Articles by Yoon Min-sik
Yoon Min-sik
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com-
TOEIC instructor who sold test answers to test-takers sentenced to 3-year jail term
A Seoul court recently sentenced a former hagwon teacher to a three-year jail term for selling TOEIC test answers to multiple test-takers for money. The Seoul Eastern District Court found the defendant surnamed Hong guilty of obstruction of business as stipulated in Article 314 of the Criminal Act. In addition to the jail term, the court also ordered the seizure of 76.6 million won ($55,000) in assets. Investigators found that the 27-year-old defendant had committed the crimes to fund internet
Social Affairs July 25, 2024
-
40% of school violence victims felt urge to self-harm: survey
Roughly 4 out of 10 students who were victims of school violence said they had felt the urge to either inflict injury on oneself or commit suicide, a survey by an NGO showed Wednesday. The Blue Tree Foundation, a group dedicated to preventing school violence and help victims, said in a press conference that 3.5 percent of the respondents in their recent survey said they had been subject to violence at school, of which 39.9 percent said they felt the urge to hurt or kill themselves. The foundat
Social Affairs July 25, 2024
-
2nd generation of owner families at mid-level conglomerates owns 33.5% of shares
An analysis of 81 conglomerates categorized as "middle market enterprises" showed Wednesday that the second generation of owner families owns a total of 33.5 percent of company shares. Corporate tracker CEO Score analyzed the shareholding structure of companies with 2 trillion won ($1.44 billion) or more in assets, and found that the combined value of shares held by owner families' second generations came to 13.39 trillion won as of July 15. The second generation in the report r
Companies July 24, 2024
-
Police close message board following coercive probe allegations
A local police station recently shut down an open message board on its website after a barrage of complaints concerning allegations of an officer's coercive investigation into a wrongly accused man. As of Wednesday, the page that had previously functioned as a general forum accessible to anyone has disappeared from the website of the Hwaseong Dongtan Police Station that serves the city of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province. Users are referred to a government-run website for placing police complain
Social Affairs July 24, 2024
-
Rape evidence caught in reflection of washing machine lid
A rape case that could have remained unresolved due to a lack of evidence has instead led to the indictment of the suspect, after investigators found that the sexual attack had been reflected in the lid of a washing machine. The Supreme Prosecutors' Office recently commended five cases for their outstanding use of forensic investigation in the second quarter of this year. Among the five were a Gangneung prosecutor's indictment of a rape suspect accused of six sexual attacks on his fo
Social Affairs July 24, 2024
-
Students boycott class, calling for teacher's return
Local education authorities said Tuesday that a group of students at an elementary school in North Gyeongsang Province has been refusing classes for days in support of their teacher who has been feuding with a parent. The 23 students in the provincial city of Chilgok refused to attend class from July 16 to the commencement of summer break on July 19, according to the Gyeongbuk Office of Education. The parents of the students said they will not attend second-semester classes until the children&
Social Affairs July 24, 2024
-
Landmark ruling boosts same-sex couples' confidence in S. Korea
Same-sex couples in South Korea are expressing hope for the improvement of LGBTQ+ rights here, on the coattails of last week's Supreme Court ruling that recognized the legal rights of a same-sex couple for the first time ever. In the landmark ruling, the country's top court ruled that the plaintiff, So Sung-wook, should be eligible for spousal coverage under the National Health Insurance Service subscription of his male partner, Kim Yong-min. The court stated in its ruling that same-se
Social Affairs July 23, 2024
-
YouTuber apologizes over her actions related to 'housing fraud'
YouTuber Darcie on Tuesday apologized for her actions on what she had initially described as "housing fraud incident," which many people perceived as her trying to shift her own losses from a scam onto another victim. "I'm ashamed to admit that I failed to recognize the severity of the housing fraud issue, and made the mistake of referring to my personal experience as one. I apologize for the inaccurate depiction of my experience," she said in an apology posted via her
Social Affairs July 23, 2024
-
