Online community operator raided over alleged KMA order to blacklist non-participating doctors in walkout

Police on Monday raided the operator of an online community as part of its investigation into a purported Korea Medical Association document ordering the listing of trainee doctors who are not participating in the ongoing walkout. Investigators of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency searched Dcinside Co. in Seoul, days after a document purportedly from the KMA, the biggest doctors' association, was uploaded on the namesake online community with the seal of the KMA chairman. The document co

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

[Election 2024] Will ruling party maintain winning momentum in run-up to election?

Come April 10, South Koreans will head to the polls to choose the next batch of National Assembly members. With about a month left until election day, the latest polls find the ruling People Power Party’s leading while its rival, the Democratic Party of Korea, has been bogged down by infighting. According to a March 5-7 Gallup Korea survey of 1,000 voters aged 18 and up, 37 percent said they would vote for the People Power Party as opposed to 31 percent who said they would cast their ballo

PoliticsMarch 11, 2024

[New Neighbors] ‘We are workers in Korea too’: Foreign English hagwon teachers fight for annual leave

Native English teachers have become an essential part of South Korea‘s education system over the past three decades in a country where learning English is crucial to finding a quality job. However, many are concerned their rights as education workers are being violated, particularly concerning their freedom to choose when and how long they can take their vacation days — their only opportunity to reunite with their families far away. “We often face problems with our annual lea

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

7 in 10 oppose easing rules on marriages between blood relatives: poll

Nearly 75 percent of South Koreans oppose the government moving toward easing laws related to marriage between blood relatives, a recent poll shows. According to data released on Monday by the Ministry of Justice, 74 percent of respondents said they think the government should prohibit marriage between blood relatives within eight degrees of relations, or "chon" in Korean, as it currently does. Fifteen percent of respondents said it should only prohibit marriage between blood relatives

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Prosecutors seek jail term for convicted child sex offender who broke curfew

South Korean prosecutors on Monday asked the court to sentence Cho Doo-soon to one year in prison, after the convicted child rapist broke his curfew and stepped outside of his home after dark late last year. The prosecution said Cho violated a legal order not to leave his home after 9 p.m., and left his residence in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province at around 9:05 p.m. on Dec. 4, where he allegedly wandered around the adjacently stationed police post. Officials also said Cho denied a police order to retu

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Man starves himself to avoid military service, gets suspended term

South Korean court on Monday sentenced a 22-year-old man to two years in prison, suspended for two years, for starving himself in a bid to avoid mandatary military service. Gwangju District Court found the defendant guilty of violating the Military Service Act, which mandates all able-bodied male citizens to serve in the military for at least 18 months as of 2024. But men whose physical conditions are under certain standards can carry out alternate non-combat service for a similar period. Betwee

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Medical schools paralyzed due to en masse boycotts

The doctors' protest against the South Korean government's planned medical enrollment quota hike is taking a toll on medical school campuses as students are boycotting classes en masse. All 40 medical schools in the country have either postponed the opening of classes or are unable to hold lectures, as students refuse to attend classes, according to the Education Ministry. "Ten medical schools have been confirmed to be boycotting classes," the Ministry of Education remarked.

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

DP seeks to impeach ministers over lifting of envoy's travel ban

The main opposition party said Monday they seek to impeach two incumbent ministers accused of peddling their influence in lifting former Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup's travel ban. Lee departed for Australia on Sunday to take office as Seoul's top envoy to Canberra, two days after the Justice Ministry lifted his travel ban imposed by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials' in January for allegedly delaying a probe into the death of a young Marine in July

PoliticsMarch 11, 2024

Yoon unveils W360b project to build massive data center cluster in Gangwon

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday unveiled a project worth 360 billion won ($274 million) to build a cluster of data centers in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, and set up a mechanism to use freshwater from behind the dam for cooling. By 2027, the cluster that comprises seven data centers with a combined peak power use reaching 220 megawatts, smart farm facilities and the cooling mechanism using water behind Soyang Multipurpose Dam in Chuncheon is to complete construction, according to Yoon. The pro

PoliticsMarch 11, 2024

S. Korea’s sky-high elderly poverty edges even higher to 38.1%

More than 38 percent of over-65s were in relative poverty in 2022 a South Korean government report showed Monday. OECD data shows the country had the highest old-age poverty rate among all member states. The relative poverty rate for South Korea marked a 0.5 percent point increase from 37.6 percent before, according to the report jointly announced by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Statistics Korea. OECD defines relative poverty rate refers to the percentage of the population with income

