A South Korean court has fined a woman for sexual misconduct after she pulled down a colleague’s trousers – and his underwear, by accident – in front of their colleagues, local media reported.

On top of the 2.8 million won ($2,100; £1,500) fine, the woman in her 50s has also been ordered to complete eight hours of sexual violence prevention education.

The incident reportedly happened last October at a restaurant kitchen in Gangwon province in the north-east.

The Chuncheon District Court’s ruling on Saturday rejected the woman’s claim that she had intended it to be a prank on her colleague, who is in his 20s.

But the court said it was taking into account the fact that she had no prior criminal record and had shown remorse. She had knelt down to apologise to the man and his parents, the judge said.

“It seems like they punished a simple prank too harshly,” says one comment under the Chosun Daily’s report of the case.

But another reader argues, “The fine is not excessive at all. Why are you playing this kind of prank? Does this look like a prank to you?”

Pulling down someone’s trousers, which could include underwear – “pantsing” or “debagging” as it’s known – is often seen as a common practical joke despite criticism that it is a form of bullying.

Pantsing has long been used as a comic routine on variety shows and reality TV in South Korea.

But it has got people in trouble as well. In 2019, South Korean Olympic short track speed skating champion Lim Hyo-jun was suspended for a year after he pulled down a male teammate’s trousers in front of other female skaters.

And in 2021, a group of elementary school students in North Jeolla Province were investigated for bullying a younger boy at a playground, after the victim’s mother told police that they had pulled her son’s pants down.

(BBC News)

A new round of talks aimed at resolving a trade war between the US and China is set take place in London on Monday.

US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that a senior US delegation would meet Chinese representatives. Over the weekend, Beijing confirmed that Vice Premier He Lifeng will attend the talks.

The announcements came after Trump and China’s leader Xi Jinping had a phone conversation last week, which the US president described as a “very good talk”.

Last month, the world’s two biggest economies agreed a temporary truce to lower import taxes on goods being traded between them, but since then both countries have accused the other of breaching the deal.

Writing on his Truth Social platform on Friday, Trump said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer would meet Chinese officials in London on Monday.

On Saturday, China’s foreign ministry said Vice Premier He would be in the UK between 8 and 13 June, and that a meeting of the “China-US economic and trade mechanism” would take place.

The new round of negotiations came after Trump said his phone conversation with Xi on Thursday mainly focused on trade and had “resulted in a very positive conclusion for both countries”.

According to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, Xi told Trump that the US should “withdraw the negative measures it has taken against China”.

The call was the first time the two leaders had spoken since the trade war erupted in February.

When Trump announced sweeping tariffs on imports from a number of countries earlier this year, China was the hardest hit. Beijing responded with its own higher rates on US imports, and this triggered tit-for-tat increases that peaked at 145%.

In May, talks held in Switzerland led to a temporary truce that Trump called a “total reset”.

It brought US tariffs on Chinese products down to 30%, while Beijing slashed levies on US imports to 10% and promised to lift barriers on critical mineral exports.

The agreement gave both sides a 90-day deadline to try to reach a trade deal.

The latest data released by Bejing on Monday showed China’s exports in May were lower than analysts expected, despite the truce.

China’s exports in dollar terms increased by 4.8% compared to the same time last year.

At the same time imports dropped by 3.4%, which was much worse than the 0.9% fall predicted.

But since then, relations appeared to have soured. Last month, Trump said China had “totally violated its agreement with us”, and then a few days later China said the US had “severely violated” the agreement.

The US accused China of failing to restart shipments of critical minerals and rare earth magnets vital to car and computer industries.

On Saturday, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it had approved some applications for rare earth export licences, although it did not provide details of which countries involved.

The announcement came after Trump said on Friday that Xi had agreed to restart trade in rare earth materials.

Bu speaking on Sunday, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett told CBS News that “those exports of critical minerals have been getting released at a rate that is, you know, higher than it was, but not as high as we believe we agreed to in Geneva”.

(BBC News)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the world’s highest single- arch railway bridge in Indian-administered Kashmir. The term “single-arch bridge” typically refers to a bridge with a single, continuous arch spanning between two supports.

The bridge will connect the valley region of Kashmir with the rest of the country by train for the very first time.

The showpiece infrastructure project, which is built over the Chenab river, is 35m (114ft) taller than the Eiffel Tower and took the Indian Railways more the 20 years to build.

It is part of a 272km (169 miles) all-weather railway line that will pass through Jammu, ultimately going all the way to the Kashmir valley.

(BBC News)