The government has yet to complete the review for approving abortion pills for sale in South Korea, despite the process having begun last year, sparking the criticism at the related authorities’ lukewarm attitude. The conflict over introducing the abortion pill began since the Constitutional Court’s decision in April 2019, which ruled a ban on abortion unconstitutional. The National Assembly should have revised the related law by the end of 2020, but the discussion has not seen any p

The main opposition Democratic Party appears to be gearing up to resist the government's move to abolish the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, with its chairman voicing concerns for the plans. According to the Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday, party Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung expressed his concern over the reorganization plan, which officially confirmed the abolition of Gender Ministry, at a closed door meeting of the party's supreme council Friday. "The reform plan is h

The 22nd IYF English Speaking Contest will be held on Nov. 12, with applications open until later this month. The event is hosted by the International Youth Fellowship and sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Seoul Metropolitan City and the National Council of Youth Organizations in Korea. Middle and high school student applicants must submit their scripts by Oct. 15, and university student applicants by Oct. 22. Common themes for all participants are: "My dream," "Moving momen

A woman in her 40s, who was suffering from continuous domestic violence, was murdered by her husband in the street on Tuesday, once again raising alarm over the country's measures for protecting victims. The victim had reported her situation to police multiple times, but restraining orders and separation measures were not effective enough. The suspect, a 50-year-old man, was arrested later Tuesday, and has reportedly claimed that he cannot remember the incident because he was drunk. The vic

The Supreme Court has recognized the need to grant refugee status to a Pakistani couple facing a threat of honor killing, upholding a lower court's ruling. This the first case in which refugee status has been granted to people at risk of being a victim of honor killing. The husband, who was studying in Korea, returned to Pakistan in 2016, met a woman and promised to get married. But the couple faced opposition from the woman’s family. The wife testified that she had been kidnapped, be

Hangeul Party, an event aimed at promoting the Korean writing system, was held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from Sept. 27 to Friday. The event was hosted and organized by nongovernmental organizations Hangeul Planet and Global Hope, and sponsored by The Korea Herald. At the event, 370 students who major in Korean language at six Vietnamese universities -- Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology, HCMC University of Economics and Finance, University of Foreign Languages-Information Technology,

About half of convicted sex offenders against children and the disabled, and the majority of child abusers, have avoided jail terms, data showed Tuesday. According to Supreme Court data revealed by Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok of the People Power Party, 42 percent of those convicted of sex crimes against the disabled between 2016 and 2020 and 50.3 percent of those convicted of sex crimes against children under the age of 13 had received suspended sentences. Among 565 child abusers who were sentenced to

“Perfume and fragrances are ways I can present myself as I want,” said 24-year-old Lee Seo-hyun, who frequently uses perfume craft workshops to create her own perfumes. For Lee, perfume is not just a luxury item, but a tool for self-expression. “I admire people who use perfumes skillfully. It feels like they really have a deep understanding about themselves," she said. Lee says that different perfumes convey different impressions of a person, ranging from tender to profess

The Supreme Court on Thursday confirmed a seven-year sentence for a former Air Force master sergeant accused of sexually harassing late Air Force Master Sgt. Lee Ye-ram. As in the previous two trials, the Supreme Court concluded that the defendant, identified by the surname Chang, was guilty of sexual harassment, but did not acknowledge the other charges of retaliation and intimidation, confirming the seven-year prison sentence of the high court. Chang was a colleague of the victim, when both we

A hospital's refusal to operate on a human immunodeficiency virus-positive patient was ruled as discrimination, the state human rights watchdog said Monday. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced that it had recommended the hospital, which was not named, to provide training sessions for employees about the treatment of patients with HIV and come up with measures to prevent recurrence. Earlier in June last year, the HIV/AIDS patient filed a petition to the NHRC after the hos

