Foreign, multicultural students rise amid declining school population

The number of Korean students in kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school nationwide fell by nearly 100,000 in a year to 5.68 million while the foreign national or multicultural student populations increased, showing a stark contrast to the country's low birthrate crisis. According to the Ministry of Education's "2024 Basic Education Statistics Survey" results Thursday, as of April 1, there were 5.684 million elementary, middle and high school students in Korea. This

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Deceased K-pop star's brother celebrates passage of 'Goo Hara law'

Koo Ho-in, the older brother of deceased K-pop star Goo Hara, celebrated the news of the National Assembly on Wednesday passing a law revision that would prevent parents who neglected child-rearing duties from collecting their child's wealth. "It (the bill) finally passed thanks to all the attention (from the public). I thank you all in this time of difficulty," Koo wrote on his Instagram page late Thursday. He shared the news that the long-pending bill had finally been passed,

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

S. Korean food agency bans 34 imported drug-laced candies

The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday that it has banned 34 imported sweets after detecting illegal substances, including marijuana. The ministry said it tested 34 items, including gummies, chocolate, candy and beverages, suspected of containing drugs imported from countries where recreational marijuana is legal. The inspection confirmed that these products purchased directly from overseas websites contained drugs or substances prohibited here. Officials reported t

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

LG Display starts production of advanced OLED displays for gaming

LG Display said Thursday it has kicked off mass production of its 27-inch 480Hz Quad HD gaming OLED panel that boasts the industry’s highest refresh rate and fastest response time, targeting the high-end gaming market. The new panel is made to show the best performance in key criteria for gaming displays, which are refresh rate, images displayed per second and response time in displaying graphic card signals, LG said. “We will create differentiated customer value and secure leadershi

PoliticsAug. 29, 2024

Police bust crypto scammer who received plastic surgery to evade arrest

South Korean police said Thursday that they have arrested the leader of a cryptocurrency scam operation that defrauded investors of 16 billion won ($12 million) and who even underwent plastic surgery to avoid capture. The man, in his 40s, was apprehended earlier this month for deceiving 158 victims between November 2021 and June 2022 by promising a monthly return of 18 percent on investments in a so-called cryptocurrency mining business, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Police

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Coach jailed for sexual exploitation of underage athlete

A coach for the national jump rope team was sentenced to five years in jail for his yearlong sexual exploitation of a teenage athlete, in a ruling Wednesday by a local court. The Uijeongbu District Court found the 28-year-old defendant guilty of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, specifically Article 7 that prohibits sex with a juvenile by a deceptive scheme. He was also banned from working at facilities for juveniles or people with disabilities for

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Yoon touts pension reform drive amid stagnant popularity rating

President Yoon Suk Yeol outlined his blueprints for pension reform proposals in a rare national address Thursday, vowing to make the fund, one of the world's largest with assets worth 1,113.5 trillion won ($834.7 billion) as of May, more sustainable to ensure that younger generations will benefit from the system in the decades to come. Yoon's initiation of pension reform — a policy drive often described as notoriously unpopular — came at a time when he was already grappling

PoliticsAug. 29, 2024

Ruling bloc seeks tougher sentences for deepfake sex crimes

The government and the ruling party agreed on adopting longer prison sentences of up to seven years for deepfake sex crimes Thursday, as South Korea grapples with a surge in female victims of such illegal pornography. The decision made during an emergency meeting at the National Assembly followed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order, on Tuesday, of a crackdown on the latest reports of digital sex crimes involving the production and circulation of fake sexually explicit images of women and girls

PoliticsAug. 29, 2024

Aricell CEO arrested in first case under industrial accidents law

The chief executive of lithium battery manufacturer Aricell and his son, who oversees factory operations, have been arrested over the deadly fire at the company’s Hwaseong plant that claimed the lives of 23 -- 17 Chinese nationals, five Korean nationals and one Laotian national. The incident marks the first time a company head has been formally arrested under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which came into effect in January 2022. The law mandates a minimum prison sentence of one year

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Unionized hospital workers pull out from strike

Unionized hospital workers pulled out from their planned strike Thursday after reaching an agreement on pay raises and better working conditions with hospitals, withdrawing from a decision that could have caused potential chaos at understaffed hospitals already suffering from junior doctors' collective walkouts in February. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union -- which has some 30,000 nurses, caregivers and other medical workers as members -- said Thursday that health care work

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Newborns hit new low, but births to those unmarried reach record high: data

