[Photo News] Medical workers dress up as Santa Claus at a COVID-19 testing center

Medical workers on Wednesday dressed up as Santa Claus at a COVID-19 testing center in Gwangju.  To celebrate the upcoming Christmas, doctors and nurses at the testing center conducted COVID-19 tests in Santa Claus outfits. The number of COVID-19 cases rapidly increased this month, with some 7,000 cases reported each day. Amid the worsening COVID-19 situation, medical workers turned into Santa Claus to light up the atmosphere of the testing center.  The Santa Claus outfit that worke

Dec. 25, 2021

Number of S. Koreans studying abroad falls 41% in 2020 amid pandemic: ministry

The number of South Koreans studying in foreign nations in 2020 dropped 41 percent from two years earlier amid the COVID-19 pandemic, data showed Friday. There were 171,343 South Korean students abroad at the end of last year, a decrease from 293,157 recorded at the end of 2018, according to the foreign ministry's report on Korean expatriates. The total number of South Koreans abroad fell 6.53 percent over the same period to 2.51 million, apparently affected by the virus situation. (Yonhap)

Dec. 24, 2021

Number of one-person households jumps 27.5% over past 5 years

The number of single-member households in South Korea soared more than 27 percent in 2020 from five years earlier, government data showed Friday, amid a delay in marriage and a rapidly aging population. One-person families numbered 6.64 million last year, up 27.5 percent from five years earlier and accounting for 31.7 percent of the total 20.93 million, according to the data by Statistics Korea. By age, men took up 49.7 percent of single-person households, with their number soaring 42.7 percen

Dec. 24, 2021

Seoul education chief indicted in alleged power abuse case

Prosecutors on Friday indicted Seoul's top education official on charges of alleged abuse of power in the process of hiring teachers who had been fired for engaging in union activities. Cho Hee-yeon, the superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, was charged without detention for allegedly influencing the process of reinstating five dismissed teachers, including members of a teachers' labor union, in 2018. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office also pressed charges ag

Dec. 24, 2021

Season's 1st cold wave warning issued for Seoul, many parts of Korea

This season's first cold wave warning will be issued in the greater Seoul area and many other parts of the country on Friday night, with temperatures expected to plummet to as low as minus 15 C the following morning, the weather agency said. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the cold wave warning will take effect at 9 p.m. in the capital area, most of Gangwon Province and many other central inland regions. The warning is issued when the morning low is expected to fall more tha

Dec. 24, 2021

New COVID-19 cases fall below 7,000 for 2nd day; critical cases hit record high

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 on Friday for the second day in a row on the back of antivirus restrictions, but critical cases surged to a record high again. The country added 6,233 more COVID-19 cases, including 6,163 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 596,209, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's tally is down from 6,918 on Thursday and sharply down from 7,434 reported on Dec. 17. The number of critically ill patients, h

Dec. 24, 2021

COVAX allocates 1.29m additional COVID-19 vaccine doses to N. Korea

The COVAX Facility, a global vaccine distribution platform, has assigned 1.29 million doses of additional COVID-19 vaccines to North Korea, a UN website showed Friday. According to the U.N. Children's Fund's COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard, the addition increases the number of vaccines allocated to North Korea to 8.12 million doses. The number is up from the previously known 6.83 million, including 4.7 million doses of COVAX allocated to the North last month. The type of the newly allocated

Dec. 24, 2021

BOK to adjust monetary policy next year amid inflation woes

South Korea's central bank said Friday that it will "appropriately" adjust its monetary policy next year, given a variety of factors that could quicken inflation, suggesting that it will maintain the move to hike the key interest rate. In a report laying out its monetary policy direction for 2022, the Bank of Korea (BOK) also expected that the country's inflation will run in its 2 percent target range next year but expressed concerns over intensifying upward pressure from global suppl

Dec. 24, 2021

S. Korea in final stage of signing contract for Pfizer's oral COVID-19 pill: PM

South Korea is in the final stage of signing a contract with US drug giant Pfizer Inc. to get its oral drug for COVID-19, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday. "The government has been discussing a purchasing deal with Pfizer for a volume that is much more than our previously announced plan of 70,000 people," Kim said during a COVID-19 response meeting in Seoul. "We will announce the deal in detail once we confirm the contract and our drug safety agency approves emergency use

Dec. 24, 2021

Unionized delivery workers at CJ Logistics to go on strike next week

Unionized delivery workers of South Korea's leading logistics firm CJ Logistics Corp. said Thursday they will launch a general strike next week, calling for better working conditions and steps to prevent overwork. Of 20,000 delivery workers at the logistics arm of the country's conglomerate CJ Group, some 1,700 couriers who have the right to strike are expected to launch an indefinite walkout Tuesday. The walkout plan was approved by 93.6 percent of the vote by 2,290 unionized members earlier

