Majority of Korean office workers sleep deprived

More than half of Korean company employees report for office duty on less than seven hours of sleep, a recent report showed. According to a survey conducted on 880 participants by the online job portal Incruit, 56.3 percent of office workers get only four to six hours of slumber daily. In second place, 41.6 percent of participants listed an average of seven to nine hours. The Korean Society of Sleep Medicine recommends at least six to eight hours of sleep, warning that sleeping less than six hou

Dec. 4, 2023

Province office raided in probe into wife of opposition leader

Prosecutors raided the Gyeonggi provincial government office Monday as part of an investigation into allegations that opposition leader Lee Jae-myung's wife misused an official credit card while Lee was serving as Gyeonggi governor. The Suwon District Prosecutors Office sent investigators to the provincial government office to seize evidence connected to the investigation, officials said. The investigation follows a disclosure by a former Gyeonggi government employee last year that Lee'

Dec. 4, 2023

Buddhists, political leaders bid farewell to late Ven. Jaseung

Buddhists and political leaders bade their final farewell to late Ven. Jaseung, a former leader of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect Jogye, at the funeral held Sunday. Ven. Jaseung, who served as president of the Jogye Order from 2009 to 2017, was found dead at a burnt dwelling at a temple in Anseong, south of Seoul, on Wednesday, in an apparent self-immolation, or a Buddhist practice of burning oneself alive as an offering to Buddha. Police have discovered several notes from the monk

Dec. 3, 2023

Schools brace for impact of record-low enrollment

South Korea is set to record the lowest number of first graders entering elementary school next year, signaling the consequences of an apparent demographic crisis driven by the world’s lowest birth rate. According to local reports quoting the statistics agency's birth rate data, fewer than 400,000 children are expected to enter elementary school next year. This will be the first time the number has dropped below 400,000 since the agency started compiling data. This comes amid a sharp decli

Dec. 3, 2023

Seoul City to operate autonomous night bus

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday announced it would launch autonomous overnight buses for a pilot run beginning Monday. The Seoul Autonomous Night Bus pilot run will include two buses that travel 9.8 kilometers between Hapjeong Station in western Seoul to Dongdaemun Station in eastern Seoul between 11:30 p.m. and 5:10 a.m. Starting Monday, the buses will operate at an interval of 70 minutes at each stop across a total of 40 stops, and will pass through the Hongdae neighborhood and th

Dec. 3, 2023

Day laborers, low-income earners fear lonely death

Day laborers and low-income earners in South Korea feel that they have a high chance of dying alone and remaining unnoticed for days, compared to peers with regular jobs earning higher incomes, a survey showed Sunday. Those employed and paid daily without a regular job feared they would have an average 41.8 percent chance of suffering a "lonely death," compared to 28.6 percent for those with regular jobs, according to data from a survey by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Af

Dec. 3, 2023

Concerns over bedbugs rise among pet owners

Concerns over bedbugs are rising among pet owners in Korea following the recent string of reports of the pest spreading here. "I usually enjoy camping with my dog, but lately, with news of bedbugs being found everywhere, I'm refraining from outdoor activities," said Kim, an office worker in his 30s. He expressed concerns about camping with his dog, fearing bedbugs might transfer in such environments. Online forums also reflect pet owners seeking advice on the likelihood of bedbug

Dec. 2, 2023

S. Korean court network hit by malware infection

South Korea's Supreme Court belatedly revealed that it had confirmed the infection of computers used in courts with malware earlier this year. However, the court said it could not conclusively determine the connection of cyberattacks to North Korea. "Earlier this year, a malware infection was detected during a routine cybersecurity scan," the Office of Court Administration of the Supreme Court said in a statement issued Thursday. "During our response to the malware detection,

Dec. 1, 2023

Seoul city to beef up inspection in bedbug-prone residential areas

To tackle the hike in bedbug infestations in single-room residences, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday that it would increase inspections of such homes as nearly half of all bedbug reports came from there. The plan comes after 39 reports out of 89 came from “goshiwon,” a type of budget accommodation consisting of one small studio room with no separate kitchen or bathroom. The city government will assign personnel dedicated to overseeing goshiwon in each autonomous distric

Dec. 1, 2023

Disability rights group pauses subway protests in call for budget increase

A disability rights advocacy group said Friday it will temporarily halt subway protests, calling for budget increases to expand mobility rights for individuals with disabilities. The Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination, one of South Korea's prominent disability rights groups, announced that instead of conducting its regular rush-hour subway protests, it will initiate daily silent protests at Line No. 4's Hyehwa Station starting from Monday. The temporary suspension will persis

