Main opposition’s push to dismiss defense minister emerges as bone of contention

A new law designed to prevent bullying in the workplace is set to go into effect in South Korea this week, setting the stage for victims of harassment at work to get some protection.A revised law on labor standards, commonly called the workplace anti-bullying law, will be effective starting Tuesday, after a six-month grace period.Physical assault and sexual abuse in the workplace are being handled in the legal domain, but harassment has been mostly overlooked as it is regarded as a personal rela

A major umbrella labor union group said Monday its representatives will resign from the minimum wage panel in protest of last week's decision to hike the wage by the slowest pace in a decade.The Minimum Wage Commission, involving labor and business representatives and experts, set the minimum wage at 8,590 won ($7.32) per hour for next year Friday, up 2.9 percent from this year.The decision was a far cry from an initial demand of 10,000 won by the labor sector, a level that President Moon Jae-in

People who incite suicides and adults who have “consensual” sex with teenagers under the age of 16 will be punished under newly revised laws, the police said Sunday. The Korean National Police Agency said it will strictly enforce violations of both laws -- on protecting juveniles from sexual abuse and preventing suicide. The amendments take effect Tuesday. 　Under the revised law on sexual abuse, adults who have sexual intercourse with teenagers aged between 13 and 16 by taking advant

Ministry of Unification Deputy Spokesperson Kim Eun-han said a media report on the “mass” arrival of North Korean defectors from Thailand was partially incorrect.News 1, a Seoul-based news agency, reported Friday morning that around 20 North Koreans were in government custody after arriving in the country on a Korean Air flight from Thailand on Thursday morning.In a phone call with The Korea Herald on Friday afternoon, Kim said the number of North Korean defectors that were reported

The top court ruled Thursday that an entry ban on a Korean American singer who obtained US citizenship in an apparent attempt to evade military conscription here is illegal, paving the way for him to come to South Korea 17 years after it was prohibited.The Supreme Court found that refusing an entry visa to Steve Yoo, 43, who was a highly popular singer until the early 2000s and is better known as Yoo Seung-jun, is in violation of “administrative procedures.”　In 2002, the Ministry of

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling ordering a jail term for a four-term opposition lawmaker, stripping him of his parliamentary seat.The top court sentenced Rep. Choi Kyung-hwan of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party to five years in prison for taking bribes worth some 100 million won ($84,990). He was also ordered to pay 150 million won in fines. Under the law, an elected official loses his or her post if sentenced to imprisonment without forced labor for criminal cas

Unionized subway workers in Busan, a major southern port city, went on indefinite strike Wednesday over a pay dispute.The walkout by Busan Metro's labor union began at 5 a.m. after its last-minute wage hike negotiations with management fell through the previous night. The union said about 2,400 of its 3,402 members, including train drivers, station employees and technicians, were taking part in the strike. According to the law governing public service corporations, Busan Metro is required to kee

A Korean man in police custody for assaulting his Vietnamese wife told reporters on Monday that he believes “other men are the same.”“Things began weighing on my mind since (my wife and I) speak different languages, and so we think differently. But I believe other men are the same,” he told the press, adding that he hopes such circumstances are taken into consideration. The 36-year-old suspect, identified only by his surname Kim, made the comments as he was escorted

A senior editorial member of broadcaster SBS resigned Monday over suspicion he secretly took a photo of the lower part of a woman’s body in a subway station, according to the TV station.　The broadcaster accepted the resignation of Kim Sung-joon, 55, who had been one of its top news anchormen.　The Yeongdeungpo Police Station booked Kim without detention on suspicion that he took the photo without the woman’s knowledge at Yeongdeungpo-gu Office Station at around 11:55 p.m. Wednesday.&n

A South Korean actress faces up to five years in a Thai jail for catching endangered giant clams in a reality TV stunt, an official said Saturday, despite the show's extensive apology.Lee Yeol-eum was filmed diving for giant clams at a Thai marine park for a June 30 episode of "Law of the Jungle" -- a popular South Korean reality show.After prising two giant clams from the coral-laid seabed, Lee pumped them in the air yelling "I caught it!"The creatures are listed as an endan

A 23-year-old South Korean man is under investigation for allegedly seeking to join the Islamic State terrorist group, and preparing for a terrorist attack while he was serving in the army. It marks the country’s first case of a “lone wolf” terrorist act being planning.The man surnamed Park, 23, was found to have stolen an ignition device for explosives while being trained at an army engineer school after joining an infantry unit near Seoul in October 2017, broadcaster KBS repo

Na Kyung-won pledges to adopt bill on union’s social responsibility

Hanmi Pharmaceutical shares nose-dived nearly 30 percent Thursday, following news that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals has decided to return development and global commercialization rights of Hanmi’s diabetes treatment. Hanmi shares closed at 301,500 won ($258), down 27.26 percent or 113,000 won from a day earlier. Janssen, based in Belgium, had inked a license agreement for Hanmi’s investigational drug HM12525A in November 2015, for which Hanmi receive

Irregular workers at schools went on strike Wednesday, calling for an end to discrimination in wages and welfare benefits vis-a-vis regular workers and disrupting meal services at thousands of schools nationwide. Six-hour-long negotiations between irregular workers at schools and education authorities fell through the previous day, leading some 22,000 irregular workers at schools -- including cooks, nutritionists and administrative workers -- to stage a walkout until Friday. As of 10 a.m. Wednes