Voter support for opposition party plummets: poll

The rate of respondents willing to vote for main opposition party candidates in the upcoming April 10 legislative election dropped by a whopping 9 percentage points from the previous month, poll results showed Wednesday. In a survey conducted by local pollster Metrix on 1,000 Koreans aged 18 or older on March 2-3, when asked which party they would vote for "if the election was held tomorrow," some 26 percent of respondents chose candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of K

PoliticsMarch 6, 2024

Pressured to be 'best moms,' women say it's not just about money

With South Korea’s total fertility rate reaching as low as 0.72 in 2023, making it one of the lowest among the ranks of the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the government is devising a list of attractive policies to persuade women to have babies -- that includes giving them hefty amounts of subsidies dubbed “childbirth benefits.” From the central government, potential mothers receive 1 million won ($751) to pay for their medical expenses. Once t

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

North Korea sends political prisoners to nuclear facilities: defector

North Korea is forcing political prisoners to work at some of its high-risk nuclear facilities, a North Korean defector was quoted as telling South Korean authorities. A former Pyongyang resident in her 40s who defected in 2019 said in an in-depth interview with authorities in Seoul that North Korea was sending its political prisoners to labor camps close to nuclear sites, according to a recent report by the government-run Korea Institute for National Unification. “The levels of radiation

PoliticsMarch 6, 2024

Hot summer temperatures to persist due to El Nino impacts

As ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean gradually decrease, climate conditions will most likely switch to a neutral state between April and June, according to the World Meteorological Organization. El Nino is a natural phenomenon in which ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific remain 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than usual for more than five months. The El Nino phenomenon officially began between May and June 2023 and was recorded as one of the five strongest El N

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Misogyny making short hair unsafe

Prosecutors have sought a five-year sentence for a man in his 20s who was arrested for attacking a woman he perceived to be a feminist "because she had short hair." In November last year, the man kicked and punched a female convenience store worker, saying, "Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist. I'm a male chauvinist, and I think feminists should be punished," according to police. He also assaulted another customer, in his 50s, who tried to intervene. At t

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

70% of globe's hooded cranes now in S. Korean bay: experts

Nearly 70 percent of the entire global population of hooded cranes, an endangered migratory bird species, is thought to be resting in a South Korean bay, local experts said Wednesday. A joint on-spot survey of Cheonsu Bay, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, reported the spotting of about 14,000 cranes in the area -- 11,000 at the eastern part of Ganwol-ho, an artificial lake in the bay, and another 3,000 at the western part. The research was conducted by Seosan Birdland, an ecotourism center

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Professors sue health ministry over med school expansion plan

Faculty councils of 33 medical schools filed for an injunction Tuesday against the planned hike in medical school enrollment quotas, along with an administrative lawsuit against the Health Ministry, reports said the same day, citing education and health authorities. This comes after 40 medical schools nationwide have collectively requested an increase in the annual student quota by 3,401 in a government survey. The professors say the schools made their decisions without heeding their opinions. M

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Pharmaceutical sales rep claims to have run personal errands for doctors

A person claiming to be a sales representative of a local pharmaceutical company recently alleged in an online post that they had been pressured into running all sorts of personal errands by and for doctors. The person uploaded screenshots of the mobile messenger app Kakao Talk which show a 2018-2019 conversation thread between the pharmaceutical representative and a private practitioner who was the client of their drug company. In the conversation, the doctor is seen instructing the sales rep t

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Dating dealbreakers for Korean divorcees: survey

What made you decide to stop seeing someone after more than three dates? What were the dealbreakers? A new survey conducted by Korean matchmaking services Only You and Bienarae asked this question to divorced, single men and women and found clear differences between their answers. For men, the most significant turnoff, as chosen by 33.8 percent of respondents, was a woman who does not appear to prioritize him over others, while women found the use of vulgar language to be the most off-putting

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

[Bridge to Africa] Envoy urges Korea to join Lobito Corridor, other projects in Angola

Angola’s top envoy to South Korea, Edgar Gaspar Martins, urged South Korea to join infrastructure and investment projects in the African nation. Pointing to the shift in US investment from oil to diverse sectors like solar energy and agriculture, particularly on projects in Angola, Martins cited the Lobito Corridor, worth $1 billion, aimed at bolstering the rail infrastructure connecting Angola to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and Tanzania. The Lobito Corridor is a strategic rou