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Korean workers thought to slack off for 80 mins of work day: survey

Human resource managers at major companies in Korea think their workers spend approximately 17 percent of their working hours, around 80 minutes, on other activities, a survey showed on Monday. According to the survey by the Korea Enterprises Federation, human resource managers of the largest 100 companies by sales rated their office workers’ productivity at an average of 82.7 out of 100. The survey revealed that HR managers think their office workers spend an average of around 1 hour and

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Seoul to establish business agreement with Catch Table

The Seoul Metropolitan Government and Wad, the developer behind the app Catch Table, will sign a business agreement Tuesday to make it easier for international tourists without Korean phone numbers to make restaurant reservations and join online queues. The move comes amid an increase in the number of international visitors coming to South Korea for culinary tourism purposes. According to a survey conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2022, 68 percent of tourists answered

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

License suspension notices sent to some 5,000 defiant trainee doctors

The health ministry said Monday it had sent prior notices of license suspension to some 5,000 trainee doctors who have defied an order to return to work, in protest of a plan to boost the number of medical students. Deputy Health Minister Jun Byung-wang told reporters that it completed sending the notices to 4,944 junior doctors last week. When receiving the notices, the doctors will be required to submit their opinions on punitive measures by March 25. With the government vowing to take legal a

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Visitors to Korea getting younger amid Hallyu

A third of foreign arrivals in Korea last year were under 30 amid the continuing popularity of Korean popular culture among younger generations worldwide. The Korea Tourism Organization's data, released Monday, showed a surge in young people coming to Korea. Of the 11.03 million foreign nationals who entered the country in 2023, 3.93 million, or 35.6 percent, were 30 years old or younger. This is a significant jump from 27.6 percent in 2013, when the overall number was only slightly higher,

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Police officers save woman from attack by tracking license plate number

South Korean media on Monday reported that police had apprehended a man in his 60s who allegedly attacked a woman after she refused his sexual advances. The police tracked down the man after receiving his license plate details from the victim, who read out the number from a bathroom window. According to local broadcaster MBN, the suspect met the victim at around 2 p.m. Sunday through a mutual acquaintance. After the two met and had a drink, the victim visited the suspect's home, where the s

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

[Bills in Focus] Bills to promote strategic technologies, fair app market

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act Proposed by Rep. Lee Kai-ho (Democratic Party of Korea) ● To promote fair market order in the app market and prevent app market business entities from taking unfair advantage of their transactional position, this amendment prohibits app market business entities with their own operating business from unjustly limiting the installation and utilization of applications on smartphones or tablet PCs through other app market busine

PoliticsMarch 11, 2024

Two dogs rescued from middle of the freeway return home

The two samoyed dogs that were recently rescued from the middle of an expressway have been returned to their owner, animal rescue authorities said Monday, marking a happy ending to an incident that sparked concerns from animal lovers across the country over the weekend. Dangjin Animal Shelter, which had been looking after the dogs, told The Korea Herald that they were reclaimed by their owner living in Dangjin, Chungcheong Province, on Monday morning. The elderly owner had left her door open by

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Health minister voices leniency for defiant trainee doctors

Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said Monday the government will take lenient measures if trainee doctors return to work before administrative procedures to suspend their licenses are completed, although they defied a deadline to avoid punitive steps. Cho made the remark as some 93 percent of the 13,000 junior doctors have been absent from their worksites for three weeks, in a prolonged labor action against the government's proposal to increase medical school enrollments by 2,000 next year. "A

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024

Yoon's approval rating falls slightly to 40.2%

President Yoon Suk Yeol's approval rating slid to 40.2 percent last week from a week earlier, a poll showed Monday, amid little sign of a breakthrough in the walkout by junior doctors over the government's plan to increase the medical school admissions quota. The positive assessment of Yoon's performance fell 0.9 percentage point from 41.1 percent, with the negative assessment rising 0.7 percentage point to 56.1 percent, according to a survey by Realmeter conducted Monday to Frida

PoliticsMarch 11, 2024

Govt. to push for public high schools for military children

The government seeks to establish public high schools for children of military families in an effort to improve their living and education conditions, the defense ministry said Monday. The defense and education ministries were set to sign a memorandum of understanding later in the day to make joint efforts to designate existing high schools as those catering for military families and start admissions in 2026. The move seeks to ensure a stable education environment for such families, who are freq

Social AffairsMarch 11, 2024