The Korea Herald

Seoul boosts efforts for use of renewable energy

Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to double the proportion of new public facilities using renewable energy sources from the current 10 percent to 20 percent by 2014.The city said it will make use of geothermal and solar energy and solar heat and also install energy-efficient insulating and ventilating systems to make city buildings greener.These efforts are expected to reduce the use of fossil fuels, which now take up 90 percent of the entire energy consumption, to 60 percent. From the second

Social Affairs June 18, 2012

Seoul mayor to lead group on environmental talks

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was elected as chair of the World Mayors Council on Climate Change at its meeting in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, on Sunday.The council is an alliance of leaders of 70 metropolitan cities including Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Montreal aimed at addressing climate change and sustainable development. Park will serve for two years.The city government also signed a memorandum of understanding with the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives to open the offic

Social Affairs June 18, 2012

Seoul mayor to lead group on environmental talks

Taxi drivers threaten to strike Wednesday

Thousands of taxi drivers are expected to go on a one-day strike next week, demanding that the government come up with measures to support their business from soaring fuel prices. For 24 hours from midnight Wednesday, more than half of the country’s 200,000 taxi workers from several unions will not drive, union officials said. They demand that the government alleviate the growing burden of fuel costs through an outright reduction of liquefied petroleum gas prices, wider access to the cheaper com

Social Affairs June 15, 2012

Court sentences Korean-Chinese murderer to death

A local court on Friday sentenced to death a Korean-Chinese man accused of kidnapping, killing and chopping into pieces a woman in a high-profile case that led to the resignation of police chief Cho Hyun-oh.Oh Won-choon, or Wu Yuanchuan, 42, was arrested for abduction and murder of a 28-year-old woman in April in Suwon, south of Seoul. He is also accused of dismembering the victim’s body, carving out 365 pieces of her flesh. “Capital punishment is unavoidable for the defendant, who, despite havi

Social Affairs June 15, 2012

Wartime sex slavery victim Kim Hwa-seon dies

Kim Hwa-seon, a Korean victim of forced sexual slavery during the Japanese colonial period, died Wednesday.Kim died of natural causes at a hospital in Gwangju, according to the House of Sharing, an organization for the so-called comfort women. She was 86.Kim was taken by Japan’s Imperial Army to Singapore in 1941. After Korea’s independence she lived alone in the city of Daejeon until she moved to live at the House of Sharing in 2011. The number of women staying at the facility has been reduced

Social Affairs June 14, 2012

Wartime sex slavery victim Kim Hwa-seon dies

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon ins Seoul Peace Prize

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was named Tuesday the winner of this year’s Seoul Peace Prize for his campaigning for women, children, poor countries and Middle East democratization.He is the first Korean national to win the biennial prize since its establishment in 1990 in commemoration of the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.“After a rigorous and careful screening process, the screening committee decided to award the Seoul Peace Prize to U.N. Secretary-General Ban in recognition of his great d

Social Affairs June 12, 2012

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon ins Seoul Peace Prize

Lee’s son cleared of charges on land purchase for retirement home

The prosecution said Sunday that it has decided not to press charges against President Lee Myung-bak’s son and others accused of irregularities in the process of purchasing Lee’s retirement residence. Concluding their five-month investigation, officials at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said they found no sign of illegality in the purchase of a 2,600-square-meter plot in Naegok-dong, southern Seoul. None of the seven accused, including Si-hyeong, Lee’s 34-year-old son, and Lim Ta

Social Affairs June 10, 2012

Seoul English camps recruit students

Seoul City Government said on Thursday its three English immersion camps will aim to recruit 4,192 elementary and middle school students during the summer vacation. The city’s Pungnap, Suyu and Gwanak camps will provide 14 vacation programs starting July 22.The students will stay at dormitories during the 10 to 13-day camps, which are themed “Olympics Story, English in Sports” in celebration of the 2012 London Olympics.The participating children will have an opportunity to learn English from nat

Social Affairs June 7, 2012

Ex-police chief’s guard hurts reporter

Former police chief Cho Hyun-oh, currently at the center of a libel investigation, came under fire over excessive police protection during his questionings after a reporter was injured on Tuesday.As Cho was leaving the prosecutors’ office in southern Seoul on Tuesday, reporters swarmed around him and clashed with police officers who tried to fend them off, witnesses said.The police officers shoved and pushed off the reporters and made way for their former boss to get to his car.The car then sudd

Social Affairs June 6, 2012

Mixed reactions to shorts in City Hall

The government and businesses have started their annual “Cool Biz” dress campaign. Bureaucrats show up without jackets to save energy during summer, while executives and office workers dress casually to enable air conditioners to be turned down. Seoul Metropolitan Government is going even further, allowing public servants to wear shorts and sandals to work in the most extreme form of the drive. The new dress code plan is attracting mixed reactions from citizens. “I totally agree with Seoul’s ide

Social Affairs June 4, 2012

Adults find it hard to leave the nest

An increasing number of adults cannot leave their family home due to lack of financial means and rising living costs, according to statistics by Seoul City.Seoul City said the number of people in their 30s and 40s who live with their parents has almost doubled in the past 10 years.According to city government data, around 480,000 Seoulites aged 30 to 49 lived with their parents in 2010, up from 250,000 in 2000. Of the parents, almost 30 percent said the reason is that their children have not bee

Social Affairs June 1, 2012

Captain indicted for insults against president

Military prosecutors have indicted an Army captain who used foul language to criticize President Lee Myung-bak on Twitter.According to military law, those who publicly insult their seniors are subject to imprisonment of up to three years.The officer, whose name was withheld, denounced the president for alleged corruption, a government plan to privatize Incheon International Airport and KTX services and a canceled plan to build his private retirement home on the outskirts of Seoul. The officer wa

Social Affairs May 28, 2012

Captain indicted for criticizing President Lee

Military prosecutors have indicted an Army captain who used foul language to criticize President Lee Myung-bak on Twitter. He was charged with insulting a senior. The officer, whose name was withheld, denounced the president for alleged corruption, a government plan to privatize Incheon International Airport and KTX services and a canceled plan to build his private retirement home on the outskirts of Seoul. He was indicted twice on March 22 and April 26. According to the military law, those who

Social Affairs May 28, 2012

Captain indicted for criticizing President Lee

Korea seeks to acquire U.S. missiles, choppers

The U.S. Department of Defense is considering selling Harpoon Block II Missiles and Seahawk Helicopters to South Korea.The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency said in press releases last week that it had notified the U.S. Congress of the possible sale of 18 of the missiles, eight of the helicopters and their associated parts, equipment, logistical support and training. The estimated costs are $1.84 billion.The DSCA said it informed Congress of the proposal after a request by South Korea. Th

Defense May 27, 2012

Korea seeks to acquire U.S. missiles, choppers

TOEFL server failure maddens test takers

The Internet server for the Test of English as a Foreign Language taken in Seoul and other cities failed Saturday, leading to mass cancellations and complaints from test-takers.The applicants for the English-language test, which was scheduled to start at 11 a.m., had to wait an hour before being told about the malfunction. They were belatedly informed of the malfunction, along with the test organizer’s plan to refund and reschedule it, at around noon. The test-takers blame Educational Testing Se

Social Affairs May 27, 2012

Articles by Kim Young-won