Five Eyes invitation may come with costs

South Korea has received a fresh invitation from the world’s most exclusive intelligence-sharing alliance, the so-called Five Eyes, but experts warn there is no such thing as a free lunch in diplomacy. Last week, the US House of Representatives submitted a draft bill to the National Defense Authorization for the 2022 fiscal year, asking the US administration to consider expanding the Five Eyes program that currently consists of five English-speaking democracies: the US, UK, Canada, Austr

Foreign AffairsSept. 6, 2021

[Herald Interview] Basic income a key policy: Yeoju mayor

Being mayor of a city in Gyeonggi Province with a little over 110,000 residents means putting people first, says Yeoju Mayor Lee Hang-jin, and a universal basic income for farmers is one way to do that. Yeoju was the first city in the province to provide an annual allowance to farmers, who make up a third of the city’s population, beginning last year. This year, the city is partnering with the province to provide farmers with a universal basic income, and five other cities in the provinc

PoliticsSept. 6, 2021

[Newsmaker] Over 90% of public says climate crisis should be major presidential election issue: survey

More than 90 percent of South Koreans think the climate crisis should be a prominent issue in the upcoming presidential election, a survey showed Sunday. According to the Gallup Korea poll, conducted at the request of environmental group Green Korea and involving 1,500 people nationwide, 91.1 percent of the respondents said Korea’s climate crisis response should be a major topic ahead of the March 9 election. Where most public opinion polls target people over 19, Green Korea said, the m

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2021

Military eases antivirus rules amid high vaccination rate

The defense ministry on Monday eased monthslong restrictions on service members' vacation and off-installation activities as the military has a high COVID-19 vaccination rate of about 94 percent, officials said. Under the fresh regulations effective on Monday, up to 20 percent of service members can go on vacation at the same time per unit, and fully vaccinated troops are allowed to meet visitors who have also received vaccines, according to the ministry. Previous regulations had banned soldie

DefenseSept. 6, 2021

PPP's Rep. Hong advances to 3rd spot in new presidential hopefuls' poll

Rep. Hong Joon-pyo of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) climbed to third place among contenders vying for next year's presidential election, a poll showed Monday. In the two-day poll on 1,003 voters nationwide conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute from Friday, Hong garnered approval of 13.6 percent, up 4.2 percentage points from a week ago. Hong, widely considered an underdog contender, managed to overtake Rep. Lee Nak-yon, the former head of the ruling Democratic Party (

PoliticsSept. 6, 2021

Arms procurement agency seeks W1.5tr for defense R&D next year

The arms procurement agency has allocated 1.485 trillion won ($1.3 billion) for defense technology research and development (R&D) next year in a budget request submitted to the parliament, it said Monday. Last week, the defense ministry requested a defense budget of 55.23 trillion won for 2022, up from this year's 52.84 trillion won. Of the total, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration's R&D budget rose 76 percent on-year to surpass the 1 trillion won mark for the first time, i

DefenseSept. 6, 2021

N. Korea paper stresses effective land management as top economic priority

North Korea's official newspaper stressed Monday that effective land management should be a top priority in the country's economic policy, calling for thorough preventive measures against flooding and other natural disasters. "Work on land management is a task where we can protect a hundred and earn a thousand by investing ten," the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of the ruling Workers' Party, said. "If we want to realize fast and sustainable development, we need complete preparations t

North KoreaSept. 6, 2021

[Graphic News] Nearly 7 in 10 S. Koreans support granting long-term stay visas to Afghan evacuees

　Almost 70 percent of South Koreans support the government’s plan to grant long-term stay visas to hundreds of Afghan civilians who fled their homeland fearing the Taliban, a poll showed. 　According to the poll of 500 people aged 18 and above conducted by Realmeter on Aug. 27, a combined 68.7 percent of the respondents said they approved of the plan to issue long-term visas to the Afghan evacuees who arrived here last week, allowing them to get jobs here. 　Among those who supported

NationalSept. 6, 2021

New cases in 1,300s on fewer tests; virus curbs extended for a month

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back to the 1,300s on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, while health authorities extended the tough virus curbs ahead of a major national holiday. The country added 1,375 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,351 local infections, raising the total caseload to 261,778, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload fell to a five-week low for any Monday, when new cases usually remain lower than other w

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2021

Number of medical tourists to Korea dips 76.5% in 2020 amid pandemic

The number of medical tourists to South Korea tumbled nearly 77 percent in 2020 from a year earlier amid the coronavirus pandemic, data showed Monday. Roughly 117,100 foreign patients visited South Korea last year, down a whopping 76.5 percent from some 497,500 a year earlier, according to the data from the local medical community. The data is based on statistics gathered by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute. Seoul Asan Medical Center, one of South Korea's five major hospitals,

