The Education Ministry has been conducting a nationwide survey on law schools since last year to find clues of “rampant nepotism” – which critics claim happens -- during the admission process. The ministry announced the results on Monday, but indicated they were able to only find mild cases that cannot be directly linked to any irregularities.The ministry said it found a total of 24 cases in which law school applicants revealed the occupations or social positions of their parents, to allegedly t

Social Affairs May 2, 2016

The government said Friday it will push to lower the threshold of recognizing the damage caused by toxic humidifier disinfectants amid an on-going probe against the manufacturers and escalating public uproar. (Yonhap)The Environment Ministry said it will consider recognizing respiratory diseases and health problems as damage caused from use of the toxic humidifier disinfectants.So far, the government has limited the damage scope to those suffering from lung-related diseases, recognizing 530 as o

Social Affairs April 29, 2016

The number of cases of law violations in airplanes is on the rise, with smoking accounting for the most violations, data showed Friday. (Yonhap)According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a total of 460 cases occurred on flights operated by the seven local airlines, doubling in two years.By type, smoking took up the most with 381 cases, followed by 42 cases of affray and 15 cases of sexual harassment. They also included nine cases of threatening the safety of others under th

Social Affairs April 29, 2016

Research led by a local college president was recently published in the international weekly journal of science Nature, school officials said Thursday.It is rare for a local university leader’s work to be published in the international journal. Hanyang University said its study led by president Lee Young-moo on hydrocarbon fuel-cell membranes with surface nanocrack coatings was published in the latest issue of Nature. The study featured an innovative way to provide fuel cells, which are essentia

Technology April 28, 2016

The main opposition party on Wednesday announced that it would push to hold a parliamentary hearing on the toxic humidifier disinfectant case and introduce a bill aimed at offering financial support for victims.“The National Assembly should come up with its own measures to strengthen regulation on corporate misdeeds and unethical behaviors,” The Minjoo Party of Korea’s chairman Kim Chong-in said. “We urge other parties to join efforts to protect public safety,” he said. The decision comes in lig

Social Affairs April 27, 2016

A Korean education civic group vowed Tuesday to lead a nationwide anti-academic elitism movement aimed to discourage the country’s excessive reliance on private education.The World Without Worry About Shadow Education said it launched a signature-collecting campaign to seek a law that legally mandates companies not to discriminate against applicants based on their academic backgrounds. The aim of the project is to ultimately root out what they said was the fundamental cause of Korea’s excessive

Social Affairs April 26, 2016

The government vowed to gradually reduce the maximum number of students in high school classrooms to improve education quality and prepare for the declining population of students, officials said Monday. The Education Ministry said it would cut the number of students per classroom at high schools to 24 -- the average of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries -- by 2022. Korea’s current average is 30 students per classroom, as of last year.YonhapThe ministry said i

Social Affairs April 25, 2016

About a dozen Korean children are still missing in suspected cases of child abuse, the government said Monday in its progress report on eradicating violence against children.The Education Ministry said the whereabouts of 12 elementary and middle school students and one child under school age remain unknown, with eight of the middle school students suspected of having run away from home. The number totals 14 when counting another child looked for in the first round of searches conducted earlier t

Social Affairs April 25, 2016

Oxy Reckitt Benckiser, which has been blamed for the deaths of at least 221 humidifier disinfectant users, was found to have countered the government’s health probe with their own research that suggested the deaths may have been caused by other factors, sources said Sunday.Victims of the toxic humidifier disinfectant, meanwhile, held a press conference followed by a closed-door meeting Sunday to discuss future measures and condemn the product manufacturers and distributors for their “manipulatio

Social Affairs April 24, 2016

The South Korean government and municipalities reaffirmed their efforts to contribute to global initiatives to cut carbon use as the country joins in the 46th Earth Day celebrations Friday.To raise awareness on the urgency to save the Earth, the government and municipalities have been holding events throughout the week. Designating April 20-26 as Climate Change Week, the Environment Ministry has annually promoted environment-related events ranging from campaigns for using public transportation t

Social Affairs April 21, 2016

Seoul City’s education office vowed Wednesday to build three more special schools for the disabled by 2019 to improve the education infrastructure.The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said it would establish two schools for those with intellectual disabilities in the eastern and western capital, and one school in Gangnam for those with physical disabilities. If successfully built, they will be the first of such schools established in the city since 2003. As of this year, a total of 29 spec

Social Affairs April 20, 2016

The manufacturer of toxic humidifier disinfectant Oxy Ssak Ssak was found to have established a new corporate body, allegedly to evade criminal and civil responsibility for the deaths of at least 92 product users, sources said Wednesday.(Yonhap)According to legal sources, Reckitt Benckiser changed its organization type from “corporation” to “limited liability company” in December 2011, when public anger peaked after the government confirmed the toxicity of Oxy Ssak Ssak and ordered the product w

Social Affairs April 13, 2016

Research institutes should provide opportunities to complement traditional department-based structures with multidisciplinary institutes to better tackle societal challenges amid the rapid growth of new-generation industries and various global challenges, said a president of one of France’s most prestigious science-oriented public institution. Jacques Biot, the president of Ecole Polytechnique“Mathematics and computer sciences tend to fertilize every other area, as research becomes increasingly

Social Affairs April 12, 2016

The government’s support plays a crucial role in building an innovative entrepreneurship ecosystem in the science technology industry, said a head of Israel’s leading college and an expert in psychophysiology of sleep disorders.“The government’s support is essential to transforming the discovery driven from the basic science research into practically applied products, and thereby, boosting the innovative entrepreneurship,” Peretz Lavie, president of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Isr

Social Affairs April 12, 2016