Philippine soldiers from Korean War honored at Camp Tiano War Memorial

A ceremony to commemorate the 71st anniversary of the erection of the Camp Tiano War Memorial took place in Yanggu-gun, Gangwon Province on Monday. The Camp Tiano War Memorial was built to commemorate the 19th Battalion Combat Team from the Philippine Expeditionary Force to Korea who died during the Battle of Hill Eerie in 1952 while fighting against the Chinese Communist Forces during the 1950-53 Korean War. The camp was given its name to honor the troops that died during the battle, including

Sept. 19, 2023

20 companies pay fines rather than pay for day care

Twenty workplaces in Korea have failed to set up day care centers for employees' children in the last five years, even though they face fines of up to 200 million won ($153,000) per year if they keep failing to provide them, government data showed Tuesday. Under the Child Care Act and Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, businesses that have more than 500 workers or 300 female workers are required to either set up day care facilities, or pay nearby centers th

Sept. 19, 2023

PM says willing to meet Xi during China visit

South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Tuesday he is willing to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of his official visit to attend the opening ceremony of the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou in China. Han expressed hope for his official engagement, as he confirmed on Tuesday plans for a two-day visit to Hangzhou beginning Saturday. "It would be a great opportunity if I, as prime minister, were to make a visit and send friendly signals ... about the relationship between

Sept. 19, 2023

What drove Korea's once-revered teachers to despair?

For Kim, a retired teacher in her late 60s, teaching was one of the greatest gifts of her life. Recalling students’ laughter and small parties in classrooms celebrating Teachers’ Day every year, she was a teacher who was revered and appreciated by both students and parents. However, when Kim visited a memorial altar for a Seoul elementary school teacher who took her own life on Sept. 4, she lamented at how different schools have become and how the teaching profession -- widely revere

Sept. 19, 2023

Uzbek man risks life to save Korean woman from blaze

An Uzbek man, aged 40, risked his life to rescue a Korean woman, aged 69, from a blaze that broke out in a restaurant in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. According to the South Gyeongsang Province Fire Department, a fire broke out in a restaurant run by an older couple in Bukbu-dong, Yangsan, around 6:44 p.m. on Monday. Witnessing the sound of an explosion, broken glass, and flames in the restaurant, someone called 119. Meanwhile, however, the woman was alone in the restaurant as the

Sept. 19, 2023

Cross-border shopping from S. Korean consumers nearly tripled from 2018 to 2022: data

Direct purchases South Koreans made from overseas almost tripled over the past four years, data from the Korea Customs Service showed Tuesday. According to the data submitted to Rep. Han Byung-do of the main opposition Democratic Party, South Korean shoppers made about 96,120,000 cross-border purchases online in 2022, up by almost threefold from 32,255,000 in 2018, the data showed. In the first half of this year, the figure came to 57,570,000. The surge in direct purchases from overseas also cam

Sept. 19, 2023

Ratio of women execs at major firms more than doubles over 5 years

The share of female executives at South Korea's major firms has more than doubled over the past five years on positive factors, including last year's implementation of a related law, a corporate tracker said Tuesday. A total of 265 firms belonging to the country's top 30 business groups had a combined 726 women executives as of end-March, accounting for 6.9 percent of their total 10,561 C-suite positions, according to the Leaders Index. The proportion was up 3.7 percentage points

Sept. 19, 2023

Another arrest warrant sought for Actor Yoo Ah-in over alleged drug use

Prosecutors filed a request for an arrest warrant on Monday for actor Yoo Ah-in on charges of illegal drug use, four months after the court rejected the police’s request an initial warrant against him. The department investigating violent crimes under the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it has requested the court issue an arrest warrant for the 37-year-old actor. Yoo, whose real name is Uhm Hong-sick, is suspected of breaching the country’s Narcotics Control Act

Sept. 18, 2023

Seoul to build domed baseball stadium, massive convention center in Jamsil

A domed baseball stadium and convention center will be built in Jamsil as part of Seoul City’s initiative to develop the area in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul, the city government said Monday. As part of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s eight-day trip to Canada and the US, Oh announced the city’s plans to build a domed baseball stadium and convention center after visiting the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Saturday. The Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose baseball stadium and is home to the Toro

Sept. 18, 2023

Police to strengthen preventive patrol

South Korea's police authorities announced on Monday plans to reassign 2,900 back-office staff to preventive patrol duties. The organizational reform is aimed at strengthening crime prevention capabilities amid a surge in apparent senseless crimes, the National Police Agency said. Most police officers who perform back-office jobs -- largely dedicated to administrative affairs -- will be given new high-visibility roles in crowded areas and secluded areas like park walking trails This is part of a

