‘Sillim-dong Phelps’ video draws fire online

A video of a person swimming on flooded roads spread online, drawing fire from internet users as heaviest downpour in 80 years struck throughout Seoul metropolitan region.　 A video titled “Sillim-dong Phelps” -- the title alludes to the US swimming great Michael Phelps -- was posted on online Monday. The six-second-long video showed a person wearing a red swimsuit, purple swimming cap and flippers on a flooded road in Sillim-dong, Seoul. Netizens pointed out that there was a risk o

Aug. 9, 2022

Three die in flooded semi-basement apartment

Three people were found dead in a flooded semi-basement apartment in Seoul on Tuesday, after the heaviest rainfall in 80 years wreak havoc on many parts of the city.  According to local police, a 47-year-old woman, her older sister and 13-year-old daughter were trapped in the submerged home in Sillim-dong, Gwanak-gu, western Seoul and likely died by drowning.  The police recovered their bodies around 11:30 p.m. on Monday. They had received a report of flooding in the house from

Aug. 9, 2022

More than 1,000 vehicles damaged by heavy rains

More than 1,000 vehicles sustained water damage due to the heavy rains that hit Seoul and surrounding regions late Monday and early Tuesday. According to the insurance industry’s figures, more than 1,000 cases of vehicle flooding have been reported as of Tuesday morning. Some larger insurers, including Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance and DB Insurance received hundreds of reports, with damages amounting to several billion won, or millions of dollars. 　 Small insurance companies are

Aug. 9, 2022

S. Korea postpones announcement of housing supply plan due to downpours

The government on Tuesday postponed its planned announcement of housing supply measures in a bid to focus on responding to damage from overnight heavy downpours. The government had planned to announce details of its plan to supply more than 2.5 million houses Tuesday as part of efforts to stabilize home prices. It would be the first package of housing supply measures under the Yoon Suk-yeol administration that took office in May. "To respond to the downpours, the government has decided to p

Aug. 9, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases rise to nearly 4-month high

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases jumped to a nearly four-month high Tuesday amid a resurgence of infections driven by a highly infectious omicron variant. The country added 149,897 new COVID-19 infections, the highest since April 13 when the tally hit 195,387, bringing the total caseload to 20,694,239, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The tally includes 588 cases from overseas. Tuesday's figure is up from 55,292 the previous day and 111,785 from a week earli

Aug. 9, 2022

Heaviest rainfall in 115 years wreaks havoc on Greater Seoul

Record-setting heavy rain hit Seoul and surrounding areas Monday night and Tuesday morning, wreaking havoc across the region. The rainfall -- the highest amount recorded in Seoul in 115 years -- left several dead and displaced hundreds. Severe flooding occurred in many parts of the capital, leading to significant infrastructure and property damage. Heavy rain is expected to continue until Friday in Seoul and throughout the capital region, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Tuesday.

Aug. 9, 2022

[Photo News] Seoul floods: Scenes of chaos on Monday night

Heavy downpours battered Seoul on Monday, flooding homes and roads and causing traffic chaos in parts of the city, including Gangnam.  No casualties were reported as of midnight. Here are some photos from the mayhem.  Major roads in Daechidong in southern Seoul are completely submerged. (Yonhap)    Rainwater pours into the Isu subway station in southern Seoul on Monday night. (Yonhap)  Cars are seen half-submerged in a flooded

Aug. 8, 2022

Central region suffers damage after heavy rain

Heavy downpours battered the country's central region, including the capital area, on Monday, flooding homes, roads, buildings and other properties. Southern Seoul received more than 100 mm per hour, forcing sections of the subway to halt, and causing blackouts and residents in low-lying areas to flee for safety. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo ordered relevant agencies to stay alert and do their best to prevent causalities and property damage in high-risk areas. The Korea Meteorological Admi

Aug. 8, 2022

‘Over 500,000 dogs are raised for meat in Korea’

Over 520,000 dogs are being raised for meat in South Korea as of this February, with about 388,000 slaughtered a year, a study revealed Monday. There are a total of 1,156 dog farms across the country and they each keep an average of 450 animals. The total number of restaurants serving dog meat across the country is 1,666. These are the findings of a two-month field study conducted by the country’s government-civilian consultative body on dog meat consumption, which was announced Monda

Aug. 8, 2022

‘Children need to play’

Every child has the right to rest or have fun how they want to. This is article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted in 1989. It is one of the most ratified international treaties in history. More than three decades after its ratification here, South Korea is revisiting the clause with renewed enthusiasm, largely thanks to an ill-advised move by the Education Ministry to put kids in school one year early. “Children need to play,” read the ban

Aug. 8, 2022

Why is S. Korea trying to strengthen border controls in Jeju?

