[News Focus] US nationals could overtake Chinese as most numerous foreign visitors to Korea

SEJONG -- US nationals are likely to make up the largest proportion of inbound foreign visitors this year, overtaking Chinese visitors, who have held the No. 1 position for more than a decade. According to the Korea Immigration Service, the total number of foreigners who visited South Korea posted 747,813 for the first nine months of the year. Data showed that almost 1 in 4 of the non-Korean visitors were US nationals: They made up 24.2 percent of the 181,558 people who visited Korea during t

Oct. 21, 2021

[Newsmaker] New law strengthens punishment for stalkers, expands reach

A new law came into effect Thursday in South Korea imposing stiffer penalties for stalkers, amid growing calls for tougher penalties for offenders. Under the new legislation, stalkers can face up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($25,500) in fines. Up to five years in prison or a fine of 50 million won is possible if a weapon or other physically threatening means are used. Before the law came, stalking was categorized as a misdemeanor, meaning a fine not exceeding 100,000 won or 29 d

Oct. 21, 2021

Thief of Korean abstract master's painting gets six-year prison sentence

A man who was sentenced by a district court to four years in prison for stealing a painting by South Korean abstract master Kim Whan-ki has been given a heavier sentence by an appellate court after he was found to have stolen other paintings, judicial officials said Thursday. The Seoul High Court handed out a six-year prison sentence to the man surnamed Kim, who was indicted for stealing the late painter Kim's painting titled "10-Ⅴ-73 #314," also known as "Sanulrim" (Echo am

Oct. 21, 2021

One found dead, two sailors rescued from capsized ship near Dokdo

One of nine crew members of a fishing boat that capsized in the East Sea on Wednesday has been found dead, and two have been rescued, police said Thursday. From 6:30 a.m. Thursday, the Coast Guard dispatched 14 divers to search the overturned ship. In the process, one of the crew was found dead in the wheelhouse. By collating the scene photo with his driver‘s license, the deceased found in the wheelhouse was identified as the captain, surnamed Park, 62, police said in the afternoon bri

Oct. 21, 2021

S. Korea prepares to launch 1st homegrown space rocket

South Korea was preparing Thursday to launch its first homegrown space launch vehicle in the latest attempt to foster its space program and join the elite global space club. The KSLV-II -- also known as Nuri -- is set to blast off from the Naro Space Center in the country's southern coastal village of Goheung at around 4 p.m., the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) said. The 200-ton Nuri is intended to put a 1.5-ton dummy satellite into orbit, a space launch vehicle technology that Sout

Oct. 21, 2021

New virus cases slightly dip amid speedy vaccination campaign

South Korea reported fewer than 1,500 daily cases Thursday, continuing a downward trend since the fourth wave of the pandemic peaked in late September, due to the accelerating rate of vaccinations. The country reported 1,441 new cases, including 1,430 local infections, raising the total caseload to 347,529, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said.  Thursday's tally is down by 130 from the 1,571 counted the previous day. It is also down by 498 from the number reported a week

Oct. 21, 2021

1 found dead, 2 rescued after boat capsizes near Dokdo

One crew member was found dead and two others were rescued Thursday after a fishing boat capsized in waters near South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo a day earlier, the Coast Guard said. Six people remained unaccounted for after the 72-ton vessel capsized in waters 168 kilometers northeast of Dokdo at 2:24 p.m. on Wednesday, as officials stepped up search and rescue operations, including sending 14 divers into the capsized boat. The nine-member crew consisted of three South Koreans, four

Oct. 21, 2021

Military to appeal court order to cancel discharge of deceased transgender soldier

The military will seek to appeal a recent court ruling in favor of a deceased transgender soldier who had filed a suit over its decision to discharge her against her will, a defense ministry official said Wednesday. In a landmark ruling earlier this month, the Daejeon District Court judged it was unfair for the military to discharge Byun Hee-soo, formerly a staff sergeant in her 20s, over her gender reassignment surgery in 2019. Byun underwent the surgery in Thailand in 2019, two years after v

Oct. 20, 2021

Ship carrying nine capsizes near Dokdo

A fishing boat carrying nine crew members capsized in waters off the nation’s easternmost islets of Dokdo on Wednesday, according to the Coast Guard, with rescue workers struggling due to high waves of up to 3 to 4 meters. As of 6 p.m., no survivors had been found. The Coast Guard said it received a report from Japan at around 2:24 p.m that a 72-ton ship carrying nine crew members had overturned in the sea about 168 kilometers from Dokdo. The overturned ship was a fishing vessel built

Oct. 20, 2021

Why aren’t COVID-19 deaths falling?

