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New Zealand authorities have heightened pressure on South Korea to cooperate in its probe of a Korean diplomat who has been accused of sexual assault. 　 Winston Peters, New Zealand’s deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister, urged the Korean government to cooperate by waiving the accused man’s diplomatic immunity and sending him to New Zealand to defend himself. 　 “It’s over to the Korean government, and for them to allow him to waive the diplomatic immunity

The leader of a minor religious sect at the center of the early coronavirus outbreak in South Korea was arrested early Saturday for allegedly obstructing the government's efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.    A local court in Suwon, south of Seoul, issued an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus.    Lee, 89, is suspected of submitting false documents to health authorities on the number of participants at the sect's gath

A local court has started reviewing whether to issue an arrest warrant for Lee Man-hee, the leader of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, over allegations that he and his religious sect obstructed the government’s efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak. The Suwon District Court is expected to reach a decision later Friday or early Saturday. The court previously issued arrest warrants for Shincheonji’s three senior officials who are also accused of obstructing contact tracing efforts.

A North Korean defector suspected of having fled back to his communist homeland is unlikely to have been infected with the new coronavirus here despite Pyongyang's claim that he had virus symptoms, Seoul's health authorities said Thursday. North Korea's state media claimed Sunday that a defector returned home from South Korea with suspected virus symptoms, prompting the country to adopt a "maximum emergency system" against the coronavirus. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and P

The South Korean government will take steps to extend visas for foreign laborers as part of measures to address issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Wednesday. Speaking at a disaster management meeting, Chung said that such measures will be introduced to alleviate labor shortages in rural areas. “Measures to extend the duration of stay for foreign laborers, and temporarily providing opportunities to work in areas such as agricultural communities w

All of South Korea’s regular water purification centers are free of larvae or bugs, an Environment Ministry inspection has found, amid public worries that the country may be experiencing a tap water contamination crisis. The Ministry of Environment said in a press briefing Tuesday that all 435 regular water treatment facilities in Korea had been inspected and no bugs or other foreign organisms were found in their water reservoirs or distribution lines. A small number of larvae were disc

A North Korean defector believed to have swum across a river to return to North Korea earlier this month spoke of a “hopeless life” in the North and his perilous journey to the South on YouTube last month. Appearing in a video posted by a channel run by defectors, the man, presumed to be in his 20s and surnamed Kim, shared his story of fleeing the North for a better life in 2017, a year after the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex was closed over Pyongyang’s long-range m

With heavy rainfall expected again this week, authorities are on high alert to prevent further damages during the monsoon season, especially down south. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety called an emergency meeting Sunday as the Korea Meteorological Administration forecast torrential rains in Busan, Gangwon Province, and other regions that have yet to recover from a recent downpour. The weather agency issued a special warning about landslides in Busan due to loose soil after the area got

Police said Friday they have opened an investigation into the possible leak of a complaint memo detailing sexual misconduct accusations against the recently deceased mayor of Seoul, Park Won-soon. The “Park Won-soon memo” has circulated on social media sites shortly after police confirmed on the evening of July 9 that Park was being accused of sexual abuse by one of his secretaries. Several local media outlets reported Friday that police have zeroed in on a potential su

Medical schools to admit over 4,000 more students for next 10 years

Worm-like creatures that were first found in tap water in Incheon were detected at seven water-purifying facilities across the country, the government confirmed Tuesday, suggesting that water contamination wasn’t limited to just Incheon. The Ministry of Environment’s three-day inspection which ended Friday found larvae of nonbiting midge and other organisms at seven out of a total of 49 water treatment centers with an activated carbon filtering system. They are two facilities in I

Authorities are on high alert after larva-like creatures were discovered in tap water in Seoul and some nearby areas recently, and are thoroughly examining the local waterworks system. At around 11 p.m. Sunday, a resident of an apartment in Jung-gu, central Seoul, reported finding a centimeter-long, “worm-like creature” the thickness of a hair on the bathroom floor after taking a shower. The creature seemed to be alive and moving. After the report was filed with local authorities,

Publisher Munhak Dongne announced Friday that it was suspending sales of books featuring author Kim Bong-gon’s works that have come under fire for using without consent an acquaintance’s private messages. Kim gained attention for his vivid autofiction -- or fictionalized autobiography -- regarding LGBTQ culture when he came out of the closet as he embarked on a writing career in 2016. The personal yet fictional stories involving the intense emotional struggles of LGBTQ characters w

A Seoul court will decide on issuing an arrest warrant for a reporter accused of colluding with a prosecutor to take down a media personality friendly to the Moon Jae-in administration later Friday. The Seoul Central District Court started a hearing at 10 a.m. upon the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for Lee Dong-jae from Channel A, a cable TV network owned by Dong-A Media Group, one of the largest media conglomerates here. The allegation was first raised in an investigative