[Best Brand] SPEP offers professional English learning courses for domestic, int'l firms

At a time when English skills in the business sector play a pivotal role in communicating and securing business deals, global education firm SPEP provides tailor-made language education and human resources consulting of professionals at local and overseas companies. The business language education provider develops its learning material based on its client’s needs and wants and operates an in-house research and development center comprising international and domestic English and business

June 28, 2023

Teacher under probe after allegations she forced children to eat food

A teacher at an English academy in Seoul is under police investigation for allegedly abusing a 6-year-old child because he was not eating his food. CCTV footage released by YTN shows the child reacting in fright, quickly covering his mouth as the teacher approaches him. The teacher then grabs the child, pulling him out of the classroom. The 6-year-old is dragged on his knees and taken to a different room, where he is ordered to sit in the corner and look at his food while other children are allo

June 28, 2023

AI profile photos ineligible for national ID cards, govt. says

AI-generated profile pictures are not eligible for use on Korean national ID cards, the government stated Tuesday, saying that such photos violate current guidelines prohibiting the use of “transformed” images. The announcement follows the increasing popularity of AI profile photo services offered by prominent smartphone camera apps -- that of SNOW being the most notable. SNOW's AI profile feature, introduced in May, allows users to upload 10 to 20 selfies from different angles

June 28, 2023

Thriving on anxiety: Korea's multibillion-dollar hagwon industry

After a brief break in the afternoon, Lee Si-hyun, a first-year high school student in Seoul, gets ready to go to hagwon -- after-school cram schools where she spends her evenings studying for Korea's college entrance exam, which is coming up in two years’ time. “I go to a total of four hagwon -- for Korean, English, math and science -- on weekdays and weekends," she said. "My friends go to the same number of hagwon or more.” For Lee and her friends, spending tim

June 28, 2023

Video of motorcycle wheelie crashing and burning sparks criticism

Footage of a motorcyclist attempting to performing a trick on a public road, leading to an accident and an explosion, is drawing criticism online. Several posts in the anonymous motorcycle forum, “Bike Gallery,” on Monday showed footage of an exploding motorcycle taken on Sunday, near US Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. In video footage taken from both the back and front of the explosion, three motorcycles are being ridden when one skids and crashes, sending

June 28, 2023

Foreign subscribers paid more into health insurance than they received: data

The health insurance payments made by all foreign subscribers exceeded the cost of the medical services they actually received, data showed Wednesday. In 2022, the National Health Insurance Service reported a surplus of 556 billion won ($426 million) in operating the health insurance program for foreign subscribers -- which includes foreign national residents, ethnic Korean residents with foreign citizenship and Korean nationals living abroad. Foreign subscribers paid a total of 1.789 trillion

June 28, 2023

Seoul waives extra subway fare for people who reboard within 10 mins

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that reboarding subways within 10 minutes would be free for a year starting in July. Under the new scheme, the exemption will only apply to the same transportation card the passenger used for their initial boarding, and the transfers can only be made on the same subway station route. Currently, passengers pay an additional fare if they reboard the subway after going in the wrong direction, depending on how far they have traveled, or if they have t

June 28, 2023

Habitual drunk drivers to be subject to vehicle forefeiture

Starting next month, habitual drunk drivers could face the forfeiture of their vehicles. The punishment is among a package of measures to combat drunk driving announced Wednesday by the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office and the National Police Agency. Drivers to be subject to vehicle seizure are those who have caused a car crash resulting in death or serious injury, and those with a history of two or more drunk driving incidents within five years or three or more incidents within five year

June 28, 2023

5 Korean universities among world’s top 100

Five South Korean universities ranked among the top 100 global universities, the ranking released by QS Quacquarelli Symonds showed Wednesday. Seoul National University sat at 41st on the 20th edition of the QS World University Rankings, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) ranked 56th, Yonsei University and Korea University sat at 76th and 79th, respectively, and Pohang University of Science and Technology was 100th. For its ninth year, Massachusetts Institute of Technolog

June 28, 2023

Wash hands after touching eggs: Food agency warns of salmonella outbreak

Food safety authorities on Wednesday warned people to wash hands promptly after handling or cooking raw eggs, citing food poisoning risks from Salmonella, a harmful bacterium found in poultry and mammal intestines. There have been numerous cases of food poisoning caused by cross-contamination, where individuals handle eggs and then fail to wash their hands before cooking food or touching other cooking utensils, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Eggs should be refrigerated and

