Nearly 80% of call centers workers suffer from verbal abuse, union survey reveals

Korean call center workers have called for proper government measures to address hostile customer complaints, citing a recent survey that showed a majority of workers "endure" unreasonable treatment. The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions held a press conference in Seoul on Wednesday, revealing the results of a survey conducted among 790 call center workers from May 28 to June 3. According to the survey, 77.9 percent of respondents said they experienced verbal abuse, 12.8 percent

June 6, 2024

Global temperatures likely to rise above 1.5 C mark in next 5 years: WMO

There is an 80 percent chance for global temperatures to rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels within the next five years, according to the World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday. According to the WMO’s Global Annual to Decadal Update report, the global temperatures for each year between 2024 and 2028 are predicted to range between 1.1 and 1.9 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The report, which is issued annually by the WMO, provides an explanati

June 6, 2024

Late transgender soldier to be laid to rest at natl. cemetery

A transgender soldier who died in an apparent suicide in 2021 after forcible discharge will be laid to rest at a national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon, a veterans ministry official said Wednesday, after a state panel recently recognized her as having died in the line of duty. In March, the state review committee affiliated with the defense ministry recognized Sergeant Byun Hee-soo's death as an on-duty one, overturning a previous classification and allowing her remains to be inte

June 5, 2024

Mandatory or voluntary? Korea's dilemma over regulating disposables

Amid global efforts to curb disposable plastic consumption, South Korea has been stuck in a dilemma about whether to regulate disposable cups and straws for food services out of fear of financially burdening smaller businesses. The country has backtracked on previously implemented disposable plastic regulations, with the Environment Ministry lifting its ban on disposable cups, plastic straws and plastic bags at cafes and restaurants, while also giving provisional approval to bring plastic bags b

June 5, 2024

2004 gang rape resurfaces in crusade to reveal alleged criminals' identities

The Miryang gang rape case of 2004 is widely remembered as one of the worst sex crime cases in South Korean history, sparking nationwide furor for not only its brutality, but also for victim blaming by the local community and what has been seen as a lack of proper punishment for those responsible. Forty-four high school boys in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, were found to have taken part in the brutal physical and sexual assault of multiple underage victims over the course of a year. The

June 5, 2024

US bill seeks to close loophole that has denied citizenship to Korean adoptees

A legislative bill that would finally close a loophole that has denied US citizenship to tens of thousands of adult adoptees, including around 20,000 from South Korea, was introduced in the US Congress, the Korean American Grassroots Conference said Wednesday. According to officials from the US-based non-profit organization for Korean American voters, the proposed Adoptee Citizenship Act of 2024 was brought forth on Tuesday, local time, by bipartisan leaders Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Sen. Su

June 5, 2024

Man with IQ of 65 acknowledged as having disability

A South Korean court on Wednesday ruled in favor of a man in his 40s who had challenged a recent decision by the government not to acknowledge him as having an intellectual disability. In the recent administrative litigation, the Incheon District Court ruled that the man should be considered to have an IQ of 65, as he claims. The plaintiff in 2021 applied to be registered as disabled with the Incheon Metropolitan Government, but the city declined his request, based on an examination by the Natio

June 5, 2024

Man lies to police about committing crimes, gets prison term

A 46-year-old man who filed 112 fake reports to the police in the span of about 10 months was sentenced to 10 months in prison, Jeonju District Court said Wednesday. The defendant filed the fake reports between November of 2022 and September of 2023, falsely claiming that he killed a man, or that he stabbed an acquaintance with a knife. An appellate court of the case found the defendant guilty of obstruction of performance of official duties by fraudulent means, stipulated by Article 137 of the

June 5, 2024

Education minister seeks to foster cooperation with Uganda

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Lee Ju-ho met with Uganda's Vice President Jessica Epel Alupo on Wednesday during the South Korea-Africa summit, which kicked off Tuesday. During the meeting, the two discussed ways to invigorate cooperation and exchanges in the education sector between South Korea and Uganda, including international student exchanges and promoting official development assistance, according to the Education Ministry. They also addressed education in the digital t

June 5, 2024

Police officer suspended for illegally obtaining trot singer's address

A police officer was recently suspended after she illegally obtained the address of a popular trot singer and went to his home, local media outlets reported Wednesday, The Chungnam Provincial Police Agency officer in her 30s obtained the singer's address through an internal police database without permission from her supervisor in April. The singer was startled by her unannounced visit and reported her to the police. The police confirmed the officer had accessed the singer's address fo

