Zolpidem, a sedative often used for the treatment of insomnia, is the drug that is most frequently used by South Korean drug-facilitated sexual abuse offenders, according to a report released by the National Forensic Service on Monday.　The report was written after analyzing a total of 148 reported cases of drug-facilitated sexual assault that took place from 2006-2012. Among the cases, the largest number of them, at 31, involved using Zolpidem. When the drug is taken with a large amount of alcoh

In South Korea, older men with relatively low education levels are more lenient towards social violence, especially sexual harassment, while younger women with post-secondary education tend to be the most intolerant of violence, a study showed Thursday.　People respond differently to violence based on their gender, education levels and age, and young women in their 20s with university degrees are most sensitive to abuse including sexual violence, showed a report released by the Gender Ministry. 　

A significantly higher number of South Korean drugs were approved for phase 3 clinical trials last year, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday.　Phase 3 clinical trials are the final testing of drugs on patients to assess efficacy and safety before they are distributed to the public.　The ministry said that the largest number of newly approved drugs were anticancer medicine.  Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (Yonhap)　Clinical trials involving new drugs in Korea are commonly class

Debate is brewing over whether or not South Korea should loosen its abortion laws to allow the procedure for Zika-affected pregnant women should there be an outbreak of the virus in the country. 　The Zika virus, which is transmitted through an infected mosquito, has been claimed to be linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with abnormally small heads and underdeveloped brains. Earlier this month, the World Health Organization issued a worldwide warning that the virus is a glob

South Korean companies based in the North Korean border city of Gaeseong urged the government on Thursday to roll out follow-up measures to compensate damages caused by its earlier decision to indefinitely suspend the operation of the joint industrial park."We will ask the government to make compensations and roll out follow-up measures regarding the irresponsible decision," Jeong Gi-seob, who heads the Corporate Association of Gaeseong Industrial Complex said. "For now, we deeply resent the gov

Several dozen people appeared in a Hong Kong court Thursday to face rioting charges following a violent clash earlier this week between protesters and police sparked by a clampdown on holiday street food vendors.Hong Kong police and local media reports said 37 people were attending court in Kowloon, each facing one count of taking part in a riot, a rarely used charge that carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.Defendants were given bail and their cases adjourned until April, the report

Hyundai Heavy Industries Co., a South Korean shipbuilder, said Thursday it struck a deal with a Turkish counterpart to build two oil tankers tankers sized at 158,000 tons each.Under the deal estimated at US$120-140 million, Hyundai will hand over the ships to Turkey-based Ditas Shipping in 2018.It marked the first order won by the country's top three shipbuilders, which have been suffering from an earnings slump, hit by a protracted decrease in oil prices and increased costs.South Korean shipbui

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- Abortion opponents in Mississippi, West Virginia and several other states are filing bills to ban an abortion procedure commonly used in the second trimester that opponents describe as dismembering a fetus.Courts have already blocked similar laws that Kansas and Oklahoma enacted in 2015.The New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights, which represents abortion providers in legal fights, says banning the dilation and evacuation method of abortion -- commonly called "D&E"

DETMOLD, Germany (AP) -- A 94-year-old former Auschwitz guard went on trial Thursday on 170,000 counts of accessory to murder in western Germany, accused of serving in the death camp at a time when hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were gassed.Former SS Sgt. Reinhold Hanning maintains that he served in a part of the Auschwitz camp complex where no gassings were taking place. Prosecutors argue that all guards helped the camp function, and that during the so-called "Hungarian action" in 1944

A district court ordered chemical castration to punish a sex convict for the first time in the country since the Constitutional Court upheld the law authorizing drug treatment for sex offenders last year. 　The punishment was first implemented in 2011 to introduce stronger measures against sexual assault crimes in the country. 　In 2013, the Daejeon District Court filed a request for constitutional review of the legislation, claiming it violates basic human rights. In a 6-3 vote, the Constitutiona

