Lee Jin-ah, 43 and the mother of a 13-year-old son, has been following the updates of the death of Sohn Jung-min, a medical student who died in the Han River, every day, through news articles and YouTube videos. “Because I have a son, I am emotionally attached to Jung-min’s father. I feel so sorry for him. It is so terrible to think that my child could be dead like that,” she said. Lee does not know why Jung-min died, but does not trust the police investigation. “I

Colleagues of the late Air Force noncommissioned officer, whose suicide sparked a public uproar over sexual abuse in the military, had abused her for about a year repeatedly after watching her unable to speak up about such cases, a lawyer for the bereaved family said. The claim suggests that additional members of her unit could have abused the victim, identified only as Master Sergeant Lee, besides the lastest case in March in which she was groped and suffered other abuse by a colleague in a ca

Naver employee ends life due to workplace harassment; Kakao makes pregnant employee work overtime; Nexon slices wages of underachieving employees without consent

President Moon Jae-in on Sunday met with the bereaved families of a female Air Force officer, sexually assaulted by a male colleague, and apologized to them for failing to protect her. Moon headed to her funeral home shortly after attending a national ceremony to mark the 66th Memorial Day. The annual event was held at Seoul National Cemetery. Speaking to the victim's parents at Armed Forces Capital Hospital in Seongnam, just south of the capital, the president said he was sorry that the count

A 2-year-old girl has been in a coma for nearly a month since her adoptive father abused her to the point she fell unconscious with bleeding in her brain. Doctors say she is unlikely to wake up given the extent of the trauma she suffered when her father, 36, allegedly slapped her face and knocked her down a total of four times at their home in Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 8. An investigation revealed that the adoptive father had abused the girl multiple times prior to M

Military prosecutors carried out a series of raids on the Air Force headquarters and other locations in connection with an investigation into the suicide death of a female noncommissioned officer following sexual harassment by a colleague. At around 10 a.m., investigators raided the police corps of the Air Force headquarters as well as the police squadron of the 15th Special Missions Wing that the victim was affiliated with, the defense ministry said in a release. Military prosecutors are loo

Love it or hate it, minty flavor is having its moment of glory

President Moon Jae-in strongly instructed military investigators Thursday to deal strictly with a recent sexual assault case that led to the death of the victim. Moon was referring to the Air Force noncommissioned female officer who was found dead in late May in an apparent suicide. In March, she allegedly suffered unwanted physical touching by a male colleague with the same rank of master sergeant in a vehicle. She reported the incident to her senior officers the following day, but they are ac

Q1 sees 238 deaths, out of the year’s goal at 616

The Supreme Court said Wednesday it has confirmed the not-guilty verdict for South Korean-born short track speed skater Lim Hyo-jun in a sexual harassment case. The top court has upheld the appellate court's decision to acquit Lim of sexually harassing a male teammate at South Korea's national skating team in June 2019. The 2018 Olympic gold medalist was accused of pulling down his male teammate's pants and exposing a body part, with female skaters present, during practice at a national train

The mayor of Seoul and the governor of Gyeonggi Province, the heads of the two largest local governments in South Korea, exchanged words over the weekend on the topic of basic income support. While Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung proposes prioritizing the equal distribution of funds to people of all socioeconomic levels, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wants to give more to those with less income. The two had clashed in the past over the matter, but the conflict flared up again last week when Oh wrote a so

An Air Force officer has died in an apparent suicide after being sexually harassed by a colleague, officials said Tuesday. In March, the female master sergeant stationed in the central city of Seosan was sexually harassed by the man surnamed Jang inside a car on their way back to the base after a private gathering that she was forced to attend, according to the officials. She then reported the case to the authorities the following day, but the military allegedly failed to take appropriate step

The smoking rate in Seoul dropped to its lowest level ever in 2020 as more smokers quit amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that the smoking rate for adult residents of Seoul was 15.5 percent in 2020, down 1.2 percentage points from a year earlier. It is the lowest figure ever recorded since the city began collecting the data in 2008. The smoking rate for adult men in Seoul fell below 30 percent for the first time, hitting 28.9 percent, down 2.0 percent fr

President Moon Jae-in's job approval rating rebounded to nearly 40 percent for the first time in nearly three months thanks to positive reception toward his recent summit deal with US President Joe Biden, according to a new poll released Monday. In the survey conducted by Realmeter on 2,512 people over the age of 18 from May 24-28, Moon's job approval rating was recorded at 39.3 percent, up 4.4 percentage points from the previous week. The result marked Moon's highest performance in public pol

Advocacy groups for overseas Koreans are demanding for measures to protect the rights of expats living outside of South Korea in carrying out their mandatory military service, as a revision that recently took effect infringes their right to visit and stay in their home country as lawful citizens. The Korean International Network and others claimed in a joint statement Sunday that the right to choose their place of living could be infringed for third and fourth generation Korean nationals living