Births to those not married accounted for nearly 5 percent of all births last year, setting a new record high, while the total number of newborns dropped to a new low, data showed Thursday. According to Statistics Korea, of the 230,028 babies born last year, 10,900, or 4.7 percent, were born to women who were not married, marking the highest proportion since records began in 1981. Babies born to people who were not married have steadily increased since 2020, reaching 9,800 in 2022, or 3.9 percen

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

Sinkhole swallows up car, injuring 2 in Seoul

A sinkhole opened up in the middle of a road in western Seoul on Thursday morning swallowing an entire car. Two people were injured, with one in critical condition, according to fire authorities. At 11:26 a.m., the vehicle, carrying the driver and a passenger, rolled over sideways crashing into the sinkhole while driving on Seongsan-ro in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, northwestern Seoul, toward Seongsan Bridge. The two who were injured, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 80s, sustained serious

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

[LLG] When compassion meets law: Lawyer defends goats, dogs, other helpless animals

As a child, Park Joo-yeon always loved animals. She enjoyed going to the zoo and constantly pestered her parents to have pets at home. In 2011, while undergoing training after passing the state bar exam, Park came across a horrendous photo that opened her eyes to aspects of animal life that she had not seen before. It was of a piglet being subjected to a gruesome death by protesters opposing an army base relocation plan in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. The incident, which took place in 2007, involv

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

[From the Scene] How ‘world’s first oil town’ is wrestling to become ‘green'

BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Driving just a few miles from the venue of this year’s global climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, a transformation is taking place. Once known as the Black City, from all the soot created in the 19th century from pumping and refining oil, it claims the dubious honor of being the world's oldest oil town. Having the world’s first-ever mechanically drilled oil well in 1846, the country at one point provided more than half of the world's oil. Having fu

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

[Graphic News] Average book price nears 20,000 won

The cost of purchasing a book in South Korea is approaching 20,000 won ($14.80), according to recent research by the Korean Publishers Association. In 2023, the average book price was 18,633 won. Books in the miscellaneous category were the most expensive, with an average price of 24,517 won. Other high-priced categories included history (24,289 won), social science (24,203 won), and descriptive science (24,157 won). The study also revealed that 62,865 books were newly published in 2023, a 2.8

Social AffairsAug. 29, 2024

NCT member Taeil leaves band over sexual offense allegations

Taeil, a member of K-pop boy band NCT, has left the team after being accused of sexual offense allegations, NCT's agency said Wednesday. "Our company recently found out that Taeil has been accused in a criminal case in relation to a sexual crime," SM Entertainment said. "In the process of verifying the details, the company reached the conclusion that (he) could no longer be part of the team, given the gravity of the incident." The company said the decision was made upon

Social AffairsAug. 28, 2024

Haru Invest CEO stabbed during fraud trial

The chief executive of Haru Invest, a troubled South Korean cryptocurrency deposit service, was injured Wednesday after being stabbed during a fraud trial. The CEO, only identified by his surname Lee, was stabbed in the neck by a man in his 50s during the trial at the Seoul Southern District Court and was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to authorities. Police said they have arrested the assailant on charges of attempted murder and are investigating his motiv

Social AffairsAug. 28, 2024

[Online Predators] Deepfake pornography haunts S. Korea

Song, a 17-year-old high schooler based in Gyeonggi Province, used to be just like any other girl her age on social media -- posting photos and short-form videos of herself or with her friends dancing along to trending audio tracks. That was until she received an anonymous message on Instagram. It still haunts her to this day. “I looked at my phone after school when I saw a message sent through an unidentified account,” Song told The Korea Herald. “The message read, ‘Do y

Social AffairsAug. 28, 2024

South Korean defense intelligence agent sold secrets to China: military

A South Korean military intelligence agent is accused of turning over secrets to Chinese agents for about seven years in exchange for money, according to South Korea’s military prosecution service Wednesday. The military prosecutors said the agent with the Korea Defense Intelligence Command had been indicted Tuesday for leaking secrets to Chinese intelligence agents that he had first come into contact with in 2017. For over seven years, he appears to have received over 10 million won ($7,4

PoliticsAug. 28, 2024

Suicide warning signs were there, but 7 out of 10 went unrecognized

Nearly everyone who died by suicide showed warning signs beforehand, yet few people around them took these signs seriously, a report showed Wednesday. A 2023 report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention reveals that while 96.6 percent of suicide victims exhibited suicide warning signs through unusual behavior, only 23.8 percent of their loved ones recognized these signals. The report analyzed victim records from 1,099 suicide cases and interviews w

Social AffairsAug. 28, 2024