Police seized the mobile phone of Rep. Choe Kang-wook of the main opposition Democratic Party on Monday in a raid conducted as part of an investigation into the alleged leak of personal information of Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon. Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency confiscated Choe's phone in front of his home in the city of Yongin, south of Seoul, and were trying to search his office at the National Assembly, officials said. Investigators are looking into the alleged

Seven Vietnamese nationals have been apprehended for suspected drug use at a foreigners-only club just southwest of Seoul this week, one month after a crackdown led to 10 drug arrests at the same place, police said Monday. The seven Vietnamese were put under emergency arrest after testing positive for ecstasy and other banned substances in a crackdown that began at 1 a.m. Monday at a Vietnamese-only club in Siheung, 26 kilometers southwest of Seoul, according to the Gyeonggi Siheung Police Stati

A YouTuber's unauthorized disclosure of the identity of a suspect who was earlier convicted of attempting to murder a stranger, is stirring up a number of controversies, including over whether the right to privacy of a person convicted of a crime outweighs the public's right to know. The YouTuber, who has some 729,000 subscribers and goes by the name Caracula Detective, revealed on Friday the identity of a man who in May 2022 kicked a woman in the head, knocked her down and dragged her

The suspect in the murder of a university student in Busan told police that she was being manipulated by a stranger during her first interrogation, according to a news report on Sunday. Suspect Jung Yoo-jung said she "was told by a stranger to steal the identity of a woman they had murdered," while refusing to admit to the murder, broadcaster JTBC reported, quoting the notes from the police interrogation on May 27. But police concluded that her statement was false after examination of

Nearly half of students attending prestigious high schools came from five districts in Seoul which are believed to have a higher fervor for education compared to the city's other 20 districts, data showed Sunday. Of the total 7,895 students who in 2022 advanced to prestigious high schools -- science high schools, foreign language high schools, international high schools and autonomous private high schools -- 3,671, or 46.5 percent, were those who graduated from middle schools in five distri

Three out of 10 Korean students attending four-year universities across the nation have witnessed their peers falling victim to bullying, a report said Sunday. The National Youth Policy Institute published a report titled "Research on Bullying Among University Students and a Study on Preventive Measures for Improvement," which included the results of an online survey of 467 undergraduates from four-year colleges nationwide. Among the respondents, 135 students, or 28.9 percent, said t

South Korean police are mulling deployment vehicles equipped with decibel meters at protests in order to determine whether or not the rallies exceed the legally permitted noise level, local media reported Friday. According to local newspaper Chosun Ilbo, the National Police Agency's plan is to convert one of its trucks to fit a noise-measuring device to be used at protests this year, and to acquire another one of these vehicles by next year. The NPA is currently requesting an extra budget t

An appellate court on Friday ordered prosecutors to obtain a psychological test for a defendant accused of committing animal cruelty, in order to consider the appropriate sentence. The Daejeon District Court stated, “While there already exists a series of tests for sexual crimes, there are none for animal cruelty.” “The prosecutors should submit the results of a psychological test to evaluate the possibility of repetition of the crime,” the court added. In response, the p

A drunk driver was caught after he drove into a police station during his attempt to evade arrest. Incheon Police shared on Thursday a video showing a drunk driver in Gyeyang-gu, Incheon, on March 25, saying they were investigating the driver in his 20s for breaching traffic rules and obstructing justice. The footage shows an SUV driving away from police in a business area after being ordered to stop by police investigating a report of suspected drunk driving. While police tried to block the fug

Organizers of the Seoul Queer Culture Festival said late Thursday that they are still looking for places in Seoul to hold this year’s event, after the Seoul city government refused its initial request to use its usual venue, Seoul Plaza at City Hall. The organizing committee said that it submitted applications with the Seoul Police Station, Seoul Namdaemun Police Station and Jongno Police Station in Seoul to hold the 17-day annual festival for the LGBT community from July 1 in the nation&r

23-year-old suspect: 'I was out of my mind'

A police officer was arrested and charged with nonconsensual video recording during sex of partners he had met through a dating app. The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said Friday that it had indicted the officer at the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police for breaching the Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes and for tampering with evidence. The police officer, whose identity has been withheld, is accused of filming 26 women without consent during sex using his

South Korea's Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup left for Singapore on Friday to attend an annual security forum, where North Korea's evolving military threats, the war in Ukraine and an intensifying Sino-US rivalry are expected to feature prominently. The three-day Shangri-La Dialogue is set to kick off in the city-state later in the day, bringing together senior security officials from more than 40 countries, including the United States, China, Britain, Australia and Japan, according to S

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 20,000 on Friday as almost all pandemic-related restrictions were lifted this month. The country reported 19,724 new infections, including 33 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 31,747,839, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Daily infections remained below 20,000 for the six days through Tuesday but rose above 20,000 on Wednesday and Thursday. Friday's tally is higher than the 17,933 cases a week earlier and t

Public scrutiny limits cops’ use of force against suspects, but violence against officers rarely receives severe punishment, police say