Social AffairsSept. 6, 2021

Moderna misses deadline again, but vaccine goal still in sight

South Korea received 1.26 million more doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine Sunday, a key supply for the country to continue on with its nationwide vaccination scheme. With the latest shipment arriving at Incheon Airport on Sunday afternoon, Moderna fell some 2.8 million doses short of the 7.01 million promised by the first week of September. The country is set to receive 2.55 million more doses Monday afternoon, a day late, but this is still more than 250,000 doses short of the amount pr

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

[News Focus] Seoul No. 1 in jobless rate among 17 major regions

SEJONG -- Seoul has the highest unemployment rate among the nation’s eight major cities and nine provinces, a government agency’s latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the jobless rate for residents in Seoul reached 5.2 percent during the second quarter of this year, which far outstripped the nationwide average of 3.9 percent. Compared to 3.1 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019 (a quarter before COVID-19 initially hit South Korea), the nationwide unemployment rate cl

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

Distancing rules extended, but eased for fully vaccinated people

Fully vaccinated people will be allowed to have larger private gatherings starting Monday as Korea inches toward herd immunity. The government on Friday announced its decision to extend the current social distancing rules -- Level 4 in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon and Level 3 for the rest of the country -- for four weeks until Oct. 3. But health authorities made a few adjustments to the guidelines in consideration of the prolonged distancing restrictions and the increasing number of

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

NK’s vaccine refusal may be due to side effects, efficacy concerns

North Korea has turned down some million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which may be largely out of concerns about side-effects as well as mistrust over the vaccine efficacy, pundits have said. 　 The reclusive regime recently rejected about 3 million doses of China’s Sinovac Biotech vaccine, and asked for them to be sent to other severely affected countries instead, according to the UNICEF, which is in charge of distributing doses on behalf of the COVAX facility -- a multinational program t

North KoreaSept. 5, 2021

Over 30m S. Koreans received at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine: KDCA

Over 30 million South Koreans have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine as of Sunday, health authorities said, as the vaccine rollout is gaining speed among the general public. Slightly more than 30 million people have been inoculated with their first vaccine shots as of 11:15 a.m., accounting for around 58 percent of the country's 52 million population, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. A total of 17.7 million, or 34.6 percent of the total population, hav

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

Number of women expected to top that of men in S. Korea in 2030

South Korea's female population is forecast to surpass that of males in nine years, a government report showed Sunday. The total number of women reached 25.86 million last year, accounting for 49.9 percent of the country's entire population of 51.82 million, according to the report compiled by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family. The ratio of males to females in the South Korean population fell to 100.4 in 2021 from 101.4 tallied in 2000. The ministry said the sex ratio will likely hit

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

Gyeonggi Gov. Lee confirms lead in ruling party primary race

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung achieved a landslide victory in the ruling Democratic Party’s first and second round of primaries for the presidential election, solidifying his standing as the front-running contender for the next presidency. According to the ruling party on Sunday, Gov. Lee finished the second round of Democratic Party’s national presidential primary elections of Sejong and North Chungcheong Province by winning 54.54 percent of all cased votes. Rep. Lee Nak-yo

PoliticsSept. 5, 2021

S. Korea to ease attendance caps in schools despite extended social distancing measures

More South Korean students will be allowed to take in-person classes starting Monday as attendance cap restrictions in schools have been eased despite the extended distancing measures. The Ministry of Education reaffirmed Thursday it will allow schools to expand in-person classes even under the Level 4 distancing scheme, the most stringent set of rules, as planned. The ministry decided to ease the attendance caps in steps last month as schools began their fall semesters, citing the need to res

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

Women are most frequent target of online hate speech in S. Korea: watchdog survey

Over 8 out of 10 South Koreans have encountered hate speech against women online, a survey showed Sunday. According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) survey on 1,200 people aged 15 and older from May 20-25, 80.4 percent of the respondents said they have read malicious online comments targeted at women. Hate speech against people from certain regions, feminists and the elderly came after at 76.9 percent, 76.8 percent and 72.5 percent, respectively. Other online targets

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021

New virus cases dip to 1,400s on fewer tests; tough restrictions extended

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell to the 1,400s on Sunday due to fewer tests over the weekend, while health authorities extended the tough restrictions ahead of a major national holiday. The country added 1,490 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,461 local infections, raising the total caseload to 260,403, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest tally is down from 1,804 on Saturday and 1,709 on Friday. Daily cases have stayed above 1,000 for

Social AffairsSept. 5, 2021