New virus cases stay above 400

South Korea saw its daily addition of cases stay in the 400s on Sunday, as the country continues its fight against the third COVID-19 wave with its vaccination campaign. While the virus situation seems to be better controlled than weeks earlier, authorities remain cautious over a potential uptick in virus cases. The number of new cases could rise at any time due to an increased number of travelers during warmer weather, they warn. The country added 416 new cases Sunday -- 399 locally transmitt

Social AffairsMarch 7, 2021

[News Focus] 46% of farm population aged 65 or over in Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea’s agricultural regions are aging far faster than cities in demographic structure while the portion of elderly population is simultaneously climbing across the nation, state data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the number of farm population stayed at an all-time low of 2.24 million in 2019, as young people have steadily relocated to urban areas. The nation’s farm population refers to those engaging in agriculture and family members&

Social AffairsMarch 7, 2021

Moon calls for release of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi, condemns crackdown on protests

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday condemned the violent crackdown on protests in Myanmar and called for the release of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. "Use of violence against the people of Myanmar must stop now. There should not be any more loss of lives," Moon wrote on social media including Twitter. "We condemn the violent suppression of protests by the military and the police forces and strongly call for the immediate release of all those detained, including

PoliticsMarch 7, 2021

Military budget cuts around the globe set to strain S. Korea's defense exports: report

South Korea's exports of defense products are expected to suffer a setback as governments around the globe have been cutting military budgets amid the COVID-19 pandemic, a report showed Sunday. The global defense budget is anticipated to decrease 2.2 percent annually through 2024, according to the report by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade (KIET). The annual overseas military projects won by South Korean businesses have remained flat, hovering around $3 billion from 2016

DefenseMarch 7, 2021

Red Cross offers to take care of cemetery for NK soldiers

South Korea's Red Cross is willing to take care of a cemetery for North Korean soldiers killed in the Korean War, its secretary general said Sunday, as the graveyard remains largely abandoned amid an administrative row. The cemetery, established in 1996 in the border county of Paju, holds 843 sets of remains of North Korean soldiers killed in the 1950-53 war. The remains of some Chinese soldiers had also been held there, but they were repatriated to China in 2014. In March 2019, the government

North KoreaMarch 7, 2021

NK leader calls on local party officials to bring 'clear changes' for the people

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un urged local party officials to achieve "clear changes and successes" that can be welcomed by the people, as he concluded a workshop with regional Workers' Party secretaries, state media reported Sunday. The four-day workshop, the first of its kind, concluded on Saturday and discussed ways to implement economic development and other goals put forth during a rare party congress in January, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). "Enthus

North KoreaMarch 7, 2021

Month before Seoul mayor election, unifying opposition candidacies remains key factor

With the upcoming Seoul mayoral election only one month away, unifying the candidacies of two rivals from the opposition bloc remains a key factor in shaping the outcome of the high-stakes election. The capital Seoul, home to nearly 10 million of the country's total 52 million population, is set to pick its new mayor in the by-election slated for April 7. The by-election was called after former mayor Park Won-soon died in an apparent suicide in July last year in the face of sexual harassment

PoliticsMarch 7, 2021

Daily cases above 400 for 2nd day on cluster infections; vaccinations exceed 310,000

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed above 400 for a second straight day on Sunday on continued cluster infections, as the number of vaccinated people topped 310,000 in just nine days since the inoculation campaign began. The country reported 416 more COVID-19 cases, including 399 local infections, raising the total caseload to 92,471, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a statement. New virus cases show no signs of letup due to sporadic cluster infection

Social AffairsMarch 7, 2021

S. Korea, US to kick off scaled-back combined exercise next week: ministry

South Korea and the United States will stage a major springtime combined military exercise starting this week in a scaled-back manner amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Sunday. Whether to hold the regular exercise has drawn attention as the unification ministry and some civic groups have called for its adjustment to help move forward the stalled inter-Korean ties. North Korea has long demanded a halt to such joint maneuvers. "South Korea and the US decided to

DefenseMarch 7, 2021

Parental control apps for smartphones could breach children's rights: watchdog

The state human rights watchdog has recommended the state telecommunications regulator come up with measures to protect children's rights from being violated by applications that allow parents to control their children's mobile activities. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) last week dismissed two teenage plaintiffs' petitions filed respectively against several app development companies and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). They said private firms are not subject t

Social AffairsMarch 7, 2021

Ex-Oceans Minister Kim Young-choon wins ruling party ticket for Busan mayoral election

