2 killed, 1 missing after explosion at Yeosu chemical factory

Police have again come under fire for their inadequate handling of a recent stalking case, which eventually led to one death and one serious injury in Seoul. A ranking official of the National Police Agency (NPA) on Monday admitted apparent misjudgment by a local police station, which failed on Tuesday of last week to detain a stalker accused of abducting and sexually assaulting his former girlfriend for unclear reasons. (Yonhap)Two workers were found dead and one is missing in connection with

Dec. 13, 2021

Discrimination or not? Museum denies foreigners access to programs citing language barrier

A tea museum operated by South Korean cosmetics giant Amorepacific is found to have a rather controversial policy: It says no foreigners are allowed in its guided tours or tea classes because no interpretation services are provided.  Even if the foreigner is OK with not having an interpreter or has a native Korean speaker to help, the museum is apparently reluctant to accept the guest, warning, “The translation (by another guest) may be restricted if it disturbs other participants of

Dec. 13, 2021

Ven. Seongpa elected Supreme Patriarch of Jogye Order

Ven. Seongpa was chosen to be the spiritual leader of the Jogye Order, South Korea's largest Buddhist sect, on Monday, The 82-year-old priest is to start his five-year term as the 15th Supreme Patriarch on March 25 when current leader Ven. Jinje's second five-year term ends, the Jogye Order said. The Supreme Patriarch, or "Jongjeong" in Korean, is the highest authority in the Buddhist sect, but does not oversee its administration. Born in 1939 in Hapcheon, 354 kilometers south of Se

Dec. 13, 2021

Vaccine QR system outage causes inconveniences on 1st day of vaccine pass enforcement

Outages in the government's digital vaccine authentication system have been reported in large numbers Monday, causing inconveniences around lunch time on the first day of the nation's vaccine pass enforcement. Reports of inability to access COOV, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's smartphone application which offers vaccine certifications in QR codes, began appearing in various online communities at around 11:40 a.m. Authentications of QR codes in other popular services, such as

Dec. 13, 2021

Police to consider disclosing identities of online sexual abuse material buyers

Police will consider disclosing the identities of not only distributors of sexually exploitative materials but also their buyers as part of efforts to clamp down on digital sex crimes, officials said Monday. The National Police Agency said it began discussing the matter in an interagency meeting with the government's policy coordination office, the interior ministry, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC), the country's censorship body and others. "To curb online sex crimes,

Dec. 13, 2021

New COVID-19 cases below 6,000 for 1st time in 6 days; critical cases remain high

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 6,000 for the first time in six days Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend amid concerns over the spread of the new omicron variant. The country added 5,817 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 523,088, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections soared to a record high of 7,174 cases on Wednesday and remained above 7,000 for the following two days before falling to 6,977 on Saturday

Dec. 13, 2021

S. Korea has 3rd-highest ratio of NEET youth among OECD: report

South Korea has the third-highest ratio of youth not in education, employment or training (NEET) among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a report showed Monday. The average monthly number of NEET people aged 15-29 in the country is estimated at 1.56 million in the January-October period, according to the report from the Korea Employment Information Service. Of the total, 778,000 were preparing for employment or seeking jobs, with another 507,000 unwilling to

Dec. 13, 2021

In Korea’s worst surge, more patients die waiting for hospital beds

The rush to open up has led to an unprecedented spike in hospitalizations and deaths that threaten to undo the progress the country has made so far in the pandemic. South Korea reported 6,320 cases each day on average in the past week, more than three times as many cases as it did the week before the Nov. 1 return to normal. The seven-day average of new deaths jumped nearly fivefold to 57. On Saturday the country announced 80 deaths -- the highest number of deaths to be recorded in one day.

Dec. 12, 2021

Vaccination at schools to begin Wednesday

Starting Wednesday, medical staff will visit schools to begin administering vaccines to those aged between 12 and 18, health authorities said. The vaccine rollout comes as the Education Ministry on Monday released the results of a survey held Dec. 6-12 regarding the outreach vaccination program at schools. A total of 498,062 students participated in the survey and 83,928 students said they are willing to be vaccinated through the outreach vaccination program. Of the 83,928 students, 79.4 pe

Dec. 12, 2021

Public officials raise eyebrows by quitting to join crypto exchanges

An increasing number of public officials are leaving to join the cryptocurrency industry almost without restriction, Rep. Roh Woong-rae of the ruling Democratic Party said Saturday, urging tighter rules on their post-public service employment. According to data compiled by the lawmaker, a Grade 5 official at the Financial Service Commission, the nation’s top financial regulator, recently quit to move to Bithumb, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges here. Although the official fac

