Most international students are based in Seoul area: report

Even foreign students are stuck in Seoul-centric mode. A recent report showed that over half of them were studying in the Greater Seoul area as of last year. A total of 181,842 international students were in South Korea as of 2023, according to a report issued Monday by the government-affiliated Korean Council for University Education, more than double the 85,923 in 2023. Of those, 119,237 were studying for a university degree while 52,602 were in a non-degree programs such as language study cou

Social AffairsJune 24, 2024

Hwaseong factory fire leaves multiple casualties

At least 16 people have been confirmed dead in Monday's battery factory fire in Hwaseong as of 5 p.m., with the final death toll expected to rise above 20. Of the 23 people who had earlier been reported missing in the fire, 20 were confirmed to be foreign nationals. The rescue authorities commenced a search of the lithium primary battery plant, run by Aricell, after firefighters got the blaze under control at 3:10 p.m. It was over three hours after the fire first broke out on the secon

Social AffairsJune 24, 2024

Only 1 out of 10 victims of workplace bullying report it: survey

Most victims of workplace bullying in South Korea refrain from filing formal complaints about it to the authorities or their employers, a survey showed Monday. Gabjil 119, a civic group that assists victims of workplace abuse, conducted a survey of 1,000 employees and found that only 10.3 percent of respondents said they have filed a report against such cases. The survey allowed respondents to pick multiple responses. Of those who sought outside help, only 8.1 percent reported such cases to th

Social AffairsJune 24, 2024

S. Korea, US to hold 4th round of defense cost sharing talks this week

South Korea and the United States will hold their fourth round of negotiations on sharing the cost for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong American troops here, a foreign ministry official said Monday. The talks on the Special Measures Agreement will take place in Seoul from Tuesday through Thursday, led by Lee Tae-woo, South Korea's chief negotiator for the talks, and Linda Specht, the US lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, the official said. The current six-year S

DefenseJune 24, 2024

N. Korean leader exchanges greetings with Laotian president to mark 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has exchanged greetings with Laotian President Thongloun Sisoulith to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, North Korea's state media reported Monday. "Over the past 50 years, our two countries have established and developed solid ties based on comradely friendship and revolutionary obligation in the struggle to accomplish the socialist cause," according to Kim's message released by th

North KoreaJune 24, 2024

S. Korea completes deployment of Surion utility helicopter to Army

The state arms procurement agency said Monday it has completed the operational deployment of the locally built Surion utility helicopter to the Army, more than a decade after the first unit's delivery. South Korea began delivering the KUH-1 Surion helicopter to the Army in late 2012, after a seven-year development period starting in 2006. It was designed to replace the Army's aging fleet of US-made UH-1H and 500MD helicopters. The Army now operates more than 200 Surions, which carry ou

DefenseJune 24, 2024

Head of state diplomatic think tank named new ambassador to Japan: sources

A South Korean scholar, well known for his expertise in relations with Japan, has been tapped to be the new ambassador to the neighboring country, government sources with knowledge of the matter said Monday. Park Cheol-hee, chief of the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, the think tank under the foreign ministry, has been nominated as the new ambassador, and Seoul has asked for Tokyo's consent, known as an "agrement," the sources said. Park would replace the incumbent ambassador,

Foreign AffairsJune 24, 2024

Expectations grow for doctors, govt. to sit down for talks

Representatives of doctors and the government are expected to sit down for talks as early as this week, as both sides have hinted that they would hold negotiations to seek a breakthrough to end a monthslong standoff over the government's medical reform. The move came as Lim Hyun-taek, a hawkish head of the Korea Medical Association, has stepped back from the standoff, prompting the KMA to form a committee to cope with potential talks with the government. After holding its first meeting last

Social AffairsJune 24, 2024

N. Korea supports Russia's war with Ukraine as 'legitimate act of self-defense'

North Korea on Monday criticized the United States for its military support of Ukraine and supported Russia's actions as a "legitimate act of self-defense," underscoring the growing military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang. "If the rulers of the US persist in recklessly pushing their war machine into Ukraine for a proxy war against Russia, it will inevitably provoke a stronger response from Russia," Pak Jong Chon, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the

North KoreaJune 24, 2024

[Graphic News] Users of translation service Naver Papago top 20m

Users of Naver Papago, the South Korean online portal operator's artificial intelligence-powered translation service, have steadily increased, topping 20 million last month on overseas demand, industry sources said. The number of Papago's monthly active users, both for app and web versions, reached 20.74 million in May, up 18 percent from a year ago, according to the sources, which cited a report by Naver Cloud Corp. Papago's MAUs first surpassed the 20 million threshold in Marc

