Articles by Im Eun-byel
Im Eun-byel
silverstar@heraldcorp.com-
COVID cases remain in 200,000s, authorities to reexamine reinfection rate
South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections stayed in the 220,000s for the 24 hours of Wednesday, the government reported Thursday. Authorities are looking at the reinfection rate, which stands at 0.0018 percent amid the omicron wave, relatively lower than that of other countries. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 cases came to 224,820, down 61,474 from the previous day’s 286,294. It is a significant drop from the 320,699
Social Affairs April 7, 2022
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Exclusion of COVID-hit students from midterms draws backlash
The Education Ministry’s decision to maintain a ban on students with COVID-19 from taking midterm exams has drawn backlash, with students and parents voicing concerns that missing out on the exams could put them at a disadvantage. “It is rather fortunate that our whole family already had COVID-19,” a high school student who attends a school in northern Seoul said. “It would be frustrating to miss the midterms as I had messed up on the previous one,” said the hig
Social Affairs April 6, 2022
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Convenience stores, internet cafes placed under plastic ban
The Ministry of Environment on Tuesday issued specific guidelines for the restriction on the use of plastic products, specifying that all types of food service businesses, including convenience stores and internet cafes, come under the ban. The government has banned restaurants, cafes, food stalls and bars from giving out single-use products for customers dining in. Single-use products are only available for takeout or delivery services. The latest guideline says that all types of food serv
Social Affairs April 5, 2022
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Education Ministry earmarks W600b for ‘education recovery’
The Education Ministry said Monday it will inject 600 billion won ($492.69 million) into its “education recovery” project to provide academic and psychological support for students that have had to cope with the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. With the social distancing rules in Korea expected to take a new turn in the gradual return to normalcy, the ministry is set to draw up a new guideline for infectious disease control and prevention at schools. “This week, we will have a
Social Affairs April 4, 2022
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North Korea warns Seoul of ‘serious threat’ at defense minister’s remarks
Kim Yo-jong, the younger sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, denounced South Korea’s defense chief, Suh Wook, for his remarks over the nation’s missile capabilities, warning that Seoul may face “serious threats.” Kim, the vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, is a key figure in the Kim family regime, serving her brother Kim Jong-un closely. “(Suh) is a confrontation maniac,” Kim said in an English-la
North Korea April 3, 2022
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Ban on single-use plastics returns
After a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, Korea has brought back the ban on in-store use of single-use products at food service businesses, causing mixed reactions from employees, customers and environmental activists. Starting Friday, customers dining in at restaurants, cafes, food stalls, and bars cannot use single-use products, including plastic cups, containers, wooden chopsticks, and toothpicks. The products will only be available for takeout or delivery service customers. The ba
Social Affairs March 31, 2022
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COVID-19 has negative impact on Korea’s multicultural acceptability: study
The COVID-19 pandemic has had a negative impact on how receptive Koreans are to a multicultural society, a study by government-run think tank Korean Women’s Development Institute suggests. The research, titled the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s 2021 Multicultural Acceptability Study, has been conducted every three years since 2012. This year, 5,000 adults aged between 19 and 74 and 5,000 middle and high school students were polled. According to the survey, the adult re
Social Affairs March 30, 2022
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Cheong Wa Dae denies allegations related to first lady fashion expenses
Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday denied recent rumors regarding the first lady’s expenses over clothes and fashion items, saying that no state funds had been used. “The groundless assertions related to first lady Kim Jung-sook using special activity expenses for costumes to wear at official events are completely false,” Shin Hye-hyeon, deputy spokesperson for Cheong Wa Dae, said at a briefing Tuesday. “National budget, including special activity expenses, have not been drawn
Politics March 29, 2022
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Busan City hosts business presentation, hoping for economic growth
Busan Metropolitan Government has signed memorandums of understanding with businesses on investments worth 360 billion won ($293 million), the city said Monday. According to the local government, the city hosted a conference in central Seoul to promote business opportunities in the southern port city to corporations located in Greater Seoul. Through the event, it signed memorandums with four corporations, including digital shopping platform SSG.com, which is owned by retail conglomerate Shin
Social Affairs March 28, 2022
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Yoon, Xi discuss cooperation between two countries in phone call
President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed bilateral cooperation for peace on the Korean Peninsula in a telephone conversation on Friday. During the 25-minute phone conversation, Yoon stressed the two countries should cooperate for peace on the Korean Peninsula and the complete denuclearization of North Korea. “Yoon said the South Korean people are greatly worried about the tension between the two Koreas following the consecutive intercontinental ballistic
Politics March 25, 2022
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Omicron wave pushes schools to brink
The ongoing COVID-19 surge in Korea is wreaking havoc on schools, leaving students, parents and teachers confused with quarantine protocols. The Education Ministry said Wednesday that 379,983 kindergarteners, elementary, middle and high school students in Korea were confirmed of COVID-19 from March 15 to Monday. A total of 1.05 million students have tested positive since the new semester began earlier this month. Even amid the virus crisis, more schools are continuing to hold in-person class
Social Affairs March 23, 2022
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Omicron wave to peak in 10 days with 370,000 daily confirmed cases: PM
Health authorities are expecting the omicron variant spread to reach its peak within 10 days, reaching some 370,000 COVID-19 cases a day. South Korea saw 282,987 new confirmed cases as of Thursday midnight, while the number of deaths hit 229. “According to predictions from multiple research teams, the spread will reach its peak within 10 days. The average daily new cases can reach the maximum of 370,000,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said at a meeting held at the government complex
Social Affairs March 11, 2022
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KIS celebrates equal gender representation
Korea International School has won the AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award, in recognition of the school’s effort to bring diversity to a program for advanced computer science. The College Board, a nonprofit organization established to expand access to higher education, honored the school’s Design and Innovation Department (D&I) for its near equal gender representation in AP computer science principles courses. Other classes in the department also strive to draw more fem
Social Affairs March 10, 2022
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Election shows age, regional divides
The 2022 presidential election showed that age and regional divides in Korea continue to remain solid. President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition conservative People Power Party beat his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung from the Democratic Party of Korea by 0.73 percentage points, marking the smallest point gap in the presidential election history of Korea. The previous record of the smallest point gap was set in 1997, when former President Kim Dae-jung won the election by 1.53 percent
Politics March 10, 2022
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Voter turnout falls short of last election’s record
Voter turnout for this year’s presidential election reached 77.1 percent, similar to the figures from the previous election. Nearly 8 in 10 eligible South Korean voters cast their votes to elect a new president, including ballots from two days of early voting. Approximately 34 million out of 44.2 million eligible voters ultimately cast their ballots. A final figure is expected to come out sometime Thursday. The preliminary tally released less than two hours after polls closed at 7:30 p.m
Politics March 9, 2022
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