Most Popular
-
1
Korea enters full election mode
-
2
Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
-
3
Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
-
4
Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
-
5
Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
-
6
S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
-
7
Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
-
8
Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
-
9
Kia EV9 wins world car of year
-
10
Korea misses out on global bond index boost
-
Main opposition party grapples with widening internal rift
An existing fissure within the main opposition party has widened as several lawmakers have taken steps in response to conflict over the party’s candidate nomination process for the upcoming general election. Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Ko Min-jung on Tuesday announced her resignation as a member of the party’s Supreme Council, saying that she believes the party should openly discuss its election candidate nomination process, which has been criticized as biased towards the pro-Lee
PoliticsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Ultrafine dust levels this year could be severe: ministry
Ultrafine dust levels in March could be higher than previous years due to high pressure, higher-than-normal temperatures and a stagnant atmosphere, according to the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday. As a measure to reduce exposure to higher ultrafine dust levels, the Environment Ministry stated that it recommends workers, especially those who have respiratory symptoms or those who are pregnant, to work flexibly if high fine dust levels persist for more than two days. Flexible work includes spa
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
University ranking hierarchy leads to wage gap later in life: study
Graduates of universities with higher admission requirements make as much as 50 percent more than the graduates of lower-ranked universities, a study by a state-run think-tank showed Tuesday. In the study released by the Korea Development Institute, researchers sorted South Korean universities into five groups based on the grades they required in the state-run college entrance exam Suneung. Schools in group one required the lowest Suneung grades while group five schools required the highest gr
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
S. Korea sees highest-ever levels of self-employed older people
Recent government statistics showed that in 2023, 2.07 million South Koreans aged 60 or above ran small businesses in the country, marking the first time the figure surpassed the 2-million mark. The number of older self-employed people in the country has nearly doubled since 2003, when the figure stood at 1.09 million. The older self-employed population accounted for 36.4 percent of all 5.68 million self-employed people in South Korea, also the highest-ever level. In comparison, 17 percent of a
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Russia sending North Korea food in return for arms: Seoul defense chief
North Korea has provided Russia with 6,700 shipping containers’ worth of artillery shells over the past six months, according to Seoul’s defense chief Shin Won-sik. In return, the North is believed to have received from Russia enough food and other essentials to fill about 10,000 shipping containers over the same period, Shin said. In a press conference on Monday, Shin noted that the North Korean military factories for producing arms for Russia were operating at full capacity. &ldquo
DefenseFeb. 27, 2024
-
Legality issues linger as nurses fill treatment void Tuesday
As South Korea grapples with a medical service vacuum in hospitals over a week after residents walked out in protest against the government's plan to increase the annual medical enrollment quota, nurses started filling the void Tuesday despite the lingering uncertainties over legality issues. The government launched a pilot project for physician assistant nurses working in general hospitals and training hospitals nationwide. Starting Tuesday, heads of each health care organization can deter
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Drunk man assaults ER staff, because of their tone
South Korean police on Tuesday said it was investigating a 50-something man for assaulting and insulting the emergency medical staff of a hospital, which the suspect said was because the staff spoke to him "in a commanding tone." According to Daejeon Dongbu Police Station, the suspect was taken to an emergency room of a hospital in Dong-gu, Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, to be treated for an injury to his face. He was drunk at the time. He punched the medical staff and cu
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Why Cha Eun-woo’s name keeps popping up in politics
Actor and K-pop singer Cha Eun-woo is undoubtedly one of the most popular Korean celebrities at the moment. It is no surprise that Cha has often generated buzz in the entertainment news section and among fans of Korean music and drama. But in recent days, his name was mentioned multiple times among a most unexpected group of people here: politicians. It started with the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea’s decision last week to nominate its deputy spokesperson Ahn Gwi-ryeong to run
PoliticsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Plans unveiled to redevelop southwest Seoul
The Seoul Metropolitan Government unveiled plans to redevelop southwest Seoul into an innovative urban district that combines functions such as work, leisure and housing on Tuesday. During Tuesday’s press briefing, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said that the city government will begin construction in southwest Seoul in 2025 to transform industrial and old residential areas into futuristic, high-tech industrial clusters and residential, leisure and work areas with green spaces. Southwest Seoul con
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
As criticism mounts, med students engage in community service
As negative sentiment continues to build toward the medical sector after junior doctors walked out of hospitals and training programs in protest of the government’s decision to increase the annual medical school enrollment quota, medical students said they would engage in community service while taking time off from their studies. An emergency response committee at Yonsei University College of Medicine on Monday kicked off volunteering activities to provide free meals for the elderly, dist
