Seoul to turn off lights of key landmarks for 'Earth Hour' campaign

The lights of key landmarks in Seoul, such as City Hall and Han River bridges, will be turned off for an hour Saturday evening as part of an annual global lights-out campaign raising awareness on climate change, city officials said. The landmarks, which also include Namsan Seoul Tower, the National Assembly building and Lotte World Tower, will go dark for an hour from 8:30 p.m. as part of the 2022 Earth Hour campaign, according to the city government. Other large buildings, such as department st

March 25, 2022

New cases below 400,000 for second day; concerns linger over spike amid eased curbs

South Korea reported fewer than 400,000 new cases for the second day in a row Friday as the omicron variant tightens its grip on the country. The country reported 339,514 new infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 11,162,232, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's daily tally was down from 395,597 on Thursday and 490,881 on Wednesday, which was the second-highest daily caseload. The death toll from COVID-19 came to 14,294, up 393 from Thursday,

March 25, 2022

UN-Habitat Korean committee holds seminar on platform economy

  Experts have discussed the current status and direction of the platform economy as part of policy seminar series of “The Digital Age, the Road to the Cooperative Economy of Korea” organized by the UN-Habitat Korean National Committee on Wednesday.  In this seminar, experts from each field participated in resolving the monopoly on platform profits and legislating. They discussed regulations on “dinosaur” platforms for two hours and policy recommendations for p

March 24, 2022

Digital gadgets lose function after short-lived QR code verification scheme

With the lifting of the IT-based COVID-19 contract tracing scheme, owners of cafes, restaurants, and small and medium-sized shops now ponder over what to do with the digital devices they used for scanning personal QR codes. Since March 1, the government scrapped electronic contact tracing and vaccine passes in which visitors to public facilities including singing rooms, indoor gyms and residential nursing homes were required to get checked through mobile applications on their smartphones.

March 24, 2022

Nearly 1 in 4 Koreans diagnosed with smartphone overdependence

Nearly a quarter of the South Korean public are dangerously reliant on smartphones, with almost 40 percent of the country’s youth diagnosed with smartphone overdependence, the Ministry of ICT and Science said Thursday. According to the ministry’s survey on the country’s digital divide and overdependence on smartphones, 24.2 percent of 10,000 households nationwide fell under the category of smartphone overdependence, up 0.9 percentage points on year. The ministry divided the

March 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] S. Korea reports all-time high daily COVID-19 deaths

South Korea reported the highest number of daily COVID-19 deaths during the 24 hours of Wednesday, the country’s health authorities said Thursday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 470 deaths in a single day, breaking the previous record of 429 reported a week ago. The total deaths from COVID-19 reached 13,902. Of the total, 7,130 deaths were reported between February and March, along with the rapid spread of the omicron variant here. The

March 24, 2022

New cases below 400,000; COVID-19 deaths hit all-time high as omicron tightens grip

South Korea reported nearly 400,000 new cases and record high deaths Thursday as the omicron variant is tightening its grip on the country, sickening nearly 20 percent of the 52 million population. The country reported 395,598 new infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 10,822,836, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. While the daily tally was a sharp drop from the previous day's 490,881, which was the second-highest daily caseload, deaths hit a new rec

March 24, 2022

Juvenile offenders with no criminal responsibility on steady rise

The number of teenage felons aged between 10 and 13, with no criminal responsibility, has been on a steady rise in recent years, a police report showed Thursday. Last year, 8,474 people in the age group committed violent crimes, marking an increase for the third consecutive year from 7,081 in 2019 and 7,535 in 2020, according to a National Police Agency report submitted to Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the ruling Democratic Party. Currently, those aged 14 and younger cannot be held criminally responsible

March 24, 2022

S. Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases rebound to nearly 500,000

South Korea added nearly 500,000 daily COVID-19 cases during the 24 hours of Tuesday, pushing the country’s accumulated figure over the 10 million mark. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country’s daily COVID-19 cases reached 490,881, the second-highest daily tally, after 621,205 cases reported Thursday last week. The country’s accumulated caseload surpassed 10,427,247, which accounts for around 20 percent of the country’s total populat

March 23, 2022

Yongsan History Museum opens its doors on Wednesday

Registered as Cultural Heritage No. 428, the former Yongsan Railway Hospital has been reborn as a local history museum, representative of Yongsan’s historicity and identity. The 2,775-square-meter museum is comprised of two stories above the ground, with a viewing capacity of 100 people. The space is divided into exhibition, education, administration, preservation, landscaping and public use. The Yongsan History Museum’s building in itself is a cultural heritage. The building, buil