June 28, 2023

Majority of S. Koreans hold positive view of US, Biden: poll

A majority of South Koreans hold a positive view of the United States and President Joe Biden while more than seven out of every 10 South Koreans also believe the US contributes to global peace and stability, a poll showed Tuesday. In a 23-nation survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank based in Washington, 79 percent of those polled in South Korea said they hold a positive opinion of the US, significantly higher than the 23-country median of 59 percent. The reading

June 28, 2023

Heavy rains batter southern regions, leave one person missing

Heavy rains battered southern provinces overnight, leaving one person missing, and dozens of homes without power after a lightning strike, while the downpour is likely to continue in the region throughout Wednesday morning. Up to 274 millimeters of rain fell in South Jeolla and South Gyeongsang provinces between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, prompting the anti-disaster office under the interior ministry to upgrade the heavy rain advisory to "alert" from "caution." As o

June 28, 2023

[Graphic News] Number of Seoul airport bus passengers surges to over 2m in 5 months

The number of airport bus passengers in Seoul has exceeded 2 million during the first five months of this year, driven by the expansion of travel demand as COVID-19 measures have been lifted, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said. From January to May, a total of 2.11 million people used airport buses, nearly double the previous year’s total of 1.23 million. Airport bus usage has been steadily increasing for 14 consecutive months since April last year, data from the city government showed.

June 28, 2023

Five Guys burger sold on secondhand market for W100,000, sparks criticism

A post on a secondhand market platform has gone viral for selling a Five Guys burger set for 100,000 won ($77). The popular US burger chain's first store in South Korea officially opened its doors on Monday. The post was uploaded on Monday afternoon to Danggeun Market and read: “Two basic cheeseburgers and all-topping fries large size.” The set was bought at 2 p.m. The price marked on the post was more than double the regular price of the set (40,700 won), drawing criticism amon

June 27, 2023

Gone in 17 seconds, busted in 9 hours

Two robbers in their 20s were apprehended in South Gyeongsang Province last Thursday for their intensely quick-handed series of break-ins in Yangsan and Jinhae in the region, the Yangsan Police Station reported Monday. The pair stormed into a jewelry shop in Yangsan at dawn on June 22, snatched gold bracelets and other valuables worth 20 million won, and made their escape -- all in under 17 seconds. Security footage shows a man, wearing a helmet, shattering the storefront window with a hammer an

June 27, 2023

Busan murder suspect accused of stabbing victim over 110 times

The suspect in the murder of a university student in Busan is believed to have stabbed the victim over 110 times, prosecutors investing the case revealed Tuesday. Suspect Jung Yoo-jung, 23, is accused of attacking the victim with a weapon she prepared, dismembering the body and disposing of it in the Nakdong River near Yangsan, according to Busan District Prosecutor's Office. Jung was arrested last month. She confessed to the killing and said she did so "out of curiosity about murder.&

June 27, 2023

Korea starts using int'l age system, but exceptions remain

South Korea will scrap its traditional method of counting age -- known as "Korean age" -- and adopt the internationally recognized system beginning Wednesday, but there will be a few exceptions, including the legal age for drinking and smoking. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Tuesday that although Korea will adopt international age, the legal age to drink alcohol and buy tobacco will remain calculated based on the existing method. In Korea, people can buy alcohol o

June 27, 2023

Top comedian Yoo Jae-suk becomes Antenna Music's third-largest stakeholder

Yoo Jae-suk, arguably the biggest television celebrity in Korea, has become the third-largest shareholder of his entertainment agency, Antenna Music, according to news reports Monday. He reportedly bought a 20.7 percent stake in the unlisted firm from its largest shareholder, Kakao Entertainment, for 3 billion won ($2.3 million) on Jun. 9. In a separate deal, Antenna CEO Yoo Hee-yeol has acquired a 21.37 percent stake in the firm. With the transactions, Kakao’s shareholding in Antenna fell

June 27, 2023

Korean law firm LAWWIN discusses employment law with lawyers across Asia-Pacific

South Korean law firm LAWWIN participated in the recent LAWASIA Employment Law Conference to discuss legal trends and issues concerning work and workers across Asia. The LAWASIA Employment Law Conference, which took place in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia from June 8 to 10 this year, is a regional forum for lawyers to learn and discuss various aspects of employment law in the Asia-Pacific region. Leading the firm's foreign affairs team, attorney Dasom Park highlighted the challenges that foreign w

June 27, 2023

Decoding Suneung’s killer questions: what teachers say

Following a weeklong debate on the difficulty of so-called high-level “killer questions” in the Suneung, South Korea’s state-administered college entrance exam, local high school teachers said Tuesday that the killer questions are “arduously difficult,” requiring university-level knowledge beyond the scope of high school students. The math section, which delves into complex equations and requires students to solve short-answer questions without a calculator, is for

June 27, 2023