Teenagers addicted to smartphones have a higher chance of falling prey to cyberbullying, data showed Tuesday.According to a 2013 survey by the Seoul Metropolitan Government of 4,998 students aged 10-17, a fifth of teenagers are smartphone addicts, with 2.9 percent of them categorized as “high-risk.” The data showed that the more addicted students were, the more likely they were to get involved in online bullying. Among the high-risk group, 9.1 percent responded that they had been victims of cybe

A survey of female patients has found that more than 10 percent felt sexually harassed while receiving medical treatment. Nearly 12 percent of adult female patients experienced sexual harassment in hospitals over the past five years, according to the Human Rights Law Foundation’s survey of 1,000 people aged 19-59. In the survey permitting multiple answers, a total of 255 cases of sexual harassment were documented. Having to take off clothing in an open area made up the largest share of complaint

Political parties, businesses and labor unions have made little progress in closing the gap in their positions on key labor issues in the run-up to a public hearing this week. The subcommittee for the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee convened Monday to seek an agreement on ordinary wages and work hours, the biggest areas of contention dividing the management and labor circles.But pundits questioned whether the subcommittee would yield promising results, given their differences

A South Korean man was found guilty of obtaining Canadian citizenship to evade the country’s mandatory military service, court officials said on Thursday.The Seoul Central District Court upheld a ruling last Friday sentencing the 37-year-old man, identified by the surname Lee, to six months in prison with a one-year stay of execution for giving up his Korean nationality to avoid military conscription.Lee is expected to be deported to Canada as under the country’s Immigration Control Act foreign

A South Korean court turned down a transgender father’s request to be legally recognized as female, citing the disapproval of family members. The Incheon District Court in February ruled against the person only identified as Lee, in a verdict intended to protect the social status of his adult son.The Korean court previously threw out a similar case involving underage children, and the latest marks the first of a kind in which an adult son’s legal position is taken into consideration when a paren

A Seoul court handed down a ruling on Wednesday ordering the family of a victim acquitted after being imprisoned for campaigning against the military regime led by then-President Park Chung-hee to return part of its compensation from the government. The late victim, Lee Jae-hyung, was sentenced to 20 years in jail in 1978 after being found guilty of plotting against the regime at the behest of the North Korean government. In 2007, his family won a retrial against the state and received about 1.7

Eom Hyeon-taek, a former member of the Korea Tripartite Commission, was appointed the new secretary general of the Korea Labor Foundation on Wednesday.Eom, 58, was chosen by the commission’s board of directors to serve his three-year term starting Wednesday. Eom is an expert in labor-management relations with decades of experience in key posts, mostly in the Ministry of Employment and Labor. “We’re expecting a lot from Eom, who has hands-on field experience in labor policies,” said Kim Young-soo

The nation’s top court on Wednesday accepted the resignation of the chief of the Gwangju District Court over allegations he helped an ex-tycoon receive a soft punishment in 2010. Judge Chang Byong-woo offered to resign on Wednesday after his lenient ruling on the former chairman of now-defunct Daeju Group caused a public uproar for valuing his daily work at 500 million won ($467,700) in a high-profile embezzlement case.The development has added weight to suspicions that there was an illicit real

A string of minor and moderate tremors have occurred in the country since it began tracking seismological data in 1978, while no deadly quakes have been observed, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The biggest quake in South Korea, detected in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, on May 29, 2004, was strong enough to rattle structures in the area and its aftershocks were felt in nearby cities. South Jeolla Province had the most quakes among the 10 strongest quakes in Korean histo

A magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck the west coast of South Korea early Tuesday, marking the third-largest quake since the country began keeping records in 1978. The tremor, a relatively moderate one by seismic standards, struck at 4:48 a.m. about 100 kilometers off West Gyeongnyeolbi Archipelago near Taean, South Chungcheong Province, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. No tsunami, damage or injuries were reported.The quake was followed by smaller aftershocks that were felt in a

