Human rights commission to probe Seoul’s testing mandate for all foreign workers

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea on Friday launched an investigation into the Seoul city government’s decision to mandate coronavirus tests for all foreign workers, after some foreigners filed a petition against the administrative order. “Foreigners have filed a petition with the NHRC, saying that they feel hatred and racism,” NHRC Chairperson Choi Young-ae said in a statement. “In response, the NHRC will quickly determine whether discrimination and human

March 19, 2021

Govt. identifies 28 more public sector employees in probe into LH scandal

The government has identified 28 more public sector employees who bought land at "new town" development sites, including 23 suspected of engaging in speculative transactions, an official said Friday. Choi Chang-won, vice minister of government policy coordination at the Prime Minister's Office, said the 28 public servants and public corporation employees were uncovered during the second stage of an inquiry into a massive land speculation scandal centered on the state housing developer

March 19, 2021

LH officials summoned by police in widening probe on land speculation cases

Employees of a state housing development corporation at the center of an unfolding land speculation scandal were summoned by police Friday for questioning about their suspected illegalities in land purchases. A special investigation team of the Gyeonggi Nambu Police Agency called in employees of the state-run Korea Land and Housing Corp. (LH), who are accused of using insider information to buy farmland in districts southwest of Seoul ahead of their designation by the government as candidate si

March 19, 2021

New virus cases in 400s for 3rd day, AstraZeneca vaccine rollout to ramp up

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed in the 400s for the third day Friday, as sporadic cluster infections have not shown let up in the greater Seoul area amid increased travels and loosened vigilance against the pandemic. The country reported 463 more COVID-19 cases, including 441 local infections, raising the total caseload to 97,757, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was slightly up from 445 on Thursday. Daily new virus cases fell to

March 19, 2021

S. Korea accelerates AstraZeneca vaccine rollout as EU regulator eases safety concerns

South Korea is posed to speed up the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine as part of its inoculation campaign as the European Union's medicines regulator assessed that there is no link to blood clots found in some recipients. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced Thursday (local time) that there is no evidence suggesting a correlation between the vaccine manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University and reports of blood clots, and that the

March 19, 2021

Korea’s success with COVID-19 inoculations could depend on EU regulator ruling, experts say

Experts in Korea said the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine’s reputation here was already being damaged from the suspensions in Europe ahead of the hotly anticipated verdict on the jab from the European Union’s top regulator.  The European Medicines Agency is due to release the findings from its investigations into whether there is a link between the vaccine and the number of blood clot cases among people who had received it. Korean health authorities said earlier this

March 18, 2021

[Newsmaker] Expat community displeased with mandatory COVID-19 testing for foreign workers

　Local expat communities are expressing anger and disappointment over the Seoul and Gyeonggi Province government mandates for all foreign workers to submit themselves to be tested for COVID-19. The Seoul city government said Tuesday that all foreign workers will be required to take COVID-19 tests by the end of this month. The measure follows Gyeonggi Province’s order made days earlier to have all foreigners in the province undergo COVID-19 testing by March 22. The measures drew mixed res

March 18, 2021

[News Focus] 1 in 3 N. Korean refugees wants to be self-employed

SEJONG -- Unlike most people born in South Korea, defectors from North Korea expressed a strong preference for self-employment in a 2019 survey.  According to Statistics Korea and the Korea Hana Foundation, 33.6 percent of the North Korean defectors said they would like to run their own businesses in the South. The annual poll was conducted by the foundation, and the results are the most recent available. Those who expressed hope of becoming self-employed made up the largest portion of r

March 18, 2021

South Korean health officials blasted for vaccine communication failure

Korean health authorities are being criticized for failing to promptly relay a case of blood clots in a woman who had received AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine, as a second report of blood clots in a vaccine recipient emerged Thursday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency waited at least five days before making the disclosure Wednesday. 　 The agency’s Commissioner Jung Eun-kyeong told lawmakers on Wednesday morning that medical examiners found clots in the organs of

March 18, 2021

‘Ridiculous’: Experts slam Seoul’s testing mandate for all foreign workers

Medical experts are baffled by the Seoul city government’s decision to mandate coronavirus tests for all foreign workers in the city, saying it is discriminatory, scientifically unjustifiable and may even violate human rights. The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued an administrative order on Tuesday requiring all foreign workers in the city to undergo diagnostic tests March 17-31 to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Fines of up to 2 million won ($1,778) will be imposed if they f

