South Korea needs a “control tower” to oversee and better manage the operation of education institutes as well as a system for Korean language learning, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho told The Korea Herald, vowing to speed up efforts to integrate state capacity currently dispersed across the related ministries. “There are criticisms that government bodies haven’t been able to cooperate and coordinate well with each other at a time when interest in the Korean language is gro

Hello Hangeul June 20, 2023

South Korea’s state-administered college entrance exam, Suneung, will only cover materials taught in class from this year onward, excluding the so-called high-difficulty level “killer questions,” the government said Monday, sending a clear signal that it has started education sector reforms. At the consultation meeting held between the government and the ruling People Power Party, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said the killer questions, which often test high schoolers above thei

Politics June 19, 2023

South Korea is expected to see more precipitation this summer. With “jangma,” or the monsoon season, just around the corner, concerns have been growing fast not just because of the possibility of heavy rainfall ruining the hard-earned summer holidays but because of lessons learned from last year. The country was deluged with severely heavy rains last year, leaving nine dead, hundreds in Seoul displaced and over 2,800 buildings damaged. This year, experts advise not to panic, even if

Social Affairs June 17, 2023

South Korea’s Vice Education Minister Jang Sang-yoon said Friday that the Education Ministry would audit the institution overseeing Suneung, the nation’s scholastic aptitude test, to assess the exam's fairness. Jang said the ministry would team up with the Office for Government Policy Coordination regarding when and whom it would audit, as the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation is a government body operating under the OPC, not the Education Ministry. The ministry declined t

Politics June 16, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s instruction to the chief of the Education Ministry on Thursday was not intended to mean that Suneung, or the nation’s scholastic aptitude test, should be “made easier,” his senior press secretary said Friday. “President Yoon Suk Yeol was not talking about an ‘easy Suneung’ or a ‘hard Suneung’ to Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, yesterday,” senior presidential secretary for press affairs, Kim Eun-hye, told reporter

Politics June 16, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Thursday ordered the Education Ministry to come up with measures to alleviate parents' financial burden on private education spending and to have the Suneung, the nation's scholastic aptitude test, only include materials taught in schools' classrooms. Speaking to reporters at the presidential office, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said the ministry will come up with relevant measures as ordered by the president. The announcement came as South Korea sees a

Politics June 15, 2023

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon has been tapped as the co-president of the World Association of the Major Metropolises at the 14th Metropolis World Congress, the city government said Thursday. Oh will lead the committee for from 2024 to 2026, along with five other co-presidents from the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, China’s Guangzhou, Uruguay’s Montevideo, Iran’s Tehran and Belgium's Brussels-Capital Region, the city added. The city government said being able to co-lead the associat

Social Affairs June 15, 2023

진행자: 박준희, Beth Eunhee Hong [1] [Herald Interview] Minister turns to AI classes to cool competition in education 기사 요약: 이주호 교육부 장관, “AI 디지털 교과서 활용으로 주어진 문제에 대한 답을 하는 학생이 아닌 질문할 수 있는 인재 양성할 것” Education Minister Lee Ju-ho is attempting to change the course of South Korea’s education system by adopting artificial intelligence technology in all public school classrooms, which the minister claims will transform the nation’s hypercompetitive education culture and make

Podcast June 15, 2023

Seoul National University’s disciplinary committee said Tuesday that it has decided to expel former Justice Minister Cho Kuk from the school's law faculty, citing the court decision that sentenced him to two years in prison for abusing his power and influence. The decision comes after he was removed from his teaching position in January 2020. He was indicted without detention on Dec. 31, 2019, on 12 charges, including for bribery and corruption, over his involvement in his children&rs

Social Affairs June 13, 2023

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and the Seoul Tourism Organization on Monday rolled out a BTS map dubbed the “Seoul BTS Map,” consisting of the capital city’s attractions with links to the boy band as the group celebrates its 10th anniversary. As part of “BTS Festa,” a two-week festival set for this month, the map contains places the bandmates visited when they were trainees or areas the group had stopped by to film, the city government said. The BTS map will incl

Social Affairs June 12, 2023

The Education Committee of the National Assembly on Monday passed a revision bill that aims to help victims live a life free from bullying while recovering from school violence, as the country grapples with growing numbers of school bullying cases. As part of the enhanced measures to tackle school bullying set out in the bill, shelters will be set up to help victims heal and recover from bullying and allow the heads of regional education offices to run special facilities to provide counseling fo

Politics June 12, 2023

In line with the growing fervor for Korean content, the country has also seen a rise in the number of non-native test-takers for the Korean proficiency test. Launched in 1997, the Test of Proficiency in Korean, or TOPIK, administered by the National Institute for International Education, a government body operating under the Ministry of Education, is a test that measures non-Korean nationals' ability to understand and use the Korean language. The test results are valid for two years, and is

Social Affairs June 11, 2023

Police are searching for 10 Vietnamese nationals who escaped from a police station after being arrested on gambling charges Sunday morning. Gwangju Gwangsan Police Station said Sunday that the escapees had fled the police station by diving out of a window inside the meeting room at around 6:40 a.m, some three hours after they were detained. According to police, the window is 20 centimeters wide and can be tilted inward by 15 degrees. The 10 escapees were among 23 Vietnamese nationals arrested on

Social Affairs June 11, 2023

While being a police officer has long been considered a job for life in South Korea, an increasing number of officers are leaving the force, citing fatigue from work and difficulties in dealing with the community, data showed Sunday. According to data submitted by the Korean National Police Agency to Rep. Chung Woo-taik of the ruling People Power Party, 3,543 police officers quit their jobs last year, a 46.3 percent increase from 2,421 in 2018. In 2019, the police force saw 2,305 officers resign

Social Affairs June 11, 2023

Education Minister Lee Ju-ho is attempting to change the course of South Korea’s education system by adopting artificial intelligence technology in all public school classrooms, which the minister claims will transform the nation’s hypercompetitive education culture and make it the first country in the world to adopt such measures at scale. Calling it a “paradigm shift,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Monday that the new plan of replacing paper-based te

Social Affairs June 8, 2023