Seoul receives first snowfall of season, one month earlier than last year

Seoul received the first snowfall of the season Wednesday morning, about a month earlier than last year, the state weather agency said. The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said light snow was observed at the Songwol-dong weather observation station in central Seoul at 6:10 a.m. The KMA records the first snow seen at the Songwol-dong observatory as Seoul's first snow of the season every year. This year's first snow came in Seoul 30 days earlier than last year, when it fell on Dec. 10,

Nov. 10, 2021

S. Korea to honor fallen UN Korean War veterans in 'Turn toward Busan' event

South Korea was set to host an annual ceremony to commemorate the sacrifices of fallen troops who fought under the UN flag during the 1950-53 Korean War this week, the veterans affairs ministry said Wednesday. The "Turn Toward Busan" ceremony will take place at the UN Memorial Cemetery in the southeastern port city of Busan on Thursday, with the attendance of some 300 people, including the bereaved families, war veterans and diplomatic delegates, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans

Nov. 10, 2021

The beauty industry’s not-so-beautiful side

From the standard cut and dry to celebrity treatments worth millions of won per session, you could say hairdressing is a profession that will never go out of style. But behind the glamour lies a long history of disputes between workers and shop owners. The hairdressing industry in recent years has been hit with complaints from workers who say they are overworked and underpaid -- getting significantly less than the legal minimum wage of 8,720 won ($7.50) per hour. “I started off with 1.

Nov. 10, 2021

‘At current trends, Korea can move on to second phase of pandemic exit’

Considering the current trajectory, South Korea will be able to enter the second phase of its reopening, otherwise known as the pandemic exit plan, slated for mid-December, Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Yoo Geun-heag told reporters Tuesday. As Korea seeks to coexist with COVID-19, deaths and hospitalizations, rather than case counts, will be the two main metrics that measure the country’s performance in handling the pandemic, the government previously said. Based on the changes in

Nov. 9, 2021

Korea sees fastest growth of male part-timers in OECD

SEJONG -- South Korea saw the portion of employed men working as part-timers exceed the 10 percent mark in 2020, a first since the nation started compiling relevant data in 1989. Further, since 2016, Korea has been No. 1 in the growth of male part-time workers among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. According to the OECD, part-timers accounted for 10.43 percent of all employed men last year. The figure was an increase of 3.67 percentage points from 2016. Af

Nov. 9, 2021

Korea to get COVID-19 pills ‘no later than February’: vice health minister

South Korea plans to bring oral antivirals against COVID-19 to the country “no later than February,” Vice Minister of Health and Welfare Yoo Geun-heag told reporters Tuesday, in addition to the 90 million doses of vaccines that will be purchased for the third year of the pandemic. While refraining from calling oral antivirals a pandemic “game changer,” he said the government was working to make them available here possibly by January, a month earlier than previously p

Nov. 9, 2021

Nearly half of new COVID-19 cases in 2 weeks were breakthrough infections

Nearly half of new COVID-19 cases in South Korea over the past two weeks were breakthrough infections, health authorities said Tuesday. There were 8,336 breakthrough cases out of 17,325 new COVID-19 patients, or 48.1 percent, between Oct. 17 and Oct. 30, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Breakthrough infections are those who test positive even after receiving the full-dose vaccine regimen. The rate of breakthrough cases occurring in people aged in their 70s was the h

Nov. 9, 2021

Unionized construction workers urge govt. to solve urea water solution shortage

Unionized construction workers on Tuesday called upon the government to come up with measures to resolve the urea water solution crisis, claiming the shortage of the material essential to diesel vehicles threatens their livelihoods. The Korean Construction Workers' Union urged the government to promptly resolve the lack of urea water supply, punish hoarding of the material and aid construction workers facing difficulties operating their equipment due to the crisis. "My urea water reserves

Nov. 9, 2021

Labor ministry recognizes bullying case at Coupang, rebutting company's internal probe: union

The labor ministry has recognized that a workplace bullying incident occurred within e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. early this year, refuting a finding reached by the company through an internal probe, the company's union said Tuesday. In response to a petition filed by a Coupang logistics center worker, the ministry's branch office in northern Incheon, west of Seoul, concluded a supervisor's reprimanding of a worker's job performance in connection with union activities constitutes workplace bul

Nov. 9, 2021

Sleet falls in Seoul but is not defined as first snow of season

Some sleet was witnessed on the mountains on the outskirts of Seoul on Tuesday due to a sudden drop in temperatures but fell short of being recorded as the first snow of the season, the state weather agency said. The weather became as cold as winter amid light rainfall in the morning, raising expectations for the first snow of the season in the capital. Indeed, some sleet fell on suburban Seoul mountains, such as Dobong, Bukhan and Gwanak, where temperatures were lower than in the downtown and

