Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday extended his lead in the Democratic Party’s primaries, coming in top in the North Jeolla primary. With Sunday’s victory -- with 54.5 percent of the votes -- Lee Jae-myung solidified his lead over former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who had broken the Gyeonggi governor’s winning streak on Saturday. The former prime minister, who had won the South Jeolla primaries by 122 votes on Saturday, came in second with 38.4 percent of t

Politics Sept. 26, 2021

Pregnant women and children aged 12 to 17 will get COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of this year, officials said Thursday. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would announce new immunization plans on Monday afternoon for those who have until now been left out of the vaccination drive. The plan will include inoculating pregnant women, children and adolescents. Details on booster shots will also be unveiled. In August, a vaccination committee recommended that

Social Affairs Sept. 23, 2021

It is time to harvest, but farmers are facing a labor shortage due to a sharp drop in foreign arrivals caused by the pandemic. Even prior to the pandemic, the Ministry of Justice has been implementing a foreign seasonal worker system since 2017 to combat the shortage. In the first year of implementation, 1,085 people came in, and the number of entrants increased to 3,487 in 2019, but there were none last year when COVID-19 began to spread. This year, 504 people entered the country, and 1,01

Social Affairs Sept. 21, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung is leading the polls among the four major candidates for next year’s presidential election, a survey showed Friday. According to a poll conducted by Gallup Korea, Lee is in the lead, with 34 percent of survey respondents saying they have favorable sentiment toward the Gyeonggi governor. Lee was followed by former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl at 30 percent and Rep. Hong Joon-pyo at 28 percent. Both Yoon and Hong are vying to become the president

Politics Sept. 21, 2021

In a press briefing that marks 100 days in office, People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok called on the opposition party and its supporters to be wary of false and misleading videos on YouTube. To win the presidential election, Lee said the party should focus on people thinking logically and rationally instead of people who see only what they want to see. “A new media called YouTube recommends videos that you might want to watch through algorithms,” Lee said. “The algori

Politics Sept. 17, 2021

The ruling Democratic Party is seeking to revise election laws to allow South Korean expatriates to vote by mail, upon growing calls from overseas Koreans who want that option. Overseas Koreans with voting rights include those with permanent residency in other countries, students studying abroad and workers dispatched by Korean companies. The total number of eligible voters living abroad is about 2.14 million, or 4.5 percent of all voters. Despite their significant numbers, overseas voters ha

Social Affairs Sept. 16, 2021

Young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Korea experience isolation and mistreatment in schools, a report showed Tuesday. Human Rights Watch and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School released a report titled “I thought of myself as defective: Neglecting the rights of LGBT youth in South Korean schools.” The two organizations interviewed students, teachers, parents, service providers and advocates in the nation. Many of th

Social Affairs Sept. 14, 2021

The allegations surrounding conservative presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl are expanding, with Yoon accusing the head of the National Intelligence Service of meddling in a presidential election. On Monday, Yoon reported NIS chief Park Jie-won and informant Cho Sung-eun to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, in a countermove for coming under investigation for allegations raised by Cho. Yoon has accused Park and Cho of violating the National Intelligence Service Ac

Politics Sept. 13, 2021

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the US war in Afghanistan a “human rights crime” and said the US should pay the price for it. On Sunday, the ministry posted a message titled “Human rights crimes committed by the US must be calculated” on its website. “The crimes in which the US slandered innocent people from all over the world while wearing the veils of human rights judges must be calculated,” it said. North Korea has used the expression “c

North Korea Sept. 12, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug returned Saturday after meeting with his counterparts at the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Vienna. They agreed to cooperate on issues concerning economics, business, defense and North Korea, officials said Sunday. During the two-day conference, which began Tuesday, he met with 24 parliamentary leaders and with the secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and expanded the horizons of South Korea’s parliamentary di

Politics Sept. 12, 2021

South Korea’s regulations on foreign performers are unfair and may violate freedom of expression, a lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. Lee Sang-hun of the ruling Democratic Party said Korea unfairly regulates performances by foreigners, citing ambiguity in the Korea Media Rating Board’s “Foreigners’ performance recommendation system.” Under the current law, foreigners must be recommended and reviewed by the board if they want to perform in Korea. If they perform wit

Social Affairs Sept. 9, 2021

Presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl on Wednesday denied involvement in snowballing allegations that he had tried to meddle in politics. Speculation has swirled around him for a week after online news outlet Newsverse reported on Sept. 2 that Yoon ordered Rep. Kim Woong of the main opposition People Power Party to file a complaint with the prosecution against politicians and journalists linked to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea ahead of last year’s general elections. In a press bri

Politics Sept. 8, 2021

Three cases of the new coronavirus variant mu have been found in South Korea, officials said Friday. The mu variant was first identified in Colombia in January and has since been detected in about 40 countries, including Peru, Chile and the US. It was added to the World Health Organization’s watchlist last month. The confirmed patients in Korea were immigrants from Mexico, the US and Colombia who arrived in May, June and July, respectively. There are no locally transmitted cases yet.

Social Affairs Sept. 3, 2021

Slightly eased social distancing rules will take effect starting Monday to alleviate the difficulties of small-business owners and the self-employed hit hard by the prolonged pandemic. On Friday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said that business hours of restaurants and cafes in the Seoul metropolitan area will be extended by one hour to 10 p.m., starting next week and to last four weeks. The current social distancing rules -- Level 4 in Greater Seoul and Level 3 in most other areas -- will be e

Social Affairs Sept. 3, 2021

The personal information of Kang Yoon-sung, 56, the suspect in the murder of two women, was disclosed by police on Thursday. Under the law, police can disclose a suspect’s face, name and age online when there is enough evidence to believe it is in the public interest, and for the prevention of repeat crimes. Police said Kang caused social unrest by killing two victims within days using the same method. “We decided to disclose the suspect’s personal information for the pub

Social Affairs Sept. 2, 2021