March 18, 2021

Cherry blossom season begins on Jeju Island, in southern region

JEJU/CHANGWON -- Cherry blossoms on the southern resort island of Jeju have just bloomed this year, about a week faster than in the previous years, the local weather agency said Thursday. The Jeju Provincial Meteorological Administration said hotter than normal temperatures on the island this month appear to have advanced the blooming of cherry blossoms by up to eight days. Jeju's average temperature in March is 11.5 C, two degrees higher than last year and three degrees higher than normal, th

March 18, 2021

Number of marriages hits new low in 2020

SEJONG -- The number of South Koreans getting married fell at a double-digit rate to an all-time low in 2020 amid young people's changing attitude toward marriage and the negative impact of the coronarvirus pandemic, government data showed Thursday The number of couples tying the knot in Asia's fourth-largest economy reached 214,000 last year, down 10.7 percent from the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea. The figure is the lowest since 1970, when the statistical agenc

March 18, 2021

S. Korea finds 123 new marine species since 2017

South Korea's oceans ministry said Thursday it has identified 123 new underwater species during a four-year investigation project aimed at building a detailed database of marine resources. The number covers 54 species that were discovered for the first time in the world, along with 69 that were previously reported in other countries, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries. South Korea carried out investigations into its waters from 2017 to 2020 to build the database of marine creatu

March 18, 2021

3 Army officers test positive for virus

Three Army officers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Thursday. An officer in Hwaseong, 43 kilometers south of Seoul, tested positive after developing symptoms, and another officer at the same base was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 following contact with the first officer, according to the ministry. In the eastern coastal city of Sokcho, an officer tested positive after a family member was confirmed to be infected. The latest cases raised the tota

March 18, 2021

New infections in 400s for 2nd day, upturn in virus curve worrisome

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases remained in the 400s for a second straight day Thursday as cluster infections and untraceable cases continued to rise, raising concerns that the country may be on the verge of another resurgence in virus cases. The country reported 445 more COVID-19 cases, including 427 local infections, raising the total caseload to 97,294, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was slightly down from 469 on Wednesday. Due to

March 18, 2021

[Seoul Struggles 3] Forced from public squares, 'flying rats' crowd residential areas

At any time of the day, on any day of the week, Seoul residents are used to being “greeted” by pigeons fearlessly roaming the roads alone or in packs. It’s hard not to notice these “flying rats” if they are near, and people in Seoul became used to sharing the space with them when visiting populous areas. Many have come to accept them as the norm, but there don’t seem to be many in the public eye anymore. “Now that you speak of it, I don’t know,&r

March 17, 2021

Korea stands by AstraZeneca vaccine, but ‘may exercise caution’

South Korea said Wednesday it may halt the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine based on regulator decisions in Europe and other emerging findings here and abroad. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency told reporters in a closed-door briefing that as more countries in Europe and elsewhere shelve the vaccine over unconfirmed blood clot fears, the agency “may take precautionary steps.”  The Korean national health agency said it was “closely monitoring&rdquo

March 17, 2021

Seoul, central region choked by yellow dust for 2nd day

South Korea's central region, including the greater Seoul area, was choked by yellow dust blowing in from the inland deserts in northern China for the second consecutive day on Wednesday, a state forecasting agency said. According to the National Institute of Environmental Research's Air Quality Forecasting Center, the density of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, remained at the "bad" level in Seoul and surrounding areas, the central province

March 17, 2021

[Newsmaker] Soccer star Ki continues to face sexual assault allegations

Former national soccer team captain Ki Sung-yueng continues to face allegations that he sexually assaulted two of his elementary school teammates 21 years ago, as a television program aired interviews of the purported victims on Tuesday. The two, who were themselves punished for school violence four years later in 2004, said they now realize that they should have sincerely apologized to their victims. The two told MBC’s “PD Notebook” that Ki and another teammate, who were six

March 17, 2021

Pfizer vaccines for 500,000 people to arrive in S. Korea from late March

South Korean health authorities said Wednesday that the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will continue despite major European countries' decision to pause vaccinations to investigate reported side effects. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a press release that there is no evidence suggesting correlation between vaccines manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and Oxford University and reports of blood clots in some recipients. A

March 17, 2021