June 5, 2024

Female local government workers outnumber males for first time

The number of female local government employees surpassed that of their male counterparts for the first time ever in 2023, data showed Tuesday, but higher-ranked civil servants were still mostly men. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released data on those working in the government bodies of metropolitan and provincial regions or districts, which showed that 157,935 civil servants were women as of late 2023. This figure accounts for 50.4 percent of the total 313,296 workers in local govern

June 4, 2024

Hospitals allowed to process junior doctors' resignations

The Korean government said Tuesday that it would allow training hospitals to accept the resignations of trainee doctors who left their posts in protest of the medical school expansion plan over three months ago. Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong said during a briefing that the government would withdraw its return-to-work orders and allow hospitals to accept resignations submitted by junior doctors, while also making efforts to help them return if they choose to do so. Cho added that each hospital ch

June 4, 2024

More Korean husbands seek divorce than foreign wives

Korean husbands visited marriage counseling centers to consult on divorce more often than foreign wives last year, a report on multicultural couples showed. Of more than 1,000 cases of divorce counseling for international couples, 20 percent more Korean men visited the center than foreign women, according to statistics released by the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations. Korean husband-foreign wife couples took 80 percent of the total counseling for multicultural couples last year. "

June 4, 2024

90% of Koreans believe climate crisis is happening: KMA

Nine out of 10 Korean nationals believe that South Korea is now facing a climate crisis, according to survey results released by the Korea Meteorological Administration on Tuesday. According to the survey, 89.9 percent of respondents answered that Korea is in the midst of a climate crisis and 90.1 percent of respondents answered that they feel the impacts of climate change directly, due to extreme weather events such as prolonged heat waves. In January, the KMA stated that 2023 was Korea’s

June 4, 2024

Filipino nanny program lacks clarity: NGO

An international non-government organization committed to protecting the rights and welfare of migrant workers has issued a statement expressing concerns about a pilot program for introducing Filipino caregivers to South Korea. Migration Forum in Asia recently issued a statement, saying the plan for a pilot program for Filipino domestic workers has a “discrepancy in terminology” and a “lack of clarity in the scope of work” they can be asked to do. “The program has

June 4, 2024

Couple illegally adopts baby and lets her die

South Korean police on Tuesday said that a young unmarried couple have been arrested on suspicion of illegal adoption of a child, neglect leading to the death of the child and burial without proper procedures. Dongbu Police Station in Daegu requested the indictment of a male suspect in his 20s and a female suspect in her 30s on charges of child abuse resulting in death and abandonment of a dead body. Abusing a child to death, even with no intent to kill, is punishable between five years and a li

June 4, 2024

Cows escape farm and wander around road

Around 20 cows escaped from a farm in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province in the middle of the night, wandering around on a nearby road for over an hour, before rescue authorities captured and returned them to the farm's owner early Tuesday. According to the Gyeongsang Fire Service Headquarters, the cows broke out of their barn at around 1:20 a.m. Tuesday. Several eyewitnesses filmed the animals walking around the road in a herd. Authorities said no accidents were reported as a result of th

June 4, 2024

PPP to push for law revision to compensate for damage caused by NK trash balloons

The ruling People Power Party said Tuesday it will push for a law revision allowing compensation for any citizen who suffers damage from North Korea's trash-carrying balloons. During a party meeting, PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho noted the lack of legal grounds to compensate South Korean citizens who had their cars partially destroyed and experienced other property damage from the balloons. "We will push for an amendment to the Framework Act on Civil Defense to establish the legal bas

June 4, 2024

Daewoo E&C chairman meets Tanzanian president

Daewoo Engineering & Construction’s Chairman Jung Won-ju, who doubles as chairman of Herald Media Group, met with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Sunday to discuss measures to expand South Korean construction companies into Africa and to strengthen strategic cooperation with each other. “Daewoo E&C has conducted around 280 projects in Africa worth $32 billion. ... We have recently finished the construction of the Botswana -Zambia bridge,” said Jung. “Da

June 3, 2024

Girls starting school early could boost fertility rate: state-backed agency report

A state-run research organization in South Korea has sparked debate after its analysis suggesting that sending girls to school a year earlier could help boost fertility rates last week. The Korea Institute of Public Finance, a government-funded center dedicated to evaluating the country's tax system and public spending, proposed sending girls to school early, assessing that it could make men and women more attracted to each other when they reach marriageable age because men develop more slo

June 3, 2024