Over the Christmas weekend, extreme cold with heavy snowfall hit large parts of Korea, with temperatures dropping to as low as minus 25.4 degrees Celsius in some regions and heavy snow leading to flight cancellations. With the mercury beginning to fall from Saturday afternoon, the capital city’s Sunday morning low reached minus 16 C, the coldest temperature in December in nearly 41 years. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Seoul in December was minus 16.2 C on Dec. 29, 1980. The c

Social Affairs Dec. 26, 2021

Veteran electioneer Kim Chong-in is once again taking a central role in the presidential election, following yet another power struggle within the People Power Party. Less than three weeks after the party’s Chairman Lee Jun-seok and presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol settled their differences, chaos has struck again with Lee resigning from the election committee following an argument with the committee campaign’s communications chief, Rep. Cho Su-jin. On Wednesday, Kim held a p

Politics Dec. 22, 2021

The main opposition People Power Party’s chairman on Tuesday said he will resign from the election committee, following the latest spat with a party lawmaker that again highlighted the young leader’s struggle to take command. People Power Party Chairman Lee Jun-seok announced the intent to resign from the committee following an argument with the election committee campaign’s communication chief Rep. Cho Su-jin on Monday. Lee will maintain his post as party chairman. “

Politics Dec. 21, 2021

Four local governments in the central region of South Korea -- Daejeon, Sejong and the North and South Chungcheong provinces -- are gearing up in their shared bid to host the 2027 FISU World University Games. The Chungcheong Megacity Bid Committee, a joint organization launched by the local governments for the bid, has completed the needed procedures, and is now working on promotions with local residents. According to the CMBC, local residents in the Chungcheong Megacity region are supporti

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2021

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is concentrating fire on Kim Keon-hee -- People Power Party presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife -- raising one allegation after another related to her career history. Adding on to the allegedly inaccurate information on Kim’s resume that she sent to universities while applying for teaching positions, the Democratic Party is raising suspicions on Kim’s claims to have studied at New York University. The ruling party claims that whi

Politics Dec. 20, 2021

As of Thursday, more than 50 percent of youths between 12 and 17 in Korea have received the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and some 40.1 percent are fully vaccinated, officials said Friday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 1.55 million teenagers, 55.9 percent of the age group, have received the first dose of the vaccine. The rate of vaccination in older youths is higher, compared to a younger age group. More than 70 percent of those aged between 16 and 17 have received

Social Affairs Dec. 17, 2021

Schools will return to a mix of online and offline classes from Monday, as the country reinstates stricter social distancing measures due to rising cases of COVID-19. The Ministry of Education announced Thursday that schools in Korea will reduce student density to prevent classroom transmissions starting Monday, less than a month after schools returned to in-person classes on Nov. 22. The ministry said as the rate of transmission in schools is not high, they will continue to have in-person cl

Social Affairs Dec. 16, 2021

Nearly a month of trouble over a two-point question on this year’s college entrance test was settled in court on Wednesday, highlighting once again the weight the annual test carries in Korean society. On Wednesday, the Seoul Administrative Court ruled that a question in the bioscience part of the recent college scholastic ability test was inaccurate, and ordered the Korea Institute for Curriculum and Evaluation to cancel its designated answer. “There is not a distinguished diff

Social Affairs Dec. 15, 2021

Though South Korea is to go ahead with its controversial “vaccine pass” plans for teenagers, details of the scheme may be adjusted. The government’s decision to expand the vaccine certification system to those aged 12 to 18 from Feb. 1 has been met with criticism from many students and parents. Faced with opposition, the Ministry of Education is considering making some adjustments regarding the expansion of the vaccine pass system. “Though we have announced that t

Social Affairs Dec. 14, 2021

Starting Wednesday, medical staff will visit schools to begin administering vaccines to those aged between 12 and 18, health authorities said. The vaccine rollout comes as the Education Ministry on Monday released the results of a survey held Dec. 6-12 regarding the outreach vaccination program at schools. A total of 498,062 students participated in the survey and 83,928 students said they are willing to be vaccinated through the outreach vaccination program. Of the 83,928 students, 79.4 pe

Social Affairs Dec. 12, 2021

South Korea on Thursday fell deeper into the COVID-19 crisis, reporting over 7,000 new cases for a second consecutive day while critical cases hit an all-time high. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 7,102 cases were reported in the 24 hours ending Wednesday at midnight, putting the country’s total number of cases to date at 496,584. It is the second-highest tally of daily cases since the pandemic began nearly two years ago. On Tuesday the country reported 7,174 cas

Social Affairs Dec. 9, 2021

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases reached an all-time high Wednesday, surpassing 7,000 for the first time since the virus crisis began nearly two years ago. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said 7,175 cases were registered in the preceding 24 hours to Tuesday midnight, exceeding the 7,000 mark for the first time, a week after staying in the 5,000 range since Dec. 1. The latest tally puts the country’s total caseload at 489,484. The number of patients in serious

Social Affairs Dec. 8, 2021

South Korean authorities are speeding up an inoculation plan for students as schools across the nation saw a significant spike in COVID-19 infections after returning to full-scale, in-person classes. From Nov. 29 to Sunday -- the second week since schools have fully reopened -- 1,450 students in Seoul tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a report from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education released Tuesday. The cases marked a 33 percent increase from the 1,090 infected studen

Social Affairs Dec. 7, 2021

Presidential candidate Ahn Cheol-soo from the People’s Party met with Rep. Sim Sang-jung from the Justice Party on Monday to discuss how to improve nation’s election system and agreed to push for special prosecution against two key candidates from the ruling and main opposition parties. “We shared that the two party system has caused difficulties in people’s lives. We will cooperate on what we can do to restore the politics for the future, for the people,” Sim s

Politics Dec. 6, 2021

Despite some hiccups, the Korean government will go forward with its plan to implement a “vaccine pass” system for school pupils aged 12 to 18 from February. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said teenagers born between 2003 and 2009 will be allowed to go to private cram schools, cinemas and cyber cafes only if they are fully vaccinated from February. Alternatively, those who have not been fully vaccinated will have to show a recent negative COVID-19 test result for

Social Affairs Dec. 6, 2021