Poor air quality contributed to about 1 1/2 times more premature deaths in South Korea than the average of countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, data showed Sunday. According to the 2023 OECD Health at a Glance report, South Korea had 42.7 premature deaths from ambient air pollution per 100,000 population in 2019. The OECD average stood at 28.9 deaths per 100,000 in 2019. In contrast, some countries, such as New Zealand, Sweden and Finland, had relatively low mo

Social Affairs Nov. 12, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday named Cho Hee-dae, a former Supreme Court justice, as the new chief of the highest court, the presidential office has announced. The nomination comes while the position has remained vacant. The opposition-controlled National Assembly declined Yoon's previous appointment for Supreme Court chief justice, Lee Gyun-ryong, early last month, marking the first such instance in 35 years. Cho, born in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, in 1957, began his judici

Social Affairs Nov. 8, 2023

Around 30 recent suspected bedbug cases had been reported across the country as of Monday, according to a governmental task force dedicated to combating bedbugs. Bedbug reports began to surge here in mid-September after a student was reportedly bitten by the insects in a dorm room at Keimyung University in Daegu. Recently, bedbugs have increasingly appeared in public facilities nationwide such as hotels, other accommodations, public saunas and bathhouses. With just nine other reports received pr

Social Affairs Nov. 8, 2023

South Korea has launched a pangovernmental initiative to comprehensively combat the proliferation of bedbugs, fueled by a recent surge in reports of bedbug infestations and concerns over the pest spreading nationwide. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety has taken the lead in assembling a pangovernmental task force, initiated last Friday, comprising ten relevant ministries and local governments. The objective of this joint effort is to promptly and efficiently stop the spread of bedbugs by mo

Social Affairs Nov. 7, 2023

A government push to exempt doctors from facing criminal charges for medical errors has been met with resistance from patient and civic groups, who say it is already too difficult for injured patients and their families to seek redress. Korea is struggling to address severe shortages of doctors in vital fields such as pediatrics, obstetrics, and neurosurgery. Doctors argue greater legal protection should be part of any measures to address the issue, saying that fear of punishment is one of the r

Social Affairs Nov. 6, 2023

South Korea's human rights commission has ruled that low-income older people should receive more pension benefits, as Korea's rate of elderly poverty is the world's worst. In its official recommendation issued Friday to the health and labor ministers, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea stated there is an urgent need to protect the human rights of older people by launching immediate measures to reduce elderly poverty. As of this year, older people in Korea in the bottom

Social Affairs Nov. 3, 2023

The country's top court on Thursday acquitted Kim Seok-kyun, former chief of the Korea Coast Guard, and nine other top officers, of involuntary manslaughter due to professional negligence in the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which left 304 passengers dead or missing, and 142 injured. The Supreme Court found Kim, who was head of the Coast Guard when the 6,825-ton Sewol ferry sank in waters off the country's southwestern coast on the morning of April 16, 2014, not guilty of involuntar

Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2023

The pressure to attend corporate evening gatherings has diminished in recent years, especially while social-distancing measures to contain COVID-19 were in place, but drinking remains a source of stress for many Korean workers. As the year-end holiday season approaches, Lee Ha-seong, a 31-year-old Seoul-based economic news reporter, has a worry on his mind, saying that he doesn't drink well. For Lee, the most challenging part of life as a journalist in Korea is not the reporting but the dri

Social Affairs Nov. 1, 2023

The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced on Tuesday that South Korea would participate in the World Health Organization-organized program to monitor antimicrobial use from this year. The WHO's Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System and the Global Antimicrobial Use Surveillance System aims to protect the public from bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse can lead to resistance in bacteria, causing the drugs to become less effective, as we

Social Affairs Oct. 31, 2023

Nearly 80 percent of the top earners in South Korea reside in the Seoul metropolitan area, data showed Monday, highlighting the concentration of good job opportunities in this region. According to tax agency data released by Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the number of the top 1 percent of earners in the country was 199,591. Their average annual income was 317 million won ($234,500) in 2021. Among those, 77.1 percent of them, said they work in Greater Seoul, w

Social Affairs Oct. 30, 2023

In a surprising move that underscores the growing importance of naval defense, Naval Operations Commander Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo has been named the new chairperson of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Ministry of National Defense announced Sunday. Kim was promoted to four-star general in the military personnel reshuffle to replace incumbent JCS Chairperson Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, according to the ministry. The appointment marks a significant shift from the traditionally Army-dominated role a

Politics Oct. 29, 2023

Amid a shortage of physicians and the second-lowest doctor-to-population ratio among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, South Korean doctors have seen a substantial increase in their income, making them some of the highest earners in the medical field across surveyed OECD nations. The Korean government plans to address the country's doctor shortage by increasing medical school enrollment quotas, a move prompted primarily by a market structure that limits

Social Affairs Oct. 29, 2023

Halloween partygoers wearing police costumes could face criminal punishment, police warned Thursday, saying that it could be seen as impersonating an officer. The National Police Agency added that an intensive crackdown on individuals wearing or selling police costumes would occur from this weekend until Nov. 5. “We will monitor whether police uniforms are sold online and crack down on any transactions found. We will also regulate those selling equipment of police under the counter,”

Social Affairs Oct. 26, 2023

Korean women live longer than men on average, but women suffer from more diseases in their lifetimes than men, data showed Wednesday. According to data released by the Korea National Institute of Health, Korean women had a life expectancy of 86.6 years, while men had a life expectancy of 80.6 years, as of last year. As long as records have been kept practically anywhere, women have lived longer than men. Also, for almost every major cause of death, men are more likely to die sooner than women, t

Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2023

Halloween marketing has all but disappeared in South Korea after last year’s crowd crush disaster that occurred in a small alley in Itaewon, central Seoul. Most large retailers have canceled or minimized their Halloween events, and those that are continuing to sell Halloween goods face a mixed reaction. According to retail industry insiders, the industry is minimizing sales of Halloween-themed products this year, with the event still seen as associated with last year's tragedy that le

Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2023