Seoul education office pulls back on school rebuilding project

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has decided to roll back on its school rebuilding project for nine schools in the capital, after it came under mounting pressure from parents who said it put their children’s safety and education at risk. The Seoul education office said Wednesday that it has excluded the nine schools, which had officially requested a withdrawal, from the list of 93 schools that were selected for the Green Smart Future School project. The plan involves rebuilding

Sept. 15, 2021

New virus cases top 2,000 as infections in capital area surge to record high

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases surpassed 2,000 Wednesday as infections in the capital area surged to a record high ahead of a major holiday. The country added 2,080 COVID-19 cases, including 2,057 local infections, raising the total caseload to 277,989, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest caseload was sharply up from 1,497 cases the previous day and topped the 2,000 mark for the first time in six days. It is also the fourth-largest daily figur

Sept. 15, 2021

Statistics agency opens English service of data platform on SDGs

South Korea's statistics agency said Tuesday it has launched the English service of the data platform on the country's progress in achieving UN Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs data platform will help international users understand South Korea's efforts to meet the SDGs on a real-time basis, and have easy access to the country's related data, according to Statistics Korea. The SDGs were adopted at the UN General Assembly in 2015 as17 policy goals aimed at ending poverty and promoting su

Sept. 14, 2021

Rationing access to care remains elephant in the room

As South Korea readies for “a phased return to normal” later in the fall as more of its population is vaccinated, front-line doctors say there is an elephant in the room that is going unaddressed -- the question of who will have access to health care and who won’t in a surge crisis. “Before moving on to a less restrictive pandemic response, I think we need to have a discussion on how finite health care resources may be rationed in the event of a surge,” said Dr.

Sept. 14, 2021

New head of state-run audit agency nominated after two months of vacancy

President Moon Jae-in on Tuesday nominated Choe Jae-hae to head the Board of Audit and Inspection. Choe had previously served on the agency’s board. The nomination comes more than two months after the seat was vacated due to the sudden resignation of Choe Jae-hyeong, who joined the main opposition People Power Party shortly after to seek its candidacy for next year’s presidential race. The presidential office said Moon nominated Choe Jae-hae for being an “audit specialist,&r

Sept. 14, 2021

[News Focus] Four-member households continue to dwindle in Korea

SEJONG -- The number of family members per household reached a record low of 2.21 in South Korea in August, amid the rapidly growing tally for single-person households and all-time low birthrates among couples in their 20s and 30s. This contrasted with an average of 2.44 people per family in August 2016 and 2.54 in August 2011, data from the Ministry of Interior of Safety showed. The demographic change is particularly apparent in the data for four-member households, which was the nation&rsquo

Sept. 14, 2021

11th-hour deal averts Seoul subway strike

Subway trains in greater Seoul area started running as usual Tuesday, after unionized workers of Seoul Metro reached a deal with management just hours before the planned walkout. Shortly before midnight Monday, Seoul Metro announced that an agreement was reached and agreed to scrap sweeping restructuring plans at the core of the dispute. The last round of talks lasted for almost nine hours after it started at 3 p.m. Monday. Seoul Metro said it decided to abolish the restructuring plan that inv

Sept. 14, 2021

LGBT students face bullying, discrimination: report

Young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Korea experience isolation and mistreatment in schools, a report showed Tuesday. Human Rights Watch and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School released a report titled “I thought of myself as defective: Neglecting the rights of LGBT youth in South Korean schools.” The two organizations interviewed students, teachers, parents, service providers and advocates in the nation. Many of th

Sept. 14, 2021

Moon says 70% of S. Koreans to be vaccinated by this week

President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday South Korea will be able to achieve the goal of offering at least the first COVID-19 vaccine shot to 36 million people ahead of the Chuseok holiday next week. "The first dose of vaccine inoculation for 36 million people in advance of Chuseok will be achieved this week as (the government) has promised," he said during a weekly Cabinet meeting. Vaccinations will further pick up speed, going forward, to get 80 percent of all South Koreans, totaling 52 mi

Sept. 14, 2021

Typhoon Chanthu brings heavy rain on Jeju

Typhoon Chanthu is dumping heavy rain and bringing strong winds on the southern island of Jeju, a weather agency said Tuesday, causing safety concerns and disruptions in transportation. The season's 14th typhoon, packing wind gust of up to 39 meters per second, passed 210 kilometers east of Shanghai, China, as of 9 a.m. Tuesday and is expected to come the nearest to the island on Friday, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The typhoon is expected to affect the island throughout the wee

Sept. 14, 2021

Rev. Cho Yong-gi, founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church, dies

