Pets on patrol

On May 5, the Gangdong-gu District Office in eastern Seoul received a call reporting a damaged road pole posing safety risks to drivers. It was not residents nor police officers on patrol who found the hazardous situation on the road, but a 2-year-old female poodle named Oh-gu.  “Oh-gu suddenly moved closer to the median strip while walking on a crosswalk with me. She usually likes to sniff everywhere. It was her curiosity that made me spot the damaged pole,” said Cho Mi-you

July 26, 2022

General meeting of police personnel called for to protest 'police bureau' plan

A police officer called Tuesday for a general meeting of all 140,000 police personnel to protest the planned establishment of an interior ministry bureau overseeing the law enforcement agency, upping the ante in the escalating standoff with the government. Kim Seong-jong, senior inspector at Seoul Gwangjin Police Station, said in a post on the police intranet, that the meeting had originally been planned to involve senior inspector- and inspector-level officers but has now been expanded to inclu

July 26, 2022

Female teacher under probe over improper relationship with student

A female high school teacher in the southeastern city of Daegu has been under investigation on suspicion of having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students, police said Tuesday. The unnamed teacher in her 30s, who has taught at a Daegu high school on a term contract, is suspected of having sex with a male student of the same school in late June in violation of the Child Welfare Act, according to the Daegu Bukbu Police Station. The case became known to the school after the police no

July 26, 2022

Drug smuggling grows over 10% in H1

Drug trafficking caught by South Korea's customs agency grew 11.2 percent on-year in the first half of this year, data showed Tuesday. The Korea Customs Service said it confiscated a total of 238 kilograms of drugs in the January-June period, compared with 214 kg a year earlier. The number of cases that the agency discovered came to 372, down 43.8 percent on-year. But the average amount of drugs involved in a single case doubled to 0.64 kg from the previous year's 0.32 kg, according to

July 26, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases hit nearly 100,000

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases bounced back to nearly 100,000 on Tuesday as an omicron subvariant has spread fast amid a new wave of the virus resurgence. The country reported 99,327 new COVID-19 infections, including 353 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,346,764, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Tuesday's count is more than double the previous day's 35,883 and the largest number since 111,291 reported on April 20. South Korea has seen a spike in

July 26, 2022

South Korea won’t add rules over monkeypox

South Korea will keep the current level of response against monkeypox, public health officials said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency and the Ministry of Health and Welfare called an emergency meeting over monkeypox on Monday, and decided not to tighten rules based on their assessment of risk to the South Korean population. The emergency meeting follows the World Health Organization’s declaration Saturday that the monkeypox outbreak constitutes a public health eme

July 25, 2022

Yoon calls on Gender Ministry to draw up plans for abolition

President Yoon Suk-yeol requested the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to develop a roadmap for abolition soon. “(Yoon) has requested that (the Gender Minister) come up with a roadmap for abolition after figuring out the overall duties of the ministry,” spokesperson Kang In-sun said at a briefing held Monday after Gender Minister made her first report to the president. Gender Minister Kim Hyun-sook said the ministry is working on the agenda. 　 “We have launched a ta

July 25, 2022

Interior Minister defends launch of police bureau

The government and the ruling People Power Party continued to call out police officers opposing the new “police bureau,” with Interior Minister Lee Sang-min comparing resistance to a coup d’etat. Lee further explained the legitimacy of the launch, arguing it is an act of democracy. Lee attacked Saturday’s meeting held by police chiefs, saying it was an act of insubordination. “To leave one’s garrison and gather is similar to the Dec. 12 coup d’etat

July 25, 2022

S.Korea forced to reinstate antivirus measures amid growing COVID-19 wave

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 infections continued to post a week-on-week increase on Sunday amid the recent COVID-19 wave fueled by the highly contagious omicron strain BA.5, government data showed Monday. Amid the ongoing spread of the new omicron strain, some antivirus measures at international airports and senior care hospitals have also been reinstated. Starting on Monday, international arrivals need to take a polymerase chain reaction test on the day of their entry to the country,

July 25, 2022

Rainy season giving way to heat wave nationwide

With the end of the rainy season approaching, the state weather agency on Monday issued a heat wave advisory for Seoul and almost all parts of the country, excluding Jeju Island and inland mountain areas. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said the heat wave advisory takes effect in Seoul, Busan and all major cities nationwide as of 11 a.m. Such an advisory is issued when the maximum sensible temperatures are expected to exceed 33 C for two or more days, or when severe damage is expec

