New virus cases stay above 400

South Korea saw its daily addition of cases stay in the 400s on Sunday, as the country continues its fight against the third COVID-19 wave with its vaccination campaign. While the virus situation seems to be better controlled than weeks earlier, authorities remain cautious over a potential uptick in virus cases. The number of new cases could rise at any time due to an increased number of travelers during warmer weather, they warn. The country added 416 new cases Sunday -- 399 locally transmitt

March 7, 2021

[News Focus] 46% of farm population aged 65 or over in Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea’s agricultural regions are aging far faster than cities in demographic structure while the portion of elderly population is simultaneously climbing across the nation, state data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the number of farm population stayed at an all-time low of 2.24 million in 2019, as young people have steadily relocated to urban areas. The nation’s farm population refers to those engaging in agriculture and family members&

March 7, 2021

Daily cases above 400 for 2nd day on cluster infections; vaccinations exceed 310,000

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases stayed above 400 for a second straight day on Sunday on continued cluster infections, as the number of vaccinated people topped 310,000 in just nine days since the inoculation campaign began. The country reported 416 more COVID-19 cases, including 399 local infections, raising the total caseload to 92,471, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said in a statement. New virus cases show no signs of letup due to sporadic cluster infection

March 7, 2021

Parental control apps for smartphones could breach children's rights: watchdog

The state human rights watchdog has recommended the state telecommunications regulator come up with measures to protect children's rights from being violated by applications that allow parents to control their children's mobile activities. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) last week dismissed two teenage plaintiffs' petitions filed respectively against several app development companies and the Korea Communications Commission (KCC). They said private firms are not subject t

March 7, 2021

[Eye Plus] National Aviation Museum of Korea captures remarkable advances over the past 100 years

The National Aviation Museum of Korea opened its doors in Gonghang-dong of Gangseo-gu, western Seoul, on July 5, 2020. The first state-run museum in Korea focused on aviation near Gimpo Airport contains innovation and developments in the field over the past 100 years. The local aviation industry effectively started in 1920 with the opening of the Korean Aviation Corps, the first-ever aviation school for Koreans that had three airplanes placed over 40 acres of land in the small town of Willows,

March 6, 2021

[Photo News] Flowers draw attention as spring arrives

With the cold winter almost gone, wild flowers bloom bright and yellow, signaling that spring has finally arrived in Korea. As spring nears, frogs, too, make their appearance after a long winter nap. A frog from a research center in Gyeonggi Province rests on flowers. Flowers begin to fill universities after a new semester. Students enjoy the start of spring as they walk around a blooming campus in Daegu.  (Photos: Yonhap) By Gha Hee-sun (lizka98@heraldcorp.com)

March 6, 2021

Govt. urges people to use encrypted personal number for entry logs to protect privacy

The government asked the public Saturday to use their encrypted personal numbers, instead of phone numbers, to protect privacy when they have to write down entry logs at widely used places like restaurants and cafes as part of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Last month, the government rolled out a new privacy protection measure allowing people to use encrypted private numbers for visits to such places. An encrypted number consists of a combination of four numbers and two letters, a

March 6, 2021

New virus cases over 400, rising travelers worried to strain virus fight

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases hovered above 400 on Saturday as sporadic cluster infections showed no signs of a letup and the rising number of travelers amid warm weather could spark yet another uptick. The country reported 418 more COVID-19 cases, including 404 local infections, raising the total caseload to 92,055, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily case was slightly up from 398 reported on Friday, but down from 424 tallied on Thursday. The co

March 6, 2021

Fire engulfs old Buddhist temple in southwestern region

A fire tore through the main hall of Naejang Temple, one of South Korea's oldest Buddhist temples, on Friday in a suspected arson attack by a disgruntled monk, firefighters said. Firefighters received the initial report of the fire at the temple in the southwestern city of Jeongeup at around 6:30 p.m. The blaze burned down the wooden Daewungjeon building, while firefighters were trying to stop it from spreading to other structures, the authorities said. No casualties were reported. The fire

March 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] ‘Korea fails to respond to human trafficking’

In July 2016, a woman from Thailand came to Korea believing she could work as a masseuse. As soon as she arrived in Incheon, she was sent by brokers to a massage parlor in Gwangju. There, the owner took her passport and told her to go to a room for a test. Soon after, she was raped by the owner. When she said she wanted to return to Thailand, the owner and the brokers demanded that she pay them 2 million won ($1,775) in commission before leaving. She was forced to stay and work in the massage

