A local online forum platform that been embroiled in series of crimes involving minors, has imposed a ban on underage users from writing in a forum about depression. DC Inside said Wednesday that underage users have been restricted from writing posts or replies on its "Depression Gallery," as part of the protection policy focused on minors recommended by the Korea Communications Commission. Investigative authorities and operators of the website will monitor the posts and replies on the

A 56-year-old YouTuber who killed another YouTuber was sentenced to a lifetime in prison on Wednesday, after which he shouted "thank you" for unexplained reasons. Busan District Court found the defendant surnamed Hong guilty of retaliatory murder, rejecting his claims that he had never intended to kill the victim. The court pointed out that it was a planned crime, and that the defendant stabbed the victim 12 times to inflict critical wounds. South Korea's Criminal Act stipulates

South Korean police said Thursday a recently born girl was found inside the bathroom of an underground shopping district, and that the mother is under investigation for abandoning the baby. The child was found inside a bag placed in the bathroom of the shopping district in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, at around 5 p.m. Wednesday. The child was in good health, and still had the umbilical cord attached. The child was taken to a nearby hospital for medical care. Police used surveillance footage to

South Korean police said Wednesday they are pursuing criminal charges against 715 individuals related to a nationwide illegal gambling operation, which is thought to have brought in around 100 billion won ($72 million) in revenue. Busan Metropolitan Police Agency arrested seven individuals suspected of running a poker-themed bar franchise with 15 local branches across the country that conducted an illegal gambling operation from March 2021 to April this year. The others are being investigated wi

A man under trial in South Korea for killing his grandfather has claimed that the victim had frequently abused his grandmother, while the grandmother in question has requested a lenient punishment for her grandson, saying "she would gladly give her own life for it." Prosecutors asked the Seoul Eastern District Court to sentence the 23-year-old man accused of killing his grandfather to 24 years in prison, in a court hearing Tuesday. They said that, although the defendant said his grandf

Seoul court said Wednesday that it had sentenced a 10-month prison term for a monk, who threatened to cut off the injured leg of a high school student with an ax for no apparent reason. Seoul Central District Court found the 63-year-old defendant guilty of special intimidation -- meaning it involved a weapon or collective force. The verdict was a result of an appellate case regarding two separate threats the defendant made with a weapon. The defendant in April of last year approached a high scho

A school assigning a female-to-male transgender student to stay in the girls' room on a school trip is discriminatory, the state-run human rights body said Tuesday. The National Human Rights Commission said Tuesday it recommended the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education to provide a comprehensive education policy that can attend to the needs of LGBTQ+ students and allow diversity in the classroom. The NHRC's decision was in response to a complaint filed in February by a student at

An international fraud ring is accused of perpetrating a romantic scam against 14 victims, assuming the fake identities of US soldiers, UN officials and foreign students, Seoul police said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it has forwarded the case of the criminal organization with a 44-year-old Russian leader to the prosecution for fraud charges. The Russian leader and eight others have been placed under physical detention. They are believed to have swindled a total of 1.4 bi

A Seoul court on Monday sentenced a man to a one-year prison term for stalking his former girlfriend by leaving hundreds of unwanted messages and calls and visiting the victim's home and work. The Seoul Central District Court found the defendant guilty of violating the Act on Punishment of Crime of Stalking, which punishes stalking with up to three years in jail or a 30 million won ($21,500) fine. The defendant contacted the victim regularly against her wishes after they broke up in April

South Korean model who has confessed drug use recently claimed that she was forced to take drugs by an unidentified businessperson, but police said she made no such claims during the investigation. Kim Na-jung, who recently returned from the Philippines after admitting online to having used drugs, posted on her Instagram page Monday a statement made by her lawyer. She claimed that a "young businessman born in 1995" met with her in the Philippines, tied her up and blindfolded her and fo

Some 8.3 percent of middle school students in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province have used drugs, a survey by the state-run drug addiction center showed Monday. The Hwaseong Community Addiction Management Center conducted a survey between Aug. 28 and Sept. 27 of 2,450 middle school students in the city south of Seoul, which showed that 204 students of them said they have used substances defined as illegal drugs by the Narcotics Control Act. South Korea defines narcotics, cannabis and psychotropic subst

An employee of a privately run ambulance service has been fined for dropping a terminally ill patient and causing an injury to the head that ended up killing the patient. Seoul Central District Court found the 29-year-old employee guilty of death by negligence, for the death of the 85-year-old cancer patient in February. The patient, who had been given three months to live, was being taken home from a local hospital. The patient was dropped while being moved from the ambulance, resulting in ce

A man in his 20s was talked out of jumping off a Han River bridge by Seoul police officers, Saturday, police said Monday. Seoul's Seocho Police Station at 8:50 p.m. on Saturday received a report from the man's friend that he appeared to have gone to the Han River alone after getting drunk. The police tracked his cell phone to find him standing near the southern end of the Banpo Bridge, and requested rescue authorities to install an air mattress beneath the concrete floors of the river

The state-run operator of Seoul's subway system on Monday issued an apology related to its recent comment on an online petition, in which it used the word "villain" to refer to Chinese people. Seoul Metro recently used what have been widely called racist remarks in the official reply to a complaint posted on the Civil Complaint/Proposal Integrated Services (Eungdapso Seoul) webpage of the Seoul Metropolitan Government. "We apologize for the inappropriate language related to

A resident of an apartment complex in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, was caught using a fake license plate made of paper to cover the license plate of his or her second car, a local media outlet reported recently. According to the JTBC report, a BMW sedan with a license plate made of paper was spotted by another resident of the apartment complex. The person who found the paper plate reported the case to police and confirmed that the car belonged to another resident of the building. The BMW owner h

Seoul Administrative Court said Monday that it recently ruled against a teacher at a local day care center, who challenged a three-year suspension of duties imposed after a 5-year-old under their supervision fell and sustained injury. The court upheld the disciplinary action by the Geumcheon-gu Office in November of 2011, who suspended the teacher for three months after the child was injured in February of 2022 at the day care center in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul. The child fell from a 2-meter-tall pla

A first-year policeman is earning praise here after he went into a burning building to evacuate all 22 residents, Seoul police said Monday. Oh Hyeon-jun, a 26-year-old patrol officer of the Seoul Gangseo Police Station, was among the team of officers who arrived at the scene of a fire in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on Nov. 7. A fire broke out at a restaurant of the commercial-residential building at around 7:12 a.m., with residents of the building being yet unaware of the situation. Oh ran up to the resid

The number of female executives at government-run organizations and companies has decreased by 10.7 percent since 2022, a report by a corporate analysis firm showed Thursday. Leaders Index said it analyzed data from the state-run All Public Information In-One system and found that 741 executives at public companies and organizations were women in 2024. This accounts for 20.6 percent of all executives at the state-run bodies. The female portion among higher-ups at state-run groups dropped from 83

South Korean police said Thursday they apprehended two Thai nationals who are believed to have fled here after their human trafficking operation in Thailand resulted in the deaths of multiple victims, in an undercover investigation where officers disguised themselves as farmers near the suspects' hiding place. The international criminal investigation unit of the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said two suspects, aged 44 and 31, have been extradited to their home country. The older suspect

A South Korean model who confessed to using drugs in the Philippines is under criminal investigation, according to police on Friday, after a rapid drug test came back positive. Kim Na-jung, 32, is currently under investigation for illegal drug use by the Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency. She is to face questioning as to how she obtained the drugs and from whom, including possible accomplices, without physically detention. She tested positive in a drug test she took at Incheon Airport sh