Yoon restores ex-governor's political rights, pardons Park's aides

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday officially restored the rights to hold public office for former South Gyeongsang Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo, who had served in jail until late 2022 for illegally conspiring to manipulate online opinions in favor of former President Moon Jae-in ahead of the 2017 presidential election. The reinstatement of Kim's political rights came as part of Yoon's decision to grant special pardons for a total of 1,219 convicts on the occasion of Liberation Day which fall

PoliticsAug. 13, 2024

Cabinet asks Yoon to veto controversial cash handout bill

The Cabinet on Tuesday voted to ask President Yoon Suk Yeol to veto the Democratic Party of Korea bill for handing out 250,000 to 350,000 won ($182 to $255) to every South Korean as economic relief. Earlier this month, the bill was passed in the Assembly by the majority-holding Democratic Party despite the ruling People Power Party pushback. Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the Cabinet was “once again forced to consider bills that passed the Assembly i

PoliticsAug. 13, 2024

Korea mulls service fee hike for 1,000 critical surgeries

The Health Ministry said Tuesday that medical service fees for complex but essential surgeries, often undervalued despite their high skill and resource demands, will be raised possibly starting early next year. This initiative seeks to correct the long-standing pay disparities in a country where compensation for cosmetic procedures at private clinics is often higher than critical, lifesaving surgeries. The discussion took place during the medical reform committee meeting earlier in the day, whic

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2024

COVID-19 cases to peak by late August: KDCA

The number of COVID-19 cases is expected to reach its peak by the end of this month, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said, vowing to expand its COVID-19 response team and implement stricter antivirus measures. As of the first week of August, the agency said up to 861 cases have been recorded at 220 major medical institutions around the country, a sixfold increase compared to the number of cases from July. “The surge could peak around the end of August, as contacts among peo

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2024

Moment when divorce sank in? Divorced Koreans pick splitting assets, moving to new home

A recent survey showed that many in South Korea who have divorced said that splitting up hit them the hardest when they were dividing assets with their former spouse, or when they were moving to a new home. Local matchmaking agencies Bien-Aller and Only-You conducted the survey of 267 divorced men and 267 divorced women, and asked them when was the moment their divorce sank in. Some 31.1 percent of the female respondents picked when they were receiving their half of the marital assets, or giving

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2024

Missing Incheon man found dead in golf course pond

South Korean police said Tuesday that an Incheon man who had been reported missing after a work dinner last week was found dead in a water hazard or pond at a golf course three days after he had disappeared. The body of the man, in his 20s, was found by the police search team at 4:20 p.m. on Monday, according to Incheon Seobu Police Station. Investigators used drones and surveillance footage of the areas adjacent to where he was last seen in Seo-gu in the western part of the city, and managed to

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2024

Seoul Metro sells naming rights for 4 more stations

Seoul Metro, operator of the Seoul subway system, said Monday it has sold the naming rights for four stations to local companies in a recent open auction, in a bid to address its chronic financial issues. The naming right of Seongsu Station was sold to Olive Young, a health and beauty products retailer of the CJ Group, for 1 billion won ($730,000), while rights for renaming Yeouinaru Station was to Eugene Investment and Securities Co. for 220 million won. The naming right for Gangnam Station was

Social AffairsAug. 13, 2024

Govt. demands parliamentary reconsideration of pro-labor, cash handout bills

The Cabinet on Tuesday demanded the National Assembly reconsider two contentious bills aimed at enhancing the rights of workers and providing cash handouts to the entire population. A motion demanding parliamentary reconsideration was approved during a Cabinet meeting and will be sent to President Yoon Suk Yeol for endorsement. Yoon is widely expected to endorse the motion. One bill, known as the "yellow envelope bill," seeks to limit companies from making damage claims against workers

PoliticsAug. 13, 2024

Yoon hosts dinner for former President Lee Myung-bak

President Yoon Suk Yeol held a dinner meeting with former President Lee Myung-bak and his wife Monday, in what marked their first official dinner since Yoon took office. First lady Kim Keon Hee and Chung Jin-suk, Yoon's chief of staff who had served as a senior secretary to Lee for political affairs, also attended the dinner. The meeting came around a year after Yoon and Lee, who served as president from 2008 to 2013, briefly met at the funeral of Yoon's father in August 2023. In Decem

PoliticsAug. 12, 2024

Seoul records tropical nights for 22 days in row; 3rd longest on record

The tropical night phenomenon has continued in Seoul for 22 days in a row, the third longest on record, the state weather agency said Monday. Seoul has experienced yet another tropical night phenomenon overnight, marking the third longest on record since modern meteorological observation began in the city in 1907, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. A tropical night refers to a phenomenon when the nighttime temperatures stay above 25 degrees Celsius from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the f