Ahead of South Korea’s highly anticipated return to normal early next month, COVID-19 deaths are stagnating just as cases are declining throughout the country. In June, by which time vaccinations of people in their 70s and older had been more or less completed, the case fatality rate had fallen to 0.35 percent from 1.56 percent in February, when the national vaccine campaign against COVID-19 kicked off. The case fatality was 0.36 percent and 0.34 percent for August and September, res

Oct. 20, 2021

Ship carrying 9 capsizes in waters northeast of Dokdo

DONGHAE -- A ship carring nine crewmen capsized in waters off the country's easternmost islets of Dokdo Wednesday, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard has been informed by Japanese authorities that the 72-ton vessel capsized at 2:24 p.m. in waters 168 kilometers northeast of Dokdo. The Donghae regional office of the Coast Guard dispatched a pair of patrol ships and a helicopter to conduct a search, according to officials. The exact damage from the sinking was not immediately known. (Yonhap

Oct. 20, 2021

Umbrella union pushes ahead with massive nationwide rally

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, a major umbrella labor group in South Korea, staged a nationwide rally Wednesday to demand improved working conditions for laborers in defiance of authorities’ request to walk back from the plan in fear of a virus resurgence. The labor group announced earlier in the day that it would move forward with its plan to hold rallies in 14 areas throughout the country to demand better treatment of irregular workers, unionization rights for all laborers an

Oct. 20, 2021

Delta variant cases account for all new variant cases in S. Korea

South Korea has confirmed 3,245 more cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant over the past week, health authorities said Wednesday. New delta variant cases accounted for all of new variant cases detected last week, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). There are four different kinds of variants. The tally indicates the Delta variant is the dominant strain of the coronavirus in South Korea, making it more difficult for health authorities to curb the sprea

Oct. 20, 2021

BTS fans, environmental group build forest along Han River in honor of BTS member V

A group of some 170 fans of BTS member V, together with an environmental group, on Wednesday dedicated a grove they built alongside Seoul's Han River to the K-pop star. The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement said the grove of four zelkova and some 1,200 bridal-wreath trees, named Forest V No. 1, was formed on the Han River Park near the southern end of Jamsil Bridge a day earlier in a joint project to honor V, or Kim Tae-hyung. It is the latest urban forest-building collaboration bet

Oct. 20, 2021

Online sex crimes targeting teenagers surge elevenfold over past 3 years

More than 1,200 teenagers have fallen victim to online sex crimes so far this year, an elevenfold jump from 2018, government data showed Wednesday. The number of teenage victims rose sharply from 111 in 2018 to 1,268 this year, according to the gender ministry data released by Rep. Yang Kum-hee of the main opposition People Power Party. The ministry tallied the number based on data from the state-run Women's Human Rights Institute of Korea. Digital sex crime victims totaled 14,070 between A

Oct. 20, 2021

New virus cases rise on more testing, vaccination push continues

South Korea saw its new coronavirus cases rise by nearly 500 cases Wednesday, but the caseload stayed below 2,000 for the 12th straight day, as the country continued its vaccine campaign aimed at returning to normalcy. The country reported 1,571 new cases, including 1,556 local infections, raising the total caseload to 346,088, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Wednesday's tally is up by 498 from the 1,073 counted the previous day. The death toll came to 2,698, up

Oct. 20, 2021

Chinese fishing boat sinks off S. Korea's west coast, leaving 3 unconscious, 3 missing

A Chinese fishing boat capsized in waters off the southwestern city of Gunsan on Wednesday, leaving three crew members unconscious and three others missing, Coast Guard officials said. According to the Coast Guard, the 239-ton vessel capsized shortly after midnight in waters 124 kilometers southwest of Gunsan's Eocheong Island. Of the 15 crewmen aboard the ship, eight have been rescued by the Coast Guard and another Chinese boat that was fishing alongside the capsized vessel.   F

Oct. 20, 2021

[Herald Interview] When is a death linked to a COVID-19 vaccine?

WONJU, Gangwon Province -- The challenge facing the current stage of the pandemic is to vaccinate as many people as possible against COVID-19. As the vaccination campaign reaches wider populations, deaths are bound to be reported. And postmortem examinations play a pivotal role in ascertaining the safety of the vaccinations by determining if the vaccine is truly to blame. While the vaccine is extremely unlikely to harm people, every death deserves a thorough investigation, said Dr. Lee Sookyo

Oct. 19, 2021

Teachers face increasing sexual harassment

More than 150 cases of sexual harassment and violence against teachers were reported in the first half, as the number of cases rebounded and continued an upward trend that had existed before the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Of the 1,215 cases concerning infringement of teachers’ rights reported from the first six months of 2021, 118 fell under the category of actions that cause sexual humiliation or disgust while 33 were sexual crimes against teachers, according to the data submitted by

Oct. 19, 2021

First snow of the season falls on Mount Seorak

The first snow of the season fell on a portion of Mount Seorak in the northeast of the country Tuesday, 15 days earlier than last year, park authorities said. Flakes began falling at about 10 a.m. around Jungcheong Shelter, 1,676 meters above sea level, according to the Seoraksan National Park Office. The temperature was 0.4 C and the wind speed was 0.6 meters per second at that time. Snowfall was too light to accumulate, officials said. The season's first snow event occurred 15 days earlier

Oct. 19, 2021