The number of multicultural residents is rising in Korea as more foreign nationals settle in the country, government data showed Wednesday.According to the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs, the number of Korean residents with a foreign background reached about 1.74 million as of January this year, accounting for 3.4 percent of the total population. The number has tripled since 2006. The figure includes marriage immigrants, the children of marriage immigrants, naturalized Ko

Social Affairs Sept. 9, 2015

Korean men were found to shoulder more wedding costs than women at least by 20 million won ($17,000), a survey showed Wednesday. According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, over half of grooms’ parents spent more than 80 million won on average while 70 percent of brides’ parents spent less than 60 million won. About 10 percent of the couples said they spent over 200 million won on their wedding. The survey was conducted on 1,200 grooms and brides who married in the last three years

Social Affairs Sept. 2, 2015

Environmentalists vowed Tuesday to launch a legal battle against the government over its recent decision to allow the construction of a cable car in one of the country’s most preserved national parks. Several environmental groups, including Green Korea United, said they would seek revocation against the government’s approval for the cable car project on Mount Seoraksan in Gangwon Province, claiming that the decision is invalid as it didn’t strictly follow the procedural rules.Last Friday, the mi

Sept. 1, 2015

South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and visiting Washington Governor Jay Inslee on Monday discussed an inter-Korean deal struck last week. The two Koreas reached a landmark deal last week to defuse tensions on the Korean Peninsula. In the agreement, North Korea "expressed regret" over the recent injury of South Korean soldiers in the explosion of landmines laid by North Korea in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas. Seoul accused Pyongyang of secretly burying the mines in

Foreign Affairs Aug. 31, 2015

Prosecutors on Thursday indicted an Egyptian broker who illegally helped other Egyptians enter South Korea as false refugees. The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office indicted the 29-year-old suspect, whose identification was withheld, on charges of allegedly providing fake immigration documents to 12 job-seeking Egyptians and supporting them to enter fraudulently as refugees. He and his Korean accomplice were found to have received up to $10,000 per person in return, they added. Of the 12

Social Affairs Aug. 27, 2015

Inter-Korean talks continued for three consecutive days starting Saturday amid a military standoff between the two sides, but little was made known to the public about the negotiations throughout the process.Press were banned from accompanying the South Korean delegation to the House of Peace on the South Korean side of the border, a rare prohibition that was placed most recently in February last year when another set of high-level talks was held between the two Koreas, that time on cross-border

North Korea Aug. 24, 2015

South Korean police vowed Sunday to sternly take action against the spread of groundless draft rumors amid escalating tensions between the two Koreas. The move came after a series of false conscription text messages and rumors were massively circulated after the North fired artillery across the border last Thursday. A 23-year-old college student surnamed Kim was arrested Thursday for spreading massive draft texts. The message said “discharged men aged between 21 and 33 will be drafted once the w

Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2015

A woman charged with attempted rape for the first time in Korea has been acquitted, court officials said Sunday. Seoul Central District Court ruled the 45-year-old was innocent based on a unanimous jury decision. Under the law, the jury’s decision is not legally binding but the court is required to respect it. Jeon was suspected of attempting to rape her lover after he ended the relationship by drugging him and tying up his legs and arms last year. She was the first woman to be charged with atte

Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2015

A U.S. soldier was found dead in front of his apartment in an alleged suicide, Seoul police said Thursday. A 38-year-old U.S. soldier, whose information was withheld, was found dead in the parking lot of his apartment in Yongsan-gu, Seoul in the early morning. He was immediately moved to a hospital where he was pronounced dead, the authorities said. The police suspected he committed suicide as a scar was found on his body that seemed to have come from a windowsill. No suicide note or signs of in

Social Affairs Aug. 20, 2015

Green tide returned to major water sources of the Seoul metropolitan area this week amid ongoing controversy over the ecological impact of a small dam in the Hangang River.The Environment Ministry issued a green tide advisory Wednesday for Paldang Lake in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, as the water’s chlorophyll-A concentration reached 55.8 milligrams per cubic meter along with over 4,000 blue-green algal cells per milliliter. The green tide advisory is raised when the chlorophyll-A concentration e

Social Affairs Aug. 19, 2015