Bodies of two men wash ashore on west coast beach
The bodies of two men were found at a beach in Boryeong, South Chungcheong Province, the Boryeong Coast Guard said Tuesday. The two men, both identified to be 49-year-old residents of Boryeong, were found dead at around 10:57 p.m. Monday at Doksan Beach in the small coastal city. Officials suspect that they died due to an accident that occurred while they were doing "haerujil," or traditional barehanded fishing. Haerujil refers to shining a light at nighttime and catching the fish that
Social Affairs July 23, 2024
-
Theme park visitors rebound nearly to pre-pandemic level: report
Government data showed Monday that the number of visitors at major theme parks in South Korea has rebounded, approaching pre-COVID-19 figures. The annual headcount for those who visited Everland, the largest theme park and zoo here, marked 5.88 million in 2023. In the same year, 5.19 million people visited Lotte World and 1.33 million went to Seoul Land, according to the Tourism Knowledge and Information System operated by the state-run Korea Culture and Tourism Institute. Both Everland in Yon
Travel July 22, 2024
-
Drunk drivers' online community stirs controversy
An online community dealing with information about administrative actions related to drunk driving has sparked debate, with many decrying the forum members for sharing know-how to obtain leniency after being caught in the crime. The webpage on Naver, South Korea's largest search engine, has well over 80,000 members as of Monday. People in the group are sharing personal experiences related to drunk driving, hit-and-run incidents and other violations of the Road Traffic Act. Categories of t
Social Affairs July 22, 2024
-
S. Korean actor quits UNHCR goodwill ambassador due to 'political attacks'
Popular South Korean actor Jung Woo-sung told a local media outlet that he recently resigned as a goodwill ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency due to a barrage of politically charged attacks against him. Speaking with local Hankyoreh newspaper, the 51-year-old said he had been accused of using the post for political reasons. He was named UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador for South Korea in 2015. "There had been unrelenting political attacks against both the organization and myself, implying that
People July 22, 2024
-
'79% of child victims of family members' sex crimes were 13 or younger when it first happened'
An overwhelming majority of the child victims in sex crimes perpetrated by a family member were aged 13 or younger when they were first victimized, a parliamentary report showed Sunday. The National Assembly Research Service compiled a report based on its survey of the four juvenile protective facilities for the victims of sex crimes by family members, which were established in 2010. Of the 316 children and teens currently under protection, 115 -- or 36.4 percent -- were first subject to the c
Social Affairs July 21, 2024
-
Victim of 2004 Miryang gang rape case speaks in rare public address
The primary victim in an infamous 2004 gang rape case by high school boys discussed the case in a rare interview with a local media outlet that aired Saturday, explaining to the public the pains she had to endure due to the horrid incident and secondary damages that followed. The victim, referred to as Kim, not her real name, in a recent episode of "Unanswered Questions" on SBS said she had been living in fear of retribution from the 44 alleged perpetrators of the incident in Miryang
Social Affairs July 21, 2024
-
Record-high college graduates not working or looking for jobs
The number of South Koreans without a job or seeking a job marked an all-time high in the first half of this year, government data showed Sunday. According to Statistics Korea, there were 4.058 million people in the country with a college degree who were considered an "economically inactive population," which refers to those aged 15 or over who are unable to or unwilling to work. This includes students, homemakers, those preparing for state exams for government official posts and peo
Economy July 21, 2024
Most Popular
-
1
BTS, NewJeans fandoms clash over Hybe-Min Hee-jin conflict
-
2
N. Korea launches missiles in latest show of military, nuclear strength
-
3
High temperatures may worsen mental health conditions: study
-
4
Yoon leaves for Prague to cement nuclear energy push
-
5
Samsung under pressure after Intel's foundry spin-off: analysts
-
6
Samsung chief travels to France to encourage young talents
-
7
Korean battery makers zero in on global commercial EV market
-
8
[Off the Pages] German bestseller gets new twist in ‘Snow White Must Die -- Black Out’
-
9
N. Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles: JCS
-
10
4th case of lumpy skin disease confirmed in S. Korea