Almost 70% of Korea is at least partly vaccinated against COVID-19 -- now what?

South Korea is close to reaching its goal of having 70 percent of the population vaccinated with a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine before Saturday, when this year’s Chuseok holiday begins. So what does this mean for the country’s pandemic response going forward? Lee Ki-il, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s deputy minister for health care policy, told Friday’s televised news briefing that Korea was close to hitting “a significant milestone in the vaccination

Social AffairsSept. 17, 2021

Lee Jun-seok urges supporters to be wary of YouTubers

In a press briefing that marks 100 days in office, People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok called on the opposition party and its supporters to be wary of false and misleading videos on YouTube. To win the presidential election, Lee said the party should focus on people thinking logically and rationally instead of people who see only what they want to see. “A new media called YouTube recommends videos that you might want to watch through algorithms,” Lee said. “The algori

PoliticsSept. 17, 2021

Nationwide exodus begins ahead of extended Chuseok holiday

The annual exodus for Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, began Friday as South Koreans head to their hometowns for family reunions and take trips during the extended holiday. This year's three-day Chuseok holiday runs from Monday to Wednesday and it is extended by an extra two days due to the preceding weekend. Traditionally, Koreans head back to their hometowns to be with their family members and visit their ancestors' graves to commemorate them. The nationwide exodus is expected t

Social AffairsSept. 17, 2021

Military reports 8 coronavirus cases

Four Army soldiers and four airmen have tested positive for the new coronavirus, raising the total caseload reported among the military population to 1,681, the defense ministry said Friday. Three airmen in the eastern coastal city of Gangneung were confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 after a virus case was reported at their base, while an Air Force officer in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, was found to have been infected after a business trip, according to the ministry. In the west

DefenseSept. 17, 2021

[Newsmaker] Compensation to pandemic-hit merchants to begin in late Oct.: official

South Korea plans to start to compensate pandemic-hit small merchants from late October for their losses incurred by anti-virus restrictions, a senior government official said Friday. The government set aside 1.03 trillion won ($873 million) to operate a state scheme to compensate small merchants for losses that have been generated since July due to state orders to shut down or suspend business over the pandemic. "The government is making seamless preparation to provide compensation to the

Social AffairsSept. 17, 2021

New cases over 2,000 again amid post-Chuseok holiday resurgence woes

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases exceeded 2,000 on Friday again amid concerns a major holiday may stoke further upticks in virus cases. The country added 2,008 COVID-19 cases, including 1,973 local infections, raising the total caseload to 281,938 according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload remained in the 2,000s on Tuesday and Wednesday before falling to 1,943 on Thursday. Daily cases have stayed above the 1,000 threshold for more than 70 days am

Social AffairsSept. 17, 2021

[Graphic News] Number of delivery workers hits new high in 2020 amid pandemic

　The number of delivery workers in South Korea swelled nearly 12 percent in the second half of last year to hit a record high amid the coronavirus pandemic, government data showed. 　Asia’s fourth-largest economy had 390,000 carriers as of the end of December last year, up 11.8 percent from a year earlier, according to data from Statistics Korea. 　The tally covers mail carriers, door-to-door couriers, food delivery workers, newspaper delivery workers and carriers of milk and other bev

NationalSept. 17, 2021

Diplomats of S. Korea, Japan hold talks on peninsula security, history

Diplomats of South Korea and Japan held talks in Tokyo on Thursday to discuss the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and historical issues between the two countries, the foreign ministry said, after tensions flared anew with North Korea's recent missile launches. The talks between Lee Sang-ryol, the ministry's director general for Asian and Pacific affairs, and his Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, came after the North fired off two short-range ballistic missiles on Wednesday fo

Diplomatic CircuitSept. 16, 2021

S. Korea, Vietnam vow to boost defense ties during vice-ministerial talks

South Korea and Vietnam agreed Thursday to strengthen cooperation in defense affairs and the arms industry during annual vice-ministerial talks, Seoul officials said. South Korean Vice Defense Minister Park Jae-min and his Vietnamese counterpart, Hoang Xuan Chien, held the Defense Strategy Dialogue in the Southeast Asian nation and discussed regional security issues and ways to strengthen their defense ties, according to Seoul's defense ministry. "The two sides agreed to boost cooperatio

Diplomatic CircuitSept. 16, 2021

Jeju braces for Typhoon Chanthu

Jeju made preparations for the impact of Typhoon Chanthu on Thursday as the storm moved toward the resort island from the south, packing strong winds and heavy precipitation, the weather agency said. As of 6 p.m., the typhoon was travelling north-northeastward at a speed of 19 kilometers per hour over waters about 220 km south-southwest of Jeju, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. The slow-moving typhoon was forecast to begin picking up speed later in the day and move the close

