Historic decision sparks celebrations in Seoul following decades of campaigning
A court in South Korea has ruled that the country’s decades-old ban on abortion must be lifted, in a historic decision that sparked celebrations in Seoul.
Thursday’s decision by the constitutional court marks a major victory for pro-choice campaigners, 66 years after the country banned abortions in all but a few cases.
Continue reading...Air quality has become a key political issue after record pollution levels hit the country last week
South Korea has passed emergency measures to tackle the “social disaster” being unleashed by air pollution, after record levels of fine dust blanketed most of the country in recent weeks.
The national assembly passed a series of bills on Wednesday giving authorities access to emergency funds for measures that include the mandatory installation of high-capacity air purifiers in classrooms and encouraging sales of liquified petroleum gas vehicles, which produce lower emissions than those that run on petrol and diesel.
Continue reading...Jung Joon-young apologises and says he will retire, one day after singer Seungri was charged with running a prostitution ring
A sex scandal swirling around South Korea’s K-pop industry has deepened after a singer and TV celebrity admitted he had secretly filmed himself having sex with women and sharing the footage online without their consent.
Jung Joon-young, who rose to fame after coming second in a TV talent show, said he would retire from show business and admitted he had shared footage of several women in a group chatroom.
Continue reading...Big Bang singer Seungri retires to clear his name, saying ‘scandal is too big’
Seungri’s taste for the high life earned him the nickname the Great Gatsby of Korea. But now the singer, a member of one of South Korea’s biggest K-pop bands, is facing charges that he procured prostitutes for businessmen in some of Seoul’s most fashionable nightclubs.
The youngest member of Big Bang has announced he will retire to fight the charges and to spare his management agency, YG Entertainment, and fellow band members further embarrassment, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. The decision came after news of the scandal spread on social media on Monday.
Continue reading...Guidelines to address promotion of unrealistic beauty standards withdrawn in state censorship row
Government guidelines aimed at promoting more diversity in South Korea’s K-pop world have been withdrawn after critics said they amounted to state censorship of a booming industry.
The guidelines issued last week by the ministry of gender equality and family complained that K-pop stars looked too alike, saying “the problem of … uniformity among singers is serious”, and noting most idols were thin and wore identical makeup and skimpy outfits.
Continue reading...The next 15 megacities #15: The fast-growing South Korean capital is about to wipe out Euljiro, a neighbourhood home to 10,000 shops and 50,000 tradespeople that was integral to the country’s postwar boom
From the main street, the Euljiro neighbourhood doesn’t look like much: some shabby retail stores, cold-noodle restaurants, a Starbucks.
Enter one of the small alleys, however, and you’ll find yourself in a kind of manufacturing anthill: thousands upon thousands of shops, each crammed to the rafters with bolts, circuit boards, iron castings, gauges, wires, lights, switches, tools and innumerable tiny objects that defy description.
Continue reading...Goods dispatched in coming days may not arrive until after 29 March deadline
British exporters sending goods to far-flung destinations in the coming days risk being locked out of harbours around the world as a no-deal Brexit looms, business leaders have warned.
Independent trade experts and the UK’s biggest business groups said exporters could be dispatching goods from UK ports imminently that would not arrive until after the 29 March deadline. This raised the prospect of goods being stuck in ports or facing hefty additional costs in the event of a disorderly Brexit.
Continue reading...Campaign group urges recognition for women affected by sexual violence of Korean troops and the children born as a result
Tran Thi Ngai was 24 and alone at home in her village in Vietnam’s Phu Yen province when a South Korean soldier forced his way into the house and raped her.
“He pulled me inside the room, closed the door and raped me repeatedly. He had a gun on his body and I was terrified,” said Tran, now almost 80, and still waiting for South Korea to acknowledge sexual violence by its soldiers during the Vietnam war.
Continue reading...Country’s Olympic committee president says he will impose lifetime ban on sexual offenders
The head of South Korea’s top sports body has apologised for a litany of sexual assault cases between young athletes and their coaches and vowed to impose lifetime bans on offenders.
The move comes after double-Olympic short-track gold medallist Shim Suk-hee, 21, accused her former coach last week of raping and sexually molesting her multiple times, prompting several other victims to come forward.
Continue reading...Kim Jong-un goes into 2019 with momentum to build on after last year’s historic meeting with President Donald Trump. As Kim attempts to negotiate a fresh summit, the Guardian’s Tania Branigan looks at his leadership so far and Emma Graham-Harrison describes a rare trip to Pyongyan. Plus: Catherine Shoard on the annual film awards season
Donald Trump has revealed that negotiations are underway to secure a location for a new summit with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, after the historic meeting between the two men in Singapore last year.
It came after Kim warned in a New Year’s speech that Pyongyang may change its approach to nuclear talks if Washington persisted with sanctions.
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