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Yoon says 2,000 increase in med school quota non-negotiable
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday remained set on his push for an increase in the annual medical school enrollment quota of 2,000, saying the number "is non-negotiable." "No excuses can justify (doctors') collective action of taking people's health hostage and posing a threat to people's lives," Yoon told some 100 participants including mayors and provincial governors at the Central and Local Government Cooperation Council meeting at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential of
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Video of woman catching peeping-tom goes viral
South Korean police confirmed Tuesday they are investigating a man who was caught secretly filming women inside a bathroom, after a video of the incident went viral online. According to police, the male suspect in his 20s is believed to have snuck into the women’s bathroom room at a "jimjilbang" -- a Korean-style bathhouse with saunas, massage tables and unisex areas with heated floors -- in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul last Monday with the intent to film women's bodies. He wa
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Legal protections proposed for bar owners tricked into selling alcohol to minors
Bar owners who are misled into selling alcohol to minors with fake IDs may soon have a way to prove their innocence using surveillance camera footage under a proposed rule change. The Ministry of Government Legislation announced a public notice Tuesday for the amendment of the Enforcement Decree of the Food Sanitation Act, which contains new clauses that exempt those who unknowingly sell alcohol to customers under the age of 19 from punishment if video evidence is provided. For 20 days until Mar
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Teachers and native English instructors now required to undergo drug testing
Drug and substance addiction screenings have been added to the recruitment process of all school teachers in South Korea, including native English speakers on short-term contracts, education authorities said Tuesday. According to the Education Ministry, the new rule, effective from the start of this year, mandates that teachers will be disqualified if they fail to submit a “confirmation of drugs, cannabis and psychotropic substances addiction test results” within one year of their
Social AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
US diplomat voices hope for S. Korea to offer more defense material support to Ukraine
A US diplomat expressed hopes Monday for South Korea to provide more defense material support to Ukraine, stressing the importance of air defense assistance for Ukrainian forces striving to fend off Russian attacks. Speaking at a forum, Yuri Kim, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe and Eurasian affairs, underscored the need for continued aid to Ukraine, as US military support to the war-ravaged country has stalled with a funding bill held up in the House due to Republican op
Foreign AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Vice FM urges N. Korea to cease provocations at UN disarmament conference
Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun urged North Korea to return to denuclearization talks and to cease its nuclear and missile programs, the foreign ministry said Tuesday. Kang made the remark during her speech at the high-level segment of the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Monday, saying the North's illegal nuclear and missile programs are the "most urgent tasks" to address for international peace and security. "North Korea's nuclear and missile obsessio
Foreign AffairsFeb. 27, 2024
-
Woman dies after bungee jumping in mall
A woman in her 60s went into cardiac arrest and died after falling from a bungee jumping platform on Monday afternoon, officials said. The victim, whose name and exact age were withheld, jumped from the platform only to plummet 8 meters below to a concrete floor at a sports facility located within Starfield Anseong Mall in Gyeonggi Province, around 4:20 p.m., according to Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police. She was rushed to the hospital after emergency services performed CPR on her, but she did n
Social AffairsFeb. 26, 2024
-
Democratic Party of Korea’s beef with prosecutors, explained
With the April general election just around the corner, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea is again campaigning on “abolishing the political prosecution” -- a slogan that the liberal party has been using for every election for at least the past three administrations. Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party chair who was narrowly defeated by then-rival Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 presidential election, says he is a victim of “political prosecutors." Having been in
PoliticsFeb. 26, 2024
-
Over 150 elementary schools have no 1st graders: ministry
A total of 157 elementary schools across South Korea do not have any first graders set to enroll in March, the Ministry of Education said Monday, as a record-low number of new students is expected for the upcoming school year. According to the ministry, nearly every provincial and metropolitan area across South Korea had at least one elementary school that was not expecting new students, except Seoul, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan and Sejong. North Jeolla Province led all regions with 34 schools with
Social AffairsFeb. 26, 2024
-
Skepticism clouds roles of overseas Korean nationals in upcoming election
The launch of the Overseas Korean Agency raised expectations that overseas Korean nationals could play a bigger role in this year's general election, but experts are skeptical. With polling indicating a weak turnout and parties showing little interest, they say the impact of overseas voters is likely to be very small. "The interest in the upcoming election is obviously lower than the 2022 presidential election," Lee Jean-young, director of Inha Center for International Studies s
PoliticsFeb. 26, 2024