It is good to see how stringent the rape sentences have been getting in South Korea because it was not like this in the past:
In this file photo, a man, known as the “spin kick assailant” for his brutal attacks on a female stranger, leaves a court in the southeastern port city of Busan on June 12, 2023. (Yonhap)
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a 20-year prison sentence for the so-called spin kick assailant in the southeastern port city of Busan, who caused social outrage last year due to his brutal attacks on a female stranger for the purpose of rape.
The defendant, whose identity has been withheld, is accused of following the victim, to whom he had no personal connection, for 10 minutes all the way to her apartment’s elevator on May 22, 2022, knocking her out with a roundhouse kick to the back of the head and then continually assaulting her until she passed out.
He was given a 12-year prison term on charges of attempted murder by a district court in October last year, but the Busan High Court raised the sentence to 20 years in June after prosecutors changed his charge to attempted rape murder after detecting his DNA in her jeans.
“Some American experts are pushing for… deployment of US troops to the Philippine-occupied Thitu Island as well as the establishment of combined Philippine-US forward operating bases over contested features such as the Second Thomas Shoal.”https://t.co/3GMjsMh5Lv
S. Korea-U.S. joint live-fire drill Apache choppers from the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division are ready to take off at the South Korean Navy’s 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on Sept. 21, 2023, for a joint live-fire exercise in the Yellow Sea. (Yonhap)
This further explains why Lee Jae-myung went on his so called hunger strike so he could be hospitalized because he likely knew many members of his own DPK political party, who are in the majority in the National Assembly, would defect to vote in favor of the motion to allow a vote on his arrest:
Parliamentary speaker Kim Jin-pyo (2nd from L) and the floor leaders of the two major rival parties are seen checking a ballot cast on a motion to waive opposition leader Lee Jae-myung’s immunity from arrest, at the National Assembly in Seoul, on Sept. 21, 2023. (Yonhap)
The National Assembly on Thursday passed a motion seeking parliamentary consent to the potential arrest of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, a surprise result that shows a number of dissenting votes from Lee’s own Democratic Party (DP).
With the motion’s passage in a 149-136 vote, a court hearing will be held to determine whether to grant the prosecution’s request for an arrest warrant for Lee on corruption charges in connection with a land development project and a company’s illegal cash remittance to North Korea.
But it is unclear whether Lee will show up for the hearing, considering he has been on a hunger strike since Aug. 31 to protest President Yoon Suk Yeol’s handling of state affairs and was hospitalized earlier this week due to deteriorating health.
The motion needed at least 148 votes in favor to pass. Given that Lee’s DP has 168 lawmakers in the 298-member National Assembly, the result suggests that dozens of DP lawmakers voted in favor of the potential arrest of their party leader.
It appears this was likely a major mistake by this restaurant in Japan, but the Korean couple that was poisoned by the bleach are claiming it was a hate crime:
The Korean government has requested Japanese authorities to conduct a swift and fair investigation into a case where a Korean national was served water containing bleach at a restaurant in Tokyo.
“We contacted the local police station as soon as we were notified about the incident,” said an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that the victim reported the case to the Korean Embassy in Tokyo on Sept. 6.
The official noted, “The Japanese police responded that they will do so, but refused to share details of the investigation at this stage.”
The official also said the ministry was informed that the restaurant’s operations were suspended for four days in relation to the incident.
On Aug. 31, a Korean woman surnamed Kang and her Japanese husband visited a high-end restaurant, famous for tempura, located in a department store in Tokyo’s Ginza.
The couple was served two cups of drinking water upon their request, but after taking the first sip, Kang noticed a strange odor from the water.
“After the second sip, my throat began to hurt so bad I couldn’t even talk properly,” she said during an interview with local broadcaster JTBC, Monday.
She made complaints about the water immediately to the waitress and the manager, but they attempted to take the cup back without offering any explanation. Only after her husband strongly protested to the chef, the waitress admitted that the water was poured from a bottle of water containing bleach.
After showing symptoms of stomach pain and nausea, the victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she was diagnosed with acute food poisoning.
In South Korea getting these exam questoins would be a huge advantage to the test takers:
Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon announces the results of a crackdown on illegal activities by teachers in a news conference in the central city of Sejong on Sept. 19, 2023. (Yonhap)
Twenty-four high school teachers have been caught selling exam questions to private academies before or after serving as test makers for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) and mock CSAT exams in violation of the current laws, the education ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry said it will file criminal complaints against four of the teachers on charges of obstruction of business and ask for an investigation into 22 of them on suspicion of violating anti-graft laws. Two of them will face both criminal complaints and investigation, it added.
The four teachers facing criminal complaints are accused of serving as CSAT and mock CSAT test makers after hiding the fact that they sold practice exam questions to private education companies, it said.
On the other hand, the 22 teachers facing an investigation have been caught selling exam questions to private companies after participating in CSAT and mock CSAT test-making, it said. All CSAT test makers are obliged by law to keep all test-related information confidential.
Lawmaker sentenced to suspended prison term for embezzlement Youn Mee-hyang (C), an independent lawmaker and former head of an advocacy group for the victims of the Japanese military’s sexual slavery during World War II, speaks to reporters at the Seoul High Court in the capital city on Sept. 20, 2023, after the appellate court sentenced her to 1.5 years in prison, suspended for three years, for embezzling funds donated to help support the victims. In February 2023, the lower court fined her 15 million won (US$11,900). (Yonhap)
N. Korea at Asian Games A group of North Koreans cheers for their men’s football team during an Asian Games preliminary match against Taiwan at a stadium in the Chinese city of Jinhua, Zhejiang Province, on Sept. 19, 2023. North Korea is reported to send some 200 athletes to the Asian Games that will take place in the Chinese city of Hangzhou from Sept. 23-Oct. 8. (Yonhap)