Dec. 23, 2021

Supreme Court rules grandparents can adopt their grandchild for child's welfare purpose

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that grandparents can legally adopt their own grandchild, even though the child's biological parent is alive, when the arrangement is in the interest of the child's welfare. The top court ruled in favor grandparents who filed an appeal to adopt their own grandchildren, and transferred the case to a district court in Ulsan, 415 kilometers southeast of Seoul, for a retrial. The decision was the first Supreme Court ruling which allowed grandparents to adopt the

Dec. 23, 2021

Hospital overload: Korea orders 210 COVID-19 patients to leave ICUs

The South Korean government is ordering COVID-19 patients out of intensive care units as hospitals across the country continue to face a severe shortage of beds. The executive orders were issued Wednesday afternoon to 210 patients who have been hospitalized in COVID-19 ICUs for longer than 20 days, the Ministry of Health and Welfare confirmed Thursday. The ministry said 71 patients have been moved to non-COVID-19 ICUs or other “step-down” beds providing less intensive care accordi

Dec. 23, 2021

Do not wear earphones while walking alone: crime expert

Wearing earphones while walking alone at night could make you a target for crime, warned a leading Korean crime expert.  “It’s important to be alert at all times. I never park my car in dark areas and wear earphones in alleys,” said Lee Soo-jung, a criminal psychology professor at Kyonggi University, during an episode of MBC TV’s “Radio Star” that aired on Wednesday. “Always be aware of your surroundings.” Lee’s advice against the us

Dec. 23, 2021

Prosecutors appeal Air Force officer's 9-yr prison term in sex abuse case

Military prosecutors have appealed a recent court decision to sentence an Air Force service member to nine years in prison on charges of sexually abusing a now deceased female colleague, officials said Thursday. On Tuesday, the prosecutors filed the appeal. They had sought a 15-year prison term for the master sergeant purported to have groped the victim of the same rank inside a car in March. She took her own life in May. On Friday last week, the General Military Court meted out the nine-year

Dec. 23, 2021

Corporate retirement pension funds gain 16.1% in 2020

SEJONG -- Corporate retirement pension funds under management expanded more than 16 percent in 2020 from a year earlier as the system has taken root here, government data showed Thursday. Cumulative corporate retirement pension funds stood at 255 trillion won ($214 billion) as of end-December last year, up 16.1 percent from a year ago, according to the data first compiled by Statistics Korea. A total of 408,000 companies adopted the scheme for their employees as of last year, up 3.5 percent fr

Dec. 23, 2021

[Interactive] Animal shelter rescues dogs left behind

Dec. 23, 2021

6 in 10 company workers say public sector seriously corrupt: survey

More than 6 out of 10 workers at big and medium-sized companies think the country's public sector is heavily corrupt, a survey showed Thursday. In the survey of 1,000 workers, conducted by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, 61.9 percent said that corruption in the public sector is serious, up from 49.8 perent last year. The corresponding figures for 2017-2019 were 55.4 percent, 56.2 percent and 48.1 percent, respectively. By sector, construction, national defense and the prosecution

Dec. 23, 2021

New COVID-19 cases fall below 7,000, but critical cases, deaths hit record highs

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 on Thursday, but critical cases and deaths surged to record highs as the country has reimposed antivirus restrictions amid the resurgence of infections and spread of the omicron variant. The country added 6,919 more COVID-19 cases, including 6,856 local infections, bringing the cumulative total to 589,978, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Thursday's tally is down from 7,456 on Wednesday but higher than 5,202 reported T

Dec. 23, 2021

[Newsmaker] Is vaccine pass constitutional? Korea is about to find out

South Korea’s Consitutional Court is set to review whether the COVID-19 pass is constitutional.  The Constitutional Court said Tuesday evening its full bench of nine justices would review the constitutionality of the pass’s enactment. The court’s full bench is usually summoned when a case is deemed to hold legitimacy. The COVID-19 pass, or vaccine pass, was implemented nationwide on Dec. 13 and requires people to present digitized proof of full vaccination or a negative

Dec. 22, 2021

S. Korea to add 10,000 hospital beds as critical COVID cases rise

South Korea will secure 10,000 additional hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in January to counter the increasing number of critically ill coronavirus patients, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Wednesday. If the government successfully adds hospital beds, the total number could increase to 25,000. “(The government) will take preemptive measures in case the country’s daily COVID-19 cases reach 15,000,” Kim said during a COVID-19 response meeting of the Central Disaster and

Dec. 22, 2021