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

South Korea police investigate YouTuber for late-term abortion video

South Korean police said Monday they were investigating a YouTuber who vlogged about undergoing a late-term abortion, sparking online outrage and calls from the country's health ministry for a murder probe. The woman, whose identity police withheld, claimed in a video posted on Google-owned YouTube in June to have undergone an abortion in her thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, saying she had only discovered she was pregnant very late in the process. The footage, which was later deleted, quickl

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

Gov't to convene meeting this week to address growing electric car concerns

Vice ministers from various government agencies will hold a meeting this week to address growing safety concerns over electric cars, following the recent explosion of an electric sedan in an underground apartment parking lot, the government said Monday. The Office for Government Policy Coordination is set to preside over the vice ministerial meeting on Tuesday as part of the government's plan to announce a set of measures to prevent electric car fires early next month, according to offici

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

AI textbooks turmoil continues ahead of implementation

As South Korea prepares to implement the world's first artificial intelligence-powered, tablet-based digital textbooks in 2025, concerns over privacy violations and students' over-reliance on digital devices continue to stir controversy. Amid growing concerns, Education Minister Lee Ju-ho reaffirmed the importance of turning classrooms "digital" on Monday at a briefing with reporters at the Korea Institute of Educational Facility Safety, pledging full support to teachers as t

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

Yoon vetoes bills for broadcast governance

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday vetoed a set of broadcasting bills sponsored by the main opposition that seeks to reduce his administration’s clout over public broadcasters, a week after the opposition-controlled parliament passed the contentious revisions. Upon returning from a weeklong summer vacation that wrapped up Friday, Yoon approved a Cabinet motion that requested the president to strike down four bills designed to tweak the governance structure of the Korean Broadcasting System,

PoliticsAug. 12, 2024

New chief of Independence Hall refuses to step down

Kim Hyoung-suk, the new chief of the Independence Hall of Korea, has refused to step down on Monday, despite accusations from critics that he is unfit for the position due to his alleged controversial view of Japan’s 1910-1945 colonial rule of Korea. Kim, a former conservative professor, who took office as the chief of the national museum dedicated to the country’s independence movement, denied the claims that he is a supporter of the New Right political movement that justifies Japan

PoliticsAug. 12, 2024

Fired for rejecting romantic advances: Civic group reveals bizarre dismissal cases

A local civic group recently revealed its analysis of 46 consultation cases involving employees of small businesses, the majority of which were related to what the employees saw as wrongful dismissal from work. The Workplace Gapjil 119 looked into their consultations in 2023 involving employees of workplaces of fewer than five workers and found that 27 of them were cases related to dismissal. In one such case, the employee was fired after packing their own lunch instead of eating with co-worke

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

Foreign student arrivals hit record high. Find out which country leads the pack

Over 200,000 international students came to South Korea for studies in the first six months of this year, setting a new half-year record, data showed Monday. According to the Korea Tourism Organization, 204,000 foreign students entered South Korea for studies from January through June, a 50.6 percent increase from the same period last year. This is the first time that the half-yearly number of student arrivals has exceeded 200,000, though the total number of students at universities here has

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

Woman from 36-week abortion YouTube video to face criminal charges

A woman who shared her experience of undergoing an abortion at 36 weeks of pregnancy via YouTube could face criminal charges, along with the doctors who performed the operation, Korean police said Monday. “The YouTuber and the doctors of the hospital where she underwent the surgery are being investigated as criminal suspects,” a Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency official told reporters on Monday. In the since-deleted video, a woman who described herself as 24 years old claims to have

Social AffairsAug. 12, 2024

Seoul to hold drill simulating North Korean nuclear attack

South Korea will stage the first government-wide drill against North Korean nuclear attack scenarios as part of Ulchi Freedom Shield, an annual joint and combined exercise with the United States. The UFS this year is set to take place from Aug. 19 to 29, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command on Monday. The South Korean JCS said alongside the military exercises, the government will hold a first-ever drill training officials and staff

DefenseAug. 12, 2024

Yoon names new defense chief, national security adviser

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday named a new defense minister and national security adviser, while creating the new position of special adviser on foreign affairs and national security to the President, in a surprising shake-up of his foreign and defense policy team. Shin Won-sik, who had been serving as defense minister at the time of his appointment, has now been appointed as the new national security adviser, according to presidential chief of staff Chung Jin-suk. Shin, a retired three-star

PoliticsAug. 12, 2024