Rotary, an international volunteer organization with 70,000 participants in Korea and 1.4 million members around the world, is holding 2022 Rotary training session at the Maison Glad Hotel in Jeju City on Sept. 26-29. The workshop will be a venue for learning and exchange for leaders who lead Korean Rotary. About 500 people will attend, including Rotary’s President Jennifer E. Jones and Trustee chair Ian Riseley. Jones is the first female president in Rotary's 117-year history, a memb

Calls for measures to counter sex crimes in the metaverse are rising with an increasing number of predators targeting teenagers. Huh Kyung-mi, a professor of police administration at Keimyung University, said that legal measures are essential to respond to sexual exploitation in the metaverse in a paper published on Sunday. According to Huh, 70 percent of metaverse service users are teenagers, and criminal attempts on the metaverse platform, especially those that target youthful avatars, has bee

Digital chat rooms that share or sell deepfake pornography content remain prevalent despite a new provision to punish related crimes implemented two years ago. Deepfake content refers to digitally manipulated videos and images that are hard to distinguish from genuine content. Most pornographic deepfake content grafts a person’s face -- usually an acquaintance or celebrity -- onto sexually explicit videos. According to ReSET, a digital sex crime victim support group, one of the Telegram ch

The Ministry of Justice is set to push to expand the "medical treatment and custody" of child sex offenders, Thursday. Medical treatment and custody refers to detaining offenders with high risk of recidivism, such as pedophiles or drug addicts, at state facilities and providing them with psychiatric treatment. According to the current law, sex offenders with psychological disorders including pedophilia can be subject to the measure for up to 15 years if the prosecution requests. The pe

The bus drivers' union in Gyeonggi Province, under the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, appears set for a general strike later this month, with an overwhelming majority of members supporting the plan. The union on Tuesday voted on the plan to strike on Sept. 30 with 97.3 percent of approval rate. According to the union, 14,485 members participated in the vote, and 14,091 of them voted for the general strike. The province's bus drivers' union counts 15,234 members across 47 compa

Revenge crimes, some resulting in murder, are on the rise, but the number of suspects taken into custody remains low, despite the potential for retaliation being stipulated as a reason for detention. According to National Police Agency data obtained by Rep. Jung Woo-taek of the People Power Party, the number of revenge crimes during the first eight months of the year came to 281 cases. Last year, the figure stood at 434, up sharply from the 298 and 294 recorded in 2020 and 2019, respectively. Ho

Daejeon is making the final preparations for the international summit of local and regional governments in October, along with entertainment to welcome visitors. Daejeon will host the 2022 UCLG Congress World Summit of Local and Regional Leaders at the Daejeon Convention Center from Oct. 10-14. United Cities and Local Governments is the world's largest international organization of local governments recognized by the United Nations, with 240,000 local governments from 140 countries as membe

Only 25 percent of local government workers were disciplined or received serious penalties for sexual violence in the last five years, according to a report of Interior Ministry. According to a report that Rep. Kim Yong-pan of People Power Party received from the Interior Ministry on Tuesday, there were 576 cases of civil servants being disciplined due to various types of sexual misconduct from 2017 to 2021, including sexual violence, harassment, and use of prostitution services. Among them, sex

The number of child abuse arrests doubled in 2021 from the previous year, and more than 80 percent of the offenders were parents, a report showed Tuesday. A National Police Agency report showed that 12,725 suspects were arrested last year on child abuse charges, up 106 percent from 6,164 in the previous year, according to Rep. Kim Yong-pan of the People Power Party. Last year's surge was significantly higher than the annual increase seen in other years since 2017, which fell between 9 and 25 per

Police on Monday disclosed the personal information of Jeon Joo-hwan as the suspect in the murder of a Seoul Metro employee. The identity of a criminal suspect usually is not made public in Korea, but can be disclosed if there is sufficient evidence to prove the suspect’s guilt and it is in the public interest. The police held a committee to review the disclosure on Monday and decided to release the name, age and picture of the suspect. "The victim was brutally murdered by a premedita