How Korea’s plans for ‘more normal’ summer fell through

South Korea’s summer was supposed to be “more normal.” Come July, there would be more freedom from social distancing and face mask wearing, political leaders and health officials had promised.  Instead the country is in the midst of its largest wave of COVID-19 yet and Koreans are having to practice social distancing far more rigorously now more than ever, raising questions over what went wrong. Easing COVID-19 restrictions is something that had been in the

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

Rivals slam Gov. Lee over his basic income pledge

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung is fighting back criticism from all across the political spectrum of his presidential campaign pledge to provide a universal basic income of up to 2 million won ($1,730) per year to all citizens. Lee, currently the ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential front-runner, announced last week that if he is elected president, the government will start giving 2 million won a year to citizens aged between 19 and 29, and 1 million won to all other citiz

PoliticsJuly 26, 2021

Moon touts budget approval for new COVID-19 relief funds

President Moon Jae-in on Monday touted last week’s bipartisan approval of a 34.9 trillion won ($30.2 billion) extra budget, pledging prompt execution of a new round of COVID-19 relief funds for people in urgent need. Parliament on Saturday endorsed the extra budget larger than the government’s proposed budget of 33 trillion won as the country plans to provide stimulus checks totaling 11 trillion won to people in the bottom 87.7 percent income bracket. About 20.3 million household

PoliticsJuly 26, 2021

Delta variant becoming dominant strain of COVID-19 in S. Korea

The highly contagious delta variant is becoming a dominant strain of COVID-19 in South Korea, making it more difficult for health authorities to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, officials said Monday. The delta variant is behind a recent spike in the nation's COVID-19 infections in Seoul and its neighboring areas, while showing signs of spreading much faster outside the greater Seoul region. In the third week of July, 48 percent of new patients were infected with the aggressive delta va

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

Moon congratulates archery team, judo player on Olympic medals

President Moon Jae-in sent congratulatory messages Monday to the members of South Korea's female archery team and a judo player, who won medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Moon lauded the archery squad for its ninth consecutive Olympic gold in a message also posted on his social media accounts. "Since archery was adopted as an Olympic program, the women's team has been at the top, showing the power of the archery of the Republic of Korea," Moon wrote on his message for each member of the

PoliticsJuly 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] Majority of Koreans in favor of Samsung heir parole

A majority of Koreans support the idea of granting parole to Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong on Aug. 15, the nation’s liberation day, a survey showed Monday. His release date is July next year. More than 66 percent of South Koreans said Lee, head of the nation’s largest conglomerate, should be released early as it would provide a boost to the economy, a nationwide survey conducted by Realmeter on Friday showed. Realmeter interviewed 500 people who were aged 18 or old

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

NK to hold conference of war veterans 2nd year in a row despite COVID-19

North Korea is set to hold a national conference of war veterans to mark the 68th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, state media reported on Monday, piquing interest in what messages Kim Jong-un may deliver at the event.  The Korean War ended in an armistice on July 27, 1953, and was never replaced with a formal peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically at war. The North officially refers to the war as the Fatherland Liberation War and claims victory. 　 The Korea Central New

North KoreaJuly 26, 2021

Military extends toughest antivirus scheme for another two weeks

The defense ministry extended the toughest social distancing rules for the military for another two weeks Monday to curb a new wave of the pandemic, restricting service members' vacations and off-installation activities. The Level 4 scheme, which was supposed to expire Sunday, will be in place until Aug. 8, in line with the government's COVID-19 guidance, according to the ministry. Under the new measures, only 10 percent of members of a unit are allowed to go on vacation at the same time. Off-

DefenseJuly 26, 2021

Tropical nights continue to grip Seoul, major cities

The tropical night phenomenon continued in Seoul and other major cities across the country, the state weather agency said Monday. The minimum temperature between Sunday night and Monday morning was 27.5 C in Seoul, 27.1 C in Incheon, 25.6 C in Busan and 26.8 C on Jeju Island, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). A tropical night occurs when the temperature does not fall under 25 C during the nighttime. The country has been in the grip of an intense heat wave for about t

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

Seoul’s bike rental service hits over 3 million users, yet losses continue

Seoul’s city-run bike rental service, Ddareungi, has proven a success, but its popularity is feeding financial concerns for the city. According to Seoul city government data, the number of accumulated users for Ddareungi reached 3 million as of May, accounting for nearly one-third of the city’s population. The number of users skyrocketed since reaching 1 million in 2018, surpassing 2 million in May 2020 and adding 1 million more in just a year to hit 3 million in the first half o

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

NK propaganda website slams Japan for taking issue with S. Korean banners at Olympics

