[Video] New committee makes moves to put ‘hanji’ on UNESCO heritage list

A committee to promote Korean traditional paper “hanji,” which are handmade from mulberry trees, was launched on Thursday in hopes it will win recognition as a UNESCO intangible cultural heritage. Politicians, public administrators and experts in the field of traditional craft making gathered at the Korea Press Center in central Seoul to discuss initiatives that need to be taken for hanji to be included on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Hu

April 30, 2021

Unseasonal snowfall covers mountains in Gangwon Province

Unseasonal snowfall blanketed mountainous areas of Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, on Friday, the last day of April usually known in South Korea as a season of early summer-like warm weather. Late-night rain turned into snow in the Gangwon mountains 1,300 meters above sea level early Friday morning, with 15 centimeters of snow recorded on and around the peak of Mount Seorak, about 200 kilometers east of Seoul, as of 9 a.m., according to national park officials there. Similar amounts of snow a

April 30, 2021

COVID-19 self-test kits hit pharmacy shelves

Sales of coronavirus self-test kits that offer results in 30 minutes began on Friday at pharmacies nationwide. Hanmi Pharmaceutical started distributing bio-diagnostic firm SD Biosensor’s at-home test kits nationwide through its affiliate, Online Pharm, which specializes in pharmacy sales and distribution. It will also be available on its website (www.hanmiprocalm.com) for ordinary customers. With the kit, a user can check whether they test positive or not within 15 to 30 minutes afte

April 30, 2021

New cases in 600s for 2nd day, virus curbs extended for 3 weeks

South Korea's daily new virus cases remained in the 600s for the second day Friday as the country extended its social distancing measures against the coronavirus amid concerns of another wave of the pandemic. The country reported 661 more COVID-19 cases, including 642 local infections, raising the total caseload to 122,007, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The latest tally was slightly down from 679 new cases the previous day, after reaching 769 cases on Wednesday o

April 30, 2021

S. Korea to resume discount coupon program on dining, arts next month

South Korea said Friday it plans to resume a discount coupon program aimed at boosting spending on dining and cultural performances next month as it seeks to prop up domestic demand hit hard by the pandemic. The government plans to hand out coupons to enable people to use food delivery services via apps and enjoy cultural performances on online platforms, according to First Vice Finance Minister Lee Eog-weon. "The government will push for the discount coupon program to buttress improving

April 30, 2021

South Korea to extend social distancing rules for another three weeks

South Korea has decided to extend the current social distancing measures and the ban on gatherings of more than five people for another three weeks. Currently, Level 2 is in place in Seoul and surrounding regions, and Level 1.5 in other parts of the country. Acting Prime Minister Hong Nam-ki said Friday at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, “We cannot relax, with 661 confirmed cases of COVID-19 coming out the previous day.” “In May,

April 30, 2021

S. Korea heading fast toward herd immunity after vaccinating 3m in 2 months

South Korea has inoculated more than 3 million people in two months since its vaccine rollout, health authorities said Thursday, as the country ramps up its COVID-19 immunization drive by providing more shots to create herd immunity by November. An accumulated 3,012,654 people were administered with their first shots as of 3:30 p.m. since the nationwide campaign kicked off on Feb. 26, accounting for roughly 5.6 percent of the country's 52 million population, the Korea Disease Control and Preven

April 29, 2021

[Video] Seoul’s district office provides free food for residents facing financial difficulties

The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has made life harder for most people. But some have borne the brunt of it. In order to help them, the local government of Yeongdeungpo-gu in western Seoul set up three special stores where district residents can get daily necessities without having to pay for them. The special stores are named “zero-cost stores,” according to the Seoul Yeongdeungpo-gu Council of Social Welfare. The stores opened on Jan. 18 to help local residents facing financial dif

April 29, 2021

With open borders and lax social distancing, Korea ‘playing with fire’

COVID-19 cases are surging and hospital beds are filling once again in South Korea, but health officials say they have no plans to reinstate harsher mitigation measures or pause reopenings. This reluctance to adopt stronger restrictions may leave the country another spike in infections, experts warn. Jeong Eun-kyeong, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s Commissioner, said in response to a press question during a briefing Thursday that the country “could afford to w

April 29, 2021

[Newsmaker] Youn Yuh-jung says she doesn't 'admire' Hollywood

Oscar winner Youn Yuh-jung, 73, is loved not just for her acting, but also for her candid and humorous remarks. The veteran actor of over 50 years said on a US television show on Tuesday that she doesn’t “admire” Hollywood. “When some project comes from America, people in Korea think I admire Hollywood,” Youn told NBC Asian America. “No, I don’t admire Hollywood. The reason I keep coming is because if I come to the States and work, maybe I’m ab

