[Newsmaker] Buddhist monks fined for breaching social distancing guidelines

Buddhist monks are facing criticism after seven of them were caught having a private gathering in violation of local social distancing guidelines. According to the local government of Haenam in South Jeolla Province, there was a report of several Buddhist monks having a meal together with alcoholic drinks on Monday evening, when the region’s social distancing guidelines prohibiting private gatherings of more than four people had come into effect. A photograph showed eight people sitting

July 22, 2021

Former chief of S. Korea's largest Buddhist sect, social activist dies

Ven. Wolju, a former chief of South Korea's largest Buddhist sect who devoted himself to social movements, passed away Thursday. He was 87. The former chief executive of the Jogye Order died at 9:45 a.m. at Geumsan Temple in Gimje, some 200 kilometers south of Seoul, after suffering from pneumonia, according to the order. Born in 1935, he entered the Buddhist priesthood in the 1950s. He took the initiative in leading a nationwide purification campaign of Korean Buddhism in 1961 and worked in t

July 22, 2021

Sweltering heat continues to bake S. Korea

Unrelenting heat continued in most parts of the country Thursday, with temperatures reaching the upper 30s in some of the hottest areas, the weather agency said. Heat warnings remained in effect for most of the country, where the average temperature was recorded in the range of 28 C-36 C nationwide, with some southwestern inland cities reaching as high as 38 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The scorching warm weather eased only slightly during the night. And the s

July 22, 2021

New cases break record for 2nd day; toughest curbs likely to be extended

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hit a fresh high of over 1,800 on Thursday with mass infections from a virus-hit Naval unit, while authorities are increasingly inclined to extend the toughest virus restrictions in the wider Seoul area amid no signs of letup. The country added 1,842 COVID-19 cases, including 1,533 local infections, raising the total caseload to 184,103, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was the highest ever since th

July 22, 2021

COVID-19 patient from Uzbekistan captured after escaping from treatment facility

ASAN -- An Uzbek national, infected with the new coronavirus, was captured shortly after he escaped from a residential treatment center in a South Chungcheong Province city earlier this week, sources said Thursday. The 24-year-old ran away from the Police Human Resources Development Institute in Asan, about 100 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 2 p.m. Tuesday. The institute is currently being used as a treatment facility for COVID-19 patients with mild or no symptoms. Upon learning of the

July 22, 2021

Seoul presses Gangnam, Seocho and Yangcheon over jabs for hagwon teachers, others

Seoul officials said clinics in Gangnam, Seocho and Yangcheon districts were specifically instructed Wednesday afternoon to allow eligible people COVID-19 vaccinations without an appointment, after several were turned away this week against city guidance. The instructions allow people with priority eligibility, such as teachers and deliver workers, who could not obtain an appointment to get vaccinated without a reservation until the end of this month. Wednesday’s direction to vaccinati

July 21, 2021

16 more USFK-affiliated individuals test positive for COVID-19

Sixteen people affiliated with US Forces Korea have recently tested positive for the new coronavirus, the US military said Wednesday, amid the fourth wave of the pandemic across the country. The latest cases -- confirmed between July 15-19 -- raised the total number of infections reported among the USFK-affiliated population to 1,101. Of the newly added cases, Camp Casey in Dongducheon, 40 kilometers north of Seoul, and Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul each reported s

July 21, 2021

Pressure grows on Korea to extend intensive social distancing

Korea saw a renewed one-day high of 1,784 cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, with the majority of them coming from the Seoul area, as some experts call for tougher interventions to contain the spread. For the wider Seoul area -- which includes Gyeonggi Province and Incheon -- the fourth and strictest degree of social distancing is set to expire Sunday, after coming into effect two weeks prior. More than two people cannot mingle at a time past 6 p.m. under the restrictions, among other measures.

July 21, 2021

Chinese land-buying spree raises speculation concerns

A Chinese spending spree on property and land in South Korea if left unchecked may fuel a rise in already skyrocketing housing prices, a lawmaker warned Wednesday, calling for stricter regulations on property ownership by foreign nationals. Land bought by foreign nationals increased from an area of 190 million square meters worth 24.9 trillion won ($21.6 billion) in 2011 to 253 million square meters worth 31.4 trillion won in 2020, each 1.3 times more than what it was almost a decade ago, off

July 21, 2021

Action for Clean Environment Fellowship for Young Leaders Program Completion Ceremony Held in Seoul

Action for Clean Environment (ACE), a global non-profit organization with a mission to facilitate global environmental activism, successfully completed the 2021 Fellowship for Young Leaders Program. This was the second year for the program and a ceremony was held last Saturday by Zoom (Virtual Ceremony) in Seoul, Korea to mark the occasion.  Nine students of various ages, fourth to eleventh grade, participated in the program this year. Dawi Yoon from Yongsan International School of Seoul

