Over 80 foreigners test positive for COVID-19 in Dongducheon

More than 80 foreigners have tested positive for COVID-19 in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, officials said Tuesday. The local government has been testing all foreign nationals living in the city 40 kilometers north of the capital after neighboring cities, such as Yangju, reported increases in the number of foreigners infected with COVID-19. A total of 509 people got tested on Sunday, including foreign residents and locals, according to the authorities. The city currently has 3,966 foreign reside

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

[Newsmaker] Yoon slams move for new investigative agency

Chief prosecutor Yoon Seok-youl blasted the ruling party’s move to create a separate agency to investigate six types of crime such as abuse of power and corruption, calling it an attempt to “disband the prosecution” and “annihilate the rule of law.” The prosecutor general, who fought a yearlong battle against former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae over investigative rights, said the move amounted to “regression of democracy and destruction of the spirit of the Co

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee retains solid lead in latest presidential hopefuls' poll

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung, affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party (DP), retained his solid lead in the latest poll of potential presidential candidates. According to the survey conducted on 2,536 voters nationwide from Feb. 22-26 by Realmater, the Gyeonggi governor was the most favored candidate for the upcoming 2022 presidential election, receiving 23.6 percent of support. The number marks an increase of 0.2 percentage point from the previous Realmeter survey a month ago and t

PoliticsMarch 2, 2021

Moon picks new secretaries for digital communication, culture, industry

President Moon Jae-in has tapped a journalist as his new Cheong Wa Dae secretary for digital communication, his office announced Tuesday. Ko Joo-hee, currently in charge of digital strategy at the Seoul-based Hankook Ilbo daily, has been nominated to the post, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok. The president also picked Jun Hyo-gwan, secretary-general of Arts Council Korea, as secretary for culture, and Lee Ho-joon, chief of policy planning at the Ministry of Trade, Industry a

PoliticsMarch 2, 2021

Top security advisors of Seoul, Washington share views on COVID-19, North Korea

President Moon Jae-in’s top security advisor Suh Hoon and his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan held their second phone call Tuesday to share views on the current Korean Peninsula situation and Washington’s ongoing review of its North Korea policy, Cheong Wa Dae said. “The two nations agreed to continue joint efforts in tackling COVID-19 and other regional and global issues, while pledging to further strengthen the Korea-US alliance,” said Kang Min-seok, spokesperson for Se

Foreign AffairsMarch 2, 2021

NK blasts Harvard professor for labeling sex slaves ‘prostitutes’

North Korea’s propaganda outlet on Tuesday slammed the Harvard Law School professor who claimed that “comfort women” were voluntary prostitutes. Comfort women is a euphemism for women from Korea and other countries who were forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military before and during World War II. Mark Ramseyer, Mitsubishi professor of Japanese legal studies at Harvard Law School, earlier prompted international outcry with his paper arguing that the sex slaves will

North KoreaMarch 2, 2021

More than 23,000 vaccinated as officials warn against fake news

Authorities on Tuesday have sounded an alarm over fast-spreading, false news about vaccines, as more than 23,000 doses of the vaccines have been administered. The number of daily confirmed cases has remained in the mid-300s for three consecutive days. The country added 344 COVID-19 cases, pushing the total caseload to 90,372 as of Tuesday midnight, according to the government’s central response team. The number of new confirmed cases declined by 11 from the previous day. Of the 344 cas

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

S. Korea to set official road map toward carbon neutrality in June: Environment Ministry

South Korea this year will prepare a road map to achieving its carbon-neutrality goal of 2050 while increasing the share of renewable energy sources and promoting the use of eco-friendly vehicles. The Ministry of Environment said in a press briefing Tuesday it will prepare a detailed plan and set of initiatives to help Korea become carbon neutral by 2050. The idea of achieving net-zero carbon dioxide emissions has risen as a priority on the global agenda since the Paris Agreement took effect in

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

Signs of activities detected at NK’s nuclear site: IAEA

Signs of activity have recently been detected at some North Korean nuclear facilities, the UN nuclear watchdog chief said Monday, expressing “serious concern” at the reclusive regime’s continued activities. 　 Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the board of governors that there was evidence that the regime has continued construction at an experimental light-water reactor at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, including testing of the

North KoreaMarch 2, 2021

Seoul backtracks from its plan to install more trash cans

Seoul Metropolitan Government has removed nearly 700 trash cans since June, walking back from its earlier promise to install 657 new public trash bins by last year’s end. A source at the Seoul government confirmed last week the city had a total of 6,242 trash cans as of Wednesday, down 698 from 6,940 bins counted in June 2020. The fall was largely attributed to removals in Songpa District and Dongdaemun District. The city government official could not confirm why the trash cans were remo

