Regions reach out to young adults to save vanishing villages

Until this summer, Jeong Ran, a freelance photographer, had no idea where Hamyang was. The rural county of South Gyeongsang Province is just about one and a half hours’ drive from the city of Gumi, where she lives, yet it has never entered her scope of interest. When this reporter talked to her early this week, the 32-year-old was on her second trip to Hamyang. Only two weeks ago, she returned from a two-week rural stay program there. “This time, I want to make postcards with

July 13, 2022

Seoul proposes record W6.4tr extra budget

The Seoul city government on Wednesday announced it would propose a record-breaking extra budget of 6.37 trillion won ($4.88 billion). The city government will submit the proposal on the same day to the Seoul Metropolitan Council, which would start its review on Friday this week. The budget is the first supplementary budget proposal since Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon began his new term earlier this month. It is also the largest extra budget ever, following the previous record-high extra budget of 4.

July 13, 2022

Seoul to raise extra budget for free meal program

With Korea’s consumer prices jumping at an unprecedented rate, the Seoul Education Office is planning to raise an extra budget for school meals. All kindergarteners and elementary, middle and high school students are subject to free school lunch in the city of Seoul. The city launched its free lunch program for students in 2011 and has since expanded it. However, with hiking consumer prices, the Seoul Education Office is planning to raise an extra budget to continue its support for f

July 13, 2022

Torrential downpours to soak central region until Thursday morning

With the whole nation in the middle of the annual monsoon season, heavy downpours of up to 150 millimeters are forecast to pound the central region between Wednesday and Thursday morning, the state weather agency said. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said up to 100 mm of monsoon rains are expected to soak the Seoul metropolitan area and almost all parts of the central region, including Gangwon Province, until early Thursday. The precipitation may reach up to 150 mm in some mountain

July 13, 2022

Wando family autopsies detect sleeping pill use: police

An autopsy on the family of three that were found dead last month in a submerged car found that they had taken sleeping pills, police said Wednesday. Officials at the Gwangju Nambu Police Station said they were recently notified of this from the National Forensic Service, although the NFS is currently conducting additional analysis to determine the amounts that the family took. Ten-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents went missing in Wando-gun, South Jeolla Province, in May and were found dead

July 13, 2022

Govt. to expand eligibility for 4th coronavirus vaccine shot to people aged 50 and older

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Wednesday that the government will expand eligibility for the fourth COVID-19 vaccine shot to people aged 50 and older as well as people aged 18 and older who have underlying health conditions. The move comes as the nation is facing another wave of virus resurgence, driven by the fast spread of the highly contagious mutation of the omicron strains, BA.5, which is known to be more contagious and better able to escape immunity compared with earlier versions. "

July 13, 2022

In search for truth, Lee Dae-jun’s family left with few options

The string of legal battles trailing the Moon Jae-in administration in search for the truth by the family of Lee Dae-jun may reach the former president himself. Since January last year, Lee’s family has been has been looking for answers through the courts, and won access to Cheong Wa Dae records that are believed to hold clues about the events leading to as well as after his murder at the hands of North Korea in September 2020. But Cheong Wa Dae appealed the court’s decision that

July 12, 2022

[KH Explains] What is Unification Church and why is it controversial?

The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, famously known as the Unification Church, has come under scrutiny following the assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japanese media have reported that Tetsuya Yamagami, the man behind the fatal attack, mentioned a religious group as his motive to the investigators. He believed the former PM was linked to the religious group, which he said brought financial problems to the family after his mother donated huge sums to t

July 12, 2022

Education chiefs call for task force to cope with budget reallocation

Regional education office chiefs met with the Education Minister on Monday, calling for a task force to work out measures related to the government’s education budget reallocation plan. After the authorities have decided to reallocate part of budget earmarked for early childhood, elementary and secondary education for higher and lifelong education -- mainly to invest in training for semiconductor experts -- chiefs of education offices across the nation expressed disapproval. “The

July 12, 2022

BAT Rothmans selects 10 college teams to compete in ESG idea contest

British American Tobacco has selected 10 teams of college students for an idea contest focused on sustainability. BAT Rothmans, the South Korean business arm of the international tobacco group, said Monday it has started a five month-long ESG campaign by holding an orientation for the 10 college teams, who will compete to win prizes based on their suggestions on eco-friendly business ideas. The selected teams are from Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Konkuk Unive

July 12, 2022

S. Korea’s new COVID-19 infections rebound to 2-month high of over 37,000

Omicron strains are driving a new COVID-19 wave in South Korea. The daily infections reached a 2-month high, while the weekly average number of COVID-19 infections almost doubled last week. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country added 37,360 new COVID-19 infections during the 24 hours of Monday. The daily count is the highest since May 11, when the country reported 43,908 cases. Tuesday’s figure was an almost twofold increase compared to 19,371 cases