April 29, 2021

Coronavirus self-test kits go on sale in S. Korea

South Korean drugmaker Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. said Thursday it has started sales of coronavirus self-test kits at local pharmacies and its online channels. SD Biosensor's at home test kits received approval from the nation's drug safety agency last week, and they are now available via Hanmi Pharmaceutical's distribution channels across the nation. Users can collect samples from their noses on their own for testing, and the results come out within 15-30 minutes. If users receive a positive r

April 29, 2021

Crested ibis chicks born in the wild 42 years after extinction in Korea

CHANGNYEONG -- Crested ibises, an endangered bird, have been born in the wild in South Korea for the first time after the species went extinct on the Korean Peninsula 42 years ago, officials here said Thursday. Two crested ibis chicks were born safely from two eggs laid by a pair of crested ibises, which were released two years ago in Upo Wetland in Changnyeong of South Gyeongsang Province, 350 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the county officials said. The two chicks were born from one egg hatc

April 29, 2021

Seoul education office to test-run self-test kits at schools from May

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education will offer preemptive virus testing for teachers and students starting next month, as part of efforts to detect transmissions early and contain the spread of the virus, its chief said Thursday. The office also plans to introduce self-test kits at schools, whose use was proposed earlier this month by Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, in a "limited" fashion for "more aggressive, proactive measures against the virus," he said. Cho Hee-yeon, su

April 29, 2021

Single-person households in Seoul outnumber other kinds

Single-person households accounted for 33.3 percent of all households in Seoul, making them the most common type of household in the city. The hardest part of living alone was difficulty coping with sickness or emergencies, a survey showed Thursday. The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced the results of its 2020 Seoul Welfare Survey, which involved 4,000 households and took place over two months beginning in November. After single-person households, the next most common were two-person h

April 29, 2021

[News Focus] 7 in 10 foreign students are Vietnamese or Chinese

SEJONG -- South Korea needs to diversify the nationalities of foreign students admitted into its institutions by actively attracting students from a variety of countries and offering more lectures in accordance with globalization, state data suggested. According to the Korean Immigration Service, those from Vietnam and China took up the dominant percentage, 69.8 percent, of 158,923 foreign students staying in the nation as of March. Among the group, 59,876 were Vietnamese and 51,094 Chinese.

April 29, 2021

'Digital Prison' operator gets 3 1/2-year in prison for sharing personal information online

DAEGU -- An operator of the controversial doxing website "Digital Prison" has been sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for violating privacy law by disclosing personal data of suspected sex offenders and other criminals. The Daegu District Court delivered the prison sentence Wednesday to the website's initial operator and ordered him to pay a forfeiture of 8.18 million won ($7,340). The accused was indicted on charges of sharing personal information of alleged and convicted sex offend

April 29, 2021

New cases fall back to below 700; virus curbs likely to be extended

South Korea's daily new virus cases fell back to below 700 on Thursday, but sporadic cluster infections and the rising number of untraceable cases still indicate a further rise in infections. The country reported 680 more COVID-19 cases, including 650 local infections, raising the total caseload to 121,351, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was 775 the previous day, soaring from 500 cases and 512 cases tallied on Monday and Tuesday, respectively, w

April 29, 2021

Fully vaccinated people can skip 14-day self-isolation: authorities

South Korean health authorities said Wednesday that fully vaccinated people will be exempted from the country's mandatory 14-day isolation period from early next month as the country is struggling to speed up the vaccination campaign. Health authorities said that, under the country's anti-infection measures, those who have been fully inoculated will no longer be required to self-isolate themselves after coming in close contact with COVID-19 patients or entering the country from overseas from Ma

April 28, 2021

[#WeFACE] Study hones in on radioactive materials to track fine dust origins

South Korean researchers are turning to analyses of radioactive materials present in fine dust in hopes that it will better help them track down origins of the hazardous air pollutants. While scientists have often pointed to China as one of the main culprits, it has been difficult to prove the scope of the impact on Korea because Beijing does not disclose the latest information on its fine dust emissions. The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, a government-funded institute established

April 28, 2021

[Contribution] Climate change: considering history and future challenges

What year did Korea have the most rain? The answer is 1821, in the 21st year of the reign of King Sunjo of the Joseon Dynasty. How did we know this? Korea invented a rain gauge called Cheugugi to measure and record rainfall from 1441, in the 23rd year of the reign of King Sejong. Measuring the rainfall was discontinued for a while due to Japanese and Chinese invasions of Korea, but it resumed in 1770 during the reign of King Yeongjo. Historic rainfall records spanning 130 years from 1777 to 1907

April 28, 2021