[News Focus] Discouraged workers up 100,000 on-year

SEJONG -- Labor-related indexes suggest that the pandemic is still dealing a severe blow to a large portion of jobseekers in South Korea, with the hiring market showing little signs of recovery this year. According to Statistics Korea, the number of people who abandoned looking for jobs reached 582,000 in March 2020, when the tally for COVID-19 infections was growing sharply after the first case was reported two months earlier. These are dubbed “discouraged workers,” those who did

May 9, 2021

[Herald Interview] Anyang’s ‘Iron Man’ mayor charts ground-breaking path

Anyang, Gyeonggi Province, is a city with 222,632 households and a population of 551,136. It is developing as a global city with nine sister cities in six countries, including Hampton, Virgina, and Garden Grove, California, in the United States, Tokorozawa and Komaki in Japan, Weifang and Anyang in China, Ulan-Ude in Russia, Sorocaba in Brazil and Naucalpan, Mexico. Anyang Mayor Choi Dae-ho has been called the “Iron Man mayor.” Nineteen of his policies have been national firsts. The

May 9, 2021

Man arrested for abusing 2-year-old adopted daughter

A man in his 30s was arrested early Sunday on suspicion of abusing his 2-year-old adopted daughter to the point she fell unconscious with bleeding in her brain, police said. According to the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency, the girl was already unconscious when her adoptive father brought her to a hospital near Hwaseong, about 40 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday evening. After determining she was in a serious state, hospital workers sent her to a larger hospital in Incheon, 40 km west of Se

May 9, 2021

[Newsmaker] Migrants’ voting rights in firing line

Amid growing anti-China sentiment in the nation, some South Koreans are calling for foreign permanent residents’ right to vote to be abolished because a majority of them are Chinese. On April 28, a petition was posted on the website of presidential Blue House with the title of “Foreigners’ voting rights (location election) are unconstitutional. It has to be abolished.” The writer of the post said, “(We) respect and don’t discriminate against foreigners.

May 9, 2021

67% of S. Koreans say vaccination passports will help economy: poll

Nearly 70 percent of South Koreans believe that the use of a vaccination passport, which proves that a person has been fully vaccinated against the virus, will help the economy, a poll showed Sunday. The poll from the Federation of Korean Industries, a major business lobbying group here, showed 67.4 percent expect the adoption of the passport will vitalize the economy. With the passport, 36.4 percent said they would like to take trips overseas, with 41.2 percent of them pointing to Europe as t

May 9, 2021

Third plane carrying S. Koreans arrives from India

A third plane carrying South Koreans arrived from India on Sunday, transporting 164 business officials out of the virus-ravaged country. The special flight operated by Asiana Airlines arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, from New Delhi, mostly carrying officials who had been sent to oversee the construction of a new Samsung Display plant. South Korea has flown two special flights out of India in recent days -- one from Chennai carrying 172 Korean residents and another from

May 9, 2021

New virus cases fall below 600 on fewer tests; vaccinations to gather pace

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases fell back below 600 on Sunday mainly due to fewer tests as health authorities try to boost the nationwide vaccination drive to contain the spread. The country reported 564 more COVID-19 cases, including 522 local infections, raising the total caseload to 127,309, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. Sunday's figure was sharply down from 701 from the previous day. The daily caseload usually spikes after weekends as more people g

May 9, 2021

Former PM Lee Han-dong dies at 87

Former Prime Minister Lee Han-dong died of a chronic disease Saturday at the age of 87, his close aide said. "The former prime minister died at his home at around noon," the aide told Yonhap News Agency. Lee served six terms as a lawmaker from 1981-2000 and as the prime minister from 2000-2002 under then President Kim Dae-jung. In 2002, he made an unsuccessful presidential bid with a pledge to eradicate regionalism and corruption. In 2004, he was indicted without detention on charg

May 8, 2021

[Photo News] Spring rice-planting season begins in Korea

Students at the College of Agriculture and Life sciences at Kangwon National University practice rice planting at Kangwon National University’s subsidiary farm in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province.  A farmer plants rice seedlings using a rice transplanter machine in a field in Taean, Chungnam, for the first rice-planting in Taean this year. (Photos: Yonhap) By Yoon Chae-won (choenayoon@heraldcorp.com)

May 8, 2021

[Photo News] Red carnations bloom to welcome Parents’ Day

Children make paper carnations at a kindergarten attached to Hanil Elementary School in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. Namdaemun Flower Market is crowded with people purchasing flowers for Parents’ Day.  Park Sung-soo, the mayor of Songpa-gu, and staff from the Songpa-gu Saemaeul Women’s Society deliver carnations and kimchi to a senior citizen living alone in southeastern Seoul.  (Photos: Yonhap) By Yoon Chae-won (choenayoon@heraldcorp.com)

