Moon calls time on 3T strategy as omicron begins to dominate

Omicron has risen to dominance all across South Korea about eight weeks since its discovery here. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency reported Monday that omicron has displaced delta as the dominant COVID-19 variant, representing slightly over 50 percent of sequenced positive samples for the prior seven days. The agency said based on the latest metrics the risk level for COVID-19 was “very high” in Seoul and the rest of the country alike. In the previous 24 hours to

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] COVID pass will not be required from people who have been hospitalized with vaccine side-effects

People who have been hospitalized due to adverse events and allergic reactions to COVID-19 vaccines are exempt from the country’s vaccine pass mandate, starting on Monday. 　 According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the government will grant the exemption if people have received hospital treatments within six weeks after they received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. Those people who requested the government compensate them for vaccination side-eff

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

Opposition parties turn against each other

Opposition parties People Power Party and the People’s Party are engaging in an escalating war of words, while putting down rumors of unification for the presidential election. On Monday, Lee Jun-seok, head of the People Power Party, hit back at Ahn Cheol-soo’s barbed comments, claiming it was the People’s Party that was “immoral” during the Seoul mayor election held last year. “Talking about the candidate in third place is now called ‘immoral,&rsqu

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Yoon vows for stronger national defense, key to peace on Korean Peninsula

Presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol of the main opposition People Power Party on Monday stressed the need to adopt strict measures to push North Korea’s denuclearization, and vowed to strengthen national defense, saying it is the key to prosperity and peace on the Korean Peninsula. Announcing his 20 election pledges on diplomacy and defense policies -- four on North Korea, 11 on diplomacy and five on national defense -- Yoon vowed to normalize inter-Korean relations and strengthen Sout

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Horse’s death after cruel TV stunt is in spotlight. But life is no better for other ex-racehorses

The death of a retired racehorse which tripped for a TV drama scene has erupted a public outcry over animal cruelty in South Korea. But the life of other former racehorses is not any better, according to animal rights groups. “The average life span of a horse is approximately 25 years, but racehorses generally retire at the age of 8, which is when they can no longer win races, after enjoying their heyday at ages 2-5. Those which get injured are kicked out of racetracks a little earlier,

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

PM implores people to refrain from traveling during Lunar New Year over omicron

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Monday asked people to refrain from traveling during the Lunar New Year holiday, as the highly transmissible omicron variant is beginning to tighten its grip on South Korea. Millions of people usually travel across the nation to meet relatives or visit tourist spots during the holiday for Lunar New Year that falls on Feb. 1 this year. The holiday runs from Jan. 31 to Feb. 2. Kim called for people to get booster shots if they want to travel during the holiday. &q

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

[Election 101] Campaign merger? What it is and why it matters

Will two presidential candidates, Yoon Suk-yeol and Ahn Cheol-soo, merge their campaigns to win the upcoming election? It remains one of the burning questions ahead of the March presidential election. Unification during an election campaign refers to two or more candidates merging their campaigns to win the election. And “unification” is a word that comes up time and time again in election season. The first attempt to unify was in the 1987 presidential election. Many Koreans wh

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Professor slams Japanese Embassy’s refusal to Moon’s gift over Dokdo

Seo Kyung-duk, a well-known professor at Sungshin Women’s University in Seoul, on Monday slammed the Japanese Embassy in Seoul for rejecting President Moon Jae-in’s Lunar New Year gift that bears an image resembling the Dokdo islets on the gift box, saying it was an attempt to make the island an area of conflict. 　 Cheong Wa Dae had sent a gift box with chestnuts, traditional liquor and other items to all the foreign ambassadors, including Japanese Ambassador Koichi Aiboshi, ahead

Foreign AffairsJan. 24, 2022

Lee Jae-myung vows quicker commute for Gyeonggi residents

Presidential candidate for South Korea’s ruling party vowed to heavily invest in high-speed trains and reduce the commute time in the greater Seoul area to within 30 minutes. Lee Jae-myung of the ruling Democratic Party announced Monday he will expand the construction of Greater Train Express commuter network of railways, subways and expressways to improve the access of Gyeonggi Province residents to Seoul and other parts of the province. The announcement was made in Lee’s campaign

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Moon calls for swift shift to new response measures to cope with omicron

President Moon Jae-in on Monday instructed the government to swiftly shift to new response measures to cope with the spread of the omicron variant, warning the nation could see a surge in infections in the short term. "The spread of omicron is very fast, making it the dominant strain, and the number of confirmed cases could surge in a short period of time," Moon said, according to Park Soo-hyun, senior presidential secretary for public communication. Moon urged the government to &quo

