South Korea continues to experience a record-breaking heat wave, with more than 15 days of high temperatures over 35 degrees Celsius. According to the weather agency, Wednesday was the hottest day in the capital city in 111 years with the day-time high recorded at 39.6 C. As the summer holiday season reaches its peak, many holidaymakers have hit the road, heading for coastlines to escape from the blistering heat wave. Busan’s Haeundae Beach was especially packed with local vacationers and touris

The Busan High Court on Sunday upheld the appellate ruling on five men in their 20s charged with the aggravated rape of a woman they met through a mobile messaging app. The top court upheld the conviction of the five men and reaffirmed their sentences of five to eight years in prison, highlighting the necessity of strict punishment to prevent repeat offense. Along with the prison sentence, the court ordered 120 hours of sexual offender treatment, identities to be revealed for five years and rest

Surfing has become a new growing scene for Koreans in recent years. It is a sport or hobby more and more Koreans are eager to give a try amid the sweltering heat. Only a decade ago, hitting the waves on a surfboard would have been considered bizarre to many locals. “If you searched for ‘surfing’ on the internet, the only results you would have gotten were either ‘wind surfing’ or ‘surfing the web’ 10 years back,” Lee Hyung-joo said in an interview with The Korea Herald. Lee Hyung-joo, one of the

With sunflowers in full bloom, the sixth annual sunflower festival is being celebrated in the host county of Haman, South Gyeongsang Province. Local farmers have reportedly planted 1 million sunflowers on 48,000 square meters of land. Festivalgoers can take part in activities such as music performances, cheese-making classes and face painting. The festival, which began on July 21, runs through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily. General admission is 2,000 won ($1.80), which will used to support

Police on Tuesday launched an investigation into a suspected case of elder abuse after a man in his 70s diagnosed with dementia was left inside a van for seven hours amid the sweltering heat. According to Daegu Gangbuk Police Station, the 79-year-old man surnamed Lee was found unconscious inside the van registered to a senior social welfare center in northern Daegu around 4 p.m. Monday. At the time of discovery, Lee’s body temperature was measured to be over 40 degrees Celsius, police said. The

With just four days left to its much anticipated return, iKON unveiled Sunday a teaser image of B.I for its upcoming EP “New Kids: Continue” via YG Entertainment’s official blog (www.yg-life.com). In the teaser, B.I looks straight ahead while resting his face on one hand. He wears a red sleeveless T-shirt and has red highlights in his jet black hair.  iKON B.I teaser poster with lyrics (YG Entertainment)The boy band, known for its creative lyrics, is poised to return with its third installment o

The Daejeon High Court on Thursday upheld an appellate court ruling on a couple charged with the murder of a woman in her 20s, highlighting the necessity of strict punishment. The top court upheld the conviction of the 32-year-old man and his 21-year-old girlfriend, and reaffirmed their sentences of life imprisonment and 10 years in prison, respectively.The defendants had asked for the court’s leniency as they handed in an agreement signed by the victim’s ex-husband not to file criminal charges,

A jumbo taxi driver was arrested by the Incheon tourist police Tuesday after a number of foreign visitors reported being scammed out of millions in cab fare. The 61-year-old suspect is accused of charging six customers higher out-of-town rates going from Incheon Airport to Seoul’s Gangnam area over the course of six months. The suspect reportedly stole a total of 7.04 million won ($6,200) between June 2017 and January 2018. A US visitor told police that his international credit card had been cha

Police on Monday said they would expand the scope of their investigation into a fatal child abuse case at a day care facility in Hwagok-dong, southwestern Seoul, to see if other children were abused. A woman surnamed Kim, 59, is accused of murdering an 11-month-old boy by covering him with a blanket, then putting her full weight on him Wednesday afternoon.   (Yonhap)According to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, all evidence -- analysis of surveillance footage, witness statements and autopsy

Police said Monday they are investigating the death of a 13-year-old female student in an apparent suicide in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. The victim’s aunt called the police after she discovered the girl’s body upon coming home around 7:25 p.m. on Friday, according to Incheon Yeonsu Police Station.There were no signs of forced entry into the house or on the body to indicate a struggle, according to reports.  (Yonhap)No note was found at the scene, but her family said she been driven to take her life due