Nov. 9, 2021

Outage leaves Yeoju without power for 1 1/2 hours

Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, on Tuesday was hit by a power outage that left a large part of the region without electricity for more than an hour, the state-owned utility said. Korea Electric Power Corp. confirmed that the widespread blackout started at 10:26 a.m. and power was restored at 11:59 a.m. after damaged power equipment was replaced. Around 52,800 households were estimated to have experienced about 1 1/2 hours without power, and nine out of the 12 districts in the city were affected. K

Nov. 9, 2021

S. Korea investigating suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu

The agricultural ministry said Tuesday it is investigating suspected cases of highly pathogenic bird flu from a local farm as it issued a nationwide standstill order to help contain its spread. The suspected cases of the avian influenza were reported from a quail farm in the central county of Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. It is the first time in about seven months that suspected bird flu cases were reported from a farm,

Nov. 9, 2021

14 Africans nabbed on suspicions of swindling S. Korean victims in romance scams

A total of 14 African nationals have been apprehended for allegedly defrauding more than a million dollars from South Koreans after building relationships with them online while posing as diplomats, doctors and soldiers, police said Tuesday. The suspects, most of them from Liberia and other African countries, allegedly used such fake identities to befriend 24 victims and swindled a total of 1.67 billion won ($1.4 million) from them in what is known as a "romance scam," according to th

Nov. 9, 2021

New infections below 2,000 for 2nd day amid eased virus curbs

South Korea's new coronavirus cases fell below 2,000 for the second straight day Tuesday, but health authorities remain on alert over a possible spike in new infections under eased virus curbs. The country reported 1,715 new COVID-19 cases, raising the total caseload to 383,407, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Last week, South Korea began its "living with COVID-19" scheme as part of a broader plan to gradually lift the virus restrictions by the end of F

Nov. 9, 2021

State spy agency says it has foiled 14 hacking attempts from abroad this year

South Korea's state intelligence agency said Monday it has detected 14 hacking attempts from abroad on the country's key industry technologies in the first nine months this year that could have resulted in nearly 1.78 trillion won ($1.5 billion) worth of damage to relevant companies. Of the total cases detected between January and September, seven were reported from the country's leading chip and display industries, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS). The NIS added it has pre

Nov. 8, 2021

Businesses struggle with 'quarantine pass' system

A week into the government’s “living with COVID-19” drive, the “quarantine pass” system remains dogged by controversy. A full vaccination certificate, a negative PCR test result, or confirmation of exemption from vaccination, is required for entry to places deemed “high risk,” such as karaoke parlors, indoor sports centers, nightclubs and public bathhouses. “The number of customers already dropped after the fourth level of social distancing mea

Nov. 8, 2021

No. of multicultural marriages hits record low in 2020 due to pandemic

The number of marriages between South Koreans and foreign spouses fell to a record low last year as the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted people's cross-border movements, data showed Monday. The number of multicultural marriages came to 16,177 last year, down 34.6 percent, or 8,544, from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. It marked the lowest reading since 2008 when the statistics agency started to compile related data. The number of international marriages sharply fell la

Nov. 8, 2021

Moon orders utmost efforts to stabilize supply of urea water solution

President Moon Jae-in on Monday instructed aides to mobilize all possible measures to stabilize a supply of urea water solution amid growing public concerns about a worsening shortage of the key material used in diesel vehicles to reduce emissions due to tightened imports. Moon also ordered aides to "make utmost diplomatic efforts to secure" urea water solution from foreign countries, presidential spokesperson Park Kyung-mee told reporters. The government will take stern actions agai

Nov. 8, 2021

Police to minimize use of diesel vehicles to cope with urea water crisis

Police will minimize the use of diesel vehicles to prepare for the prolonged shortage of urea water solution across the country, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Monday. The NPA said it has instructed all police organizations nationwide to deprioritize the use of diesel vehicles to cope with the worsening urea water crisis. South Korea has been grappling with a shortage of urea water solution, a key material used in diesel vehicles to reduce emissions, after China tightened exports of the

Nov. 8, 2021

Seoul Foreign School celebrates 40 years of IB education in Korea

Seoul Foreign School is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its International Baccalaureate (IB) program this year.  The school introduced the IB program in 1981, recognizing the program’s potential as the premiere international curriculum and one that would provide opportunities for graduates as they transitioned to university and beyond.  After several decades of success with the IB Diploma Program (IBDP) for High School students, SFS adopted the Primary Years and Middle Year

Nov. 8, 2021