Carbon neutrality law will serve as basis for reducing emissions: Environment Minister

Korea will become the 14th country in the world to legislate a carbon neutrality act, if it is so enacted by the National Assembly, and lay the foundations for future measures, Environment Minister Han Jeoung-ae said Tuesday. “The carbon neutrality act will serve as a basis for putting carbon neutrality at the center in regards to planning the national budget and coming up with new policies,” Han told reporters. Last week, the National Assembly‘s Environment and Labor Commi

Aug. 24, 2021

Army noncommissioned officer in hospital after suicide attempts following sexual abuse

An Army noncommissioned officer was hospitalized following multiple suicide attempts after suffering alleged sexual harassment and bullying by her colleagues, the victim's family has said, in yet another sex crime in barracks and the military's failure to protect the victim. According to a petition posted on an online bulletin of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae, the staff sergeant allegedly suffered sexual harassment, molestation and stalking by a sergeant first class of the same unit aft

Aug. 24, 2021

Delta variant cases spike to over 13,000 in S. Korea

South Korea has confirmed 2,899 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, including 2,874 of the highly transmissible delta variant, health authorities said Tuesday. The caseload of such infections reached 16,842 here, with the number of delta cases, first reported in India, tallied at 13,454, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The tally indicates that the delta variant is becoming the dominant strain of COVID-19 h

Aug. 24, 2021

Schools in Seoul removing regulations on students' underwear color

Schools in Seoul have begun scrapping rules requiring their students to don all-white underwear in the face of mounting criticism that such a policy can violate human rights, the city's education office said Tuesday. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said a total of six girls' middle and high schools have removed or revised their dress codes that regulate the color of students' underwear and socks, and 25 more plan to do so by the end of this year. The office said the 31 of the city's

Aug. 24, 2021

Bill reignites controversy over BTS conscription

A fresh bill proposing military exemptions for K-pop artists and athletes has reignited controversy. On Tuesday, Rep. Sung Il-jong of the main opposition People Power Party said he had proposed a bill that would excuse men from military service if they promoted national prestige. The exemptions would apply to top K-pop stars, such as the members of boy band BTS, and athletes who set national records. The regulations were revised in December to allow leading pop culture artists to postpone

Aug. 24, 2021

East Sea's water temperature rises to record high in July

BUSAN -- July's average sea surface temperature in the waters between South Korea and Japan reached the highest level in 40 years, a think tank said Tuesday, calling for countermeasures against ocean subtropicalization. According to the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology, the East Sea's average sea surface temperature was 22.2 C last month, the highest since relevant record keeping began in 1982 and 2.7 C higher than the average of the past 30 years. Considering an increase of a m

Aug. 24, 2021

New COVID-19 cases above 1,500, vaccinations to speed up

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases bounced back to above 1,500 on Tuesday with COVID-19 infections showing little signs of abating as health authorities strive to speed up vaccinations. The country added 1,509 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,470 local infections, raising the total caseload to 239,287, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Tuesday's tally was compared with 1,418 on Monday, 1,628 on Sunday, 1,880 last Saturday and 2,052 last Friday. Daily

Aug. 24, 2021

Typhoon Omais leaves behind flooded homes, damaged roads, railways in S. Korea

Typhoon Omais weakened into an extratropical cyclone Tuesday morning, after making landfall around midnight Monday, flooding roads and houses, and forcing more than 10,000 people to evacuate in southern South Korean cities that lay in its path. Typhoon warnings issued the previous day were all lifted, but the weather service forecast heavy rains of up to 200 millimeters with strong winds, as well as occasional lightning and thunder, to continue throughout the day in the coastal areas and southe

Aug. 24, 2021

Typhoon Omais passing near S. Korea's southern island of Jeju

Typhoon Omais reached close to South Korea's southern resort island of Jeju on Monday, bringing heavy rains and strong winds, the weather agency said. The typhoon, packing a maximum wind speed of 25.3 meters per second, arrived near Seogwipo city of Jeju at around 7:40 p.m., and was travelling northeastward, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). It is forecast to be downgraded to an extratropical cyclone after midnight, but continue to bring heavy downpours and strong w

Aug. 23, 2021

Will abolishing private schools fix public education?

