[Weekender] Do we feel well-rested?

Kwon Min-kyung, 37 and working at a chemicals firm, always feels tired. The legal team manager works hard on weekdays, which causes her tension. At the weekend, fatigue sets in when her tension is relieved. Feeling fatigued, she spends all day lying down, looking at her smartphone, although this does not make her feel refreshed. She often tries to make her days feel productive by attending exhibitions, exploring new sports activities and meeting new people in social clubs. She feels more tired

July 30, 2022

New COVID-19 cases below 90,000 for 3rd day

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 90,000 for the third straight day Saturday but were steeply up from a week ago, amid a spike in omicron subvariant infections. The country added 82,002 new COVID-19 infections, including 397 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,702,461, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.  Saturday's tally is slightly down from the previous day's 85,320, but it marks a 19.6 percent increase from a week earlier.  Da

July 30, 2022

[Photo News] Hustle and bustle returns to the airport

With August just around the corner, a multitude of footsteps and the sound of luggage wheels marked the start of peak vacation season at Gimpo International Airport on Friday. The peak season in Korea begins in late June to mid-August, culminating to a peak at the first two weeks of August. Passengers at airports have quadrupled within a few weeks, after a two-year freeze in air travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with the recent resurgence of COVID-19 patients, people in masks are waiting

July 30, 2022

Education Ministry proposes sending children to school 1 year earlier

The Ministry of Education proposed a reform of the school system to send children to elementary school 1 year earlier. The Education Ministry got the green light to work on a reform of the current school system that would lower the age of entry to elementary school by one year on Friday afternoon. Education Minister Park Soon-ae directly briefed President Yoon Suk-yeol on the ministry’s agenda at the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, to which Yoon ordered Park to push fo

July 29, 2022

Govt. appoints head of new police bureau

A police officer who is not a graduate of the National Police University has been appointed as the head of the new police bureau, which will be launched under the Interior Ministry on Tuesday. Senior Superintendent-General Kim Sun-ho, the head of the National Security Investigation Bureau under the National Office of Investigation at the National Police Agency, will take office as the chief of the newly launched bureau. Kim graduated in political science from Sungkyunkwan University. He ear

July 29, 2022

South Korea caught off guard by omicron’s summer resurgence

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Friday that the resurgence of COVID-19 South Korea is witnessing came earlier than he had anticipated, while ruling out returning to social distancing. Yoon said at a government meeting on COVID-19 response that the “key goal” was to “secure continuation of normal life while minimizing deaths and hospitalizations.” “The government is committed to protecting the health and safety of South Koreans and ensuring that normal life continues

July 29, 2022

S. Korea reports 193 cases of malaria so far this year

South Korea reported 193 cases of malaria during the first seven months of this year, showing a similar trend to last year when the number was the lowest in 26 years, data showed Friday. According to statistics from the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Gyeonggi Province and others, 193 cases of the mosquito-borne disease were confirmed from January to July this year. This compared with 195 cases recorded during the same period last year. By month, they were four cases in January, one

July 29, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases below 90,000 for 2nd day

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases stayed below 90,000 for the second consecutive day Friday but were sharply up from a week ago, in an upward trend in the curve amid a resurgence in the virus. The country added 85,320 new COVID-19 infections, including 439 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,620,517, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Friday's tally is slightly down from the previous day's 88,384 but about a 20 percent jump from a week earlier

July 29, 2022

Population shock: Korea reports first decline on record in 2021

South Korea recorded its first-ever decline in total population last year, data showed Thursday, with fewer births, an aging society, and falling numbers of foreigners entering the country due to effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the census data released by Statistics Korea on Thursday, 51.74 million people were living in Korea in 2021, about 91,000 less than the year before. It is the first time Korea’s population shrank since the records began in 1949. Annual population

July 28, 2022

Is Korea soft on crime?

