Aug 19, 2019

Unionized workers of Hyundai Heavy to stage partial strike

Unionized workers at Hyundai Heavy Industries decided Monday to stage a partial walkout this week as part of a general strike planned by their umbrella organization.The walkout will be staged for three hours from 2 p.m. on Wednesday, the company's labor union said.It will mark the first of its kind this year by the unionized workers at the shipbuilder.The decision came hours after the Korean Metal Workers' Union and its member unions announced a plan to stage a general strike next Wednesday in p

Aug 20, 2019

Something to get off your chest? Women question need for bras

'What women want is the choice -- or rather, the right -- not to wear a bra.'

Aug 20, 2019

Police mull publicly naming suspect in case of dismembered body in Han River

Police are to review revealing the identity of a suspect in the murder of a 32-year-old man whose torso was found without a head or limbs in the Han River on Aug. 12.Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency said Monday a committee was to be launched to decide whether to make the suspect’s identity public and to what scope.The suspect, a 39-year-old motel employee, turned himself in to Jongno Police Station on Saturday after police identified the victim via fingerprint analysis after a sever

Aug 19, 2019

Korea takes first step toward free high school education

South Korea has taken a first step toward free high school education by exempting all third graders from their entire education expenses starting in the fall semester, the Ministry of Education said Monday.As most high schools nationwide resumed classes on the day after a lengthy summer vacation, about 439,700 three-year high schoolers will not pay for their education during their last semester, the ministry said, noting the per-student benefit amounts to 749,000 won ($620), including tuition fe

Aug 19, 2019

MOU with Think Tank

Herald CEO and Publisher Kwon Chung-won (left) shakes hands with Lim Kang-taeg, president of the Korea Institute for National Unification, after signing a memorandum of understanding for partnership at the Herald headquarters building in Seoul on Friday. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)

Aug 19, 2019

‘You will get killed again in your next life,’ says murder suspect

A suspect in the murder of a man whose dismembered body parts were found in Han River claimed the victim “started it” during an arrest warrant hearing held Sunday afternoon, a day after he had turned himself in to police.The suspect, a 39-year-old motel employee, said the victim “punched (him), and talked down to (him) first” before the press gathered at the Uijeongbu District Court in Gyeonggi Province, where the warrant hearing was held.Coming out of the 20-minute heari

Aug 19, 2019

Nearly 1,000 complaints filed about discolored tap water in Pohang

Nearly 1,000 complaints have been filed in a week concerning suspicions of tap water contamination in Pohang, a port city in North Gyeongsang Province.Pohang City said Sunday that 925 complaints were lodged Aug. 10-16, reporting black or reddish tap water.The most number of complaints came from residents in Nam-gu, whose water is filtered at a plant in Yugang-ri, a neighborhood in the city’s southern district. According to the city government, North Gyeongsang Province’s public insti

Aug 19, 2019

National Assembly staffers call for gender parity in Yeouido

Women who work at the National Assembly are holding a monthlong campaign to promote gender equality within the legislative arm of the government.According to National Assembly Feminists, a feminist group composed of female National Assembly staffers, 38.2 percent of all staffers at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, were women as of Aug. 1.  While women made up 52.3 percent of interns and 63.3 percent of grade 9 staffers -- the lowest-ranked civil servants -- they accounted for only 8

Aug 19, 2019

[Newsmaker] Suspect in case of dismembered male torso on Han River turns himself in

Authorities have arrested a 39-year-old motel employee suspected of killing a man whose dismembered torso was found in Han River on Aug. 12.An arrest warrant was granted after a hearing for the suspect was held at the Uijeongbu District Court at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Goyang Police said.The man turned himself in to Jongno Police Station at around 1 a.m. Saturday, five days after the dismembered torso was found.At 9:15 p.m. Aug. 12, police on patrol found a bare torso without a head and limbs floating

Aug 19, 2019

First hearing in Holt lawsuit by Korean adoptee deported from US highlights fight for transparency, adoptee rights

The presiding judge in the Seoul Central District Court opened session Tuesday by noting the unusual audience as the small courtroom overflowed with over 60 South Korean-born international adoptees and adoptee rights advocates. The hearing was the first in a landmark lawsuit filed by deported Korean American adoptee Adam Crapser against the Korean government and Holt Children’s Services.Crapser, adopted through Holt at age 3, was abused by two sets of adoptive parents, neither of which fil

Aug 17, 2019

Moon expresses condolences as remains of 2 late climbers are returned home

President Moon Jae-in on Saturday expressed condolences over two late South Korean climbers whose remains were returned home after going missing in the Himalayas a decade ago.The bodies of Min Jun-young and Park Jong-seong were found in July in the Himalayas and their remains were transported home earlier in the day after cremation in Nepal. They lost contact with the other members of the Jikji Expedition team in September 2009 while climbing in Annapurna, a massif in the Himalayas in north

Aug 17, 2019

Police raid YG Entertainment over ex-chief Yang's suspected gambling

Police raided the headquarters of YG Entertainment on Saturday over allegations that Yang Hyun-suk, former CEO and chief producer of the influential K-pop label, engaged in habitual gambling.Police have been looking into suspicions that Yang, 49, and Seungri, a former member of the K-pop boy band BIGBANG, gambled while overseas. They were both booked for the allegation earlier this week. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency sent investigators to YG Entertainment in Mapo Ward, western Seoul,

Aug 16, 2019

37 injured in expressway pileup involving 5 vehicles

A pileup of five vehicles on a highway in the southeast of South Korea injured 37 people Friday, police said.  The accident occurred on the Namhae Expressway in Changwon, about 400 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at around 11:40 a.m., when an intercity bus failed to slow down in a congested section and rear-ended two sport utility vehicles. Two other buses also ran into the vehicle from behind.Of 62 people in the cars, 37 sustained minor injuries, police said. (Yonhap)

Aug 17, 2019

[Newsmaker] Public fury grows over Jeju road rage

A video in which a driver assaulted another driver who had been complaining about the former’s aggressive driving, went viral Friday, sparking public outrage and calls for punishment for the violent driver. In the video, a van continued to change lanes on a road on Jeju Island at around 10:40 a.m. on July 4. When another motorist protested about his reckless driving, the 30-something van driver left his vehicle to assault the motorist. The van driver was seen taking away a mobile phone of