COVID-19 survivors suffer hair loss, shortness of breath after recovery: survey

Survivors of COVID-19 reported hair loss and decreased breathing capacity months after their infections, and some had lingering lung troubles, the health authority said Thursday. A survey on 40 adult patients who were hospitalized for the virus infection showed that hair loss and shortness of breath during exercise were the most common symptoms experienced three months after recovery, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Six months after infection, the discharged patien

Jan. 14, 2021

Hundreds of cafe owners file lawsuit against govt. over COVID-19 losses

Hundreds of cafe owners filed a lawsuit against the government on Thursday seeking compensation for losses suffered under COVID-19 business restrictions. An association of cafe owners said the suit, which was lodged with the Seoul Central District Court, calls for around 1.8 billion won ($1.64 million) in damages, or 5 million won for each of the 358 plaintiffs. "The inconsistent and unfair antivirus regulations have led us to resort to legal action," the association said in a statem

Jan. 14, 2021

S. Korea to raise guard against ASF over winter

South Korea' agricultural ministry said Thursday it will raise its guard against African swine fever (ASF) over the winter as the number of infections among wild boars continued to grow at an alarming rate. The country has reported 941 ASF cases linked to wild boars since 2019 from inter-Korean border regions, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, and Rural Affairs. "Currently, the country has around 4.1 wild boars for every square kilometer. We plan to reduce the figure to two,

Jan. 14, 2021

Controversial travel ban on ex-vice minister backfires

The prosecution is stepping up the investigation into alleged irregularities regarding an overseas travel ban on a former vice justice minister last year, which has emerged as yet another point of contention for the Moon Jae-in administration. The nation’s civil rights watchdog recently received a complaint from a whistleblower that the Justice Ministry and a fact-finding team of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office had illegally banned Kim Hak-eui from leaving the country in March last

Jan. 14, 2021

Daily virus cases in the 500s for 3rd straight day

The daily number of confirmed coronavirus cases in South Korea stayed in the 500s for a third consecutive day, officials said Thursday, hinting at a possible extension of tough social distancing measures to prevent a resurgence. The government’s central response team said the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 524 to 77,728 as of midnight. The third wave, which began in mid-November, has seen a gradual decline in the new year. Of the new confirmed cases, 496 were locally transmit

Jan. 14, 2021

Blood reserves’ alert-level goes back to normal

South Korea’s blood reserves, which had been in a sharp decline due to the lingering third COVID-19 wave, have begun to stabilize. The Korean Red Cross’ National Blood Institute of Daejeon-Sejong-Chungnam, issued an alert over the shortage of blood reserves in mid-December. However, the Institute announced that as of Thursday, the country had recovered to the average supply amount needed, maintaining a little over four days’ worth of blood reserves. At the alert-stage of ca

Jan. 14, 2021

3 in 10 Koreans want COVID-19 shots as soon as possible: poll

Only 3 out of 10 South Koreans said they plan to get vaccinated for COVID- 19 as soon as possible, while the rest said they want to take a wait-and-see approach, a survey showed Thursday. According to a survey of 1,094 adults from Jan. 8-10 by the Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health, 67.7 percent of the respondents said they will wait and see how the coronavirus vaccine is working for others before getting the shots themselves. Only 28.6 percent said they want to get va

Jan. 14, 2021

S. Korea confirms 3 more cases of highly pathogenic bird flu

South Korea said Thursday it has confirmed three more cases of highly pathogenic bird flu from a local poultry farm, with more suspected infections currently under investigation. Authorities said they have found two cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza at farms each in North and South Chungcheong Province, raising the total caseload to 60, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. Earlier in the day, the country also confirmed another case in Muan, South Jeolla P

Jan. 14, 2021

New virus cases in 500s for 3rd day in sign of letup in infections

The number of new coronavirus cases in South Korea stayed in the 500s for the third consecutive day Thursday, in yet another sign that the third wave of the pandemic has passed a peak on the back of tighter virus restrictions. The country added 524 more COVID-19 cases, including 496 local infections, raising the total caseload to 70,728, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). It marked a slight drop from 562 posted Wednesday. The country, touted as one of the mos

Jan. 14, 2021

Most Koreans adopt wait-and-see attitude toward coronavirus vaccination: poll

Nearly two-thirds of South Koreans think they will wait to see how the coronavirus vaccine is working for other people before getting the jab, a poll showed Thursday. A survey of 1,094 adult Koreans across the nation, taken by Seoul National University, showed 67.7 percent of respondents taking a wait-and-see attitude toward COVID-19 vaccination. Only 28.6 percent of them replied that they want to get vaccinated as soon as possible. The findings also showed 42 percent of the surveyed predicti