Private high schools in Korea face a phased abolition under Moon Jae-in administration’s policy aimed at widening equal opportunity in education. The education reform efforts will strip more than 70 private high schools of their status by 2025. But the move to abolish private schools is met by strong protest, with some critics decrying it as “unconstitutional.” “Abolishing private schools undermines the diversity and autonomy of edu

Aug. 23, 2021

Critical care patient numbers at last winter surge levels

Korea is seeing COVID-19 patients requiring critical care at levels last seen during the surge in the winter, with cities running out of beds to accommodate them. The number of critically sick patients reached 403 on Saturday, the highest since the string of nursing home outbreaks in January, exhausting hospitals across Korea. No critical care beds were left in Daejeon by Saturday’s end, with only about 30 percent remaining nationwide. COVID-19 projections by the National Institute f

Aug. 23, 2021

S. Korea to have 170m doses of COVID-19 vaccines next year: Cheong Wa Dae

South Korea will have 170 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines available next year for the country's population of 52 million, a top Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday. President Moon Jae-in's Chief of Staff You Young-min made the comment apparently aimed at easing public concerns about the supply of vaccines during a National Assembly session. The total volume of vaccines that South Korea will be able to use in 2022 will reach 170 million doses, more than treble the nation's population, he said

Aug. 23, 2021

Afghans in Korea call for support as public split on refugee issue

About 30 families representing Afghans who have worked for the Korean government in the war-torn country called for support from authorities in front of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on Monday. “We are here to appeal to the Korean government to save our family because our families in Afghanistan are on the verge of being killed by the Taliban for cooperating with Korea,” one of the Afghan protesters told reporters. The protesters fear the fate of their Afghan relatives who have c

Aug. 23, 2021

Despite virus woes, illegal operation of nighttime entertainment facilities continues

More than 4,000 people have been apprehended at illegally operating nighttime entertainment businesses over the last seven weeks, the National Police Agency said Monday. According to police, 635 cases of illegal activities have been uncovered after conducting on-site inspections of 56,699 businesses across the country from July 3 until Sunday. Police said there were 3,566 people who violated the infectious disease control and prevention act. The rest were violations of either the food sanitat

Aug. 23, 2021

[Contribution] Korea’s journey toward objective, scientific weather forecasts

I am quite sure that most people have the experience of being surprised by a sudden downpour in the middle of a sunny day. Due to the advancement of technology, the predictability of the rapid changes in weather phenomena has improved significantly, but is still not perfect. Why are weather forecasts not always accurate, even in the modern era? Weather predictions do not seem that difficult considering the fact that we can predict solar or lunar eclipse with a great deal of accuracy. Believe

Aug. 23, 2021

[Newsmaker] Seoul subway workers to launch strike next month to protest restructuring plan

Seoul’s subway workers on Monday warned of a full strike next month to protest Seoul Metro’s massive restructuring plan, the company’s response to continuing financial losses. Unionized workers at Seoul Metro said at a press conference Monday that they will stage a full-scale walkout on Sept. 14 unless the central government and the Seoul Metropolitan Government withdraw the restructuring plan and devote the funds to improving the corporation’s financial standing. The u

Aug. 23, 2021

S. Korea's manufacturing workforce aging fast over past decade: report

South Korea's manufacturing workforce has been aging fast over the past 10 years, stoking concerns that it may undercut the country's growth potential drastically down the road, a report said Monday. People aged 50 and older accounted for 30.1 percent of the country's total manufacturing workers in 2020, up from 15.7 percent 10 years earlier, according to the report from the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). In contrast, the ratio of manufacturing workers in their 30s fell to 27.8 perc

Aug. 23, 2021

New COVID-19 cases fall below 1,500, toughest virus curbs extended

South Korea's daily new coronavirus fell below 1,500 on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend, as health authorities extended the toughest virus curbs for another two weeks to battle the worst wave of the pandemic. The country added 1,418 more COVID-19 cases, including 1,370 local infections, raising the total caseload to 237,782, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Monday's tally was down from 2,052 on Friday, 1,880 on Saturday and 1,628 on Sunday. But t

Aug. 23, 2021

Downpours, strong winds forecast in Jeju, southern coastal areas, as typhoon expected to make landfall

The southern coastal region is forecast to be hit by heavy downpours and strong winds Monday, as Typhoon Omais is projected to make landfall there later at night, the national weather agency said. The typhoon was located at some 500 kilometers southwest off Jeju as of 9 a.m. and advancing slowly toward the Korean Peninsula at 31 kph, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. It is projected to pass the southern resort island of Jeju at night and be downgraded to an extratropical cycl

Aug. 23, 2021

Moderna to supply S. Korea with 7m doses of vaccines over next 2 weeks: PM

US pharmaceutical company Moderna plans to provide South Korea with 7 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine in the coming two weeks, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Sunday, following a supply disruption due to a production issue at the company. "Moderna has notified the government that it will provide a total of 7 million vaccine doses over the next two weeks," Kim said during a daily interagency meeting on the government's coronavirus response. The announcement was made following a

Aug. 22, 2021