Rev. Cho Yong-gi, the founder of Yoido Full Gospel Church in Seoul, died Tuesday. He was 85. The pastor emeritus of the world's largest congregation passed away at 7:13 a.m. at a Seoul hospital. He had been under medical treatment suffering a cerebral hemorrhage since last year. In 1936 in the southeastern rural county of Ulju, he was born to a family with Buddhist belief. His family moved to the southern port city of Busan after the 1950-53 Korean War broke out. He is known to have come to beli

Sept. 14, 2021

New cases under 1,500 for 2nd day; infections in capital area at peak

South Korea's daily coronavirus cases stayed under 1,500 for the second straight day Tuesday as health authorities worry about a potential virus flare-up during a major holiday that starts later this week. The country added 1,497 COVID-19 cases, including 1,463 local infections, raising the total caseload to 275,910, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). The latest caseload was up 64 from 1,433 cases the previous day. Virus cases usually begin spiking Wednesday whe

Sept. 14, 2021

[Newsmaker] Seoul Metro union calls off planned walkout on last-minute deal

The unionized workers of Seoul Metro, operator of the Seoul subway system, called off a planned walkout that was set to take place Tuesday as they reached a last-minute deal with the management. The deal was reached shortly before midnight following a marathon negotiation that began at 3 p.m. Under the agreement, Seoul Metro withdrew its earlier plan to lay off 1,539 workers, or 10 percent of its workforce. The parties also agreed to establish a consultation body between the management and the u

Sept. 14, 2021

2.2 magnitude quake hits S. Korea's southeastern region: KMA

A 2.2 magnitude earthquake struck South Korea's southeastern region early Tuesday, the state weather agency said. The quake occurred 11 kilometers southeast of Miryang, a city about 390 km southeast of Seoul, at 3:36 a.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The epicenter was at 35.41 degrees north latitude and 128.78 degrees east longitude at a depth of 16 km. The KMA asked people to be mindful of their safety, as the tremor could be felt in regions close to the epicente

Sept. 14, 2021

Top court dismisses Mitsubishi's appeal of asset seizure order

South Korea's top court has confirmed a lower court's order to seize Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.'s assets here to compensate wartime forced labor victims, judicial officials said Monday. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the Japanese company's appeal of a court order to seize its six patent rights and two trademark rights registered in South Korea. In 2018, the top court ordered Mitsubishi to compensate South Korean workers who were mobilized into forced labor in the company's plants

Sept. 13, 2021

Prosecutors seek death penalty for murder suspect

State prosecutors on Monday requested that the judiciary sentence a murder suspect to death for killing three women of the same family in March. The suspect, Kim Tae-hyun, 24, was indicted on five counts of criminal charges, including murder, housebreaking and harassment in April. He was arrested at the victims' home in northeastern Seoul on March 25, where he allegedly killed a woman whom he had stalked, her mother and younger sister two days earlier. In the closing arguments at the Seoul No

Sept. 13, 2021

Seoul subway workers could go on strike from Tuesday

Unionized workers of Seoul’s subway authority are likely to start a full-scale walkout Tuesday as their scheduled negotiations with Seoul Metro management is not expected to yield any outcome. Representatives of the Seoul Metro workers’ union and their corporate counterparts were scheduled to hold the last round of talks at 3 p.m. Monday ahead of the union’s full-scale walkout starting Tuesday. The union is against Seoul Metro’s restructuring plan made in face of continu

Sept. 13, 2021

[Us and Them] ‘We are here,’ say LGBT Koreans -- but so is the hate

From the most mundane of activities to larger goals such as being widely accepted by society, the lives of sexual minorities in South Korea are fraught with difficulties. “I don’t go to a hospital unless it is known as being queer-friendly. Usually I just don’t go to hospitals,” said Jung-hyun, who is currently transitioning to male. Jung-hyun, a pseudonym, says the mismatch between his male appearance and female gender on official documents leads to strange looks and qu

Sept. 13, 2021

Seoul to root out unfair support for civic groups done under Park Won-soon, Oh Se-hoon says

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon vowed to overhaul the city government’s financial support system for civic groups undertaken by his predecessor, as he says the city has wrongfully spent its budget for nearly 10 years. The mayor said in a press conference Monday that the Seoul Metropolitan Government has spent close to 1 trillion won ($851 million) over the past decade by directly and indirectly supplying funds to civic groups with questionable history and without noticeable progress. Support fund

Sept. 13, 2021

Heavy rain expected across southern areas as Typhoon Chanthu approaches

South Korea's southern areas will likely receive heavy rain Monday due to the indirect influence of Typhoon Chanthu, currently moving toward the waters near Shanghai, the state weather agency said. The southern island of Jeju is forecast to see precipitation levels ranging between 30 mm to 50 mm per hour, with thunder and lightning expected on some parts of the island, due to the heavy winds from the typhoon approaching from the southwest, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (K

Sept. 13, 2021