Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party on Tuesday denounced a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Environment, Kakao Mobility and T Map Mobility, claiming that the deal could result in a monopoly of electric car charger information. On July 29, the Environment Ministry and the two platform service providers inked the MOU to provide smart service of electric car chargers for the public by sharing information on electric vehicles and their owners over the next five years.

Social Affairs Oct. 5, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug is embarking on trips to Italy and Egypt to attend summits and discuss bilateral relations. The Assembly speaker will depart on Tuesday for Italy to participate in the seventh G-20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit slated from Thursday to Friday in Rome, according to Park’s office. Under the motto of “Parliaments for the People, the Planet and Prosperity,” the G-20 parliamentary leaders will discuss their joint responses to some

Foreign Affairs Oct. 5, 2021

Starting Tuesday, the first appointments for COVID-19 booster shots will open up as the nation continues to cope with the more contagious delta variant. “As the delta variant spreads and the number of breakthrough infections goes up while the vaccination effect is decreasing over time after the basic inoculation, the need for an additional jab is increasing,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Monday. According to the Korea Disea

Social Affairs Oct. 4, 2021

The Korea CEO Summit is holding a three-day forum to discuss the meaning and importance of Dokdo on the easternmost islets of Ulleungdo and Dokdo from Thursday. According to the Korea CEO Summit, the forum is taking place as part of the Summit Club, which invites CEOs to speak on business innovation and entrepreneurship while travelling to famous spots in and out of the country. The participants will visit Dokdo and meet the Dokdo Security Police on Friday. Later in the day, they will partic

Social Affairs Sept. 30, 2021

Afghan evacuees in Korea started a new chapter of their lives Wednesday, as the government kicked off a basic social adaptation program to help the refugees settle in the country. The Ministry of Justice started the Korea Immigration and Integration Program for the adults to help them understand and learn Korean culture and the language. There are six levels in the program, the ministry said, and it aims to have the Afghans get through the first three levels, which would require at least 215 h

Social Affairs Sept. 29, 2021

Korea’s four local governments in the central region -- Daejeon, Sejong, North and South Chungcheong provinces -- are picking up the pace in their bid to host the 2027 FISU World University Games. When the bid process was opened for the 2027 and 2029 University Games on Sept. 1, the local government’s joint organization named Chungcheong Megacity Bid Committee (CMBC) submitted a letter of intention to host the 2027 Games to the International University Sports Federation. The CMBC

More Sports Sept. 29, 2021

Seoul is the third-best city in the world to be a university student, according to a recent report from UK-based education consultant Studee. Studee on Tuesday released the Student Cities Index for 2021, indicating the best 100 cities for university students across the globe. “Seoul has the greatest number of high-ranking universities anywhere in the study,” the report said. “The city also offers reasonably cheap rent and above-average levels of free speech.” Studee a

Social Affairs Sept. 29, 2021

Chuseok outbreak worries became a reality as the number of newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases reached a record high of 2,434 Thursday after millions were on the move during the three-day holiday earlier in the week. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country on Friday reported 2,416 local infections and 18 imported cases from the previous day. By region, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon had 1,747 cases or 72.3 percent of the total. The new high number of daily i

Social Affairs Sept. 24, 2021

Police will be able to conduct undercover investigations in digital sex crime cases, and online grooming of minors will be punishable by law from Friday, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Thursday. Online grooming, which was difficult to punish due to a lack of legal grounds, will now face a fine of up to 30 million won ($25,400) or three years in jail, according to the revised Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses. Before the revision, only the act of

Social Affairs Sept. 23, 2021

President Moon Jae-in continued his vaccine diplomacy in New York, launching a fresh round of talks on securing more COVID shots from Pfizer and a new $52.5 million investment plan unveiled by US bioprocess vendor Cytiva to boost Korea’s vaccine production. Moon on Tuesday met with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to discuss multilateral ways on how Korea and the US vaccine producer can work together for vaccine cooperation, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Moon talked about securing additional vac

Foreign Affairs Sept. 22, 2021

Over 12 million residents have subscribed to the Korean government’s virtual assistant service for the public, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Thursday. The virtual assistant service named “GoodPy” provides various information on vaccine appointments, traffic fines, as well as reminders for driving license renewal and regular medical checkups. GoodPy sends notifications to its subscribers via popular mobile applications Naver, KakaoTalk and Toss. Last month, th

Social Affairs Sept. 20, 2021

Spring flowers in Korea are blooming earlier while ice is forming increasingly later in the last three decades, a recent report from the Korea Meteorological Administration showed. The KMA on Tuesday released the latest climatological averages from 1991 to 2020, comparing the data with the previous figures recorded from 1981 to 2010. Used for analyzing changes in the ecosystem over a long period of time, seasonal observation is a study of animals, plants and weather phenomena at the same spot e

Technology Sept. 19, 2021

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has decided to roll back on its school rebuilding project for nine schools in the capital, after it came under mounting pressure from parents who said it put their children’s safety and education at risk. The Seoul education office said Wednesday that it has excluded the nine schools, which had officially requested a withdrawal, from the list of 93 schools that were selected for the Green Smart Future School project. The plan involves rebuilding

Social Affairs Sept. 15, 2021

From the most mundane of activities to larger goals such as being widely accepted by society, the lives of sexual minorities in South Korea are fraught with difficulties. “I don’t go to a hospital unless it is known as being queer-friendly. Usually I just don’t go to hospitals,” said Jung-hyun, who is currently transitioning to male. Jung-hyun, a pseudonym, says the mismatch between his male appearance and female gender on official documents leads to strange looks and qu

Social Affairs Sept. 13, 2021

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Friday made it clear that the government is not shifting gears toward letting guard down against the coronavirus. Kim cautioned against adjustments in guidelines around fully vaccinated people as being interpreted as a change in strategy of learning to live with the coronavirus in circulation at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. "The fourth wave is currently ongoing as we saw the number of newly confirmed cases stayin

Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2021