As South Korea reclassifies COVID-19 to the same category as the seasonal flu starting Thursday, coronavirus tests will still be available, but will no longer be free of charge to everyone, health authorities said Wednesday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency has announced that COVID-19 will go down from class 2 to class 4, the lowest infectious disease category, bringing changes to state policies that have provided COVID-19 testing for free and discounted medical benefits for more

Social Affairs Aug. 30, 2023

Defense South Korea's Defense Ministry has proposed to raise expenditures by around 17 percent to advance the development of an indigenous three-axis defense system, aimed at countering North Korean missile and nuclear threats and retaliating in the event of an attack. Total defense spending is estimated at approximately 59.6 trillion won ($45.1 billion), a 4.5 percent increase from last year, according to the ministry. An estimated 41.8 trillion won is earmarked for expenditures related to

Social Affairs Aug. 29, 2023

Over 1.26 million young South Koreans are unemployed, with more than half possessing an associate's degree or higher, government data showed Sunday. According to supplementary results of the "Economically Active Population Survey for the Young Population in May 2023” by Statistics Korea, there were 8.41 million people here aged 15 to 29 as of May this year. Of them, 4.52 million had either graduated from or are not currently attending elementary school, middle school, high school

Social Affairs Aug. 27, 2023

A fire broke out at the former Le Meridien Seoul hotel that was being redeveloped in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on Thursday, authorities said. The fire started at 12:46 p.m. on the roof of the building near Sinnonhyeon Station, according to Gangnam Fire Station. Authorities confirmed that the fire was completely put out in about an hour, after 171 firefighters and 51 fire trucks were deployed to the scene. The hotel was closed in February 2021 for redevelopment and no casualties have been reported. Eigh

Social Affairs Aug. 24, 2023

Korea will reclassify COVID-19 to the same category as the seasonal flu starting Aug. 31, health authorities said Wednesday. COVID-19 will go down from class 2 to class 4, the lowest infectious disease category which comprises diseases such as the seasonal flu, hand-foot-and-mouth disease, gonorrhoea and syphilis, that the government considers manageable with stability. The decision was based on the declining number of infections and stabilization of the quarantine situation. The daily average o

Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2023

Prosecutors have arrested and indicted a woman on charges of selling a newborn baby, officials said Tuesday, sparking concerns over continued reports of child trafficking cases. A woman in her 20s made a profit by selling the newborn baby of an unmarried woman for 3 million won ($2,239) after buying the baby for 980,000 won in 2019. The suspect read an online post by an expecting mother who was asking for advice on what to do with her unborn child, saying she got pregnant with her boyfriend with

Social Affairs Aug. 22, 2023

Children born in hospitals but whose births were never registered by their parents will now be added to a state system that manages their welfare, even though they do not have a designated registration number, following the revision of an enforcement decree. The government has decided to include the temporary numbers created and given to newborns when they get various vaccinations right after birth in its e-Child Happiness Support System database. Thus, even babies who have not been officially r

Social Affairs Aug. 21, 2023

The National Assembly confirmation hearing for Lee Dong-kwan, the nominee to chair South Korea's broadcasting regulator, the Korea Communications Commission, on Friday turned into a heated exchange between the opposition and ruling parties over a string of serious allegations against the nominee, including that his son bullied a fellow student in high school and that he attempted to suppress media freedom. Lee introduced himself as the KCC nominee at the start of the hearing saying that, as

Politics Aug. 18, 2023

A growing number of Koreans are suffering from "climate depression," after experiencing extreme heat waves, heavy rains and a typhoon this summer, according to local experts. Although no hard data has been presented, experts believe that the number of people suffering from climate depression will increase significantly in the future. “Already, the World Health Organization is taking the issue of climate depression seriously. If climate change continues, more and more people may s

Social Affairs Aug. 17, 2023

South Korean had 144 unregistered babies born between January and May this year, among them at least six babies have died and another an alleged infanticide, the government said Wednesday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced that it had discovered a total of 144 babies born between January and May this year in local hospitals but had not been included in the country's birth registration system. It began the investigation into those babies' whereabouts on July 28. Of the 144 ba

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

Cumulative exposure to extreme heat can undermine cognitive health in the long run, especially among vulnerable groups, a US study showed Wednesday. The 12-year study by the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research was conducted on nearly 9,500 adults in the US, aged 52 or older, from 2006 through 2018, as part of the Health and Retirement Study measuring participants' cognitive function over time. The research team found that high exposure to extreme heat was associated with fa

Social Affairs Aug. 16, 2023

Young and middle-aged people in the middle-income bracket will be newly eligible to receive state welfare services starting as early as this month upon registration and a small fee, officials said Monday. Young people aged 13 to 34, who are caring for family members with severe diseases, disabilities or mental illnesses, or are supporting them financially, and middle-aged people aged 40 to 64, who are socially isolated due to illness or injury, will be new beneficiaries. Socially isolated people

Social Affairs Aug. 14, 2023

South Korea's National Police Agency announced on Sunday a comprehensive crackdown on crimes allegedly perpetrated by those of foreign nationality, running through Oct. 31. They have decided to launch an intensive crackdown because the portion of the four most serious crimes -- murder, robbery, theft and assault -- has been increasing among all crimes allegedly committed by foreign nationals, the police said. Among all crimes, the percentage of the four most serious crimes was 27.9 percent

Social Affairs Aug. 13, 2023

Demand for self-defense items such as pepper spray, batons and whistles have spiked in the wake of a recent spate of indiscriminate attacks in South Korea. Online transactions for self-defense equipment shot up 399 percent for the period of July 21 to Aug. 3, from a month earlier, according to Interpark Commerce. Items for sale on the e-commerce platform include expandable batons, pepper spray and brass knuckles. The surge occurred shortly after a stabbing rampage near Seoul's Sillim Statio

Social Affairs Aug. 13, 2023

As Typhoon Khanun bears down on the Korean Peninsula, the Seoul city government made adjustments -- again -- to host thousands of World Scout Jamboree participants indoors Thursday. Seoul's municipal government said the venues for the scouts' programs Thursday were shifted to indoor locations such as Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Sangam Digital Media City and League of Legends Park, cancelling all outdoor activities scheduled. At DDP, a major urban development landmark in Seoul, an architec

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2023