Online game mogul Kim Taek-jin’s father-in-law was found dead in an apparent homicide Thursday morning near his home in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province. CEO of South Korea-based NCSoft Kim Taek-jin (Yonhap)The 68-year-old victim was discovered by police at around 7:17 a.m. in his garden next to the garage. Police found external wounds on his neck and suspect a murder, according to officer Kang Myong-ju at Yangpyeong Police Station who is heading the investigation.“The wounds on the victim’s neck l

Police are hunting for a man suspected of killing his mother, step-father and 14-year-old half brother. The 35-year-old suspect is believed to have taken a flight to New Zealand shortly after the murders, Yongin Dongbu Police said. According to investigators, the suspect was last spotted on CCTV footage entering the victims’ apartment on Oct. 21 at around noon, before leaving at around 5 p.m. The footage showed that the victims arrived home at around 2 p.m., and did not leave until their bodies

Park Chung-nam has decided to refuse medical care for life extension if he becomes terminally ill. “I believe it’s not up to doctors to decide whether to prolong suffering in my final days. If I become terminally ill, medical aid options could extend my life, but not save it,” said Park, 72, adding that as a church elder, he has seen several members of his church die in hospitals. “I’d rather die with dignity.”Park Jung-nam, 72, signs an end-of-life care agreement at Kakdang Social Welfare Found

Lee Kyong-hee, The Korea Herald’s editor-in-chief from 1999 to 2004, was announced the sixth winner of the Korea Foundation Award on Monday. Koreana managing editor Lee Kyong-hee (left) and the Koreana magazine (photo: The Korea Foundation)Korea Foundation, a non-profit public diplomacy organization which organizes events to promote citizen diplomacy and enhance international relations, awards the prize biannually to an exceptional person who has made significant contributions in spreading under

Over 100 teenagers kill themselves every year in South Korea, but the funding for state-run and provincial suicide prevention programs was cut at least 35 percent from 2016, according to a lawmaker. 123rfRep. Cho Hun-hyun of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party cited the Ministry of Education’s data for a parliamentary audit, which showed that the ministry’s budget for the country’s School Mental Health Resources and Research Center declined 538 million won to 1 billion won ($883,000) this ye

Gyeonggi English Village, which was South Korea’s first residential English camp, has rebranded itself as Change Up Campus as part of efforts to nurture and promote high-quality and future-oriented education for students, according to the province Tuesday. The Change Up Campus run by Gyeonggi Province will provide programs designed to help students to better prepare for the coming “fourth industrial revolution” on top of learning the English language, the province said.  Key panelists pose befor

Former President Park Geun-hye, who is standing trial over the corruption scandal that led to her ouster in March, unleashed pent-up frustration during a court hearing Monday, calling her case a “political vendetta.”  Former president Park Geun-hye is escorted to the courtroom at the Seoul Central District Court to attend a hearing on Oct. 16, Monday, 2017. (Yonhap)Speaking at length for the first time since her trial began in May, Park said she could not “accept the court’s decision to extend”

Former top aides of ousted President Park Geun-hye, who were convicted of running a blacklist of culture figures deemed critical of the Park administration, will begin court appearances this week to appeal their jail terms for abuse of power. Former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon and former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun are escorted to the courtroom at the Seoul Central District Court to attend their sentencing hearing on July 27. YonhapThe Seoul High Court on Tuesday will begin appeal

The Seoul Administrative Court on Thursday lifted a departure ban against John Lee, a former head of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea and current CEO of Google Korea, upholding his petition to end it. Former head of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser Korea and current CEO of Google Korea John Lee (Yonhap)The court said while the ban would cause him “irreparable damage,” there is insufficient evidence to believe that allowing him to leave the country would adversely affect the public welfare.Thursday’s decision ca

Around 56 percent of South Korean teenagers who are put on juvenile probation have at least one sexually transmitted infection, a new medical study shows Thursday.  123rfThe study, released Thursday by Hallym University Kangnam Sacred Heart Hospital in Seoul, is based on a urinalysis test in 2014 of 237 teenagers, aged from 12 to 19, who were on supervised probation or at a youth detention for juvenile offenses. According to the researchers, 56.1 percent, or 133 teenagers, tested positive for at

