More than 1,000 teenagers, including two elementary school children, were arrested during a six-month crackdown on online gambling among young people, officials said Thursday. The National Office of Investigation announced that it had apprehended 2,925 individuals, including 1,035 teenagers, in a bust initiated in September last year. Among them, 75 adults were formally arrested while 566 teens have been sent to counseling centers. During the crackdown, 61.9 billion won ($45 million) was confisc

Social Affairs April 25, 2024

South Korean government denied claims raised by the World Organization of Scout Movement, which said its status as "de-facto organizer" was partly to blame for the Korea Scout Association's disastrous hosting of the 25th World Scout Jamboree in North Jeolla Province in August last year. Appointed by the World Scout Committee after the event, an independent six-member review panel said that the hosts, the Korea Scout Association, was sidelined by the Korean government because of th

Social Affairs April 24, 2024

Low-income multicultural families with children aged 7 to 18 can apply for state funds starting from May through September at some 230 family centers across South Korea. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Monday that it will launch a pilot project to support educational activities for school-aged children from multicultural families who earn less than the median income in the country. Multicultural families are defined in the Multicultural Families Support Act as consisting of

Social Affairs April 22, 2024

Sejong University ranked 43rd in the top international university list for its hotel management education. Measured by Quacquarelli Symonds, a United Kingdom-based analytics firm that compiles college and university rankings, Sejong University placed 43rd in QS World University Rankings by Subject in the Hospitality & Leisure Management category. The hospitality and tourism management major at Sejong University ranked 48th in the same category in 2022 and 46th last year. It has grabbed the f

Foreign Affairs April 22, 2024

The heads of medical schools nationwide on Sunday urged the government to freeze the medical school enrollment quota for next year and start a new set of negotiations for the class of 2026 by forging a joint consultative body with the medical community. The Korean Association of Medical Colleges, consisting of 40 medical schools nationwide, released a proposal calling for the government to draw up a "more scientifically based number" for the enrollment quota hike plan. The proposal com

Social Affairs April 21, 2024

Starting this year, middle and high school students in Paraguay can learn Korean at schools as a second foreign language subject, according to the Ministry of Education on Saturday. The Education Ministry disclosed the signing of a memorandum of understanding with its Paraguayan counterpart, which officially added the Korean language to its second foreign language list for schools in Paraguay. Amid growing demand for Korean studies in Paraguay due to the popularity of Korean cultural content, th

Social Affairs April 21, 2024

Amid rapid aging and an increasing number of young people choosing to hold off on marriage, the proportion of one-person households in South Korea increased last year to 33.4 percent, data from the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family showed Wednesday. According to the ministry's factual survey of families based on 12,044 households in the country, the number of single-person households nearly doubled in 10 years. The group which accounted for 15.8 percent in 2010 grew to 30.4 percent i

Social Affairs April 17, 2024

Foreigners who are ordered to leave South Korea because they have been in the country illegally or have committed a crime will have to be deported within 36 months starting next year. The Justice Ministry has proposed an amendment to the Immigration Act that would limit the maximum period of accommodating foreigners ordered with compulsory evacuation to 36 months. This follows the Constitutional Court's decision in March of last year that the indefinite detention of foreigners subject to de

Social Affairs April 16, 2024

With a thick blanket of yellow dust over South Korea on Tuesday, fine dust concentrations are expected to spike to "very bad" levels across the country, the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The national weather agency had forecast the yellow dust from the Inner Mongolia region and Gobi Desert to flow into the country early Tuesday, leading to murky skies. Fine dust levels will rise to "bad" across Greater Seoul, Gangwon, the Chungcheong Provinces and North Gyeongsang

Social Affairs April 16, 2024

The Ministry of Education announced plans Monday to digitally transform traditional public education. Dubbed the "classroom revolution," the initiative focuses on strengthening the capabilities of teachers who would take on pivotal roles in turning classrooms digital. The ministry has allocated some 381.8 billion won ($276 million) to support teachers. As traditional teaching and learning methods were top-down or one-way, the new plan aims to cultivate creative and active learners, enc

Social Affairs April 15, 2024

Amid administrative efforts to increase the annual enrollment quota for medical schools that sparked the mass walk-out of doctors across the country, the government said it would reduce the number of school teachers going forward, citing a decline in student numbers. The enrollment quota for teachers' colleges, which has remained unchanged for 13 years, will be reduced by 12 percent, the Education Ministry said. Currently, 13 universities that train aspiring elementary school teachers take

Social Affairs April 12, 2024

진행자: 최정윤, Ali Abbot No shirt, no shoes or dressed for mourning: Candidates' campaign gimmicks 기사 요약: 바디프로필, 댄스 챌린지, 혈서에 소복까지 이색 운동 이따르던 22대 총선 이모저모 [1] As South Koreans go to the polls to elect the 300 members of the National Assembly on Wednesday, political candidates have fully ramped up efforts to court voters. *ramp up: ~을 늘리다, 증가시키다 *court: ~의 환심을 사려고 하다(cultivate), 얻으려 하다/ 법원 [2] Walking down practically any main street at the moment, one will easily spot rallies of candidates an

Podcast April 11, 2024

The atmosphere of election camps of the candidates vying for the 300-member seats in the National Assembly shifted minute by minute as the votes were counted throughout Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Ferocious election battlefields, especially, where the results were hard to predict ended with major cliffhangers, as the victories predicted from the exit polls sponsored by South Korea’s major TV stations were disproven at the last minute. Lee Jun-seok, leader of the New Reform P

Politics April 11, 2024

South Korea saw the longest ballot in history in voting for the general election held across the country Wednesday, at 51.6 centimeters. The length of this year's ballot surpassed that of the previous general election in 2020, which also broke records then, at 48.1 centimeters. The ballot's record-breaking length came after 38 parties registered to compete for the 46 proportional representation seats in the National Assembly, which will be allocated to parties based on the total number

Politics April 10, 2024

Former South Korean presidents have traditionally maintained a reserved stance regarding elections held after their tenure, but some have been making rather different moves in this general election. Showing active support for his party, the Democratic Party of Korea, Moon Jae-in, the predecessor of incumbent President Yoon Suk Yeol, has been the most vigorous among the past three presidents, directly joining rallies of individual candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. Dre

Politics April 9, 2024