South Korea’s human rights commission on Friday called for Koreans and the government to raise awareness of LGBTQ rights violations and stimulate interest in LGBTQ rights. Song Doo-hwan, chair of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, issued a statement Friday to mark the 2024 International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia. Celebrated annually on May 17, the day marks the anniversary of the World Health Organization’s decision in 1990 to declass

Social Affairs May 17, 2024

The debate has intensified over indoor spaces barring older people, notably sparked by local reports of residents in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, debating on online forums whether to designate a newly opened public swimming pool as a "no-seniors zone." One commenter posted: “People over 65 use the pool in a very dirty way, such as urinating in the water, and complain a lot, which ruins the atmosphere. Their use should be restricted.” The pool in question, reportedly

Social Affairs May 16, 2024

The nominee for the new chief prosecutor of the Corruption Investigation Office for High-Ranking Officials is set to explain multiple accusations against him and his family, including allegations of nepotism, in a confirmation hearing scheduled for Friday. Oh Dong-woon, a former judge and attorney, was nominated last month to lead the state investigation agency but has since been mired in controversy surrounding the hiring of his wife at a law firm he worked for between January 2018 and Octobe

Social Affairs May 15, 2024

Seoul Metro has installed spikes to keep pigeons from roosting in its stations and will introduce more such measures, it said Monday. The operator of Seoul subway lines No. 1 through 8 announced that it has introduced spikes and would soon adopt other measures to deter pigeons and other birds, including nets, bird repellent gel and ultrasonic bird repellers. These measures have come as complaints about birds have increased. Seoul Metro said it received 131 total complaints about pigeons specific

Social Affairs May 13, 2024

The South Korean prosecution is gearing up to summon Korean American pastor Choi Jae-young whose spy camera footage shows him meeting with first lady Kim Keon Hee and giving her a Christian Dior handbag valued at 3 million won ($2,210). The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office is scheduled to question Choi officially on Monday for the first time. It comes in the wake of the video's public disclosure last November by local media outlet and YouTube channel Voice of Seoul. The outle

Social Affairs May 12, 2024

A local court ordered the government to pay 10 million won ($7,500) in compensation to the Moroccan asylum seeker who was detained in the Hwaseong Immigration Detention Center for months beginning in March 2021 and suffered inhuman treatment there. The Seoul Central District Court delivered the ruling Thursday, about three years after the incident occurred at the detention center, during which the detainee was hog-tied, with his hands and feet bound behind his back. The Moroccan man originally a

Social Affairs May 9, 2024

A recent court ruling has declared it unlawful for the first time to require gender-affirmation surgery as a prerequisite for legally changing one's gender. Judges at the Yeongdong branch of the Cheongju District Court recently granted permission to five people who have not undergone gender reassignment surgeries to change their legal gender from male to female on their family registers. The decision was confirmed by the court on Thursday. The individuals, originally registered as male at b

Social Affairs May 9, 2024

In recent months, a wave of murders targeting ex-girlfriends has not only sent shock waves across the country but has also raised questions about why these incidents occur and how such a crime can be prevented. The murder of a woman in her 20s by her boyfriend on Monday atop a building near Gangnam Station in Seoul, which occurred following her request to end the relationship, tragically mirrors a distressing trend of similar incidents. The suspect, whom the authorities only identified as a 20-s

Social Affairs May 8, 2024

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Tuesday that the city aims to reduce carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2033 from the 2005 levels, and reach complete carbon neutrality by 2050. With the ambition of building a city safe from climate crises, the city has announced its new 10-year plan, named the Basic Plan for Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth in Seoul, which includes carbon-neutral and eco-friendly energy transition policies to cut carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2033 compared to 20

Social Affairs May 7, 2024

The corruption investigation office for high-level officials has called in key suspects for questioning over allegations that presidential and defense officials interfered in a sensitive military inquiry concerning the on-duty death of a Marine last year, multiple sources said Friday. Yoo Jae-eun, a legal affairs official at the defense ministry, and Park Kyung-hoon, a former acting chief of the Criminal Investigation Command under the defense ministry, underwent the Corruption Investigation Off

Social Affairs May 3, 2024

The Korean government is seeking to employ a professional calligrapher as a civil servant to be responsible for crafting letters of appointment for high-ranking civil servants in the name of the South Korean president, according to the Ministry of Personnel Management. The ministry on Thursday announced its plan to hire a professional calligrapher by May 13. The position of calligrapher is the rarest among Korean public officials, with only four calligraphers hired by the government in the 62 ye

Social Affairs May 3, 2024

Over 60 percent of South Koreans supported an initiative of providing a 100 million won ($72,500) cash incentive for each newborn, aiming to tackle the country's low and declining birth rates, a government survey showed Thursday. The survey, conducted from April 17 to 26 by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission involving 13,640 individuals, aimed to assess the effectiveness of providing direct support to beneficiaries of birth boost policies. The survey queried whether significant

Social Affairs May 2, 2024

South Korea‘s labor groups, including the nation’s two major umbrella unions, are set to hold large-scale rallies nationwide on Wednesday to commemorate Labor Day. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the country‘s two major umbrella trade unions, known for being independent and run democratically, plans to organize the “World Labor Day Convention” rally from Gwanghwamun in the central district of Jongno-gu to Daehan Gate in Jung-gu, Seoul at 2 p.m. Warm

Social Affairs April 30, 2024

South Korean authorities announced Monday that they would investigate a Korean American pastor named Choi Jae-young, who gifted first lady Kim Keon-hee a 3 million won ($2,295) Dior bag, on allegations of stalking. National Office of Investigation chief Woo Jong-soo said at a press conference held at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul that “Last year, Choi was accused of stalking (Kim), and (the police) completed a brief legal review of the case. The police determined that furth

Social Affairs April 29, 2024

South Korea attracted a record number of 606,000 foreign national patients in 2023, mainly for dermatological treatments and plastic surgery, the Health Ministry said Monday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that the number of foreign national patients visiting Korea has hit a record high at 606,000, up 2.4 times from a year earlier, 248,000. This is the highest ever since 2009 when the ministry started to compile the number of foreign patients. Also, this figure is 1.2 times higher

Social Affairs April 29, 2024