South Korea’s education law has been revised to allow all undergraduate students to continue their studies and to take semesters off if they are married or become pregnant while at school, the Education Ministry announced Friday.　Up until now, each university in the country had had different rules regarding marriages and pregnancies. 　Some universities had previously banned students from marrying and becoming pregnant while working on their degrees. Some schools would expel those who broke these

China's culture ministry on Monday denied some South Korean media reports that it has banned singers under JYP Entertainment from performing in mainland China in the wake of a flag row involving a 16-year-old Taiwanese K-pop singer. JYP Entertainment is the South Korean management agency for the singer, Chou Tzu-yu, who waved Taiwan's national flag on a South Korean entertainment TV program in November. The image of Chou, who performs under the name Tzuyu as a member of South Korean girl band TW

Carmakers that fail to fix emissions-related violations will be slapped with fines, the government said Monday, as South Korea moves to tackle concerns raised by Volkswagen's cheating scandal.The environment ministry said companies that do not recall their cars will be fined for each violation in accordance with changes to the country's air environment protection law.It said offenders could be slapped with upwards to 3 million won (US$2,500) in fines.The ministry said carmakers that fail to upda

South Korea's foreign ministry on Monday issued a terrorism response manual to help people better cope with emergency situations when traveling abroad.The manual comes as terrorists have started to attack so-called soft targets like favorite tourist destinations, shopping malls and transportation hubs, instead of government agencies and military and law enforcement personnel.The move comes after bomb blasts killed and wounded people in Istanbul and Jakarta as part of efforts to sow confusion and

BERLIN (AP) -- A German court says a 95-year-old man will go on trial next month on 3,681 counts of accessory to murder for allegedly serving in the Nazis' Auschwitz death camp.Hubert Zafke is accused of working as a medic in Auschwitz in an SS hospital. Prosecutors argue that in that role, the former SS sergeant helped the death camp function.An appeals court in December ruled he was fit for trial, though the Neubrandenburg state court said Monday that when his trial opens Feb. 29, judges will

Han Jin-hee (not her real name), an office worker in Seoul, spends about eight hours each day sitting at work. While seated, her job consists of taking phone calls and writing reports at the same time. About six months ago, Han worked in a different division which required her to stand most of the time greeting clients.　“I don’t know which is better -- sitting too much or standing too much,” the 28-year-old told The Korea Herald. “But ever since I moved to my current division, I’ve been experien

When Heo Nanseolheon (1563-1589) was just 8 years old, she wrote her iconic piece “Inscriptions on the Ridge Pole of the White Jade Pavilion in Kwanghan Palace,” a poem filled with a unique imagination about the world of spiritual beings. Today, the piece is still considered as the work of a poetic genius -- who later died at age of 27, after suffering an unhappy marriage and the deaths of her two children.　Heo is one of very few women writers from Korea’s Confucian Joseon kingdom (1392-1897), w

BERLIN, (AFP) - German politicians waged a heated debate Thursday over whether to make it easier to expel convicted asylum seekers, after a series of sexual assaults on New Year's Eve blamed on men of foreign origin.Authorities have said there is no concrete proof that the perpetrators of the attacks in Cologne were asylum seekers, but critics of Chancellor Angela Merkel's open-door approach to those fleeing war have seized on the opportunity to draw a link.Victims described their attackers as b

South Korea said Thursday that it will resume anti-Pyongyang broadcasts this week along the heavily fortified border with North Korea in retaliation of Pyongyang's claimed hydrogen bomb test. The anti-Pyongyang broadcasts will resume at noon on Friday, Cho Tae-yong, deputy chief of the presidential office of national security, told reporters."The North's fourth nuclear test is a grave violation" of the August deal, Cho said, referring to a breakthrough deal that defused heightened tension sparke

South Korea's Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Eun-hee was lambasted by opposition lawmakers for her views on the recent ROK-Japan sex slavery settlement during her confirmation hearing at the National Assembly on Thursday.　The former IT businesswoman and Saenuri Party lawmaker described the settlement between the two nations as “an outcome that came out as a result of South Korean government’s utmost efforts” during the session. 　The agreement has been criticized for not clearly admitting