July 12, 2022

Coast Guard retrieves body of crewman missing from fishing boat fire on Jeju

JEJU -- The Coast Guard retrieved Tuesday a body believed to be of a crewman who went missing in a devastating fire at a port on the southern island of Jeju last week, officials said. The fire broke out on a 29-ton fishing boat docked at Hallim Port on Thursday and spread to two others, leaving three crewmen of the first boat seriously injured and two others -- one foreigner and one South Korean -- missing. During an operation to lift the 29-ton boat out of the sea Tuesday, Coast Guard workers f

July 12, 2022

S. Korea's new COVID-19 cases rise to 2-month high of over 37,000

South Korea's new coronavirus cases surged to a two-month high of over 37,000 on Tuesday, driven by the spread of a highly contagious new omicron subvariant and deepening concerns over another virus wave. The country added 37,360 new COVID-19 infections, including 260 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,561,861, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Tuesday's figure is the highest since May 11, when the daily count came to 43,908 in the aftermath of

July 12, 2022

Yoon says focus on protecting people's livelihoods from economic crisis

President Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday his focus is on protecting people's livelihoods from the economic crisis as he took questions from reporters a day after daily Q&A sessions were suspended due to a COVID-19 outbreak among the press corps. Yoon greeted reporters as he arrived for work by saying he had heard some of them had tested positive for COVID-19 and wanted them to work from home for their own safety and the safety of others in the building. Yoon shares his office building with the p

July 12, 2022

COVID-19 cases among Seoul students more than double over past week

Amid a resurgence of COVID-19 infections nationwide, the number of confirmed cases among students in Seoul more than doubled over the past week, the municipal education office said Tuesday. A total of 2,587 students in the capital's kindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools tested positive for the coronavirus for one week beginning on July 4, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education. The figure marked a rise of 161.8 percent, or 1,599, from 988 student infections

July 12, 2022

Atmospheric concentration of CO2 hits all-time high in S. Korea in 2021

The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in South Korea hit an all-time high last year, with the atmospheric methane level also registering a sharp increase, a meteorological institute said Tuesday. The CO2 level in the air, measured from the country's longest-running observation station on Anmyeon Island, 124 kilometers southwest of Seoul, averaged at 423.1 parts per million in 2021, according to a climate report by the National Institute of Meteorological Sciences. The figure

July 12, 2022

Foreign Language Newspapers Association marks 7th anniversary

The Foreign Language Newspapers Association of Korea marked its seventh anniversary on Monday in a ceremony in Seoul, reconfirming its unique role to bridge Korea and the rest of the world. 　 At the event, held at the Korea Press Center in Jongno, central Seoul, and attended by foreign dignitaries as well as media industry executives, Chinese Ambassador to Korea Xing Haiming delivered a congratulatory speech. After offering condolences to Japan over the tragic death of former Japanese leader

July 11, 2022

Prosecutors zero in on top Moon aides over alleged blacklisting of public officials

Prosecutors are launching an investigation into Cho Kuk and Im Jong-seok, both of whom served top roles at former President Moon Jae-in’s Cheong Wa Dae, over allegations that they blacklisted high-ranking public officials appointed during the Park Geun-hye administration. The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office has recently tapped its criminal department to handle the investigation into two ex-Cheong Wa Dae officials, according to sources familiar with the matter. The then-oppositio

July 11, 2022

S. Korea likely to extend quarantine measure for COVID-19 patients amid resurgence

Renewed discussions on the seven-day mandatory quarantine for COVID-19 patients have begun, but related restrictions appear likely to remain in place due to the recent resurgence of cases. The Yoon Suk-yeol administration’s new expert committee for infectious disease, under the wing of the prime minister‘s office, will discuss whether to keep the quarantine measure in place, and the government will announce its decision Wednesday. Other antivirus measures are also to be discusse

July 11, 2022

Passengers, crew members arrive in S. Korea after plane made emergency landing in Azerbaijan

Passengers and crew members safely arrived in South Korea on an extra flight after their Korean Air plane made an emergency landing in Azerbaijan due to an engine defect, the airline said Monday. No one was hurt. Flag carrier Korean Air Lines Co. said 215 passengers and 10 crew members landed at Incheon International Airport at around 9 a.m., almost a day later than their original arrival time. The Incheon-bound plane from Turkiye made an emergency landing at Heydar Aliyev International Airport

July 11, 2022