On July 15, a female college freshman was found dead on a college campus, naked. The suspect -- a male freshman at the same Inha University -- faces charges of raping the woman and causing her death. His attack on the woman, in which he drank with her, took advantage of her heavily intoxicated condition, filmed his actions and left her to die after she somehow fell from the third floor of a building, has ignited public anger. That the crime he is charged with -- quasi-rape causing death -- i

July 28, 2022

Driving ban upheld for drunken use of electric scooter

An appeals commission upheld the cancellation of a driver’s license for drunken use of an electric scooter Thursday. An office worker’s license was revoked after they were caught using an electric scooter while drunk in April. The worker’s blood alcohol level was above 0.08 percent, the threshold at which drivers lose their licenses. The person requested an administrative trial to the Central Administrative Judgment Commission of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commissio

July 28, 2022

Nearly 1.4m visited Cheong Wa Dae since public opening: data

Nearly 1.4 million people have visited the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae since it opened to the public on May 10, data showed Thursday. A total of 1,396,859 people, including 5,055 foreigners, visited the complex in central Seoul through Wednesday since its public opening, according to data from the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) submitted to Rep. Kim Seung-su of the ruling People Power Party. The figure is far bigger than the number of visitors to the Gyeongbok and Chang

July 28, 2022

Police take step back

The police are taking a step back from a confrontation with the government over the launch of a police bureau under the Interior Ministry, withdrawing its plan to hold a large-scale meeting and instead calling for legislative efforts to deter the move. 　 Kim Seong-jong, a senior inspector at Gwangjin Police Station in Seoul, who called for a meeting of police officers this weekend, withdrew the suggestion Wednesday. “The launch of the police bureau has been confirmed as the decree has

July 27, 2022

S. Korea's daily COVID-19 infections surpass 100,000

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases passed the 100,000 mark for the first time since late April due to the spread of BA.5, a new, more contagious version of omicron, the government said Wednesday. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 100,285 new COVID-19 infections during the 24 hours of Tuesday. Kim Sung-ho, vice minister for disaster and safety management, said during a COVID-19 response meeting on Wednesday that the daily tally was the highe

July 27, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases top 100,000 in over 3 months

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time in more than three months on Wednesday as the new wave of an omicron subvariant is spreading fast. The country added 100,285 new COVID-19 infections, including 532 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,446,946, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Wednesday's number is the largest since 111,291 reported on April 20 and up from Tuesday's 99,327. The daily infection case

July 27, 2022

Seoul to turn Yongsan‘s idle land into tech complex, transportation hub

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced its development plan to turn massive idle land near Yongsan Station in central Seoul into the “Asian Silicon Valley” and a city transportation hub. In a press briefing on Tuesday, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the government will transform the area into an “international business district as a new center for global urban competitiveness and technological innovation.” The Seoul city government will develop the area, which is a 4

July 26, 2022

Over half of foreign seasonal workers left workplace in violation of contract: report

More than half of foreigners who came to Korea last year as seasonal farm workers had left their workplaces in violation of contracts, according to a media report Tuesday. Of 559 people who entered the country as seasonal workers last year, 56 percent, or 316, have disappeared without any notice, a KBS report said. The public broadcaster said that nearly 100 of the foreign workers who arrived here in the first six months of this year to work in rural villages in Gangwon Province had disapp

July 26, 2022

Feud over ‘police bureau’ escalates

The enforcement decree regarding the launch of a new police bureau passed the Cabinet meeting Tuesday, shortly after President Yoon Suk-yeol slammed the collective action of police officers who are against the launch to be a “breach against state discipline.” The Cabinet approval means the new police bureau under the Interior Ministry will be launched as planned on Aug. 2. Yoon, who had stayed on the sidelines of the conflict regarding the launch, increased his criticism Tuesday

July 26, 2022

[Newsmaker] Activists call for immediate action as Climate Clock counts down

Humanity has less than 7 years left until the “point of no return” in the climate crisis, according to the Climate Clock in Seoul. The digital clock, which is set up on the roof of Herald Corp. headquarters building in Yongsan, central Seoul, stands at six years, 361 days, nine hours and 59 minutes, as of 3 p.m. Tuesday. According to the clock’s operators in New York, the estimated time left before the average global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-i

July 26, 2022

Aging South Korea turns to immigration

The Ministry of Justice will open a bureau to facilitate immigration as South Korea struggles to cope with falling birth rates and an aging population. After briefing President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday morning, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon told reporters that the plans for a central bureau overseeing policies relating to immigration will begin to take shape over the remaining year. Since taking office in May, Han has said that during his term, he would make it his mission to institute an

July 26, 2022