Police said on Thursday they closed a yearlong preliminary investigation into allegations that Lee Boo-jin, eldest daughter of Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and chief executive of Hotel Shilla, abused a controlled substance, as they found no evidence that she did. “No evidence to prove Lee’s illegal injection (of propofol) has been found, so we closed the internal investigation,” the special detective division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said. Police said that pro

Health authorities are nervously watching as tourist bookings to Jeju Island over the long weekend surge with loosened social distancing rules. Starting with Buddha’s Birthday, which falls on Thursday, April 30 this year, and Labor Day on May 1, many Koreans are to enjoy six days of holiday through Children’s Day on May 5. Daily booking rate of flights between Seoul’s Gimpo and Jeju during this period hovers above 80 percent. On the first day of the holidays, 93 percent of

The Korean-American Scientists and Engineers Association said Tuesday that it will host a series of online meetings where high school students can interact with renowned scientists and engineers, starting April 29. The “KSEA science concert” is free, but only those who register in advance at ksea.org/us/sconcert can attend. Philip Kim, professor of physics at Harvard University, will speak about graphene, known as the “material of dreams,” April 29. The next day Luke P

Two men were indicted on charges of rape and instigating rape through a chat app. In August last year, a man identified only as “A” wrote a message on a chat app where he misrepresented himself as a 35-year-old woman. “I want to be raped,” said the message. “Looking for a male role play partner.” When a man identified only as “B” showed interest, A gave him an address in Sejong City, falsely claiming to live there. B drove to the address, broke

The identity of an 18-year-old suspected of running an online abuse ring that victimized dozens of women and girls was disclosed to the public Friday. Kang Hun, known by his internet alias “Butta,” is South Korea’s first criminal suspect to have his identity revealed while still a minor. The age of majority is 19 in Korea. Kang is a key accomplice of 24-year-old Cho Ju-bin who allegedly led a group that blackmailed women and girls into sharing sexual videos of themselves, a

Rep. Joo Ho-young of the United Future Party won his fifth term by a huge margin against four-term lawmaker and potential presidential hopeful Rep. Kim Boo-kyum of the Democratic Party in the Suseong-A constituency in Daegu. Joo won 59.8 percent of the ballot, easily beating Kim who came second place with 39.2 percent. Having served senior positions in the United Future Party, Joo is now among the likely candidates to lead his troubled party. Joo, a former judge at the Daegu District Court,

Justice Party leader Sim Sang-jung narrowly won her fourth term as a lawmaker in a cutthroat three-way race against first-time parliamentary candidates of the two largest parties. Sim won 39.3 percent of the ballot in Goyang-A, Gyeonggi Province, followed by Lee Kyung-hwan of the main opposition United Future Party who won 32.7 percent and Moon Myung-soon of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea with 27.3 percent. As the only winner among 75 Justice Party candidates who ran in electoral distr

  In addition to the Seoul metropolitan area, which accounts for nearly half of the country’s constituencies, the swing vote regions of Busan, Chungcheong, Gangwon and Jeju are likely to see some of the closest matches in the general elections on Wednesday. Of the 253 electoral districts nationwide, the ruling Democratic Party said it was leading in 120 and contending in 70. The main opposition United Future Party said it was headmost in 95 constituencies and contesting in 51. Ba

Cho Ju-bin, the 24-year-old behind a massive online pornography ring, was indicted Monday on 14 charges including sexual molestation and violation of the law on protection of children against sex offenses. Cho allegedly led a group that blackmailed girls and women into sharing sexual videos of themselves, which were then posted in pay-to-view chat rooms on the Telegram messenger service. He was not indicted for organizing a criminal group this time, but it appears to be only a matter of time

Three out of 4 South Koreans said they were dissatisfied with the country’s political situation, according to the results of a survey summarized in a recent report. The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs and Seoul National University’s Center for Social Welfare conducted the poll of 6,331 households between February and May last year. The topics were political participation, political orientation and perception of welfare. Of the respondents, 74.88 percent said they wer

Six out of 10 Koreans think the government should pay emergency disaster relief money to everyone, not just the bottom 70 percent income bracket as planned to help fight COVID-19, a recent survey showed. In a poll of 500 Koreans nationwide conducted on Tuesday by Realmeter, 58.2 percent said they are for universal payout of the disaster relief, while 36.6 percent said they are against it, the pollster said on Wednesday. “Approvals (of universal payout) outnumbered disapprovals in most r

Seoul City said on Friday it will close seven bus stops around Yunjung-ro, a street lined with cherry blossoms that attract visitors in Yeouido, this weekend in a bid to curb the spread of COVID-19. The bus-stop closures, which lead to temporary detours on 17 bus routes, are a follow-up to the city’s decision to close the area from April 1-10 to keep springtime picnickers from flocking. Bus stops at Yeouido Full Gospel Church (bus stop numbers 19136, 19137), Yeouido Park (19138), Yeouina

Concerns are rising that a public bath in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, may have become the site of a COVID-19 infection cluster as at least four people who used it have been confirmed with the virus. A 70-year-old woman who used the same public bath with a 67-year-old woman confirmed earlier was confirmed to have been infected with the novel coronavirus Friday. A high school student and a woman in her 50s, who were confirmed a day earlier, were also found to have used the same public bath -- th

The government said Thursday it would invest 215.1 billion won ($175 million) over the next 10 years in research and development of vaccines for COVID-19, tuberculosis, hepatitis A and hand-foot-and-mouth disease, among others. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said the money will be spent throughout the entire cycle of vaccine development, from finding candidate substances to clinical trials, starting in July. The project to develop Korea’s own vaccines will cover not only vaccine tec

A high-ranking public prosecutor accused of plotting with a journalist to tarnish the reputation of a vocal supporter of President Moon Jae-in denied Wednesday the accusation made against him by MBC. The terrestrial broadcaster reported Tuesday that a cable network sought to dig up dirt on Rhyu Si-min, using its connections with the prosecution. Lee Cheol, a major shareholder of biotech company SillaJen who is currently in jail for financial fraud, told MBC that a reporter at Channel A pres