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Moon not to hold New Year's press conference in order to focus on handling omicron

President Moon Jae-in will not hold a New Year's press conference as he focuses on handling the COVID-19 situation with the highly transmissible omicron variant becoming the dominant strain in South Korea, a senior presidential official said Monday. The presidential office had been preparing for the New Year's press conference as Moon wrapped up his eight-day visit to the Middle East last Saturday. "In a situation where the omicron variant has become the dominant strain, the New Year's pr

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

7 Lee confidants pledge not to take any appointed post

Seven confidants of ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Monday they will not take any appointed post even if Lee is elected, as they appealed for support for Lee amid sluggish support. The pledge from the seven former and current lawmakers, including the ruling Democratic Party's secretary-general Rep. Kim Young-jin and Rep. Jung Sung-ho, came as main opposition rival Yoon Suk-yeol has overtaken Lee in opinion polls. Earlier in the day, a survey showed Yoon is leading Lee wi

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

S. Korea says it's closely monitoring N. Korea's nuclear, missile activities

South Korea's unification ministry said Monday it is keeping tabs on North Korea's nuclear and missile activities after Pyongyang hinted last week at lifting its self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests. On Wednesday, North Korea held a politburo meeting of its ruling Workers' Party, presided over by leader Kim Jong-un, and decided to consider restarting "all temporally-suspended" activities, citing Washington's "hostile policy" against its regime. As

North KoreaJan. 24, 2022

Prosecution probing allegations Yoon refused raid on religious sect as prosecution chief

Prosecutors have opened a probe into allegations that main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, while serving as prosecutor general, refused to conduct a raid on a religious sect accused of spreading COVID-19 following advice from a shamanic adviser, sources said Monday. The Segye Times daily carried a report on the allegations last week, saying Yoon refused to carry out a prosecution search into the Shincheonji Church of Jesus in February 2020 over quarantine violations, upon a rec

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Lee pledges 'transportation revolution' for Gyeonggi residents

Ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung said Monday he will push for a "transportation revolution" to reduce commute times in the Seoul metropolitan area to less than 30 minutes by investing heavily in high-speed trains. Lee of the Democratic Party (DP) said he will pay particular attention to improving the job-housing proximity for residents of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, by expanding the construction of Great Train Express (GTX) commuter rail networks, subway

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Military to bolster coronavirus testing capacity amid omicron fears

South Korea's military plans to beef up its COVID-19 testing capacity amid the emergence of the omicron variant as the dominant strain in the country, according to the defense ministry Monday. Health authorities said omicron took up 50 percent of newly added variant infections last week, sparking concerns over the spread of the more infectious strain in the country. In response, the military said it plans to enhance its polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing capacity by increasing the number

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

New COVID-19 cases above 7,000 for 3rd day amid persistent omicron fears

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed above 7,000 for the third straight day Monday amid deepening concerns over the fast spreading omicron variant that has become the dominant strain in the country. The country added 7,513 new COVID-19 infections, including 7,159 local infections, raising the total caseload to 741,413, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest tally almost doubled from last Monday's 3,857. It marks the fourth-largest daily figure s

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

Yoon leads Lee 42% to 36.8%: poll

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol is leading his ruling party rival Lee Jae-myung with 42 percent public support against Lee's 36.8 percent, a survey showed Monday. Yoon of the People Power Party (PPP) gained 1.4 percentage points from the previous week, while Lee of the Democratic Party edged up 0.1 point, according to the Realmeter survey conducted on 3,046 adults from Jan. 16 to 21. Yoon led Lee by 5.2 percentage points, which was outside the margin of error of plus or mi

PoliticsJan. 24, 2022

Number of discouraged workers hits new high in 2021

The number of discouraged workers in South Korea touched a fresh all-time high in 2021 due to a weak job market amid the prolonged coronavirus pandemic, government data showed Monday. Asia's fourth-largest economy had 628,000 discouraged workers, the largest tally since related data tracking began in 2014, according to the data from Statistics Korea. Discouraged workers refer to those who are currently unemployed and have not sought to find jobs in the last four weeks due to no suitable job op

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022

Firefighters battling fire at fiber factory in Ulsan

Firefighters have been trying overnight to put out a blaze that broke out at a synthetic fiber manufacturing factory in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Sunday, authorities said. The fire broke out at 6:55 p.m. at a combined seven-story factory of Hyosung TNC Corp. and has not been contained for over 11 hours, according to the Ulsan Fire Department. Two of the factory's workers were sent to a hospital after inhaling smoke while trying to extinguish the fire at an early stage. The fire is ass

Social AffairsJan. 24, 2022