About 1 in 3 South Koreans have latent tuberculosis as of last year, a lawmaker said Wednesday. 123rfRep. Nam In-soon of the ruling Democratic Party cited the annual Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2016 conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which showed that 33.2 percent of 2,051 participants tested positive for latent TB infection. LTBI is a condition in which TB bacteria are present in the body but are dormant. That is the highest incidenc

The next extended Chuseok holiday similar to that of this year will come in 2025, according to the calendar.  123rfThis year saw the annual Chuseok holiday extend for a record 10 days, thanks to the traditional festival falling between two national holidays -- National Foundation Day and Hangul Day and two weekends. In addition, the government’s designation of Oct. 2 as a national holiday this year allowed the holiday to extend from Sept. 30 to Oct. 9. The country will not see a similarly long C

Hundreds of diehard supporters of former President Park Geun-hye gathered near the Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday ahead of a court hearing in the ousted leader’s corruption trial. Supporters of former South Korean President Park Geun-hye wave national flags near the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho-gu, Seoul, Oct. 10, 2017. (Yonhap)Waving banners that read “Park is innocent” and national flags, they demanded the court release the jailed leader whose detention warrant expires on Oc

The Seoul Central District Court is set to decide Tuesday whether to extend the detention of former President Park Geun-hye, who is on trial for corruption charges. On Thursday, the appeal trial will begin for Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted in August of bribing Park to win political support for the conglomerate’s smooth leadership transition in favor of him. Park, the first female president elected in South Korea, was expelled from power on March 10, arrested o

Baby feeding rooms in two of Seoul’s most crowded subway stations are filthier than toilet bowl lids in nearby public restrooms, a lawmaker said Sunday. 123rfAccording to Rep. Choi Do-ja from the National Assembly’s Health and Welfare Committee, nursing station facilities in Seoul Station and Yongsan Station had contamination levels of up to 13,476 relative light units per milliliter. That is about 14 times the average contamination level of toilet bowl lids in nearby restrooms, which was 951 RL

As a software engineer, Yoo Yong-sik never thought that he would be unable to live independently. Since being diagnosed with motor neurone disease, sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in 2010, Yoo, 55, now finds himself facing the reality that the country’s disability care budget covers only half the cost of the home help services that he needs for 24 hours a day.“I can no longer work and take care of myself, but I sure don’t want sympathy. I just want to be treated fairly by the government

The Ministry of Health and Welfare on Wednesday said that it would tackle homelessness by focusing on providing housing units and medical care, and helping the homeless find jobs. Homeless people take shelter underground at the Seoul Station subway. (photo: Lee Won-yul/The Korea Herald)Bae Byung-joon, director general of the Health Industry Bureau at the Welfare Ministry, said that the ministry would swiftly carry out countermeasures to reduce the number of homeless people and help them live ind

South Korea’s environmental authorities on Tuesday unveiled a package of measures to tackle the worsening air pollution, including shutting down aged coal power plants and reducing pollutants from diesel vehicles and factories.The measures are aimed at helping reduce fine dust emissions by more than 30 percent by the end of President Moon Jae-in’s term in 2022, authorities said. Seoul’s Namsan Tower is blanketed in thick smoke. (Yonhap)According to the Ministry of Environment, the Moon administr

South Korea had 2.2 medical doctors per 1,000 people in 2015, the fewest among member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, health authorities in Seoul said Monday. The figure is far lower than the average 3.3 medical doctors of OECD member states, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare. (photo: Yonhap)Korea’s number of licensed doctors includes physicians practicing oriental medicine. Korea was followed by Poland with 2.3, Japan and Mexico with

A South Korean 18-year-old girl who was sentenced to life in prison for colluding with the teenage murderer of an 8-year-old victim has applied to appeal the court’s decision made last week, the court said Sunday. According to Incheon District Court, the accomplice -- identified by the surname Park -- filed an appeal against the court’s verdict for the first trial, which handed down a lifetime sentence to the murder accomplice Friday. Park had no direct role in the murder, but the court acknowle