A North Korean propaganda outlet slammed Japan on Monday for labeling cheer banners that South Korea's Olympic delegation hung at the athletes' village as anti-Japanese and forcing them to be taken down. Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean propaganda website, said in a commentary that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's "gang" has accused South Korea of hanging anti-Japanese banners and went so far as to have "far-right gangsters" display the Japanese imperialist flag in front of the

North KoreaJuly 26, 2021

[Newsmaker] Suspect in Air Force sexual abuse case found dead: rights group

A suspect in the suicide death of an Air Force sexual abuse victim has been found dead at a military detention facility, a human rights group said Monday. The senior master sergeant was indicted on charges of inflicting secondary harm and threatening retaliation against the master sergeant who took her own life in May, three months after she was allegedly groped and suffered other abuse by a colleague of the same rank. "The senior master sergeant was found unconscious at 2:55 p.m. Sunday

DefenseJuly 26, 2021

S. Korea mulls sending only vaccinated troops on overseas missions

South Korea is considering deploying only vaccinated service members on overseas missions, the defense ministry said Monday, following a mass COVID-19 outbreak at the anti-piracy Cheonghae unit in waters off Africa that infected 90 percent of its members. According to a report submitted to the parliament's defense committee, the ministry's legal affairs bureau is reviewing adding COVID-19 vaccination as a requirement for overseas deployment. Last week, all 301 members of the Cheonghae unit's 3

DefenseJuly 26, 2021

New cases spiking outside Seoul; toughened distancing extended

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell below 1,400 Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, but more cases continued to pop up outside the greater Seoul area amid the summer vacation season. The country added 1,318 COVID-19 cases, including 1,264 local infections, raising the total caseload to 190,166, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The daily caseload was down 169 from the previous day. The country added four more COVID-19 deaths, raising the d

Social AffairsJuly 26, 2021

N. Korea to hold national conference of war veterans to celebrate end of Korean War

North Korea plans to hold a national conference of war veterans to celebrate the 68th anniversary of the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, state media said Monday, despite the global coronavirus pandemic. "The 7th National Conference of War Veterans is to be held in Pyongyang with splendor on the occasion of the 68th anniversary of the victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War," the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The Korean War ended in an armistice signed on July

North KoreaJuly 26, 2021

[News Focus] Male 20-somethings far outstrip others in jobless rate

SEJONG -- South Korean men in their 20s have the highest unemployment rate of all age and gender groups, government data shows. According to Statistics Korea, the nation’s unemployment rate was 3.8 percent as of June with the number of jobless posting 1.09 million. This is compared to 3.4 percent and 940,000 unemployed people in December 2019, or a month before COVID-19 initially hit Korea. Though the unemployment rate -- which showed a spike in the wake of the pandemic between 2020 and

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2021

Russian mountaineer accuses climbers of passing by missing Korean mountaineer

Russian mountaineer Vitaly Lazo has openly accused climbers of passing by Kim Hong-bin, a disabled South Korean mountaineer who went missing July 18 after reaching the Broad Peak in Pakistan -- one of the 14 highest mountain peaks in the world -- and ignoring the stranded 56-year-old for hours without even sending an SOS to the base camp. Lazo, who tried to rescue Kim, according to Korean officials at the base camp, posted his message Friday on the Instagram account of Death Zone Freeride, a R

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2021

Rescue chopper returns without sighting missing S. Korean mountaineer

A rescue helicopter that was sent to search for a missing South Korean mountaineer in the Himalayas returned to a base camp Sunday with no sighting of the man, officials said. Kim Hong-bin, who lost all his fingers to frostbite about 30 years ago, reached the summit of the 8,047-meter-high Broad Peak located in the Karakoram Range on the Pakistani-Chinese border last Sunday, becoming the world's first disabled person to ascend all 14 eight-thousanders in the Himalayas. During his descent, howe

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2021

Reporting guidelines reduced number of suicides: study

Revised media guidelines on reporting of celebrity suicides resulted in reduced rate of suicides among the general public in South Korea, research results showed. A team of researchers led by Dr. Jeon Hong-jin in the psychiatry department of Samsung Medical Center analyzed the suicide rates from 2005 through 2017, and found that after media guidelines were revised in 2013, there was a significant downward trend in the average daily suicides. The paper, titled “Effect of suicide preventio

Social AffairsJuly 25, 2021

Virus-hit Cheonghae unit reports another COVID-19 case

Another Navy officer of the coronavirus-hit Cheonghae unit has been confirmed to be infected with the virus, bringing the total caseload to 272 out of 301 members, the military said Sunday. The unidentified service member began to show symptoms while undergoing isolation after the anti-piracy unit returned home aboard special aircraft earlier this week following a mass COVID-19 outbreak inside the vessel. He tested negative upon arrival. Military and health authorities are working to determin

DefenseJuly 25, 2021