Jan. 14, 2021

More than 900 inmates to be paroled as measure to curb COVID-19 spread: ministry

More than 900 prisoners in South Korea will be released on parole this week as part of the government's precautionary measures against COVID-19 spread, the justice ministry announced Wednesday. The ministry cited the need to ease overcrowding at correctional facilities for a "stable and swift" response to the virus infections. "The early parole (measure) will be taken tomorrow," it said. The ministry has lowered the bar for parole, especially for inmates who are vulnerabl

Jan. 13, 2021

Court orders state to compensate man jailed for 10 yrs on wrongful murder conviction

A court ordered Wednesday the government to pay compensation to a man who served a 10-year prison term after being wrongfully convicted of murder in 2000. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the 37-year-old man, only identified by his surname Choi, in a damages suit he filed against the government, a police officer and a prosecutor who investigated his case. He was acquitted of murder in 2016. The court ordered the government make financial reparations of some 1.3 billion won (

Jan. 13, 2021

Calls mount to punish deepfake porn involving female celebrities

The recent controversy triggered by artificial intelligence chat bot Lee Luda, which became the subject of sexual abuse among some users, is fueling debates spanning from the sexualization of celebrities to AI technologies used for cybercrimes. A day after a presidential petition called for punishment for fan fiction sexualizing underage male K-pop idols, another presidential petition shed light on female celebrities falling victim to nonconsensual pornography produced using deepfake technolog

Jan. 13, 2021

Korean government vows ‘stiff penalty’ for social distancing violators

The South Korean government on Wednesday said there would be “stiff penalties” for people not heeding social distancing rules, as the third and worst wave of COVID-19 in the country has begun to mellow. From its recent peak of over 1,000 cases a day, the daily case count has fallen to below 600 this week -- a figure not seen since early December. Yoon Tae-ho, a senior official at the Ministry of Health and Welfare, told a news briefing that social distancing was a “civic prom

Jan. 13, 2021

Unidentified cash worth W8.1b discovered at casino during money theft probe

JEJU -- Police said Wednesday they have discovered a pile of unidentified cash worth 8.1 billion won ($7.4 million) at a resort casino on Jeju Island, potentially linked to an alleged money theft by an employee. The Jeju Provincial Police Agency said investigators are trying to confirm whether the bank notes discovered randomly at a safe at the casino are part of the cash pile worth 14.56 billion won that went missing from the Landing Casino at Jeju Shinhwa World last week. Investigators have

Jan. 13, 2021

[Newsmaker] South Korea gripped by anger and remorse over toddler’s death

Anger and sadness have swept across South Korea for the past week following the death of Jeong-in, a 16-month-old toddler whose death from months of child abuse in October caused a huge public outrage and controversy. After the toddler’s case came to light through an SBS investigative reporting show earlier this month, a number of civic groups and members of the general public have called for better protection of adoptees and stronger penalties against child abuse offenders. President Mo

Jan. 13, 2021

Court acquits Shincheonji leader of obstructing govt. response to COVID-19

SUWON -- A local court on Wednesday acquitted the leader of a minor religious sect of charges of obstructing the government's response to COVID-19 during an outbreak at his church last year. Lee Man-hee, the 89-year-old founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, was indicted in August on charges of misleading health authorities on the size and locations of the church's gatherings in February, which were blamed for a massive spike in coronavirus cases in the country. Prosecutors sought a five-

Jan. 13, 2021

Over 80% of public perceive 'gapjil' problem as serious: survey

More than eight out of 10 people consider "gapjil," a phenomenon referring to abusive conduct by people in positions of power toward those under their influence, a serious problem plaguing society, a poll showed Wednesday. Gapjil is a portmanteau term that refers to an authoritarian attitude or actions toward those on the weaker end of a power relationship, often spotted in workplaces cultures. In a R&R Consulting survey conducted on 1,500 adults aged between 19 and 69, 83.9 perc

Jan. 13, 2021

Adoptive mother charged with toddler’s murder

Prosecutors on Wednesday pressed murder charges against a woman who allegedly abused and killed her 16-month-old adoptive daughter in October, as the trial opened in the nation’s latest high-profile child abuse case. The child -- publicly known as Jeong-in, the name given to her by her birth mother -- died Oct. 13 at a hospital in southwestern Seoul. Prosecutors had initially indicted the 34-year-old mother, identified by the surname Jang, in December on the lesser charge of child abuse

Jan. 13, 2021

S. Korea investigating 6 suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Wednesday it is currently investigating six suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu amid no signs of a letup in the spread of the disease. The country's total caseload of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza traced to farms has reached 53 since it reported the first such infection in late November in nearly three years, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The latest suspected case came from an egg farm in Cheonan, 92 ki

Jan. 13, 2021