July 25, 2022

South Korea’s testing policy aids omicron’s ‘stealth spread’

South Korea is sticking to its monthslong “omicron response strategy” of barring most people from access to PCR testing, which experts warn could risk highly evasive subvariants such as BA.5 spreading untracked. 　 Since late January, PCR tests, considered the gold standard in COVID-19 diagnosis, have been offered only to people aged 60 and older. Residents and workers of nursing homes and congregate settings can get PCR tests as a part of regular screening. Anyone who falls outsi

July 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] Fall of Korean ‘drug king’ expected to expedite probe into local drug networks

A South Korean man believed to be one of the biggest drug traffickers in the country was expatriated from Vietnam last week, after a three-year international joint operation that zeroed in on a major drug smuggling ring based in Southeast Asia. The 47-year-old suspect, identified only by the surname Kim, known by the alias “Sara(salagim)” in the underground market, is believed to be the pinnacle of the drug ring suspected of supplying illegal substances through Telegram. Kim is su

July 24, 2022

WHO triggers highest alert on monkeypox

GENEVA -- The World Health Organization on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries, to be a global health emergency -- the highest alarm it can sound. "I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference. He said a committee of experts who met on Thursday was unable to reach a consensus, so it fell to him

July 24, 2022

Police struggle with launch of new bureau

　 The National Police Agency has been struggling with internal opposition a mere week ahead of the launch of a new “police bureau” under the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. Hours after a meeting of police chiefs from around the country who were against the launch of the new police bureau, Yoon Hee-keun, the national police chief nominee, ordered superintendent Ryu Sam-yeong to go on stand-by Saturday. The police agency is also looking into inspecting some 50 superintendents wh

July 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] Monkeypox: how a global health emergency is decided

GENEVA -- A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is the rarely used top alert available to the World Health Organization to tackle a global disease outbreak. The WHO on Saturday declared the surge in monkeypox to be a PHEIC after experts reviewed the situation at an emergency committee meeting two days earlier. Here is a look at how the decision is made and previous PHEIC declarations: What is a PHEIC?   The conditions which must be met are set out under the 2005 Interna

July 24, 2022

Siemens Korea fined for unfair biz practices

Siemens Korea was fined 480 million won ($365,600) for exaggerating expenses of repairing medical appliances and arbitrarily passing them onto its contractors, the antitrust regulator said Sunday. The Korean unit of the German conglomerate had sold major medical appliances to hospitals here, including magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography scanners until 2015. To repair those appliances, Siemens Korea was supposed to use software and pay its German head office for the use. But it

July 24, 2022

Prosecutors raid Terraform's parent firm in probe into Luna-Terra crash

Prosecutors have raided the parent company of Terraform Labs as part of a broadening investigation into the massive collapse of the firm's Luna and TerraUSD cryptocurrencies, sources said Sunday. Last week, an investigation team of the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors Office conducted the search and seizure at the parent company currently headed by Terraform co-founder Daniel Shin, according to the legal sources. As part of the raid, prosecutors also searched the home of the chief of ano

July 24, 2022

S. Korea's new virus cases under 70,000 for 3rd day, remain high as subvariant spreads

South Korea's new coronavirus cases remained under 70,000 for the third straight day on Sunday amid the spread of a highly contagious omicron subvariant. The country reported 65,433 new COVID-19 infections, including 333 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 19,211,613, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily tally represents a 14-week high for cases reported on Sundays. During the week, the new cases reached 76,381 on Wednesday before falling below 70,000

July 24, 2022

Military reports 1,793 more COVID-19 cases

  South Korea's military reported 1,793 additional COVID-19 cases Saturday, raising the total caseload among its service members to 197,227, the defense ministry said. The new cases included 1,339 from the Army, 193 from the Air Force, 90 from the Navy, 80 from the Marine Corps and 86 from units under the direct control of the ministry. There were also five cases from the South Korea-US Combined Forces Command. Currently, 8,609 military personnel are under treatment. (Yonhap)

July 23, 2022

[Photo News] Summer holidays at the beach

  Under the beaming sunlight, vacationers enjoy beach time at Songjeong Beach in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, one of the country’s most popular summer travel destinations, on Saturday. Some people take a rest in the shade of pine trees to escape from the blistering heat wave. As the scorching weather continued over the weekend, holidaymakers have been flocking to beaches to frolic in the cool, clear waters. Children enjoy swimming at Dolmeori Beach Dolmeori Beach in Hampyeong, South

July 23, 2022