March 5, 2021

Korea to further ease social distancing as vaccines roll out

South Korea is looking to revise its social distancing scheme to allow the economy to stay open at higher number of newly diagnosed patients, while restricting individual behaviors more strictly. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Friday that the easing was warranted as the country is now capable of handling a much greater number of patients than it was in November, when the current guidelines came into effect. No timetable for the revision has been announced so far. “The five-ti

March 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] Political circles eye on Yoon’s next move

The prosecutor general who rose to prominence by standing firm against pressure from the Moon Jae-in administration, shook political minds as he resigned Thursday over moves to deprive the prosecution of its investigative rights, a month ahead of the local by-elections. Yoon Seok-youl had adhered to the customary reticence of a chief prosecutor, limiting his public speech to parliamentary sessions, until he took his first media interview this week, four months before his two-year term was to ex

March 5, 2021

Prosecutors raid SK Group in connection with alleged slush fund case at SK Networks

Prosecutors on Friday raided SK Group's headquarters to see if the group is involved in the alleged creation of an illicit fund by the chairman of the SK Networks Co., a global trading unit of the group. The anti-corruption unit of the Seoul Central Prosecutors Office said prosecutors and police investigators from the unit were searching the SK Group headquarters in Seoul to secure evidence for an investigation into the slush fund allegation. On the same day, prosecutors indicted chairman Choi

March 5, 2021

2 Army soldiers, civilian employee test positive for COVID-19

Two Army soldiers and a civilian employee have tested positive for the new coronavirus, the defense ministry said Friday. A soldier in Sejong, some 120 kilometers south of Seoul, was confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 while in quarantine after a virus case was reported at his base, according to the ministry. Since the first case was reported at the base on Monday, the total number of infections has risen to seven. Another soldier based in Hongcheon, 100 km east of the capital, was found in

March 5, 2021

[Newsmaker] S. Korea reports no additional avian influenza case for past week

South Korea's agricultural ministry said Friday the country has not reported a farm-linked highly pathogenic bird flu case for around a week, in a possible sign of a letup. No suspected cases of the H5N8 strain of avian influenza were reported from local poultry farms since Friday last week, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. The 103rd case of bird flu was reported from an egg farm in Pocheon, 46 kilometers north of Seoul. South Korea identified its first bird fl

March 5, 2021

New virus cases hovering around 400, potential upticks worrisome amid pandemic fatigue

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases continued to hover around 400 on Friday amid the country's vaccination push, with a potential resurgence in spring still worrisome amid prolonged pandemic fatigue and an increase in more contagious COVID-19 variants. The country reported 398 more COVID-19 cases, including 381 local infections, raising the total caseload to 91,638, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The daily caseload was down from 444 cases recorded Wednesday

March 5, 2021

Koreans’ willingness to get COVID-19 vaccines ‘high,’ says KDCA deputy chief

COVID-19 vaccinations are running smoothly in Korea, public health authorities said Thursday, with high levels of willingness among those who are up for the first shots. “At medical institutions where the vaccines are now being distributed, more than 90 percent (of the staff) have said they intended to get them,” Kwon Jun-wook of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency told a news briefing. “The surveys that we’ve run show no signs of hesitancy.” Korea a

March 4, 2021

Korea’s CO2 emissions fell 6% in 2020 from COVID-19: study

South Korea saw its carbon dioxide emissions fall 6 percent last year, while the global average declined 7 percent due to lockdowns in force because of the COVID-19 pandemic, research showed Wednesday. According to a study by the University of East Anglia, Stanford University and the Global Carbon Project, COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented fall in emissions of around 7 percent, or 2.6 billion metric tons of CO2, from a year earlier to 34 billion metric tons in 2020. While many stu

March 4, 2021

[News Focus] Number of men per 100 women slides to 99.4 in Korea

SEJONG -- South Korea’s demographic slide since December 2019 is mainly attributed to continuous decline in the male population, while the female population has recorded both positive or negative growth on-month. The situation has pulled down the nation’s sex ratio -- the number of men per 100 women -- to an all-time low of 99.41, according to the data held by the Ministry of Interior and Safety. The male population posted 25.836 million in February, down 1,951 from a month earlie

March 4, 2021

Three more die after receiving AstraZeneca vaccine

Three more people died Thursday after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, officials said, raising the number of post-vaccination deaths in the country to five. A 52-year-old patient at a long-term care hospital in Jeonju, 243 kilometers south of Seoul, died early Thursday morning, nearly two days after being vaccinated, according to North Jeolla Province officials. The patient had a cardio-cerebrovascular disease and suffered a brain hemorrhage in June. The second patient, age

March 4, 2021