July 21, 2021

S. Korea gripped by sweltering heat wave

Almost all parts of the nation, excluding some inland mountain and east coastal areas, were put under a heat wave warning or an advisory Wednesday, as a full-scale sweltering heat began to scorch the peninsula. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said that daytime highs are to range from 28 C to 36 C nationwide in the day and the maximum daily temperature may further rise to 38 C later this week. A heat wave warning has been in place in Seoul for two days and the mercury is forecast

July 21, 2021

New daily cases set another record of over 1,700 amid rise of delta variant

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hit a fresh high of over 1,700 on Wednesday as cluster infections continued to spread across the nation amid a fast rise of highly contagious delta variant cases. The country added 1,784 COVID-19 cases, including 1,726 local infections, raising the total caseload to 182,265, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was the highest ever since the country confirmed the first case in January 2020. The daily

July 21, 2021

[News Focus] Korea No. 1 in growth of part-timer portion in OECD

SEJONG -- South Korea recorded the highest growth in the percentage of workers in part-time positions among 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in the past two years. In its analysis on the part-time workers by the Paris-based organization for its members, 15.37 percent of all employed Koreans aged 15 or over had part-time job status as of 2020. Compared to 2018, when the figure stood at 12.2 percent, this marked a surge of 3.17 percentage points in only tw

July 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] The worst of heat yet to come

With heat wave warnings issued nationwide Tuesday, Korea is likely to see temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius this week, and possibly a return of the record-breaking heat in 2018 due to a “heat dome” phenomenon, the chief of a nongovernmental weather agency said. “Korea saw the hottest day ever recorded on Aug. 1, 2018, when temperatures hit 39.6 degrees in Seoul and 41 degrees in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. These were official observatory records, and automatic weather stat

July 20, 2021

Variant cases top 4,600, delta spreading fast in S. Korea

South Korea has confirmed 1,252 more cases of four major contagious variants of the new coronavirus over the past week, with the portion of the highly transmissible delta variant spiking, health authorities said Tuesday. The country's total cases of four major variants stood at 4,605 as of Saturday, and of the variant cases newly identified between July 11 and 17, the delta variant accounted for 76 percent, or 951 cases, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The

July 20, 2021

Incheon trashes Greater Seoul’s landfill hopes

The Ministry of Environment has once again come up empty-handed in its attempt to find a local government willing to build an alternative landfill to take in waste generated from Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province. Incheon’s Sudokwon Landfill has been handling garbage from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province since 1992, but the city government announced last year that it would scrap the arrangement after 2025 when the contract expires. The Environment Ministry first conducted a search for po

July 20, 2021

Record number of young Koreans prepare for job exams amid pandemic

The number of young South Koreans preparing to take exams for public jobs and professional licenses hit a record high in May as the job market remained sluggish amid the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. The data released by Statistics Korea showed that 859,000, or 19.1 percent of 4.49 million economically inactive people aged 15-29, prepared for exams to land jobs in May, up 55,000 from a year earlier. The proportion was also up from 17.1 percentage points last year. It marked the largest number

July 20, 2021

Scorching heat wave begins this week

A scorching heat wave is to hit the Korean Peninsula beginning this week, the state weather agency said Tuesday, without ruling out the possibility of extremely hot weather due to stagnant high-pressure air masses. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said that the seasonal monsoon period is to virtually end on the peninsula after some scattered rain showers nationwide in the day and full-scale sweltering heat will take over. Daytime highs will rise by up to 3 C to above 35 C in many

July 20, 2021

4 teenagers killed, 1 injured in car accident in Jeonju

JEONJU -- Four teenagers were killed and one injured in a car accident in the southwestern city of Jeonju on Tuesday, local authorities said. According to Deokjin Police Station and Jeonbuk Fire Safety Headquarters, a car driven by a 19-year-old crashed into a 14-ton truck that was making an illegal left turn around 4:05 a.m. on a road in Jeonju, about 240 kilometers south of Seoul. The truck was found to have made the left turn on the third lane of the road where such an act is prohibited.

July 20, 2021

New daily cases over 1,200 for 2nd day, spreading delta variant worrisome

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 1,200s for the second consecutive day Tuesday due to fewer tests amid scorching hot weather, as authorities are tightening their guard against the fast spread of the highly contagious delta variant across the nation. The country added 1,278 COVID-19 cases, including 1,242 local infections, raising the total caseload to 180,481, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest figure was up from 1,252 on Mon

July 20, 2021