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Adolescent use of weight-loss drug Wegovy sought in S. Korea
The South Korean office of the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk recently requested the local authorities to permit the use of its anti-obesity medication Wegovy for children aged 12 and above. Novo Nordisk Korea purportedly requested the permit from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which currently allows the medication to be used only for those aged 18 and above. The drug was released here in October of 2024, prescribed to obese patients with a body mass index of 30 kilograms per
April 26, 2025 -
Chinese national indicted for obtaining military secrets
A Chinese national has been indicted for bribing a South Korean soldier in an attempt to obtain military secrets, the prosecution said Friday. According to the prosecution, the Chinese national and an active duty soldier have violated the military secret protection act. The Chinese national, arrested on the southern resort island of Jeju last month, approached South Korean soldiers in a group chat room by posing as a soldier himself. He offered to pay the soldiers in exchange for military secret
April 25, 2025 -
Coex fire contained, no casualties reported
The fire at Seoul's Coex convention center Friday morning has been completely extinguished, a little over two hours after it broke out at 11:06 a.m., with no reported casualties. According to the rescue authorities, the fire was brought under complete control at around 1:14 p.m., after 121 firefighters and 33 fire engines contained the main flames at around 11:40 p.m. Events, including the World IT show 2025, inside the center resumed at around 1:20 p.m. The fire is suspected to have originated
April 25, 2025 -
Mental distress on the rise among Gangnam children: data
Mental health concerns, including depression and anxiety, have been rising sharply among children in Gangnam-gu, Seocho-gu and Songpa-gu, Seoul’s southern districts known for intense academic competition. In the three elite education hubs, the number of cases covered by the national health insurance system in which children under nine were treated for depression and anxiety jumped from 1,037 in 2020 to 3,309 in 2024 — nearly tripling over the five-year period, according to data from the Health I
April 25, 2025 -
Disgraced sports heroes receive jail terms on same day
Korean sports heroes Kang Dong-hee and Lim Chang-yong each received jail terms for their crimes on Thursday, cementing their fall from grace after decorated careers in their respective fields. Kang, aged 58 and former point guard in the Korean Basketball League, was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust by the Incheon District Court and sentenced to jail for 14 months. Four people involved in the operation of his basketball class also received punishment, ranging from a suspended term
April 25, 2025 -
Police bust a 800 billion won illegal gambling site operator after tailing a 'suspicious car'
Officials of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said Friday they caught a 37-year-old man wanted for operating a gambling website handling around 800 billion won ($557.3 million), after checking a car roaming around a local velodrome. The bust took place Wednesday after patrolling police officers grew suspicious of a car that was circling the outside of a track cycling arena in Gwanak-gu, Seoul. The officers ran the license plate through the police system and found that it belonged to a suspec
April 25, 2025 -
Murder suspect arrested after 4-hour standoff with police
Incheon District Court on Thursday issued a warrant for the arrest of a man in his 50s, who is believed to have killed his partner and engaged in a four-hour standoff with police before being taken into custody. The suspect is believed to have killed a woman in her 50s, who was in a common-law marriage with him, at a park in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, at around 11:12 p.m. Monday. He then fled to Seoul Grand Park in the adjacent city of Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, which was some 30 kilometers away fr
April 25, 2025 -
Man thought to be good Samaritan becomes hit-and-run suspect
A man who claimed to have found an elderly person collapsed on the ground and took them to the hospital is now facing hit-and-run charges, after surveillance footage indicated that it was his car that struck the victim. Officials of the Gwangju Bukbu Police Station said the hit-and-run case was forwarded to the prosecution Thursday. The suspect, in his 60s, is believed to have hit and killed an 80-something-year-old man on Feb. 11 in an apartment complex parking lot in Buk-gu, Gwangju. He faces
April 25, 2025 -
Fire reported at Coex restaurant
A fire was reported at Seoul’s Coex convention center Friday morning, prompting emergency evacuations amid ongoing exhibitions, including the 2025 World IT Show. According to fire authorities, the report was received at approximately 11:06 a.m. It indicated that smoke, presumed to be from a fire, had emerged from a restaurant inside Coex, located in Gangnam-gu. Several visitors inside the venue were seen evacuating the premises as a precaution. As of noon, there are no reports of casualties or v
April 25, 2025 -
Police raid POSCO E&C over collapse of subway construction site
Police and labor authorities on Friday raided POSCO E&C and its subcontractors over the recent collapse of a subway construction site near Seoul that left one worker dead and another injured. A tunnel under construction by POSCO E&C for the Shinansan Line, a new metropolitan rail line between Ansan of Gyeonggi Province and Seoul's Yeouido, collapsed in the city of Gwangmyeong on April 11. Two workers were trapped after the accident. One of them was rescued after 13 hours but the other was found
April 25, 2025 -
1 in 3 women in S. Korea experienced violence at least once in their lifetime: survey
One in three South Korean women have experienced physical or sexual violence at least once during their lifetime, a government survey showed Thursday. The gender ministry said the survey conducted in-person on 7,027 female adults nationwide from September to November last year showed that 36.1 percent of women had experienced violence at least once in their lifetime. This marked a 0.9 percentage-point increase from the equivalent rate in 2021, when the survey did not include stalking as a catego
April 24, 2025 -
Foreign gaming companies must appoint local reps in Korea under new law
Foreign-based game companies in South Korea will be required, starting later this year, to designate a domestic representative for legal compliance with gambling-related statutes and other rules, if they grow to a certain size in terms of sales or number of users. The change is in line with a revision of the Game Industry Promotion Act, set to take effect on Oct. 23, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Companies subject to this measure will be notified individually, the min
April 24, 2025 -
'It's not the Korea I know': Seoul stabbing sparks fear over safety
A fatal stabbing inside a neighborhood grocery store in northern Seoul has intensified public fears over violent crime, as Koreans grapple with the unnerving reality that even the most familiar places are not immune to danger. On Tuesday evening, a man in his 30s is alleged to have fatally stabbed a woman in her 60s while she was shopping inside a supermarket in Mia-dong, Gangbuk-gu. A store employee in her 40s was also injured. Neither victim had any prior connection to the assailant, police sa
April 24, 2025 -
Ex-President Moon indicted on bribery charge
Former President Moon Jae-in was indicted without detention Thursday on charges of bribery, according to the Jeonju District Prosecutor’s Office. Moon has been accused of allowing his former son-in-law to receive preferential treatment in securing a job with an airline. Almost 220 million won ($154,000) in salary and relocation expenses to Thailand were paid between July 2018 and April 2020, which constituted a de facto bribe to the former president, according to the prosecution. Prosecutors lau
April 24, 2025 -
'Busan roundhouse kick' victim accused of threats by man who harrassed her
A woman who survived an attempted rape and murder is now defending herself in court against a man who harassed her with victim-blaming threats, and who now accuses her of threatening to reveal his identity online. According to Seoul police on Wednesday, the accusation by the 28-year-old man surnamed Oh is currently under review. Oh claimed that the victim, identified by the pseudonym Kim Jin-ju, intimidated him by mentioning his online handle and writing posts like, "Live your own life before I
April 24, 2025