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

Korea cuts wait time until second AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot to four weeks　

South Korea is halving the minimum amount of time until a second dose of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to four weeks from eight weeks, in the hopes of accelerating the drive for full vaccination coverage. Kim Ki-nam, leading the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s COVID-19 vaccination planning council, told a press briefing Thursday that “a stabilizing supply of vaccines has allowed us to expand eligibility and move up the timeline for second doses.” He sa

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

Overseas voters call for postal voting; ruling party seeks legislation

The ruling Democratic Party is seeking to revise election laws to allow South Korean expatriates to vote by mail, upon growing calls from overseas Koreans who want that option. Overseas Koreans with voting rights include those with permanent residency in other countries, students studying abroad and workers dispatched by Korean companies. The total number of eligible voters living abroad is about 2.14 million, or 4.5 percent of all voters. Despite their significant numbers, overseas voters ha

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

[News Focus] Assets held by NK defectors shrink since 2017

SEJONG -- Refugees from North Korea have seen their assets -- both real estate and cashable -- shrink in 2020, compared to 2017 when the nation started compiling the relevant data. In particular, 7 in 10 households that include at least one refugee from North Korea, posted under 50 million won ($42,800) in real estate assets, data from state agencies showed. According to the Korea Hana Foundation and Statistics Korea, property assets -- such as houses and land -- held by the North Korean defec

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

NK says ballistic missiles tested from new rail-borne system

North Korea said Thursday that its ballistic missile test the previous day was carried out by its new railway-borne missile system, stoking concerns over stalled talks on inter-Korean peace. “For the first time, we tested the viability of our railway-borne missile system to check on the combat readiness and strike capability,” the official Korean Central News Agency said. According to the KCNA, the missiles hit targets 800 kilometers away in the East Sea after being fired from a tra

North KoreaSept. 16, 2021

'Drastic' measures needed for financially distressed self-employed workers amid pandemic: civic groups

South Korean civic groups called on the government Thursday to come up with "drastic" measures to help lessen the hardship of self-employed workers and small business owners, many of them in deep financial trouble caused by the protracted coronavirus pandemic.  "We are in an emergency situation that is driving small business owners and the self-employed to make fatal decisions," they said in a joint statement during a press conference held at the office of People's So

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

Content creators share views, tastes of Seoul for more tourists to come

Ten teams of content creators are touring Seoul and sharing their experiences on social media to take part in the city government’s efforts and advertise the South Korean capital as a destination for international tourists once the COVID-19 pandemic ends. Five teams of foreign residents and five local ones were selected in August to go on a five-day tour around the city from Sept. 13 to Friday. The initiative, named “Viewtiful Seoul,” is to help content creators discover new t

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

N.Korea media for domestic audience keeps mum on Kim Yo-jong's statement against Moon

North Korea's main newspaper, the Rodong Sinmun, and other media outlets targeted toward the domestic audience did not carry a statement by leader Kim Jong-un's sister that warned South Korea of the deadlock of inter-Korean relations. On Wednesday, Kim Yo-jong released a statement slamming South Korean President Moon Jae-in for branding the North's weapons tests as a "provocation" and warned of a "total deadlock" of inter-Korean relations. As of early Thursday morning, the Ro

PoliticsSept. 16, 2021

Appellate court confirms 20-year sentence for woman in child abandonment-death case

An appellate court on Thursday approved a 20-year prison term for a woman convicted of abandoning a 3-year-old girl in an empty house and causing her death. The 22-year-old woman surnamed Kim was arrested on Feb. 11 after the corpse of the 3-year-old was discovered the previous day at her home in a multiunit house in Gumi, 260 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Kim was accused of abandoning the child, leading to her death, after she moved out of her home in August last year to remarry. At first, the

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021

Human rights groups call for revising media bill

Human Rights Watch and three other human rights organizations have sent a joint letter to President Moon Jae-in and the National Assembly calling for the revision of a media bill accused of undermining press freedom. The legislation calls for punitive damages up to five times more than usual if a media outlet is found guilty of running false or manipulated news reports. Critics argue that it could be used to silence critical media. The letter points out that the bill defines "false or manip

PoliticsSept. 16, 2021

[Graphic News] Student population on steady decline in South Korea

　The total number of students in kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools in South Korea has fallen below 6 million for the first time, government data showed, amid the nation's declining birthrate. 　According to data from the Ministry of Education, there were 5,957,000 students enrolled in kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools nationwide as of April 1, marking a decline of 0.9 percent from a year earlier. 　Student population decreased for all except middle sch

Social AffairsSept. 16, 2021