Foreign AffairsMarch 6, 2024

1st Korea Glocal Education Fair to kick off May 29

By Choi Jeong-yoon, Hwang Sung-chul In order to tackle the existing challenges of regional areas, the Ministry of Education, South Jeolla Province, Jeollanamdo and Gyeongsangbukdo Office of Education will host the first Korea Glocal Education Fair, hoping to present a new paradigm for sustainable, region-centered future education in the era of digital transformation. The event, which kicks off on May 29 and runs for five days at the Yeosu EXPO Center, aims to present a blueprint of "glocal

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Muscled firemen calendar raises W1b for burn victims over decade

A charity project to support survivors of fires who suffered burns by raising money from sales of calendars featuring muscular firefighters has raised more than 1 billion won ($750,000) over its 10-year span, Seoul’s fire department said Wednesday. The 10th edition of the “momjjang” or "great body" calendar, on sale from November to January, generated 96 million won in revenue and donations, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Fire & Disaster Headquarters. The

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Government worker found dead amid cyberbullying, online threats: report

An employee of the Gimpo City Government was found dead Tuesday in what appears to be a suicide, according to South Korean media reports Wednesday. The employee had reportedly been the victim of bullying from an unspecified group of people online. Kyungin Ilbo reported that the employee's body was found inside a car at a parking lot in Seogu, Incheon, at around noon on Tuesday. The employee did not appear to have left a suicide note. The government worker had received complaints from citiz

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Part-time worker steals cash, flees on first day of work

A 20-something worker at a local convenience store took cash from the store's cashier and fled the scene, just 20 minutes into his first day of work, local media outlets reported Wednesday. According to the reports, the suspect had been hired as a part-time worker at a convenience store in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. However, just 20 minutes after he started his first shift, the worker took 800,000 won ($600) in cash from the register and a carton of cigarettes and walked out the door. The ma

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Van crashes into building in Suwon, injures 8

A van operated by a private taekwondo academy crashed into a commercial building in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday afternoon, injuring five children and three adults, local rescue authorities said Wednesday. The accident occurred at around 4:35 p.m. in a residential area in Paldal-gu, Suwon, when the van collided with a sedan at an intersection, according to the Gyeonggi Province Fire Services. The impact caused the van to crash into a mobile phone store in an adjacent commercial building.

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Police question doctors' association leader over walkout

A leader of the country's biggest doctors' assocation appeared before police for questioning Wednesday in connection with the walkout by trainee doctors protesting the government's decision to hike the medical school quota. The questioning of Joo Soo-ho, the chief spokesperson of the Korea Medical Association, came as thousands of intern and resident doctors have stayed off the jobs at general hospitals nationwide for the 16th day in protest of the plan to raise the quota by 2,000

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Police push to tighten noise level at rallies, fly drones for evidence of illegal acts

Police have passed strengthened regulations to lower noise from rallies and demonstrations and allow the use of drones to collect evidence of any illegal acts during such assemblies, officials said Wednesday. The revision to the enforcement decree of the Assembly and Demonstration Act was approved Monday as part of follow-up measures after police laid out plans to minimize public inconvenience from excessive noise at rally sites in September. The revision lowered the decibel limit around residen

Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024

Financial regulator vows swift implementation of W5tr support fund for local firms

The financial regulator said Wednesday it will work to quickly provide up to 5 trillion won ($3.75 billion) in financial support to local firms this year, while pushing to create an additional 3 trillion-won investment fund for businesses. The government earlier announced plans to provide more than 76 trillion won in financial support for local businesses, with 20 trillion won earmarked for large businesses and 15 trillion won for mid-sized firms. "As a follow-up to the 'business-tailo

PoliticsMarch 6, 2024

US nuclear envoy underlines need for 'interim steps' toward ultimate N. Korea denuclearization

The top US nuclear envoy pointed out the need Tuesday for "interim steps" to be taken on a path towards North Korea's ultimate denuclearization, which she stressed would not happen "overnight." US Senior Official for North Korea Jung Pak made the remarks while reiterating Washington's "clear" goal to pursue the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula. On Monday, Mira Rapp-Hooper, the US National Security Council senior director for East Asia and Oceania,

North KoreaMarch 6, 2024

Methodist Church of Korea confirms expulsion of priest for blessing LGBTQ+

The Methodist Church of Korea finalized its decision to expel a pastor who blessed LGBTQ+ participants at the 2019 Incheon Queer Culture Festival in Incheon. The church’s tribunal on Monday confirmed the disfellowship of Rev. Lee Dong-hwan (43) at the Korean Methodist Church Building in central Seoul. The annual conference of Methodist churches in Gyeonggi Province made the decision on Dec. 19, citing Lee broke the internal rule that bans “supporting or agreeing with homosexuality.&r

Social AffairsMarch 5, 2024