Approximately 30 private education institutes were found to be running illegal late-night classes, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, Sunday. SMOE ordinance regulates classes for teenagers to be provided only between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. (Yonhap)However, when the government body ran a check on 487 institutes in the Gangnam district on Thursday, 30 were found to be running classes outside of the designated hours.The identified institutes will have demerits imposed on them and

Insurance fraud by those exaggerating illness or injury to be hospitalized is increasing each year, the prosecutors’ office revealed Sunday. According to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, a typical false patient stayed in the hospital for over 144 days for noncommittal illnesses such as gonarthritis within six months of signing 10 different insurance contracts.   (123RF)The number of false hospitalization and over-the-top treatments were found to have cost the insurance companies 99 billion won (

A man was arrested for stealing credit cards from intoxicated people and spending tens of millions of won on gambling, Seoul police said Sunday. The 44-year-old thief surnamed Lee targeted drunk people he accosted on the streets. He singled out men who passed out in busy districts and pretended to offer a helping hand -- either to hail a cab or give them company for another round of drinks.(123RF)Lee then told his victims that they need more cash and directed them to ATMs where he got their PIN

A taxi driver was given two years in prison with three years’ probation for abandoning an inebriated passenger on a highway, eventually leading to the passenger’s death, Daegu High Court said Sunday. The taxi was carrying the man from Andong in North Gyeongsang Province to Daegu -- roughly an hour and a half’s ride -- when the man who had gradually become incapable of clear communication failed to give his final desired destination to the driver.  (Yonhap)After a number of attempts at getting a

싱가포르에서 택시 차량으로 사용되는 현대 자동차 소나타 기종이 사고에 연속 연루되며 급발진 가능성이 제기되고 있다. 지난달 30일, 싱가포르 베독 노쓰 스트릿 2 (Bedok North Street 2) 야외주차장에서 택시회사 컴포트사 소속의 소나타 택시가 후진 주차 중 갑자기 속도를 높이며 폐지를 줍던 A씨 (여, 78)를 치어 숨지게 했다. 　연달아 이달 4일, 씨티캡사 소나타 택시가 싱가포르 레드힐 (Redhill) 주차장에서 갑작스런 후진으로 주차 되어 있던 차를 들이받고 도주했다. 문제를 일으킨 택시 기사는 곧 해고되었지만, 해당 사고 영상이 SNS를 통해 번지며 급발진 추측성 글이 난무하고 있다.   레드힐 주차장에서 문제를 일으킨 택시 (하단 페이스북 영상 링크)https://www.facebook.com/evon.lim.927/videos/1181953048483125/ 싱가포르의 온라인 IT테크 커뮤니티 “하드웨어존 포럼”에서는 “택시의 상태가 이상해 보인다”는 사람

A man who allegedly told his wife to sleep with another man to extort money out of the latter will be tried on charges of false accusation.   Seoul’s Northern District Prosecutor’s Office said on Thursday that the 26-year-old man, who is mildly impaired, directed his 25-year-old wife, who has a second-degree mental disability and an IQ of 45, to seduce strangers on the streets. They had been living on government subsidies at the time.(123RF)Following the husband’s orders, the wife had taken a ma

Gwangju City Ballet Company’s art director is drawing flak for allegedly asking a pregnant ballerina to quit.The Gwangju Artists’ Labor Union claimed on Wednesday that the director had told the dancer to “think it through for a week,” effectively pressuring her to leave her job.  The woman in this photo is not the ballerina mentioned in the article. (123RF)The director has so far denied the allegations. He refuted the Union’s claims, by saying, “I have never told her to leave because she’s pregn

A 23-year-old father who had habitually abused his daughter from before she was three months old was indicted Wednesday on charges of murder. The man was taken into custody last month for repeatedly dropping his baby from the height of a meter, which cracked her skull and led to her death.(123RF)The police initially accused the man of foul play, but later changed the case to that of manslaughter by gross negligence. The police said it had discovered through investigation that the man and his wif

Parents of disabled children want more government support, showed a recent survey released a day after a mother was prosecuted for strangling her disabled 11-year-old daughter in Daegu. According to the study released on Wednesday by a child rearing policy research center, a survey of 478 mothers and fathers with disabled children showed that 32 percent of them felt that there was a lack of specialized educational centers.(123RF)Among the respondents, 21 percent wanted more financial support fro

