South Korean-born musician Sarah Yunji Moon was at home playing her flute in Saskatoon, Canada, when she first heard the tragic news on Monday -- that at least 10 died after a man drove a van into pedestrians near Yonge and Finch area in Toronto, a district widely considered as a mini Koreatown. 　The principal flutist at the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra used to live there during her high school years, as well as from 2014 to early this year. The area is also where her mother and brother still r

A Dongduk Women’s University professor who has been accused of sexual assault has sued the alleged student victim for defamation, claiming that he will not tolerate another “mob justice” which he believes has been triggered by the ongoing #MeToo movement.　Ha Il-ji, 62, who is also an established novelist, offered to step down from his teaching post in March, after he was accused of allegedly making controversial remarks concerning the #MeToo campaign during one of his literature classes. The uni

The police raided a power blogger’s office Sunday as part of a probe into allegations that he and his colleagues illegally manipulated the popularity of certain online comments to attack the current government.　The blogger, surnamed Kim, was indicted last week for allegedly using a computer program that artificially ramps up the number of clicks on “agree” -- the South Korean search engine Naver’s equivalent of Facebook’s “like” -- for comments that were critical of President Moon Jae-in and his

Amid the ongoing online rigging scandal involving ex-members of the ruling Democratic Party, a study has shown that readers’ comments on news portals can heavily influence one’s perception of an individual or current affairs -- regardless of whether they have any logic or substance.　　Three ex-members of the ruling party, all currently in custody, are accused of using a computer program that artificially ramps up the number of clicks on “agree” -- South Korea’s dominant search engine Naver’s equi

The ongoing online opinion rigging scandal involving ex-members of the ruling Democratic Party has the public curious about the now-indicted power blogger at the center of the controversy, who is suspected of working as a “political broker” in the online space for the party before President Moon Jae-in came into office last year.The blogger, surnamed Kim, has been a popular figure in the local online space. With the nickname “Druking,” Kim, 48, operated a liberal-leaning current affairs blog, ti

When reading the news in the morning, Kim Jeong-ah, 28, habitually checks the most popular comments.But a recent scandal has raised concerns that their popularity has been illegally manipulated. On Tuesday, prosecutors indicted three former members of the ruling Democratic Party for online opinion rigging on the country’s dominant internet portal and search engine, Naver. A power blogger, nicknamed "Druking," is suspected of rigging the popularity of online comments critical of the Moon administ

Some 5,000 Koreans gathered in the city of Ansan for the government’s first memorial remembering victims of the 2014 Sewol ferry disaster on Monday, which marked the fourth anniversary of one of the country’s worst maritime disasters that claimed the lives of more than 300 people. Ansan in Gyeonggi Province is where the vast majority of the victims -- high school students who were on a school trip to Jeju Island -- lived. Most of them were second-year students at Danwon High School located in th

　NAMYANGJU, Gyeonggi Province -- For Hong Jin-mi, it took her some time to take the early signs of her husband’s dementia seriously. At first, she thought he was simply trying to be funny.　“I would ask him to pass me my cellphone,” Hong, 75, told reporters. “And then he would act as if he could not tell where the phone was, although it was right in front of him. And then later I realized it was him trying to hide the fact that he could no longer tell what a cell phone looks like. He was humiliat

A pastor of a megachurch in Seoul has been banned from leaving the country after being accused of rape by members of the congregation. 　According to an exclusive report from local broadcaster JTBC, Lee Jae-rock, 74, who runs the Manmin Central Church in Seoul’s Guro district, has been accused of sexually assaulting at least five women from the late 1990s to 2015. Pastor Lee Jae-rock (Screen-captured from YouTube footage)　All five alleged victims, who filed legal complaints against the pastor wit

This month’s parliamentary session came to a standstill for the second week in a row on Monday, as rival parties continued to clash over contentious bills including the long-pending broadcast laws and revision of the Constitution.　Ruling and opposition parties failed to narrow differences during a breakfast meeting, cancelling the plenary session initially scheduled for later in the day. The session was also cancelled last week for the same reason.　The cancellation of Monday’s plenary session al