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

[Seoul Struggles 1] Quest for trash bin far from easy in Seoul

Finding a trash can in Seoul is much harder than it would seem for many citizens and visitors, which has limited 27-year-old Yook Jimin from caring to buy and eat snacks during the day. He became accustomed to carrying trash inside his backpack, all of which had to be taken care of after arriving home. What was consumed on the streets ended up in his own trash bag back in his room, and he is one of many Seoul citizens unhappy with the lack of public trash cans. “I really do try to look f

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

Military to overhaul Army division following NK man's border crossing

The military will overhaul an infantry division in charge of guarding the heavily fortified border separating South and North Korea, the defense ministry said Tuesday, following a series of security failures in the eastern region. Officials from the ministry, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Army will soon visit the 22nd infantry division in the eastern border town of Goseong to assess the unit "from a perspective of reorganization and operation," according to the ministry. The divi

North KoreaMarch 2, 2021

Govt. gives foreign farming, fishing workers immediate access to health insurance

Foreign nationals employed by farms and fisheries will be eligible for health insurance upon arrival in the country, the labor ministry said Tuesday. The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a set of measures aimed at improving working conditions of foreigners, jointly with the ministries of health, agriculture, and oceans and fisheries. The measures come after a foreign national was found dead inside a greenhouse used as makeshift housing in December. The revision allows foreign nation

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

Israeli law professor visits comfort women statue in Berlin

An Israeli law school professor, noted for his effort to rectify a Harvard professor's disputed paper on the 1923 massacre of Koreans in Japan, has said that he visited a statue symbolizing Korean victims of Tokyo's wartime sexual slavery earlier this week. In an email to Yonhap News Agency, Alon Harel of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem attached a photo of himself posing next to the statue in Berlin on Sunday -- in what appears to be a show of his sympathy toward the victims of Japan's warti

Foreign AffairsMarch 2, 2021

N. Korea's paper stresses tree planting on arbor day

North Korea's official newspaper on Tuesday stressed the importance of planting trees to make the country less vulnerable to natural disasters as Pyongyang marked its arbor day. "Forestry is a valuable resource for our country and important asset for our country's prosperity and people's happiness," the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party, said in an editorial. "Planting and taking care of trees is important work that cannot be delayed or suspended

North KoreaMarch 2, 2021

One killed, dozens injured in traffic accidents amid heavy snow

One person was killed and dozens were injured in traffic accidents caused by heavy snowfall in the country's northeast, officials said Tuesday. Gangwon Province received up to 90 centimeters of snow in the mountains and 5-20 cm inland between Monday and Tuesday afternoon, according to local weather authorities. The snow caused severe traffic congestion and road closures across the province, leading to 79 traffic accidents and multiple casualties, according to firefighting officials. A man in

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021

PM says vaccine safety being validated, voices vigilance against fake news on vaccines

The safety of COVID-19 vaccines is being validated, with no major cases of adverse vaccine reaction reported in the four days since the rollout of the national vaccination campaign, Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Tuesday. A total of 23,086 people received COVID-19 vaccine shots in the four days since the country kicked off the inoculation campaign last Friday, with no major adverse reaction reported among the receivers, the prime minister said during a daily interagency meeting on the coro

PoliticsMarch 2, 2021

[Graphic News] COVID-19 vaccines get lukewarm response in South Korea

　Less than half of South Koreans are willing to receive COVID-19 vaccine shots immediately, without waiting for further reports on those vaccines’ effects, an opinion poll showed. 　In the survey conducted on 1,020 people aged 18 or over by the Korea Society Opinion Institute from last Feb.19-20, only 45.8 percent said they are willing to be vaccinated “right away” when their turn for COVID-19 vaccine shots come. 　Another 45.7 percent responded they will delay their vaccin

NationalMarch 2, 2021

Another JCS officer tests positive for COVID-19

A Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) officer in Seoul tested positive for the new coronavirus Tuesday, officials said. It marks the third COVID-19 case reported among people working at the JCS headquarters in Yongsan, central Seoul, after a civilian employee and another military officer were confirmed to have contracted the virus last month. Tracing is under way on people who had direct contact with the newly infected officer. The case came as South Korea and the United States are preparing to stag

DefenseMarch 2, 2021

New virus cases stay in 300s for 3rd day as new school semester starts amid potential uptick

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases remained in the 300s for the third straight day Tuesday due to fewer testing over the weekend, as the country's schools opened a new semester amid lingering concerns over potential upticks. The country reported 344 more COVID-19 cases, including 319 local infections, raising the total caseload to 90,372, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The tally was slightly lower than the 355 recorded Monday and 356 on Sunday, apparently d

Social AffairsMarch 2, 2021