Law seizing collaborator's property found constitutional

[photo captured from Constitutional Court of Korea]

Maeil Gyungjaereported that the Constitutional Court has come to a 5 to 4 decision regarding the appeal of a special law that allows for the confiscation of property that belongs to the descendants of Koreans who collaborated with the Japanese while under occupation. "Considering the personality of betrayal exhibited by the collaborators, and based on the tradition of law that began with the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea during occupation, the seizure of property earned as a collaborator with the Japanese has been shown to be constitutional."

Yonhap News reported 40 descendants of collaborators with the Japanese responded as soon as the decision to seize real estate was announced. They asserted that the law, enacted after the fact, is in violation of constitutional restrictions on guilt-by-association legislation. Seven constitutional appeals have been filed and are currently awaiting a series of hearings.

Translated by Bret Chernoff

Politicians found to be involved in Hamba Gate scandal

"Hamba-jip," restaurants specifically made for workers of construction sites, have been a hot issue in the political arena recently. Politicians and people working directly with the President are involved in a scandal concerning the right to manage the "hambajips."

According to 서울신문, during the "Hamba Gate" (the name of the scandal, just like the name "Water Gate") investigation, the prosecution found Bae Gun-gi, former chief inspector of the President's house, to be involved in the scandal in addition to one influential politician from the Hannara party and some presidents of metropolitan city councils. Bae Gun-gi has since resigned from office because of his involvement in this incident and since there are many other influential politicians involved in this large scandal, much attention has been placed on how the investigation will affect the future presidential election.

New 24-hour call center for North Korean defectors

A "24 hour call service" will soon be available for defectors from North Korea. Yunhap News reported that, according to the Ministry of Unification and the North Korean Defector Foundation, the decision was made to establish this call center to counsel and meet the various needs of North Korean defectors. The call center is in the process of building its electronic database in order to be fully operational by April of May of this year.

The North Korean Defector Foundation has secured 247,900,000 Won as this year's budget for supporting the current North Korean defector population, which has surpassed 20,000 as of last November. With this money, the foundation plans to assist defectors with adjusting to Korean society, getting a job or vocational training, as well as scholarships for children to attend school.