Bereaved families and surviving victims of last year’s deadly crowd crush in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul say they have been left to deal with their pain on their own, as governmental resources were either unavailable or insufficient. Among the 159 people who died after overcrowding reached catastrophic levels in Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, was Choi Joung-joo’s daughter Yu-jin. “My wife wanted to get therapy after our daughter passed, so she made a call to our district offic

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023

On a Saturday night in October, dozens of people were lined up outside the Waikiki Beach Pub in the narrow alley behind the Hamilton Hotel, in Itaewon, Seoul. “We should have arrived before 8:30 p.m.," one said. "There are always lines around 8:30 p.m. these days during the weekend. I heard that we need to wait more than 30 minutes to enter." It was not the only packed bar on Itaewon World Food Street, the center of Itaewon nightlife. Most bars along the street were full of

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023

The South Korean government is bracing for potential backlash from doctors as it seeks to unveil a plan that would increase the medical school enrollment quota to address doctor shortages. The government has decided to expand the number of placements for medical school, and President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to announce details including the specific figure on Thursday, according to multiple government officials. The government initially reviewed a plan to increase the medical school enrollment quot

Social Affairs Oct. 15, 2023

Some 40,000 people took their own lives over the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the suicide rate increasing among the younger generation, data showed Wednesday. A total of 39,453 people died from suicide from 2020 to 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Rep. Baek Jong-hean of the ruling People Power Party said in a release. The release highlighted that the number of deaths by suicide was higher than the 3

Social Affairs Oct. 11, 2023

South Korea’s human rights commission on Tuesday called for the Korean government to abolish the death penalty now that the Ministry of Justice has also raised the possibility of introducing life imprisonment without parole. Song Doo-hwan, chair of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, urged the Korean people and the government to formally repeal capital punishment, in a statement issued on Tuesday to mark the 21st annual World Day Against the Death Penalty. Korea is already among

Social Affairs Oct. 10, 2023

The number of unmarried women opting to freeze their eggs for future use has skyrocketed over the past seven years, as the median age for first marriages has continued to rise, data released Monday showed. The number of egg-freezing procedures for unmarried women has witnessed a huge increase in recent years, according to data from CHA Medical Group, a health care provider with a network of major medical facilities across the country. In 2022, there were 1,004 such procedures at CHA, a significa

Social Affairs Oct. 9, 2023

The number of apprehended drug-related offenders surged to a historical high of 12,700 this year, driven by crimes among teenagers and those over 60, police statistics showed Friday. According to National Police Agency data on drug-related crimes, a total of 12,700 drug-related offenders were apprehended as of August this year. Although this figure was only compiled from January to August this year, it exceeds the number of apprehended drug-related offenders, 12,387, counted for all of last year

Social Affairs Oct. 6, 2023

Only one-third of graduates from overseas medical schools have obtained medical licenses in Korea, despite these institutions gaining recognition as an alternative path to becoming a doctor without entering more competitive domestic medical schools. Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Health and Welfare Committee, on Thursday presented the latest data on medical school graduates who completed their education between 2005

Social Affairs Oct. 5, 2023

Culture Minister nominee Yu In-chon said Tuesday that public figures should be careful when speaking out publicly, when asked about his thoughts on a social media post by a singer concerning Japan's discharge of contaminated water. “Although anyone is free to express their opinions, when it comes to celebrities or public figures who have social influence, they should be careful when they publicly speak about something because it comes along with responsibility," he said in a writ

Politics Oct. 4, 2023

Patients will have to pay up to 50 percent in additional charges when they go to hospitals or pharmacies during the Chuseok holiday, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday. The higher rates are applicable beginning on Sept. 28 and run over the Chuseok holiday period and through Oct. 3. Additional charges ranging from 30 percent to 50 percent are applied in accordance with relevant government regulations, which require people to pay more while using medical facilities, including hospit

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2023

More elderly Koreans are working after retirement to avoid poverty, but many find their income insufficient, data showed Wednesday. According to data released by Statistics Korea, 36.2 percent of those aged 65 or older in 2022 said they are still working, up 6.1 percentage points from 2012’s 30.1 percent. The rate was above the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development member nations’ average of 15 percent and the highest among the 36 OECD member countries. Japan reported

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2023

Nearly two million individuals in Korea have formally declined life-extending medical interventions, choosing instead to prioritize their right to die with dignity when suffering from a terminal condition, data showed Sunday. Data from the National Agency for Management of Life-Sustaining Treatment reveals that as of the end of August, 1,941,231 people have filed an advance health care directive to abstain from life-saving medical assistance since the system's inception in February 2018. Wo

Social Affairs Sept. 24, 2023

As South Korea's population ages at a rapid pace, the number of dementia patients in the country is also rising quickly, projected to exceed one million for the first time this year. According to the “Current State of Dementia 2022” report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, 1 in 10 Koreans over the age of 65 suffers from dementia. The number of dementia patients aged 65 or older last year was 935,086, accounting for 10.38 percent of the senior population aged 65 or

Social Affairs Sept. 21, 2023

South Korea has commenced this year’s flu vaccination program ahead of the winter season that offers free injections for young children and the elderly on Wednesday, according to the quarantine authorities. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said that the vaccination program will run through April 30 next year, stressing that the vaccination would dramatically reduce the chance of catching the flu. The target groups for this program are children aged six months to under 13 yea

Social Affairs Sept. 20, 2023

Twenty workplaces in Korea have failed to set up day care centers for employees' children in the last five years, even though they face fines of up to 200 million won ($153,000) per year if they keep failing to provide them, government data showed Tuesday. Under the Child Care Act and Equal Employment Opportunity and Work-Family Balance Assistance Act, businesses that have more than 500 workers or 300 female workers are required to either set up day care facilities, or pay nearby centers th

Social Affairs Sept. 19, 2023