Dec. 12, 2021

Teen pilot Rutherford lands in S. Korea in bid for record flight

The British-Belgian teen pilot Zara Rutherford has made a stop in South Korea during her bid to become the youngest woman to fly solo around the world. The 19-year-old landed at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul Saturday afternoon, after flying in from Vladivostok, Russia, in her ultralight plane Shark. She began her 51,000-kilometer journey in August from Kortrijk-Wevelgem Airport in western Belgium and has since covered Britain, Greenland, the United States, Mexico, Colombia, Cana

Dec. 12, 2021

New COVID-19 cases below 7,000 for 2nd day; critical cases at fresh high

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 for the second consecutive day Sunday, but critical cases hit an all-time high again, deepening concerns over medical capacity amid the continued spread of the new omicron variant. The country added 6,689 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 517,271, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections soared to a record high of 7,174 cases on Wednesday and remained above 7,000 for the follo

Dec. 12, 2021

Nearly 70 pct of public say 'living with COVID-19' scheme raised health risk: poll

  Seven out of 10 South Koreans believe the government's "living with COVID-19" campaign has elevated the risk of virus transmission, according to a poll released Saturday. The survey -- commissioned by a research team led by Prof. Yoo Myung-soon of Seoul National University's graduate school of public health -- found that 69 percent of respondents said they saw the public risk related to COVID-19 as having increased after implementation of the scheme aimed at returning to norm

Dec. 11, 2021

New cases below 7,000 for 1st time in 4 days; deaths hit daily record high of 80

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 7,000 for the first time in four days Saturday as the country struggles to tackle the fast spread of infections, including the new omicron variant cases. The country added 6,977 new COVID-19 infections, raising the total caseload to 510,538, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Daily infections soared to a record high of 7,174 cases on Wednesday and remained above 7,000 for the following two days. The number of

Dec. 11, 2021

‘Two men not allowed’

A glamping site near Bukhansan in western Seoul offers caravans for hire on its booking platform. But the booking site says rentals are only offered to a select few. Among a long list of the type of guests that “cannot make bookings,” are groups consisting of two men, or only men. "Under no circumstances can the groups mentioned above book with us -- no exceptions,” the glamping site said on web portal Naver. Kim Ji-hak, who heads nonprofit organization Diversity Korea

Dec. 10, 2021

Authorities allow booster shots three months after initial vaccination

South Korea‘s new COVID-19 cases again topped 7,000 on Thursday, remaining in the 7,000s on three consecutive days, government data showed Friday. “As daily cases remained in the 7,000 for three days straight, with seniors aged 60 or older accounting for 35 percent of the confirmed cases, the country’s medical capabilities are being rapidly overwhelmed,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said in a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, held

Dec. 10, 2021

High-school student files constitutional petition against vaccine pass expansion

A high-school student and others filed a constitutional petition Friday against the government's plan to expand the COVID-19 vaccine pass program to teenagers next year. Starting February, the government plans to require not only adults but also children aged 12 to 18 to present COVID-19 vaccination or negative test certificates at multiuse facilities, including public study rooms and cram schools. The plan was announced last week along with toughened gathering restrictions amid the latest vir

Dec. 10, 2021

5-yr prison term sought for ex-high school teacher charged with having sex with student

INCHEON -- Prosecutors sought a five-year prison sentence Friday for a former high school teacher charged with luring one of her students into having sex with her. The former teacher at a high school in Incheon, west of Seoul, was indicted on charges of sexually abusing the student by having sex with him multiple times between 2019 and 2020 when she was the student's homeroom teacher. In April this year, the Incheon District Court sentenced her to 1 1/2 years in prison, suspended for three yea

Dec. 10, 2021

[Newsmaker] Dunkin’ Donuts whistleblower forwarded to prosecution

Police on Thursday transferred to the prosecution a man who recorded a video that created a controversy over the unsanitary conditions of a factory baking products for Dunkin’ Donuts. The Anyang Dongan Police Station in Gyeonggi Province has been investigating the worker who took the video of the factory in Anyang for suspicions of business obstruction after BR Korea, an affiliate of the SPC Group, which operates the donut chain, filed a complaint against him. The video stirred public u

Dec. 10, 2021

Young S. Koreans suffer greater employment strain during pandemic: report

Young South Koreans suffered more severe employment shock than older people during the pandemic and fresh college and high school graduates faced greater difficulty in finding jobs, a report showed Friday. The employment rate for Koreans aged 15-34 reached 50.5 percent in January, down from 52.8 percent a year earlier, according to the report by the Statistics Korea Institute. The corresponding rate for people aged 35-64 came to 71.2 percent in January, down from 73.6 percent the previous year

Dec. 10, 2021