The wife of former Daeju Group chairman Huh Jae-ho has pledged to pay the billions in fines for the disgraced tycoon, who has been pushed into tight corner over his hidden assets. The development came amid the prosecution’s enhanced probe into Huh, who was levied the remaining 22.4 billion won ($21.2 million) fine after deducting six days of short prison labor last month. Huh was initially sentenced to pay off his 25.4 billion won fine with 50 days of prison labor after he was found guilty of em

Government authorities held a private meeting on Monday as part of the widening investigation into the hidden assets of Huh Jae-ho, former chairman of the now-defunct Daeju Group.The disgraced chairman has been bombarded with public criticism for allegedly receiving a lenient ruling from the Gwangju District Court, which would have allowed him to pay off billions in fines with 50 days of labor in a prison workhouse. While he claimed it would be financially difficult to pay the 25.4 billion won (

A South Korean judge offered to resign Saturday after his 2010 ruling on a former tycoon touched off a firestorm of public criticism. The judge set the convicted businessman’s daily pay of prison labor at at 500 million won ($467,726), a record sum that outraged the public and triggered a slew of developments including a government review of the prison labor system for a drastic overhaul. Chang Byong-woo, chief of the Gwangju District Court, sent a letter of resignation to the press at 1 p.m. Sa

A survey of businesses that hire part-time teenage workers has found that more than two-thirds violate labor laws.Labor law breaches were found at 69 percent of the 939 employers surveyed. Nearly 1,500 violations were found, including delayed payment and paying below minimum wage, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s survey, which was held from Jan. 15-Feb. 8 and released Sunday. Businesses that do not specify working conditions in labor contracts made up the largest share, at 41.

Lee Yong-ja and Yoo Myung-sub are often seen on the street in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, covered in dirt, carrying gardening tools and plastic bags filled with lettuce and peppers from a hill behind their apartment. “It’s exciting that you can grow something edible, without having to worry about pesticides or feeling doubtful about its safety,” said Lee, a 60-year-old housewife. Frustrated by the numerous food scandals that have made the headlines in recent years, Koreans are taking matters into

Nearly 18 percent of high-ranking officials in the Park Geun-hye administration and lawmakers saw their assets rise above 100 million won ($935,000) last year, a state report showed on Friday. 　Up to 18.2 percent of 2,339 senior officials at government branches said their assets grew significantly, with most of them serving in the judicial branches, according to the Government Public Ethics Committee. On average, 60.8 percent of high-ranking civil servants and lawmakers held more assets than the

South Korean tax authorities said on Thursday that they are tracing the hidden assets of Huh Jae-ho, a former Daeju Group chairman who is at the center of a snowballing controversy over a court’s ruling on the value of his prison labor.The National Tax Agency said Huh’s assets are believed to be in Korea and New Zealand, where he lived affluently over the past four years. “It’s been known that the tax agency is reviewing ways to levy unpaid tax against Huh,” an official familiar with the issue s

Korean mine developer Oh Deok-gyun, a key figure in a multimillion-dollar stock manipulation scandal, was arrested Wednesday after two years of hiding in Cameroon. The 48-year-old entrepreneur was accused of allegedly acquiring about 90 billion won ($83.2 million) in profits by exaggerating the value of diamond reserves at a mine in Cameroon. “Criminal charges against Oh have been acknowledged and there is a possibility of the suspect fleeing or attempting to destroy evidence,” the Seoul Central

The top court said on Tuesday that it is reviewing plans to revise policies on labor penalties as online critics lambaste its light sentence for a former business tycoon. The court decision to take stern measures against wealthy chief executives attempting to exploit legal loopholes for tax evasion is seen as a belated step in the right direction.In December 2011, the Supreme Court upheld an appellate court’s ruling to sentence former Daeju Group chairman Huh Jae-ho to 30 months in prison with a

An appellate court on Tuesday acquitted Korean poet Ahn Do-hyun, who was accused of spreading false rumors and slandering then-presidential candidate Park Geun-hye.The 54-year-old defendant was indicted on charges of violating the election law while working as a chairman of opposition candidate Moon Jae-in’s election committee in 2012. The Gwangju High Court handed down a not-guilty verdict to Ahn, citing a lack of evidence to prove the prosecution’s charges. “To prove the defendant’s crime, it