Social AffairsJune 24, 2024

S. Korea faces nearly 6-month summers by 2100 if emissions not cut: report

By the end of this century, South Korea will have summers lasting nearly half the year if greenhouse gas emissions continue at current levels, according to the worst-case climate change scenario. According to the highest baseline scenario for Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP5-8.5) future climate change scenarios presented on the Korea Meteorological Administration's official webpage, Korea will experience an average of 169 summer days in the 30-year period that starts May 2081 and ends

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

Denmark's Buldak ramyeon recall sparks Google search spike

The recent recall of several Buldak ramyeon products in Denmark for being too spicy has unexpectedly turned into a marketing win for the company, shown by a surge in Google searches for the products, data showed Sunday. According to Google Trends data, worldwide searches for Buldak ramyeon -- popularized over the past decade as "Korean fire noodles" on the internet -- reached a peak on June 12, following news of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration's decision to recal

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

[From the Scene] South Korean commandos train to take out terrorists

GWANGJU, Gyeonggi Province -- Six commandos parachuted from a Black Hawk helicopter at around 1,500 meters, gliding toward the designated target on the ground for a demonstration of airborne infiltration techniques Thursday morning. The commandos of the South Korean Army’s 707th special mission group, dedicated to countering terrorist threats, showcased operations responding to simulated scenarios at the National Counterterrorism Training Center in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province. In one demons

DefenseJune 23, 2024

Race begins for People Power Party leadership

The race to become the leader of the nation’s conservative ruling party kicked off Sunday, with three star politicians declaring their candidacies throughout the day. The announcements by former Justice Minister and onetime ruling party leader Han Dong-hoon, judge-turned-five-term lawmaker Rep. Na Kyung-won and former Land Minister Won Hee-ryong follow Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun’s declaration of candidacy on Friday. The race is expected to be a monthlong four-candidate battle with crossfire

PoliticsJune 23, 2024

S. Korea running out of red lines on Russia-N. Korea cooperation

South Korean national security adviser Chang Ho-jin issued another stark warning Sunday, clarifying that South Korea will have no red lines left to uphold if Russia supplies "high-precision weapons" to North Korea, at a time when Seoul and Moscow are walking a tightrope in their relations. "Russia's recent actions have been gradually approaching a red line, which is why we've issued the warning," Chang said Sunday during an interview with state broadcaster KBS, with

Foreign AffairsJune 23, 2024

Rapid surge in spam texts prompts police probe

Spam text messages promoting stock investments, loans and shopping deals have surged rapidly in South Korea during the first half of this year, prompting a police investigation to determine the cause of the spike. Between January and May 2024, around 170 million spam text messages were reported and detected by the Korea Communications Commission, according to data provided by Korea Communications Commission and released by Rep. Hwang Jung-a of the Democratic Party of Korea on Sunday. Additionall

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

Korea is having its hottest June ever now: weather agency

It’s official: South Korea is experiencing its hottest June ever, and by a significant margin. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration on Sunday, regions across the country recorded an average of 2.4 heat wave days from June 1 to 20, which is four times the average from 1991 to 2020. The previous record was set in 2018, when there were 1.5 heat wave days. A heat wave day, as defined by the KMA, is when daytime temperatures soar above 33 degrees Celsius. This year’s first

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

After SNUH strike ends, will other doctors follow suit?

Hopes are growing for an end to months of medical disruption in South Korea after medical professors at the nation's most prestigious hospital decided to end their indefinite walkout, a week after they went on strike to protest medical reforms. The emergency committee of medical professors at Seoul National University, who were the first among doctors to walk out without a time limit last week, announced the withdrawal from its strike on Friday afternoon. The group said doctors could not tu

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

'Comfort women' statue set up for 1st time in Italy

ROME -- A girl statue symbolizing the victims of Japan's wartime sexual slavery, euphemistically called "comfort women," has been erected in Italy for the first time, a local activist group said Sunday. The statue, dubbed a Statue of Peace or comfort women statue, was disclosed to the public on Stintino Beach of the Sardinia island Saturday, according to the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance for the Issues of Military Sexual Slavery. The Stintino statue was the second suc

Social AffairsJune 23, 2024

N. Korea to hold key party meeting this week after signing new partnership treaty with Russia

North Korea is expected to hold a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea this week to review policy performances in the first half, amid attention over whether it would discuss follow-up measures to implement a new partnership treaty signed with Russia. In May, the WPK's politburo decided to hold a plenary meeting of the party's Central Committee in late June to review progress in its economic and other projects in the first half, without disclosing other details, s

North KoreaJune 23, 2024