President Yoon Suk-yeol has called off a plan to construct a new state guest house to replace Yeongbingwan, the former reception hall at Cheong Wa Dae, following criticism that the construction would be a waste of taxpayers' money. Previously at Cheong Wa Dae, the presidential office and residence, Yeongbingwan functioned as a venue for the president to greet and serve guests. It has been closed following Yoon's decision to relocate to Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, as he took office earlier this y

Politics Sept. 18, 2022

Soongsil University has kicked off a new employment support program to train its students in computing skills. The university announced a program which allows students to learn a total of 52 computing skills needed these days to get a job, such as Python programming, big data analysis, Excel, Powerpoint, Photoshop, illustration, financial accounting, AutoCAD and more. The school explained the computing skills are required as necessary abilities for various kinds of jobs. In line with the pande

Social Affairs Sept. 15, 2022

PRS for Music, a British music copyright collective, has submitted a petition to police here denouncing Korean streaming media services' inappropriate use of music. PRS for Music is a collective founded in 1914 that oversees copyright issues for pop stars such as the Beatles, Elton John, Adele and more. Local media reports said PRS submitted a petition to the Seoul Yeongdeungpo Police Station on Sept. 5 calling for authorities to penalize local streaming platforms for using music without proper

Social Affairs Sept. 14, 2022

The Ministry of Environment plans to push for the use of multiuse parcel boxes from 2024 to protect the environment amid a rise in the number of delivery services. The ministry ran a pilot project on multiuse parcel boxes from October 2021 to August this year, joining hands with local retailers and courier service providers. The companies employed multiuse parcel boxes for deliveries, retrieving them from customers to clean and use them again. According to the ministry, the project showed multi

Social Affairs Sept. 14, 2022

The launch of a national education committee is being stalled as related bodies dispute the right to recommend members. The committee, tasked with deliberating on long-term education policy, was initially scheduled to be launched in July. While the committee is to have 21 members, the National Assembly, entitled to recommend nine of the committee members, has so far selected only two nominees. The president has the right to name five. Education-related bodies can also recommend a total of two m

Social Affairs Sept. 13, 2022

HWACHEON, Gangwon Province -- The practice of farming bears for their bile is being phased out, but hundreds of bears remain in cages with an uncertain future. For the bears at bile farms, a three-square-meter cage is their entire world. Even for those rescued from a life of bile extraction -- done through syringes or catheters attached to their gallbladders -- their living conditions are not much better. That is the situation for 13 bears at a bear bile farm in the mountain ridges of Hwacheon i

Social Affairs Sept. 11, 2022

More than 600 people remain displaced due to Typhoon Hinnamnor, as authorities struggle to deal with the aftermath of the typhoon in the southern regions of the country. According to the Central Disaster Safety Relief Headquarters, 5,242 people have been displaced with 613 yet to return home as of Thursday. A total of 8,370 houses were flooded, most of them concentrated in North Gyeongsang Province, an area hit hard by the tropical storm. Some 1,566 cases of public infrastructure damage were r

Social Affairs Sept. 8, 2022

Seoul Mapo Police Station has printed out a leaflet to help foreigners who experience crimes in Korea. The leaflet under the title "Promoting the Protection and Support System for Crime Victims" was created to help foreign residents and visitors here. According to the station, many foreign citizens are unaware about the state support they can receive when they are victims of crimes. The leaflet is in English, French and Vietnamese, based on the population of foreign students and visit

Social Affairs Sept. 7, 2022

With schools returning to normalcy, more students are experiencing school violence, a survey from the Education Ministry showed. The Ministry of Education announced the results of a survey on school violence conducted by local education offices across Korea on Tuesday. The North Jeolla Province Education Office was not included, as it decided to run an individual survey. Some 3.21 million out of 3.87 million students participated in the survey, marking an 82.9 percent response rate. The survey

Social Affairs Sept. 6, 2022

More women are employed, but the gender pay gap in Korea remains wide, a study by the Gender Ministry showed Tuesday. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the results of a study under the title “Life of Men and Women through Statistics.” Though the Gender Ministry had conducted the study every year since 1997 under the title of “Women's Lives through Statistics,” it changed the name this year, including an index on double-income families and cyber sexual a

Social Affairs Sept. 6, 2022

Korea is bracing for typhoon Hinnamnor, which is expected to be one of the strongest typhoons to hit the country. It is a “super strong” typhoon, the highest in Korea's four-tier system, with an atmospheric pressure of 920 hectopascals at its center and a maximum wind speed of 54 meters per second. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Korea's Jeju Island and southern regions are expected to come under influence of Hinnamnor starting Monday. The typhoon is expected t

Social Affairs Sept. 4, 2022

The Ministry of Education took a step back as the dispute over history textbook guidelines deepened, saying the plan has not been finalized yet. The Education Ministry released new guidelines for high school history textbooks on Tuesday. In the new guidelines, phrases such as "southward invasion (by North Korea)" and “liberal democracy" were left out. The phrases touch on some sensitive disputes in the country’s modern history. The revision of history textbooks was l

Social Affairs Sept. 1, 2022

A recent study showed the number of students from multicultural families has been increasing for 10 consecutive years, the Education Ministry said Tuesday. According to the study conducted by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute shared Tuesday, the number of students from multicultural families increased by 5.4 percentage point, from 160,058 in 2021 to 168,645 this year. The number has been on a steady increase since the study was first conducted in 2012.

Social Affairs Aug. 30, 2022

A Seoul court on Friday took the side of Lee Jun-seok, the disgraced former leader of the ruling People Power Party, halting the party from moving forward with an interim leadership. The Seoul Southern District Court granted part of an injunction request filed by Lee, ordering a temporary suspension of duties for the party’s interim chair Rep. Joo Ho-young. “If Joo, who has been appointed as the party’s interim chair through a vote, holds a party convention to elect a new p

Politics Aug. 26, 2022

Korea’s recent wave of COVID-19 cases appears to be waning, the local health authorities said Friday. On Friday, Korea saw 101,140 new case of COVID-19 and 575 patients were reported to be in serious condition. The daily death toll stood at 81. “This is the lowest number of daily confirmed cases for a Friday in four weeks,” Kim Seong-ho, an official from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said at a briefing held Friday. “We, however, cannot b

Social Affairs Aug. 26, 2022