Sept. 18, 2023

Railroad strike over, but second strike may follow

The Korean Railroad Workers' Union ended its four-day general strike Monday morning, but announced the possibility of a second general strike without specifying when. “The second general strike plan has been set internally, but we will decide whether or not to go on a second strike and the exact schedule based on the Land Ministry's response,” Baek Nam-hee, the media communication chief of the railway union, said to The Korea Herald. “There are many concerns regarding

Sept. 18, 2023

Korea stacks up 15m doses of COVID-19 vaccine for winter

The first batch of Pfizer's vaccine for XBB.1.5, an omicron subvarient of COVID-19, has arrived at Incheon Airport on Monday, according to the quarantine authorities. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said that 4.04 million doses of the latest Pfizer vaccine arrived in the afternoon, out of a total 15 million doses set aside for this year's winter vaccination program. "A lot of research has shown that those who have taken this updated COVID-19 vaccine, which i

Sept. 18, 2023

A third of Korean households made up of single people

The landscape of Korean families has changed quite significantly over the last 30 years, with one-third of households in the country made up of single people and a fertility rate that has halved in the last two decades, government data showed Monday. According to the “Social Security in Statistics 2022” report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of people living alone has more than doubled in the past 20 years. The number of single-person homes was 2.25 million

Sept. 18, 2023

Rail workers' 4-day strike comes to end; train services to normalize by night

Unionized rail workers were returning to work Monday after a four-day general strike staged to demand better working conditions and an expansion of the KTX bullet train service. The Korean Railway Workers' Union began the first walkout in about four years on Thursday, demanding the expansion of the KTX bullet train route to Suseo Station in southern Seoul, the starting point of another high-speed rail service SRT, as well as the full implementation of the four-team two-shift system. The uni

Sept. 18, 2023

Kim Yo-jong seen holding $7,000 Dior bag on Russia trip

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader, could be seen grasping a $7,000 bag from French luxury fashion brand Christian Dior during Kim Jong-un’s visit to the Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia on Friday. According to a picture released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, Kim Yo-jong was holding the black bag with quilting patterns like that of the Lady Dior bag currently being sold via Dior’s official website. Kim accom

Sept. 17, 2023

Caffeinated drinks spark buzz on teens’ overuse

Concerns are growing over the excessive consumption of caffeine among adolescents, according to a report on Sunday, citing a teen health study. According to last year’s “Youth Health Behavior Survey” conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on some 60,000 middle and high school students in 800 schools nationwide, 22.3 percent of the respondents answered “yes” when asked if they drink high-caffeine beverages more than three times a week. Some 26 p

Sept. 17, 2023

Man kills wife, three sons before drinking poison: police

The bodies of five found inside a family home in Yeongam, South Jeolla Province, on Friday, are believed to be those of a man in his 50s who killed his wife and three sons in their 20s before taking his own life by drinking poison, police said Sunday. South Jeolla Police Agency said an initial autopsy showed the man, identified by his last name of Kim, died of poisoning, while his wife and three children died from stab wounds. Police found one knife and a bottle of insecticide in a search of the

Sept. 17, 2023

Private education fees for preschoolers, kindergarteners up 38%: study

Private education spending among households with preschoolers or kindergarteners has increased by 38 percent in the last five years, a report showed Sunday. According to a report published by Kim Hye-ja, a researcher at the Korean Educational Development Institute, on the relationship between social awareness and educational expenses, the average spending on private education for preschoolers and kindergarteners jumped from 162,000 won ($121.71) in 2018 to 224,000 won in 2022, up 38.3 percent th

Sept. 17, 2023

1 in 5 ticketed Seoulites neglect parking fines; highest offender receives 752 fines in 5 years

One in 5 drivers in Seoul to have been ticketed has unpaid parking violation fines, resulting in an accumulated unpaid sum of 11.3 billion won ($8.5 million), the city of Seoul reported. According to data released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Sunday, the capital city witnessed approximately 1.42 million parking violation instances during an eight-month period from January to August this year. A total of 55.2 billion won was levied in fines, but approximately 20 percent, amounting to

Sept. 17, 2023

Statue of Korea's first Catholic priest officially unveiled in Vatican

A statue of Korea's first Catholic priest, St. Andrew Kim Tae-gon (1821-1846), was officially unveiled at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican during a Mass on Saturday, the anniversary of his martyrdom. The 3.8 meter-high marble statue was erected at a niche of St. Peter's Basilica, making it the first Asian saint's statue to be installed at the universal headquarters of the Catholic Church. Created by Korean sculptor Han Jin-sub, the statue wears a traditional Korean hat, ca

Sept. 17, 2023