Dec. 1, 2023

S. Korea to expand telemedicine services in remote areas

South Korea is moving to permit telemedicine services for first-time patients residing in regions categorized as "medically vulnerable areas" during the nighttime and holidays, starting from mid-December, the Ministry of Welfare and Health announced Friday. The initiative aims to enhance patient accessibility to essential medical care, especially during emergencies. The temporary allowance of non-face-to-face medical services, commonly referred to as telemedicine, was first introduced

Dec. 1, 2023

Two umbrella unions declare revenues for first time

South Korea’s two major umbrella labor organizations disclosed their revenues for the first time since their establishment, Thursday. The Federation of Korean Trade Unions announced an annual revenue of 39.25 billion won ($30.16 million) for 2022, according to the Labor Union Accounting Disclosure System administered by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. In detail, the FKTU revealed that 22.9 billion won was carried over from the previous year. They further said that 5.99 billion won ca

Dec. 1, 2023

Govt. rolls out measures to prevent public servants from livestreaming explicit content

Following back-to-back incidents of public servants illegally going on livestreaming platforms to create sexual content, the government has rolled out a set of guidelines for public officials’ duties to prevent such incidents from happening, according to reports on Friday. On Monday, the Ministry of Personnel Management reportedly distributed a document to all ministries on the ethical conduct of national public service officials and specified guidelines for public officials’ persona

Dec. 1, 2023

Disgraced Korean-American singer wins suit over visa denial

Korean American singer Steve Yoo, known here as Yoo Seung-jun, won the final trial that overturned the initial denial of his visa and passport issuance, according to legal professionals on Thursday. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the disgraced K-pop singer in his case against the South Korean Consulate General in Los Angeles, which turned down his request for an F-4 visa issuance, upholding an appellate court’s ruling. The Seoul High Court ruled in favor of Yoo in July. The court judg

Nov. 30, 2023

Adults arrested for proxy purchasing of cigarettes, receiving $3 from teens

A group of adults in their 20s and 30s have been arrested for purchasing cigarettes for teenagers for a commission. In South Korea, teenagers cannot purchase cigarettes under the Youth Protection Act, and the standard for teenagers under the Act is under the international age of 19. According to Jeju police, three suspects -- two in their 30s and one in his 20s -- have been referred to the prosecution. The three have no prior relationship and were caught committing the crime individually. They w

Nov. 30, 2023

More elementary, middle school students want to be doctors because it 'pays well'

High income has become the top reason elementary and middle school students choose becoming a medical doctor as their desired career path, a study by a state-run research institute showed Thursday. The scholars at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training analyzed government surveys on students across the country and compared the responses of students who said they hoped to become a doctor in the 2018 and 2022 reports. The data was from the joint annual survey conducte

Nov. 30, 2023

Man stabs girlfriend while on trial for dating violence

A 30-something man currently on trial for physical abuse against his girlfriend has been nabbed for allegedly attacking the victim again, this time with a weapon. Ulsan Dongbu Police said Thursday that the suspect has been arrested after attacking the victim at around 12:30 a.m. at an apartment in Ulsan. The suspect fled the scene in a car after calling the police to report that he knocked her unconscious. Officials arrived on the scene to find the victim bleeding from her abdomen. She was taken

Nov. 30, 2023

Labor Ministry to investigate alleged gender discrimination in hiring

South Korea's Labor Ministry will launch an investigation into workplaces suspected of screening out job applicants who graduated from women's universities, a ministry official said Thursday. The investigation plans have come after a post on anonymous online employee forum Blind went viral. “As a corporate recruiter, It's not like we exclude all women but if (the applicant) is from a women's college, we don't even read the resume," the author of the post, who

Nov. 30, 2023

4.0 magnitude earthquake rattles Gyeongju, wakes Korea up

A 4.0 magnitude earthquake hit the southeastern city of Gyeongju at 4:55 a.m. on Thursday, the state weather agency said, prompting mobile phones across Korea to blare en masse from the emergency text alert. No damage has been reported as of Thursday afternoon. The second-strongest quake to hit Korea this year struck the historical city of Gyeongju, located 277 kilometers southeast of Seoul in the wee hours of the morning. The quake's depth was measured at a shallow 12 kilometers and it was

Nov. 30, 2023

Pretty in Pink: Seoul chooses 'sky coral' as color of 2024

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday chose “sky coral,” a color derived from the pink sky when the sun sets over the Han River, as the city's color next year, as part of its new annual initiative called “Color of Seoul.” Prior to developing the Color of Seoul, the city government analyzed places frequently visited by Seoul citizens and their key interests between 2022 and 2023 based on the 2022 Seoul Survey results and the 2022 Korea Tourism Data Lab resul

Nov. 30, 2023