The woman who was arrested for killing her three-year-old nephew has claimed that the victim was her child born as a result of rape. On Wednesday, the woman claimed that she had gotten pregnant after years of being raped by her brother-in-law. (123RF)The 27-year-old aunt, whose identity was withheld by the police, alleges she was raped by her older sister’s husband multiple times since 2008. According to her statements, she was 19 years old at the time of his first assault.The woman claims she c

A mother who strangled her disabled daughter to death has been put on trial.The Daegu Prosecutor’s Office said on Tuesday that the 38-year-old mother confessed to killing her 11-year-old daughter because it was “difficult for her to bring up a challenged child.” (123RF)The night before her crime, the mother went out for a drink. She returned home near 3 a.m. and strangled her daughter to death at around 4 a.m. The woman had divorced her husband many years ago. Her daughter had a congenital secon

Questions regarding relationship history and status are discriminatory in a job interview, according to a fresh report from a Seoul City human rights ombudsman, Tuesday. The report came in recognition of the claims of a human rights violation at a civil servant employment interview held in December 2015. (123RF)At the time, an interviewer had asked a female applicant whether she was married and if she had ever been in a romantic relationship. He also wanted to know the duration of her longest se

The 19-year-old Vietnamese mother who had discarded her dead newborn at a subway station a week ago, had no idea that her action was a criminal offense in Korea, the Uijeongbu Police said. The teenage mother had always been interested in Korean culture. Upon graduating from high school, she enrolled in a Korean language program in Uijeongbu, north of Seoul.  Surveillance camera records helped the police in identifying the woman. (Yonhap)Her trouble began when she found out after registering in t

South Korea and Mexico agreed Monday to hold working-level talks later this year on a free trade deal between the two sides, a move that underscored their commitment to further boosting economic ties.The agreement was reached at the summit meeting between South Korean President Park Geun-hye and her Mexican counterpart, Enrique Pena Nieto."I expect both sides to produce good results by coming up with creative ways at the working-level talks," Park said in a joint news conference with Pena Nieto.

A man was arrested early Tuesday morning for hitting a prostitute, claiming she had not kept her end of the bargain. According to the Busan Seobu Police, the 69-year-old man surnamed Kim had seized the 64-year-old escort, surnamed Lee, by her hair and slapped her across the face in a motel room. (123RF)Kim was arrested by the police while carrying out the act. They had arrived at the scene following reports of a woman screaming. Kim told the police he had paid Lee 250,000 won ($220) for a “long

Police are seeking an arrest warrant for a man who registered a fictitious child to pocket government subsidies. According to the Busan Gijang Police, the suspect, a 35-year-old man surnamed Lee, reported a nonexistent child as his son in 2009 in order to receive state support for child rearing. The total sum he gained through the false report came to 7.7 million won ($6,600). (123RF)Lee hatched his plot when he helped his father register a son by another woman. In the process, he fabricated the

The father who neglected his son as he was abused and killed by his second wife had booked a vasectomy reversal surgery in hopes of getting a new son with the same name, according to the prosecution Tuesday.  “I believed Won-young (the son) would be born again through my second wife’s body. I was going to give the new baby the same name,” said the 38-year-old father surnamed Shin. The 38-year-old Shin wanted vasectomy reversal after his abused son's death. (Yonhap)According to the Prosecutor’s O

Five restaurants that cater to Chinese tourists out of 15 investigated by Seoul Metropolitan Government were found to have violated sanitation regulations. Out of the examined restaurants, three had employees that did not submit medical reports, one had kitchen staff without sanitary hats, while another had unhygienic cutting boards, the city government said Monday.  Chinese tourists in Seoul (Yonhap)These restaurants failed to meet up to 26 standards out of 36 regarding hygienic cooking utensil

Jeong Woo-hyun, the chairman of MPK group, came under fire Monday for allegedly slapping a building’s guard because he had sealed the front gates with Jeong still inside the building.  Jeong Woo-hyun, the chairman of MPK Group (Yonhap)The incident has gone viral in Korea. It has become known as the “Mr. Pizza assault case,” named after MPK’s well-known pizza brand, Mr. Pizza.Although shocking, a businessperson mistreating others is nothing new in Korea. Here are some infamous incidents:  Lee Hae

Seoul National University, one of Korea‘s leading universities, needs to spur efforts to further internationalize if it wants to rise in global rankings, the SNU board of trustees said Monday. On Monday, a team of 12 SNU researchers headed by professor Ye Sung-joon of the Graduate School of Convergence Science and Technology, submitted a project report that analyzed the number of joint international research initiatives conducted by SNU and its implications in global university rankings.The fron