A Seoul taxi driver who caused public outrage by blocking an ambulance transferring an emergency patient was handed a two-year prison term by a local court on Wednesday. The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the 31-year-old taxi driver to two years in prison on charges of assault, fraud and others. The man, surnamed Choi, was accused of intentionally colliding with an ambulance on a road in southeastern Seoul and delaying its departure for about 10 minutes, telling the ambulance driver t

South Korea is investigating a series of deaths following flu vaccinations for possible association with vaccines affected by heat fluctuations or syringes found to induce contamination. The latest reported casualties following flu vaccinations Wednesday afternoon involved two people in Gyeonggi Province. Separately, a Daegu man in his 70s was admitted to the emergency room about an hour and a half after getting a flu shot at a clinic near his home Tuesday and died Wednesday. Other cases in

Employment Permit System ties foreign laborers to their employers by contract and visa, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation, say workers and activists

Exposure to ultrafine dust caused 63,000 extra deaths in South Korea during a recent three-year period, an opposition party lawmaker said Wednesday. Particulate pollution called PM2.5, consisting of particles measuring 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter, resulted in 63,969 more deaths than otherwise would have been expected among people aged 30 and older between 2015 and 2017, said Rep. Kang Gi-yun of the People Power Party, citing data from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

Authorities are investigating tap water contamination in Seogwipo, Jeju Island, after residents reported finding larva-like creatures in water coming from their faucets. 　　 The Ministry of Environment said Wednesday that it has dispatched officials to the southern island to look into the city’s tap water and check nearby water purification centers. As of Tuesday, two Seogwipo residents reported to have found larva-like creatures inside a filter attached to a showerhead. Jeju Island&rsqu

“We will act as a change maker that delivers change for social innovation with entrepreneurship,” said Lee Jong-hyun, managing director of Social Enterprise Network (SEN). Lee received a regional innovator award for taking the role of a regional innovator from the Presidential Committee for Balanced National Development (PCBND), a committee pushing for people-centered development. The PCBND selected the finalist on Aug. 21 after going through first and second evaluation and verif

Seoul Metro said Wednesday that it is working to install parking and charging facilities for shared electric scooters around subway stations in the city to help enhance the safety of its citizens. The two-wheeled vehicles, also called electric kickboards and mostly operated by ridesharing companies, have emerged as a popular means of urban transport in recent years but have often been at the center of public criticism due to the potential dangers they pose, such as being left everywhere on the

　The number of illegal exemptions from mandatory military service detected by local authorities has surged nearly 60 percent over the past five years, a ruling party lawmaker said, calling for tougher punishments for draft dodgers. 　Rep. Ahn Gyu-back of the Democratic Party of Korea, citing the Military Manpower Administration‘s data, said the number of people booked by police on charges of illegally receiving an exemption from military duty increased 59.6 percent from 47 in 2015 to 7

A surge in imported COVID-19 cases coming from overseas is again emerging as a threat to South Korea’s anti-virus fight as it struggles to put the virus sitaution stably under control. Korea added 91 new coronavirus cases – 57 locally transmitted and 34 imported from overseas -- in the 24 hours ending midnight on Tuesday, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The country’s daily COVID-19 count has remained in the double-digit range for six consecutive

Young South Korean workers have borne the brunt of the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak that first struck Asia's fourth-largest economy in late January, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed South Koreans began to dwindle in March in the wake of the outbreak of COVID-19 as the flu-like disease made a big dent in the economy. The first outbreak resulted in a tumble in the number of employed people in April, and a resurgence of infections that started in mid-August jolted the local

Public health authorities in South Korea are investigating possible links between the death of a teenager and a flu vaccine that experienced heat fluctuations. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said in Monday’s press briefing that a 17-year-old boy without preexisting medical conditions died at his Incheon home on Oct. 16, two days after getting a flu shot. The vaccine he received was a product distributed by Shinsung pharmaceutical company, which was earlier accused of han

A consumer advocacy group has recommended South Korea's three major telecom operators compensate users for the mediocre quality of their 5G services, a civic group said Tuesday. Since last December, 21 5G subscribers filed for mediation from the Korea National Council of Consumer Organizations (KNCCO), taking issue with the accessibility to the latest mobile network provided by SK Telecom Co., KT Corp. and LG Uplus Corp. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), which negotia

A delivery man took his own life in Busan early Tuesday, police and a courier labor union said, as apparent deaths from overwork and poor working conditions among couriers have surfaced as a social issue. The man, 50, working for Logen Logistics Co., died of suicide at around 3 a.m., some 30 minutes after he sent a handwritten note to his colleague via cell phone messenger. In the letter that starts with "I feel victimized," the man, whose identity was withheld, said he had been stru

Environment officials of South Korea and the European Union on Tuesday discussed expanding cooperation on Seoul's plan for a "Green New Deal," the environment ministry said. The discussions, the second of their kind, took place during a virtual meeting led by Ahn Se-chang, a ministry official overseeing climate change policy, and Astrid Schomaker of the European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment. The Green New Deal is a government-wide project being pushed by Seoul

Nuclear reactor will stay closed, but report reignites debate over Moon administration’s anti-nuclear drive