Last week, it took less than five hours for a district office in Seoul to withdraw its plan to hang some 1,100 banners featuring “No. Boycott Japan” on lampposts across major streets in the heart of the city following a strong public backlash. After officials from Jung-gu Office put up some 50 banners reading “I won’t go (to Japan), I will not buy (Japanese goods)” around the district, which encompasses popular tourist destinations such as Myeong-dong, Namdaemun Mar

The prosecution is considering whether to file additional charges against former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-eui, who is being tried on suspicions that he received sexual services and bribes, as they secured fresh circumstantial evidence he had taken additional bribes.  Kim, 63, who served as vice justice minister in 2013, is suspected of having received more than 100 million won ($82,220) from the chairman of a local savings bank, surnamed Kim, since the early 2000s, according to the tea

Debate has surfaced over whether the use of South Korea’s national anthem composed by Ahn Eak-tai, whose pro-Japanese activities during Japan’s colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula have come under scrutiny, should be discontinued amid the growing anti-Japanese sentiments here. On Thursday a public hearing was held at the National Assembly to initiate a public discourse on whether the national anthem, called “Aegukga,” should be replaced by a new one. The hearing was host

The police said Friday that they are probing allegations that Yang Hyun-suk, former CEO and chief producer of K-pop entertainment powerhouse YG Entertainment, gambled overseas.South Koreans are prohibited from gambling at home and abroad.Upon a tip-off, the police are looking through Yang’s financial reports to investigate whether he secured his gambling funds through illegal foreign exchange transactions.Yang, 49, is already under investigation on suspicions that he procured sexual servic

“Cinema Week,” featuring free outdoor screenings and talk shows, opens Friday at Yeouido Hangang Park.  The nine-day event will be held from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the week and 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. on weekends, with free movies to be screened at 8 p.m. each day. A preview screening of American musical drama film “Teen Spirit,” starring American actress Elle Fanning, takes place Friday. The lineup includes Korean film “Marathon” and foreign films &ldqu

Some air purifiers sold here, both foreign and local brands, fall short of the output promised by manufacturers, the government said Wednesday.   A total of 35 models of air purifiers and 50 models of anti-particulate pollution facial masks met the criteria for safety, according to an inspection jointly conducted by the Ministry of Environment and relevant agencies. 　Five purifier models, however, fell short of results the manufacturers promised, such as on their capabilities to remove

The prosecution will use warrants translated into foreign languages when apprehending or arresting foreign suspects as part of efforts to better protect their human rights in investigations and court proceedings, it said Wednesday.  The apprehension, arrest and search warrants, as well as some 60 major criminal charges, will be translated into 15 languages and distributed to prosecutors’ offices across the country, according to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.The translated vers

The Ministry of Environment announced its plan Tuesday to process all waste across the country that has been illegally dumped, neglected and exported within this year, three years earlier than initially scheduled. As of the end of July the ministry had completed treatment of 45.7 percent, or 550,000 tons, of the illegal waste and plans to process the remaining 650,000 tons within the year, according to the ministry.The illegal waste around the country is composed of 859,000 tons of waste that ha

Typhoon Francisco, the season’s eighth typhoon, will hit Korea from Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday, with heavy rains expected across the country, the weather agency said Monday.The typhoon was moving northwest at a speed of 24 kilometers per hour from about 390 km east of Kagoshima, Japan, as of 3 p.m. Monday. It is expected to land on the country’s south coast between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.Francisco is expected

One in 4 university students and new graduates in South Korea are preparing to take the state-run civil service exams mostly for job security, a survey showed Monday.  In a poll of 1,022 university students and those who graduated earlier this year by local job portals Job Korea and Albamon, 24.7 percent of the respondents said they were preparing to sit for the state exams. Nearly 60 percent of those surveyed said they were willing to prepare for the civil service exam. Only 15.7 percent s

South Korean citizens and civic groups on Friday lashed out at Japan’s decision to remove their country from a “whitelist” of countries with preferential trading status and called on the Korean government to take stern action against it.  　An association of 682 progressive civic groups, including the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, called Japan’s move an “attack” on Korea’s economy and a threat to peace at a press conference held in front of t

The police said Friday that they have launched an investigation into an assault case amid growing public outrage as a video went viral showing a migrant from Uzbekistan being beaten by a Korean manager at a farm.  In the video, which was posted on social media, the supervisor verbally and physical assaulted the foreigner, who was asking for gloves at the farm. “Get on with your work before I kill you,” the Korean shouted, which was filmed by a Uzbek student studying in here. &ld

A 15-member task force team was launched under Yangcheon Police Station on Thursday to investigate an accident at a rainwater pump construction site in Seoul that left three people dead, amid criticism that the accident could been avoidedAll three workers who went missing at the site amid heavy rainfall were confirmed dead, after two bodies were found early Thursday morning, according to fire authorities. Torrential downpours on Wednesday morning isolated three workers at a rainwater drainage fa

Jang Ha-yeon, commissioner of the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency, on Wednesday vowed to thoroughly investigate the collapse of a balcony inside a nightclub in Gwangju that killed two people and injured 25. “We will mobilize all the functions at the police agency to clearly investigate all the suspicions,” Jang said. “We are gathering intelligence to find out whether allegations of cozy ties between the police (and the club) are true.”The balcony at the club next

Police said Wednesday they had called in Incheon city officials for questioning in connection with the reddish tap water problem that has swept through parts of the city over the past few months. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency summoned some 10 officials from the Waterworks Headquarters Incheon Metropolitan City as witnesses for suspected dereliction of duty in the wake of contaminated water first detected in Incheon on May 30. They questioned the officials on whether the device meas

Heavy rainfall on Wednesday morning in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province isolated three workers at a rainwater pump construction site, leaving one dead and two missing, with torrential downpours expected to continue through early Thursday morning.  　Yangcheon Fire Station received a report at 8:24 a.m. that three workers -- two from Korea and one from Myanmar -- at the rainwater drainage facility under construction in western Seoul had been isolated. 　One worker, surnamed Koo, was

Police said Tuesday they are looking into suspicions that singer-actor Park Yoo-chun invited police officers, who were in charge of probing rape allegations against him, home for a meal while under investigation. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency received a tip-off that Park, 33, invited the officers for dinner and drinks at his home in 2016 while he was being investigated by Gangnam Police Station for suspected rape. Four women filed complaints against Park, then a member of boy band JY

Lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea on Monday urged opposition lawmakers to cooperate in police investigation into physical scuffles at the National Assembly in April, as they appeared before police for questioning.  Rep. Kim Doo-kwan, Woo Sang-ho and Lee Jong-kul of the Democratic Party of Korea appeared at the Yeongdeungpo Police Station to be questioned in connection with violence that occurred in the process of putting reform bills on the fast track in April. “Ever

A scorching heat wave began to grip South Korea on Monday after the monsoon season ended, with heat wave advisories issued for most of the country. Showers were expected between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. Tuesday in Seoul and its surrounding area, due to unstable air masses, with daytime high temperatures to stay between 29 degrees Celsius and 35 C. 　As of 11 a.m. Monday, a heat wave advisory had been issued for Seoul, Busan, parts of all the provinces and Jeju Island. Heat wave warnings were also in eff

Police on Sunday are speeding up the investigation into a collapse of a balcony inside a nightclub in Gwangju, which killed two people and injured 16, including eight foreign athletes competing at the world swimming championships a day earlier. A task force dedicated to investigating the accident called in one of the three co-owners of the club for questioning to see whether there was any professional negligence, according to Gwangju Seobu Police Station.Two of the co-owners and a club official