive money from her life insurance, which would have amounted to 2.4 billion won ($2.1 million). She signed up to the insurance policy two months before the alleged crime.She admitted she faked

The Ministry of National Defense said Tuesday that it would screen all smartphone applications and renew the blacklist of pro-North Korean or anti-government mobile apps.It will be the first full-scale crackdown by military authorities on smartphone programs. The ministry said it would base its list on the Korea Telecommunications Commission’s guidelines. It will either have to find technological methods to block soldiers from accessing such applications or forcibly delete the applications from

Korean children start learning English at age 4.3 on average, and the more educated the mother the earlier a child begins, according to a survey by Yoon’s English School, a local private English institute, on Tuesday. A poll of 667 mothers conducted from Dec. 28 to Jan. 5 found that 42.7 percent said they started their children’s English education when they were between the ages of three and four.About 28.6 percent said they had their children begin learning English at between five and six years

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon asked President Lee Myung-bak to pardon residents arrested for violently defying eviction in Yongsan in 2009, city officials said Tuesday. Park sent an official letter to President Lee, asking for the pardon of all eight people arrested amid a deadly standoff between then-tenants and police over the forced eviction from Yongsan District 4 three years ago. The conforontation led to a fire that killed five evictees and one police officer. Park, who took office last year,

South Korean hotels are not heeding international calls to ban shark fin dishes on their menus that may cause local animal rights groups to stage a boycott, sources said Tuesday.The country’s top-rated hotels including the Lotte, Shilla, Westin Chosun, Sheraton Walker Hill and Plaza all serve the delicacy at their respective Chinese restaurants, a source in the hotel industry said.He said the ingredients are all imported from Hong Kong with some non-soup dishes costing up to 100,000 won ($90) pe

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it will create public farmland on the central Seoul island of Nodeul, overturning its earlier plan to build an opera house there.Under the new plan, the municipal government will transform about one third of the uninhabited island located in the middle of the Han River into farmland before renting it out to the public starting in May. The island, covering 60,818 square meters, has long been deserted with some part of it once used as a tennis court.

Education authorities and teachers‘ associations raised skepticism on Tuesday over an unprecedented police investigation into a local teacher on suspicions of neglecting a bullied middle school student until she jumped to her death. The Yangcheon Police Station in western Seoul said a day earlier they booked a 40-year-old middle school teacher in order to begin an official investigation into suspicions that the teacher, whose identity was withdrawn, did not take proper action to stop continued s

Prosecutors are investigating Hackers Education Group, a local English education franchise, on suspicion of illegally copying and redistributing copyrighted English test questions.Investigators of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday that they had indicted six management members of the company including chairman identified by his surname Cho without detention on charges of copyright violation. The group’s language education and research units have also been indicted on the

Trace amounts of leukemia-linked carcinogens were found in semiconductor-producing factories of Samsung Electronics Co. and other chipmakers, a governmental authority said Monday. “We found that cancer-causing substances are present inside the chip factories,” said Park Jung-sun, head of the state-run Korea Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, announcing the results of its three-year study of potential cancer risks at chip-manufacturing lines. The study, conducted between 2009 and

By Robert LeeU.S. actor Robert Redford spoke out against Korea’s plan to build a naval base on Jeju, urging international support against it.The 75-year-old Golden Globe and Oscar-winner wrote an online contribution for the environmental magazine “OnEarth” titled “The Battle for Jeju Island: How the Arms Race is Threatening a Korean Paradise.”In the article published Friday, the director and environmental activist argues that the Defense Ministry’s plan to construct a naval base in Gangjeong, a

Pharmacists’ opposition gives politicians cold feet over planA plan to allow the sale of over-the-counter drugs outside pharmacies is in doubt as politicians show cold feet toward a relevant bill at the National Assembly. The plan, directed by President Lee Myung-bak, is supported by the majority of the public in opinion polls, but is facing strong opposition from pharmacists afraid of losing profits. The bill makes 48 drugs available at supermarkets and discount stores for easier and wider acce

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday demanded the return of land currently used to house security guards for former President Chun Doo-hwan, city officials said.The municipal government filed the request with the police, asking them to find an alternative location before the land grant expires on April 30, according to a city official who spoke on condition of anonymity.Under South Korean law, former presidents are guarded by the presidential security service for the first 10 years after