The South Korean government could reinstate electronic travel authorization in Jeju, following a number of cases involving foreign visitors overstaying their tourist visas. The Ministry of Justice confirmed Monday that the government plans to introduce the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) for the island. A spokesperson of the ministry, however, added it would still collect opinions from representatives from Jeju’s tourism organizations before making the final decision. Th

Aug. 8, 2022

Education Minister offers to resign after month in office

Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Park Soon-ae offered to resign on Monday, nearly a month after taking the office, overwhelmed by the controversies surrounding the school entry age reform plan. Park is the first minister in the Yoon Suk-yeol administration to resign. “I am resigning from my post as the deputy prime minister and education minister. I took the office wanting to give the education benefits that I had to other people, but it was not enough,” Park said, h

Aug. 8, 2022

New COVID-19 cases at 55,292; serious cases tallied at 324

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases fell below 100,000 on Monday for the first time in a week on fewer virus tests during the weekend, but the number of seriously ill patients remained at a two-month high amid a virus resurgence fueled by a highly contagious omicron subvariant. The country added 55,292 new COVID-19 infections, including 482 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 20,544,420, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Daily cases tend to increase through

Aug. 8, 2022

Heavy rain advisories issued in much of capital area, northern Gangwon Province

Heavy rain advisories have been issued in much of the capital area, including all of Seoul, and northern parts of Gangwon Province, the weather agency said Monday. The Korea Meteorological Administration issued heavy rain watches earlier in the morning across the capital and Incheon as well as northern parts of Gyeonggi Province that surrounds Seoul and northern Gangwon Province. Such advisories are issued when precipitation is predicted to surpass 60 millimeters in a span of three hours or 110

Aug. 8, 2022

South Korea is shrugging off omicron’s summer return

South Koreans are not letting rising cases of COVID-19 get in the way of their summer plans, with travel and businesses already freed up by current policies. So far in August, an average of 101,290 cases and 31 deaths were reported per day, climbing from the 80,648 cases and 24 deaths seen between July 25-31. Over two days on Friday and Saturday, 92 patients with COVID-19 died -- the highest since mid-May in the aftermath of a deadly omicron wave that peaked in March. In recent briefings, th

Aug. 7, 2022

[Newsmaker] Foreign language high schools await their fate

With the Education Ministry flip-flopping on its plan to scrap “elite high schools,” foreign language high schools have been once again pushed to the brink of abolition. Confusion has ensued over the fate of elite schools every time the government changed hands. The previous Moon Jae-in administration had planned to end autonomous private high schools, foreign language high schools and international schools, abolishing them or turning them into regular schools by March 2025, over

Aug. 7, 2022

Whereabouts of 55 Thai tourists on Jeju unknown

The whereabouts of 55 out of 280 Thai tourists who entered South Korea earlier this week through the airport on the southern island of Jeju are unknown, immigration officials said Sunday. Out of 697 Thai nationals who arrived at the Jeju International Airport from Bangkok through a direct Jeju Airlines flight between Tuesday and Friday, 417 were denied entry and were flown home, according to the Jeju Immigration Service. Of the other 280 people who have entered the country for a three-day touris

Aug. 7, 2022

1,000 evacuated after bomb threat targeting Jamsil Sports Complex

About 1,000 people were evacuated Sunday after a man in his 20s threatened to blow up the Jamsil Sports Complex in southern Seoul. The man, who claimed to be an Islamic State (IS) warrior, uploaded a posting on an internet bulletin board Sunday morning saying he would explode bombs three times at the sports complex, according to Seoul Songpa Fire Station. The station alerted police to the threat at 10:19 a.m., officials said. Police sent 14 vehicles and 58 personnel to evacuate about 1,000 peopl

Aug. 7, 2022

Court recognizes death after drinking with boss as workplace accident

A Seoul court has ruled that an employee who slipped and died after heavy drinking with a boss should be recognized as a victim of a workplace accident, officials said Sunday. The Seoul Administrative Court sided with the family of the deceased worker in their litigation against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service for the payment of survivors' benefits and his funeral expenses. The man, who worked as a security guard, slipped in front of his house after returning from d

Aug. 7, 2022

Police looking into internet posting about assassinating Yoon

Police on Sunday launched an investigation into an internet posting about assassinating President Yoon Suk-yeol, officials said. The posting, titled "How to assassinate Yoon Suk-yeol," was uploaded on an internet community website at 8:21 a.m., with the unidentified writer saying, "All plans are set," and asking for money necessary to carry out the plans. A viewer alerted police to the posting around 9:50 a.m., and police in the central city of Daejeon, about 150 kilometers s

Aug. 7, 2022