Despite Seoul City’s efforts to curb illegal subway rides by charging a fine of 30 times the original fare, such rides are still on the rise, subway operators said Friday.According to Seoul Metro and Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit, which respectively operate Subway Lines No. 1-4 and 5-9, more than 42,814 passengers illegally hopped on trains last year, paying almost 1.7 billion won ($1.5 million) in fines. In 2015, the number of illegal riders stood at 42,289, paying about 1.5 billion won in f

Social Affairs Feb. 24, 2017

South Korea saw a record-low number of marriages last year, reflecting the widespread trend of people getting married later in life, government statistics showed Thursday.According to Statistics Korea, the number of new marriages sat at 281,800 in 2016, down almost 7 percent from the previous year.(Yonhap)This was the first time the number fell below the 300,000-mark since the institute began collecting data in 2000.The number of people newly married in May, which is typically peak season for ma

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2017

Wearing seatbelts was what prevented causalities from occurring in Wednesday’s bus crash on a highway in Danyang, North Chungcheong Province, keeping passengers inside the bus from falling out of the vehicle after the crash, police said Thursday. Police investigating the accident said most of the passengers had been wearing their seatbelts, and therefore avoided fatal injuries.Police are investigating the bus after it broke through a guardrail, plunging 5 meters down an embankment, on a highway

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2017

Another foot-and-mouth infection was confirmed Sunday at a cattle farm in Boeun, the epicenter of the latest outbreak. That raised confirmed cases in South Korea to five and the number of cows culled to nearly 1,100 in five days since the first case was reported last week. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Sunday, six cows at a farm in Boeun, North Chungcheong Province, were found to have contracted the O-type strain of the disease and were immediately culled. Y

Social Affairs Feb. 12, 2017

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Sunday that it would install malodor reduction devices in 10 more places in the capital to prevent bad smells wafting from waste pipes. The city government said it was part of Seoul’s efforts to reduce the number of civil complaints about bad smells by 30 percent by 2018.In June last year, the city government vowed to inject 170 million won ($153,561) to install malodor reduction devices.Malodor reduction devices, similar to air purification systems, work b

Social Affairs Feb. 12, 2017

The ruling Saenuri Party on Wednesday tentatively decided to change its name to "Liberty Korea" as part of its effort to refurbish its image and shore up public trust in the wake of a corruption scandal involving President Park Geun-hye and her close friend. The party’s interim chief In Myung-jin attends the meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Wednesday. (Yonhap)Its official English name will be announced later. The previous name change from the Grand National Party was made some five y

Politics Feb. 8, 2017

PARIS (AFP) -- Renault-Nissan said Wednesday it sold nearly 10 million vehicles worldwide as the group faces up to accusations that Renault participated in an emissions scandal.Renault-Nissan, which has aspirations to become one of the world's top three carmakers behind Volkswagen and Toyota, said in statement that unit sales jumped by nearly 17 percent to 9.96 million vehicles last year. (Yonhap)German giant Volkswagen is the world's biggest in terms of units sales, with 10.3 million vehicles s

Mobility Feb. 8, 2017

A countdown clock for the first Winter Olympics to take place in South Korea was unveiled on Wednesday. Citizens are posing for a photo in front of the countdown clock on Wednesday in Seoul. (Yonhap)The countdown to the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games will reach one year on Thursday. To celebrate the occasion, Omega, the official Olympic timekeeper, set up the digital clock at Seoul Plaza in front of the city hall. It displays the number of days, hours, minutes and seconds left to the quadrennial

Olympic Games Feb. 8, 2017

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Pope Francis has repeated his appeal for people to build bridges of understanding instead of walls in his first, albeit indirect, comments since the Trump administration tried to impose a travel ban on people from seven mostly Muslim countries. Pope Francis (AFP)Francis made the comments during his weekly Wednesday catechism lesson, dedicated to the general Christian precepts of hope and forgiveness in forging peace.He said: "In the social and civil context as well, I appeal

World News Feb. 8, 2017

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Wednesday lambasted special prosecutors for leaking the schedule set for investigators to question President Park Geun-hye over her role in the corruption scandal that led to her impeachment, further clouding the prospects of the unprecedented inquiry.Some media outlets reported on the day that Cheong Wa Dae and the probe team, led by Independent Counsel Park Young-soo, had agreed to the plan to question Park face to face at her presidential office on Thu

Politics Feb. 8, 2017

The Gyeongbu (Seoul-Busan) Expressway near the Yangjae Interchange in southern Seoul is packed with cars on Thursday. (Yonhap)An annual mass migration started in South Korea on Thursday as people headed to their hometowns for one of the country's key traditional holidays.Seol, or Lunar New Year's Day, falls on Saturday this year, with the official holiday period running from Friday to Monday.(Yonhap)Along with Chuseok, the equivalent of Thanksgiving in the United States, Seol marks South Korea's

National Jan. 26, 2017

Bank lending rates on new household loans edged up in December while interest rates paid by banks on new deposits also increased, central bank data showed Thursday.The average interest rates on fresh household loans extended by local banks came to 3.29 percent last month, up 0.09 percentage point from the previous month, according to the Bank of Korea. (Yonhap)The BOK data came amid South Korea's efforts to tackle rising household debt. The country's overall household debt reached a record high

Jan. 26, 2017

To many, SBS TV's "Legend of the Blue Sea" ended up as somewhat of an artistic letdown. Famed screenwriter Park Ji-eun's time-slip tale of star-crossed lovers was criticized by many viewers for being derivative and too familiar.But that doesn't mean people tuned out. On the contrary, Wednesday's happy-ending finale claimed the No. 1 spot among its competitors in the same time slot, garnering a 17.9 percent nationwide viewership, according to Nielson Korea. (SBS)The take away? Star power still ma

Television Jan. 26, 2017