Former Oceans Minister Kim Young-choon won the ruling Democratic Party's ticket to run for Busan mayor on Saturday. Kim, a three-term lawmaker and ex-National Assembly secretary general, earned 67.74 percent support in a four-day online and telephone voting, easily beating out two other candidates: acting Busan Mayor Byun Seong-wan (25.12 percent) and former Busan city council chief Park In-yeong (7.14 percent). The mayoral seat in South Korea's second-largest city has been vacant since April

PoliticsMarch 7, 2021

[Eye Plus] National Aviation Museum of Korea captures remarkable advances over the past 100 years

The National Aviation Museum of Korea opened its doors in Gonghang-dong of Gangseo-gu, western Seoul, on July 5, 2020. The first state-run museum in Korea focused on aviation near Gimpo Airport contains innovation and developments in the field over the past 100 years. The local aviation industry effectively started in 1920 with the opening of the Korean Aviation Corps, the first-ever aviation school for Koreans that had three airplanes placed over 40 acres of land in the small town of Willows,

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2021

[Photo News] Flowers draw attention as spring arrives

With the cold winter almost gone, wild flowers bloom bright and yellow, signaling that spring has finally arrived in Korea. As spring nears, frogs, too, make their appearance after a long winter nap. A frog from a research center in Gyeonggi Province rests on flowers. Flowers begin to fill universities after a new semester. Students enjoy the start of spring as they walk around a blooming campus in Daegu.  (Photos: Yonhap) By Gha Hee-sun (lizka98@heraldcorp.com)

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2021

Philadelphia council resolution condemns Harvard professor for defending Japan's wartime sexual slavery

Philadelphia council resolution condemns Harvard professor for defending Japan's wartime sexual slavery The Philadelphia City Council has adopted a resolution condemning a professor of Harvard University for describing victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery as prostitutes in an academic paper. "On behalf of the survivors, and for women and girls around the world, we must continue to push back on dangerous attempts to minimize historical atrocities and ensure they never happen again,&qu

Foreign AffairsMarch 6, 2021

Govt. urges people to use encrypted personal number for entry logs to protect privacy

The government asked the public Saturday to use their encrypted personal numbers, instead of phone numbers, to protect privacy when they have to write down entry logs at widely used places like restaurants and cafes as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Last month, the government rolled out a new privacy protection measure allowing people to use encrypted private numbers for visits to such places. An encrypted number consists of a combination of four numbers and two letters, a

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2021

New virus cases over 400, rising travelers worried to strain virus fight

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered above 400 on Saturday as sporadic cluster infections showed no signs of a letup and the rising number of travelers amid warm weather could spark yet another uptick. The country reported 418 more COVID-19 cases, including 404 local infections, raising the total caseload to 92,055, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily case was slightly up from 398 reported on Friday, but down from 424 tallied on Thursday. The co

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2021

Fire engulfs old Buddhist temple in southwestern region

A fire tore through the main hall of Naejang Temple, one of South Korea's oldest Buddhist temples, on Friday in a suspected arson attack by a disgruntled monk, firefighters said. Firefighters received the initial report of the fire at the temple in the southwestern city of Jeongeup at around 6:30 p.m. The blaze burned down the wooden Daewungjeon building, while firefighters were trying to stop it from spreading to other structures, the authorities said. No casualties were reported. The fire

Social AffairsMarch 5, 2021

DP's approval rating plunges to record low since Moon took office

The ruling Democratic Party's approval rating plunged to a record low since the 2017 inauguration of the Moon Jae-in government amid conflict over prosecution reform, a poll showed Friday. The DP's approval rating was at 32 percent, down 4 percentage points from a week ago, according to a survey on 1,002 voters nationwide conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday to Thursday. This marks the lowest since Moon took office in May 2017. The corresponding rate for the main opposition People Power P

PoliticsMarch 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] ‘Korea fails to respond to human trafficking’

In July 2016, a woman from Thailand came to Korea believing she could work as a masseuse. As soon as she arrived in Incheon, she was sent by brokers to a massage parlor in Gwangju. There, the owner took her passport and told her to go to a room for a test. Soon after, she was raped by the owner. When she said she wanted to return to Thailand, the owner and the brokers demanded that she pay them 2 million won ($1,775) in commission before leaving. She was forced to stay and work in the massage

Social AffairsMarch 5, 2021

Korea to further ease social distancing as vaccines roll out

South Korea is looking to revise its social distancing scheme to allow the economy to stay open at higher number of newly diagnosed patients, while restricting individual behaviors more strictly. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday that the easing was warranted as the country is now capable of handling a much greater number of patients than it was in November, when the current guidelines came into effect. No timetable for the revision has been announced so far. “The five-ti

Social AffairsMarch 5, 2021