Rival parties continue to trade barbs over the controversial broadcast law reforms which will partially deprive the ruling party of its authority to select and appoint the heads of public broadcasters, leading the country’s opposition parties to boycott plenary sessions at the National Assembly as a way to push for the proposal’s approval.　The ongoing boycott by the opposition parties over the broadcast law reform has crippled the National Assembly this month. 　The long-pending reform proposal,

Three medical professionals accused of medical negligence that authorities believe was responsible for the deaths of four newborns at a hospital in Seoul were arrested early Wednesday morning.In December, four premature babies at Ewha Womans University Medical Center’s neonatal intensive care unit died one after another in a span of less than 90 minutes.Dr. Cho Su-jin, a pediatrician who also serves as a professor at Ewha Womans University College of Medicine, was arrested along with another doc

South Korea’s Education Ministry on Friday strongly protested Tokyo’s decision to revise its high school curriculum guidelines to teach all Japanese students that the disputed islets of Dokdo belong to Japan.“The Korean government requests for an immediate removal of the new guidelines,” the Education Ministry said in a statement, adding Dokdo is South Korea’s inherent territory historically, geographically and in the eyes of international law.“We make it clear again that any provocation on this

Enraged responses are flowing from political and public circles after the prosecution concluded Wednesday that former President Park Geun-hye spent crucial time on the morning of the Sewol disaster in her bedroom. 　The 2014 Sewol ferry tragedy, which killed 304 people -- most of whom were school children on a trip -- is considered one of South Korea’s deadliest disasters. More than half of the survivors, some 170 of them, were rescued by private fishing boats and commercial vessels, not by the n

 Former President Lee Myung-bak, who was taken into custody last week on multiple corruption charges, once again refused to be questioned by the prosecution Wednesday, claiming he does not believe a fair probe will be carried out under the current government. 　　Lee, whose charges include bribery, embezzlement and tax evasion, among others, has insisted that the ongoing investigation is “political revenge” mounted by the current administration in office, headed by liberal President Moon Jae-in. 　

When K-pop group Red Velvet’s Irene shared she had just finished a novel -- “Kim Ji-young, Born in 1982” -- at a public gathering with fans earlier this month, she probably did not expect to enrage some of her male followers. But her brief mention of the book, considered an iconic piece of contemporary feminist literature in Korea, triggered a storm of controversy among some fans online. Some went as far to burn and destroy photos of the K-pop star. Suddenly, being associated with feminism had b

A ferry carrying 158 passengers and five crew members was grounded on rocks off the coast of Sinan, a country in South Jeolla Province, on Sunday, but all on board were rescued, according to the Korea Coast Guard.The 223-ton ferry hit rocks at around 3:48 p.m. while reportedly trying to avoid a fishing boat amid dense fog.A total of six passengers suffered minor injuries and were sent to medical facilities.Ferry "Pink Dolphin" (Yonhap)All remaining passengers are safe and are being transported b

Ex-President Lee Myung-bak’s former associates, including those who served as his asset managers during his presidency, are expected to attend trials or preparatory proceedings this week for their alleged involvement in Lee's bribery and other corruption charges.　Lee Myung-mo, the executive secretary of the Cheonggye Foundation, has long worked for the former president, mostly taking care of his property and assets. Lee, whose first preparatory proceeding is set for Wednesday, is accused of dest

In front of the main gate of the National Assembly on Thursday morning, Kim Yoon-song had her head shaved bald. The 15-year-old was wearing what looked like a white hairdressing gown; written across it was “Suffrage is human rights.” Tears rolled down her face as the last bits of her hair fell to the ground.　　　“I’ve been slapped on my face or got my hair pulled so many times at home for simply talking back to elders and expressing my opinions, only because I was a ‘teenager,’” Kim told The Korea

Former South Chungcheong Province Gov. An Hee-jung, who is currently under investigation by the prosecution after being accused of rape by two women, denied the charges and submitted photographs as evidence of consensual sex.　The photographs reportedly show An and each of the alleged victims posing together. An, who is married, has said that he had extramarital affairs with the two women, but never sexually abused them. 　“I thought (my sexual relationships with the women) were consensual, but th