The South Korean police said Wednesday it is investigating a Busan man for assaulting the head of the residents' association at his apartment complex, over the association's decision to install an air conditioner in the complex's security guard's office. According to Busan Saha Police Station, the suspect in his 60s punched the victim after a residents' association meeting at around 7:30 p.m. on June 11. The group had just decided to repaint the walls of the apartment

Police on Tuesday requested an arrest warrant for two Army officers who are under investigation for their part in the recent death of a recruit. Investigators at the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency requested the warrant for an Army captain and a lieutenant, the commander and second-in-command for the company the deceased soldier had been part of. The two are being investigated for alleged death by occupational negligence and abuse of power, and had been summoned by Gangwon police since June 13

The "no-someone zone" controversy has flared up in Daegu, where a hotel has become embroiled in debate due to its new fitness center policy, which is to ban those aged 76 or up from signing up as members. Local media outlets on Tuesday reported that the allegedly four-star hotel in Suseong-gu, Daegu has decided to ban those 76 and up from signing up to use the gym, starting July 1. According to the new policy, those 76 or older will only be able to use the gym if they sign two consent

Two people died when a man who fell from an apartment building in Busan landed on top of another man, police said Monday. According to Busan Sasang Police Station, a man in his 50s fell from the 15th-floor unit of an apartment complex in Sasang-gu, Busan, at around 7 a.m. on June 15. He landed on another man in his 80s who was walking by. The younger man died instantly. The older man received treatment at a nearby hospital, but died the next day. It is unclear why the man fell, as the initial

As South Korea faces a falling marriage rate, a recent government study showed that the unmarried male population here outnumbers its female counterparts by nearly 20 percent. According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs report released Monday, unmarried South Korean men outnumbered unmarried women by 19.6 percent in 2021, with the imbalance in gender ratio being more pronounced outside of metropolitan areas. The report used Statistics Korea data on those born between 1970, 1

A recent survey indicated that many South Koreans react positively toward their girlfriends or boyfriends becoming avid fans of a celebrity. Local matchmaking company Duo surveyed 500 men and women between May 27 and 29, and asked what they felt about their romantic partners joining a celebrity fan club. The survey was conducted on individuals who have both been in a romantic relationship and been a member of a fan club. Some 89 percent of the respondents reacted positively, with 36 percent sa

The Korean custom of paying respect to elders through a particular form of speech took a wrong turn recently when a quarrel over a supposed disrespectful form of speech resulted in a stabbing attack. Ulsan District Court said Monday that it sentenced a man in his 40s to two years in prison for stabbing another man in his 20s after the defendant's use of "banmal" -- an informal way of addressing another person -- caused a dispute. The incident occurred in Ulsan in January when bo

A police officer who used a stun gun on an armed suspect will not be held responsible for the man's subsequent death after autopsy results pointed to sudden heart failure, according to the Gwangju Police on Monday. According to officials at the Gwangju Bukbu Police Station, the National Forensic Service who conducted the autopsy found that the suspect had suffered sudden cardiac death. SCD refers to natural death from an unidentified cause within a short period of symptom onset, often wi

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld an earlier ruling that found three college students guilty of holding an illegal protest near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, during which they set fire to a controversial flag regarded as a symbol of Japanese imperialism. The defendants were found guilty of violating the Assembly and Demonstration Act, which bans protests that had not been reported to the police in advance. The court did not accept their claim that their action was not a protest, and fined th

More students than ever before are being accused of sexual misconduct against teachers, government data shows. There were 331 cases of sexual harassment or some kind of sexual misconduct against teachers reported to the Ministry of Education in 2022, local media reported. The figure is a 77 percent surge from the 187 in 2018. It is not clear how many cases were referred to the police. The rise is far steeper than the increase in the total number of cases concerning infringement of teachers'

A 70-something-year-old man caused an accident while driving the van of a local day care center and is being investigated for operating the vehicle without a valid driver's license, local media outlets reported Thursday. No injuries occurred outside of the driver, as the car had no passengers at the time. Officials of the Seoul Seongdong Police Station are investigating the man for violating Article 43 of the Road Traffic Act, which prohibits driving a motor vehicle without a valid licens

A recent survey by a local matchmaking agency indicated that women in South Korea may be most concerned about age when looking for a prospective romantic partner. NRise Inc., operator of matchmaking platform Wippy, conducted the survey of 400 women in May, asking them what they thought were important factors when looking at the profiles of prospective romantic partners. About 59.2 percent of the respondents picked "age," followed by "distance between the person and me," at

South Korean police on Friday said a man in his 60s is being investigated for potential violation of the Animal Protection Act, as they believe he killed one of his dogs for meat. The man, a resident of Jeju Island, is accused of butchering a dog that he owned at around 10 p.m. on Wednesday at his orchard, according to the Jeju Dongbu Police Station. A local animal rights group alerted police, but the dog had already been killed when officers arrived on the scene. Officers at the scene found an

The respective leaders of a group representing trainee doctors and the largest group of physicians in the country have entered a war of words regarding the ongoing standoff between the government and the medical community, hinting at a potential rift in the medical circle. Park Dan, the leader of the Korean Intern Resident Association, has criticized Korean Medical Association leader Lim Hyun-taek over his handling of the situation. Lim had said that communications with members of the medical co

A civic group supporting victims of sex crimes kicked off a fundraiser on Thursday in support of a victim in the infamous 2004 Miryang gang rape case, which has resurfaced recently following multiple YouTubers revealing the information of some of the alleged suspects. As of Friday morning, over 57 million won ($41,000) had been raised from over 1,400 people in the campaign set up by the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center at its homepage. One can participate in the fundraising via the pop-up b

A state-run agency said Thursday it has found 33 products that have downsized but maintained the same price in an inspection of so-called "shrinkflation" in the country. The Korea Consumer Agency, under the Korea Fair Trade Commission, inspected the products currently being circulated in the market to check the state of shrinkflation, which refers to a manufacturer downsizing a product while retaining the price as an alternative to raising the price. The agency used its price informa

The athlete most beloved by South Koreans is men's national soccer team captain Son Heung-min, a recent poll by Gallup Korea showed, while the late former President Roh Moo-hyun topped the list of favorite political leaders. The survey, conducted with 1,777 people aged 13 and above in March and April, released the first part of results on South Koreans' favorite things across 50 categories. The first leg of the survey included favorite president, entrepreneur, novelist and sports star,

Kwon Gyeong-ae, a lawyer whose repeated failures to show up to court lost a case involving a teenage girl's death caused by school bullying, was ordered by another court to pay 50 million won ($36,000) in compensation to the bereaved family of the victim. The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday ruled against Kwon in the civil damages suit filed by the girl’s mother, Lee Gi-cheol, and her family, in which they requested a total of 200 million won in financial and psychological dama

A member of a local church has been arrested and indicted for the abuse and murder of a 17-year-old girl, the Incheon District Prosecutors' Office said Wednesday. The 55-year-old suspect initially faced child abuse resulting in death, but the prosecution altered the charge to child abuse and murder after an additional investigation it conducted since taking the case from police on May 24. Child abuse and murder can be punished by at least seven years in prison, and up to a death sentence

An early morning 4.8 magnitude earthquake jolted South Korea on Wednesday, leading to minimal damage and no casualties, but causing a shock in a country where most residents are not accustomed to such tremors. In light of the recent quake, how to find the nearest earthquake shelter instantly became a topic of interest. Information about earthquake shelters near one's residence can be accessed via various websites and applications. To access information about the earthquake shelters, one can