The third-highest alert against a scorching heat wave was issued nationwide on Saturday, 18 days earlier compared to last year. 　 　The Ministry of the Interior and Safety issues the alert when the daily temperature ceiling in over 40 percent of the country reaches 33 C or higher for at least three straight days. 　 　Under the heat alert, the safety ministry is looking at measures to support workers who are vulnerable to inclement weather, including construction workers, elderly farmers and seni

　South Korea‘s new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 10,000 Saturday as the daily cases seemed poised to take an upturn again after months of decline. 　 　The country added 10,715 COVID-19 infections, including 173 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,379,552, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 　 　The tally increased from 9,528 the previous day and 6,786 a week ago. 　 　The country added seven COVID-19 deaths, raising the death toll to 24,562

   Tropical storm Aere is likely to affect Jeju Island and other southern parts of South Korea early next week after having formed off Japan's Okinawa, the weather agency said Friday.    Aere was moving north-northeast at a speed of 13 kilometers per hour, packing winds of up to 65 km per hour and with a central pressure of 1,002 hectopascals upon its formation in the sea 760 km off south-southeast of Okinawa at 9 a.m. Friday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administr

The life story of Eva Yoo Ri Brussaard, a Korean adoptee in the Netherlands, is heartbreaking, yet it is sadly familiar. At age 2, she was abandoned by her biological father and was sent oversea with her blind sister to be adopted by a Dutch couple. The couple got divorced only three years later, her sister was sent to an orphanage, and she stayed with the Dutch mother, only to live in neglect. “I always dreamt about my (birth) parents and thought that I could have a better life in Kor

South Korea has joined the European Union’s digital COVID-19 certificate system, to come into effect from Friday. The connection to the system allows certificates of vaccination issued in South Korea to be valid in EU countries, and vice versa. “The equivalent COVID-19 certificates will facilitate travel between South Korea and the 31 member states of the EU,” the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s commissioner Peck Kyong-ran said in a press release Friday.

Gangwon Province, on the east coast of South Korea, is set to have more autonomy as a municipality. A Cabinet meeting on June 7 voted in favor of laws giving Gangwon Province new status as a “special autonomous province,” which will come into effect from June 11 next year. The special status was proposed as a pledge during the 2012 and 2017 presidential campaigns, but was never fulfilled. Gangwon Province’s new powers mean it can now have its own police, park services and

Disturbing growth of murder-suicide cases reveals some Korean parents‘ dangerous obsession with family

There was no significant change in the number of abortions in the first year since the procedure was decriminalized in South Korea, government researchers said Thursday.  According to the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, the overall declining trend in abortions appeared to continue through the recent years. Ending a pregnancy was no longer deemed a crime in Korea as of Jan. 1 last year, after the Constitutional Court ruled in April 2019 that the ban on abort

The bodies found in a submerged car found on an island off the southern coast were those of a family reported missing, police said Wednesday. The police suspect suicide, as the family had been going through financial difficulties. The Gwangju Nambu police station confirmed the three bodies found inside an upturned Audi sedan the day before in the waters of Wando, South Jeolla Province as those of 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents, who were reported missing. They confirmed the identities t

Cross-border police cooperation is a cumbersome, but worthy endeavor for legal justice

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell back below 10,000 Thursday amid the slowdown of the virus. The country added 9,595 new COVID-19 infections, including 142 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,359,341, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Daily cases remained below 10,000 from June 10 until Tuesday but rose above 10,000 Wednesday before falling back down again. While the virus curve is generally trending downward, Thursday's figure is up

A major expressway linking southeastern Seoul to northeastern Gyeonggi Province and a bridge over the Han River were closed off Thursday as heavy downpours pounded the capital and central regions, officials said. The city government said all entrances to the Dongbu Expressway that runs from Seoul's Songpa district to Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, have been blocked off since 6:43 a.m. as heavy rain in the areas pushed up the water level in a nearby river. The Jamsu Bridge crossing the Ha

A look at legal precedents related to various hazards that occur at after-work get-togethers

S. Korea‘s PM hints change of leadership at the country’s main policy think-tank

Prosecutors who worked closely with President Yoon Suk-yeol while he was the prosecutor general are returning to fill top jobs at anti-corruption departments of the prosecution service.　　 Many of the reshuffled prosecutors were those who were demoted during the Moon Jae-in administration for their role in special counsel investigations against the former president’s close aides. The Ministry of Justice announced on Tuesday a large-scale shake-up of the prosecution service with some 683