May 8, 2021

Two S. Korean scientists elected foreign members of Britain's Royal Society

Two prominent biological scientists in South Korea have been named as foreign members of the Royal Society of Britain, the scientific academy said. Professors Kim V. Narry of Seoul National University and Lee Sang-yup of KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) became first South Koreans to join the Royal Society, according to its announcement Thursday (local time). Founded in 1660, the society is one of the most prestigious and oldest institutes in the field of science. It h

May 8, 2021

New virus cases rise back to 700s amid variant concerns

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases rose back to the 700s for the first time in 10 days Saturday as the country remains on alert for a potential upsurge in variant cases. The country reported 701 more COVID-19 cases, including 672 local infections, raising the total caseload to 126,745, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a statement. The daily caseload reached 488 on Monday on fewer tests over the weekend and stayed under 700 from Tuesday to Friday. There wer

May 8, 2021

Yellow dust covers most of Korea; fine dust warnings issued for over half of country

A yellow dust storm that originated in the Gobi Desert in northern China and Mongolia on Friday blanketed most of South Korea, including the greater Seoul area, the state weather agency said. A fine dust advisory, issued for Seoul at 1 p.m., was upgraded to a fine dust warning one hour later, as the average hourly concentration of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, surged to 610 micrograms per cubic meter in the capital Friday afternoon. A fine dust wa

May 7, 2021

Delivery workers vote to strike over ‘gapjil’ from apartment residents

Unionized parcel delivery workers in South Korea have voted to launch a strike later this month as they ask logistics firms to step in and resolve an ongoing conflict with an apartment complex and its residents over a ban on ground-floor parking. The delivery workers’ union under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said Friday that 77 percent of 6,000 workers voted to approve the walkout. The strike will consist of some 2,000 workers from the union, details of which will be announced

May 7, 2021

Ex-prosecutor gets three years in prison for taking bribes over Lime fraud scandal

A former senior prosecutor was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for taking bribes in connection with a financial fraud scandal involving Lime Asset Management. The Seoul Southern District Court convicted Yun Gap-geun, former chief of the Daegu High Prosecutors Office, of accepting bribes through good offices. He was indicted for accepting about 220 million won ($196,250) in kickbacks from Lee Jong-pil, former vice president of the hedge fund, and the chairman of Metropolitan Group, a

May 7, 2021

As universities remain online amid pandemic, rebellion against high tuition continues

More than a year into the coronavirus pandemic, the country's university students are fighting not only against the virus but also with their schools over tuition refunds. And that fight entered a new phase Thursday, as the Seoul Central District Court held a first hearing on a class action suit filed in July by nearly 3,000 students. A student association demanding tuition refunds called on the court to make a "rightful" ruling on the case, and criticized the schools for dragging th

May 7, 2021

New cases stay in 500s for 2nd day amid woes over variants

South Korea's daily new virus cases fell back to the 500s again Thursday as fewer people took virus tests on the Children's Day holiday, but the country's health authorities remained vigilant over cluster infections and spreading variant cases. The country reported 574 more COVID-19 cases, including 562 local infections, raising the total caseload to 125,519, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload reached 488 on Monday and 541 on Tuesday but jumped to t

May 7, 2021

Belgian ambassador's wife undergoes police probe over assault allegations

The wife of Belgian Ambassador to South Korea Peter Lescouhier was questioned by police on Thursday over assault allegations, officials said, amid public criticism over "insincerity" in the embassy's handling of the matter.    The wife appeared at the Yongsan Police Station in central Seoul in the afternoon to undergo questioning and she has returned, an official at the precinct said, without providing more details.    Police have been looking into allegations t

May 6, 2021

[Feature] Gender-based conflicts escalate in Korea

  Gender-based conflicts are escalating in South Korea with men becoming more gender sensitive and beginning to make their voices heard about feminists. Last week, police investigated female comedian Park Na-rae over allegations of sexual harassment after receiving a complaint from the petition site e-People. During her YouTube entertainment show in March, she playfully pushed a male doll’s arm toward its groin while changing the doll’s clothes. Following the program, thousa

May 6, 2021

[Newsmaker] African swine fever returns after 7 months of silence

African swine fever has returned to South Korean farms after seven months, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said Wednesday, after it confirmed two cases at a farm of 401 pigs in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon Province. All domesticated pigs at the farm were culled immediately. A total of 11 African swine fever cases have been discovered from wild boars in Yeongwol-gun since the outbreak started in 2019. The pig farm is just 1.2 kilometers away from where the last case in the county wa

May 6, 2021