March 23, 2022

Omicron wave pushes schools to brink

The ongoing COVID-19 surge in Korea is wreaking havoc on schools, leaving students, parents and teachers confused with quarantine protocols. The Education Ministry said Wednesday that 379,983 kindergarteners, elementary, middle and high school students in Korea were confirmed of COVID-19 from March 15 to Monday. A total of 1.05 million students have tested positive since the new semester began earlier this month. Even amid the virus crisis, more schools are continuing to hold in-person class

March 23, 2022

S. Korea approves 2nd COVID-19 pill Lagevrio

The South Korean government has approved the emergency use of anti-COVID-19 pill Lagevrio, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Wednesday. The medicine, co-developed by US pharmaceutical company MSD and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics, is the second anti-coronavirus pill to be authorized by the country’s health officials, following the approval of Pfizer’s antiviral drug Paxlovid in December. Amid the surging number of COVID-19 cases, the ministry said the approval decision was ma

March 23, 2022

For some, little incentives to get COVID-19 diagnosis

Kang, 42, who runs a butcher shop in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, experienced a sore throat and dry coughs two weeks ago, which are the common cold-like symptoms of the fast-spreading omicron variant. As expected, two lines appeared on an at-home test kit for COVID-19, meaning a positive result. Yet, instead of seeking an official diagnosis from a nearby public health center, Kang continued tending to his store to process pre-orders, with “extra attention to personal hygiene.” &ld

March 23, 2022

Women gets fine for revenge killing of husband’s dog

A woman who killed her husband’s dog after blaming it for premature birth of her child was sentenced to a 3 million won ($2,470) fine on violation of the Animal Protection Act at a district court on Wednesday. The accused, whose identity has been withheld by authorities, had been under trial for throwing her husband’s poodle out the window of their 11th floor apartment in Ulsan, last March.  After the premature birth of her child, she suggested to her husband that they should

March 23, 2022

Seoul city to offer subsidies for public transportation, moving costs of youths

The Seoul city government announced Wednesday it plans to offer subsidies for public transportation costs of young citizens regardless of income level starting next month as part of its new youth support scheme. According to the city's new comprehensive youth support plan announced by Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the government plans to offer up to 100,000 won ($82) won in annual transportation subsidies for those aged between 19 and 24, while providing up to 400,000 won for moving expenses for those aged

March 23, 2022

S. Korean Marine in Poland refuses to return home

South Korea's efforts to secure and bring home a Marine draftee who is currently in Poland without overseas travel permission have stalled due to his refusal to return, a Seoul official said Wednesday. South Korean Embassy personnel are waiting to contact the Marine outside a checkpoint in a Polish border region to which the man was taken after he was denied access to Ukraine on Tuesday. He is reportedly refusing to come out of the checkpoint for an unspecified reason. Embassy officials are not

March 23, 2022

S. Korea pushes to unveil secret dossiers on key inter-Korean talks

The South Korean government is seeking to reveal historic records on inter-Korean talks that have been kept secret for half a century, an informed source said Wednesday, a move that could offer a chance for the public to get a better glimpse into some watersheds in tumultuous ties between the two Koreas. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Unification set up a guideline to establish a legal basis on disclosing the documents on past inter-Korean talks, and it is currently conducting an internal re

March 23, 2022

SIS prepares for its 50th anniversary, and for the next 50 years ahead

Founded in 1973 by Edward Ben Adams, Seoul International School is one of Korea’s oldest international schools. Adams was born in Daegu in 1938, to a missionary family who devoted themselves to education in Korea. As Seoul International School prepares for its 50th anniversary next year, the school hopes to continue its tradition of inspiring students, and upholding its core values for the years to come, says the school’s current head of school, Michael Colaianni. In an interview pre

March 23, 2022

S. Korea identifies remains of 3 more Korean War troops

South Korea has identified the remains of three more troops killed in the 1950-53 Korean War following their excavation from former battle sites years ago, the defense ministry said Wednesday. Using an advanced DNA analysis method, the ministry's excavation team recently identified the remains of Hong In-seop, Park Gi-seong and Kim Jae-gyu, which were recovered in 2009, 2015 and 2017, respectively. During the conflict, Hong and Park held the ranks equivalent to the current corporal, while Kim he

March 23, 2022

S. Korea's daily coronavirus cases spike to near 500,000; total caseload surpasses 10m

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases spiked to near 500,000 on Wednesday, adding to concerns that infections continue to spike again as the accumulated caseload surpassed 10 million. The country had reported 490,881 new COVID-19 infections as of midnight, raising the total caseload to 10,427,247, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Wednesday's tally is the second-highest, after 621,205 new cases reported last Thursday. The total caseload breached the grim milestone of the

March 23, 2022