Ex-President Park’s Verdict Aired Live
The Seoul Central District Court delivered its verdict against Korea’s former President Park Geun-hye in early April, a year after she was arrested over a corruption scandal.
Out of 18 charges, the court found her guilty of 16 of them. Despite Park’s request, the verdict was broadcasted live in her absence due to sickness, according to the court.
Tight Tension from Tug of ‘Trade War’
China rejected the U.S.’s threat to impose $100 billion tariffs on the case of 1,300 alleged Chinese intellectual property (IP) thefts, disproving the possibility of a peaceful negotiation between the world’s two biggest economies.
Earlier, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Beijing of long-standing illicit trade practices, saying that “[They] have destroyed thousands of American factories and millions of American jobs,” in a statement.
Movies: A Money-Making Scheme
Korea’s largest film-distributor CGV announced that it will increase the cost of watching a movie by 1,000 won (US$ 0.94) due to inflation of production costs. As a result, movie watchers will have to pay 10,000 won from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. during the weekday and 1,000 won more during the weekend.
Government Helps Parents Raise Children
South Korean President Moon Jae-in made a promise to look after the unattended children while their parents work during the day.
“The supply fails to meet the demand for after school care service, which leads to involuntarily unemployed stay-at-home moms,” he explained, supporting his belief that both the government and society share the responsibility of raising a child in a nation.
Call-phobic Koreans
It has been found that many people, particularly regular smartphone users, suffer from “call phobia.” They are afraid to answer incoming calls, and prefer more indirect methods of communication such as text messages or emails. Experts explain that individualists today require personal time and space to plan their speech in advance, suggesting the growing distance from person to person.
No More Free Food Delivery
Korean restaurants have started to charge fees for delivery requests. One of the major chicken brands, “Kyochon Chicken,” announced that it will ask for 2,000 won (US$ 1.88) for the service. Pizza sellers raised the minimum price for making a delivery order.
Facebook Leaked the Faces of Thousands
Last month, Facebook revealed that the personal information of approximately 80 million users was leaked to another data-dealing company. According to Facebook Korea, it is estimated that around 80 thousand Korean accounts may have been victimized and subsequently informed them of the possibility one by one. In response, the Korea Communications Commission embarked on assessing whether Social Network Services are abiding by the privacy policies, including Facebook.
By Lee Sei-yon
Editor-in-Chief