A day care worker accused of fatal child abuse entered the Seoul Southern District Court Friday morning for a hearing to review the warrant for her arrest. Accompanied by Gangseo police officers, the 59-year-old woman was seen covered up in a black hat and mask in front of the court around 10 a.m. Asked if she admitted to killing the 11-month-old victim, Kim reportedly did not say a word. The suspect enters the Seoul Southern District Court Friday morning. (Yonhap)The day care worker allegedly s

Korean Air-affiliated Jin Air received a barrage of criticism from over 180 passengers after its abrupt cancellation of a flight bound for Da Nang, Vietnam from Busan’s Gimhae International Airport on Thursday night. Flight LJ075, originally scheduled to depart at 10:05 p.m., was canceled due to “poor maintenance of the aircraft,” according to airport authorities. “When it was past 9:40 p.m. (the original boarding time), I asked if the plane was going to leave any time soon. All they said was ‘w

A student’s father publicly denounced school authorities for failing to take proper disciplinary action against the student he believes “assaulted” his son with a sharpened pencil. According to the Incheon Office of Education on Thursday, a second-grader in Namdong-gu, Incheon, came back to his seat after finishing a presentation when a pencil set up upright by a peer impaled his tail bone on June 14. The classmate claimed the whole incident was intended to be a joke. The pencil reportedly pierc

Police investigating the death of an 11-month-old boy have arrested a day care teacher for fatal child abuse in Hwagok-dong, southwestern Seoul, Thursday. According to Gangseo Police Station, the 59-year-old woman, surnamed Kim, is accused of suffocating the baby to death with a blanket during nap time Wednesday afternoon.Police officers said they arrived at the day care facility around 3:30 p.m. after receiving a report of a “baby not breathing.” Emergency medical staff arrived at the scene sho

Amid the sweltering summer heat, many locals and foreign visitors were spotted at the Ice Museum near Hongik University cooling off from the heat. The museum offers a unique experience packed with colorful attractions and sculptures made of ice. Visitors can take pictures inside an igloo or videos coming down a slide. Without an additional entrance fee, tourists can also take a look around the Trick Eye Museum for funny optical illusions in the form of paintings. Photos by YonhapWritten by Cathe

A man who initially reported his father’s purported suicide was sentenced to 20 years in prison for murder, court officials said. According to Busan District Court, the 30-year-old and his father were “not on good terms” due to his lack of a job after graduating from college. But, when his father, 56, allegedly beat his mother during an argument, the defendant reportedly helped his mom move to a new home without the father’s permission. During court proceedings, the man claimed to have gotten an

A high school student in Yangcheon-gu, southwestern Seoul, came under fire and apologized Tuesday for dressing up as YouTuber Yang Ye-won in a yearbook photo shoot Monday. In the shared post, the student can be seen dressed up as a woman while holding a YouTube channel sign reading “national fraud.” Shortly after the student shared the photo via social media, the post went viral, as the uploaded time coincided with Uijeongbu High School’s well-known tradition of creative parodies for the yearboo

A man in his 40s was caught secretly filming women in bikinis by an officer on patrol duty at a beach in Ganghwa-gun, Incheon, police said Tuesday. According to Incheon authorities, the 44-year-old was booked without physical detention for violating the Criminal Act on Special Cases Concerning the Punishment of Sexual Crimes. (Screen-captured from Ganghwa Dongmak Beach)The man is accused of secretly filming two women at Dongmak Beach using his smartphone around 1:40 p.m. Sunday. During interroga

Research indicated nearly 1 in 3 Koreans who called the international marriage hotline attributed problems in their marriage to their foreign spouses last year, according to the Korean Institute for Healthy Family. In 2017, some 614 Koreans called to consult the family institution, of which 31.3 percent, or 192 cases, dealt with spouse-related problems such as runaways, divorce or visas.  (Yonhap)Among spouse-related incident reports, nearly 8 out of 10 international couples ended in divorce due

A man in his 30s apparently jumped to his death from Ulsan Bridge on Monday, marking the fifth fatal leap this year from the bridge, police said. Ulsan Maritime Police Station said they received a report at around 1:40 a.m. of a man “abandoning his car mid-bridge and leaping off the edge.”The rescue team reportedly discovered the victim floating in waters 200 meters south of the bridge at around 2:30 a.m. He was rushed to the hospital, but was pronounced dead upon arrival, according to reports.