South Korea had some 4,000 unregistered babies born to foreign mothers between 2015 and 2022, but authorities have no plans to check their whereabouts because the government has no legal obligation to do so, The Korea Herald has learned. Last month, the state audit agency said it has discovered around 6,000 babies born in local hospitals but not logged in the country's birth registration system. Nearly two-thirds of them were born to mothers registered as foreign nationals here, officials s

Social Affairs July 6, 2023

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, the more militant of the nation's two largest umbrella labor organizations, has announced two weeks of strikes starting Monday to call for the resignation of President Yoon Suk Yeol. The strikes, expected to involve a total 400,000 to 500,000 workers, comes in protest of Yoon’s proposed labor reform measures and as a broader pushback against perceived anti-union policies. On Monday, approximately 3,000 workers, predominantly courier and home a

Social Affairs July 2, 2023

South Korea attracted a record number of 82,000 foreign national patients in 2022, mainly for plastic surgery and dermatological treatments, according to a report on Sunday. According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute's "Foreign Patients Attraction Performance Report," only 13.8 percent of the 64,464 foreign national patients in 2009 sought plastic surgery or dermatology. However, by 2022, the figure had more than doubled. Out of 293,350 patients of foreign na

Social Affairs July 2, 2023

About 150 soldiers and civilian military personnel have died over the past year with suicide being a leading cause of death in the military, data showed Thursday. According to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, the number of deaths of soldiers and civilian military personnel reported to the Military Rights Protection Office as of June 20 was 147. The Military Rights Protection Office is a dedicated organization that investigates human rights violations and discriminatory acts in the

Social Affairs June 29, 2023

The health insurance payments made by all foreign subscribers exceeded the cost of the medical services they actually received, data showed Wednesday. In 2022, the National Health Insurance Service reported a surplus of 556 billion won ($426 million) in operating the health insurance program for foreign subscribers -- which includes foreign national residents, ethnic Korean residents with foreign citizenship and Korean nationals living abroad. Foreign subscribers paid a total of 1.789 trillion

Social Affairs June 28, 2023

Food safety authorities on Wednesday warned people to wash hands promptly after handling or cooking raw eggs, citing food poisoning risks from Salmonella, a harmful bacterium found in poultry and mammal intestines. There have been numerous cases of food poisoning caused by cross-contamination, where individuals handle eggs and then fail to wash their hands before cooking food or touching other cooking utensils, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Eggs should be refrigerated and

Social Affairs June 28, 2023

South Korea will scrap its traditional method of counting age -- known as "Korean age" -- and adopt the internationally recognized system beginning Wednesday, but there will be a few exceptions, including the legal age for drinking and smoking. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced Tuesday that although Korea will adopt international age, the legal age to drink alcohol and buy tobacco will remain calculated based on the existing method. In Korea, people can buy alcohol o

Social Affairs June 27, 2023

Police have referred a case involving a British free climber who attempted to scale the world’s fifth-tallest building with just his bare hands to the prosecution for further investigation, officials said Tuesday. George King-Thompson, 24, was taken into custody while climbing up the outer wall of the Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, Seoul, June 12. He reached the 72nd floor, about 309 meters high, before being escorted inside the building and apprehended by police, according to Songpa Police

Social Affairs June 27, 2023

Police are reportedly considering applying murder charges for a woman in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, in her 30s, who is alleged to have kept the bodies of two 1-day-old infants in a freezer at her apartment, instead of infanticide charges amid growing criticism that punishment for the crime is too light. Criminals convicted of infanticide face up to 10 years in jail, far lighter than murder. A lineal ascendant who kills a baby while being delivered or immediately after delivery in order to avoid d

Social Affairs June 26, 2023

South Korea is facing growing calls for changes to the birth notification system after an infant’s body was found in a trash can in Ulsan following other recent infanticide cases. Ulsan Nambu Police Station said Friday that a dead baby had been found the previous day at an apartment complex in Ulsan. A cleaner reportedly found the body in the trash can and reported it to the police. The police are trying to track down the person who abandoned the baby. On Wednesday, a Suwon woman in her 30

Social Affairs June 23, 2023

Twenty students were found to have fallen victim to child abuse, a pangovernmental investigation into thousands of students who missed classes for more than seven days without prior notice on Friday. Four cases have already been sent to the prosecution, and investigations are being underway for the other 16 cases, the officials said. They were among a total of 6,871 cases of students who did not attend school for more than seven days in March, according to the Ministry of Education, which conduc

Social Affairs June 23, 2023

An alleged infanticide committed by a Suwon woman in her 30s, who was found to have kept two infant bodies in a freezer at her apartment, was caught while the government was investigating the cases of more than 2,000 babies who were logged born in hospitals, but whose births remain unregistered by their parents for years, according to the state audit agency on Thursday. The Board of Audit and Inspection said it has been looking into these cases since March and has asked local governments and the

Social Affairs June 22, 2023

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that it has begun the process to revoke the medical license of Cho Min, the daughter of a former justice minister who stepped down from his post over accusations he and his wife fabricated academic documents to get her into medical school. The ministry held a hearing last week before undertaking procedures to revoke her license. She did not attend the hearing as instructed, the ministry added. The process of canceling her medical license is expec

Social Affairs June 21, 2023

GWANGJU, Gyeonggi Province -- Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province, has long been a cultural hot spot. Having been famous for its ceramic production since the Joseon era, it has now set a new course in aiming to become the global center of classical music, the mayor says. “Gwangju will host the 2024 World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE) Conference next year for the first time in Korea," said Bang Se-hwan in an interview with The Korea Herald. “In July last year, it c

Social Affairs June 20, 2023

The Korean government said Tuesday that it could begin issuing digital identification cards as early as the second half of next year. Ministry of Public Administration and Security said the government's proposal to issue digital resident registration cards to be held on mobile phones was approved at the Cabinet meeting Tuesday. The proposal also require legislative approval. The digital ID cards can be saved on smartphones and will hold the same legal role as the current plastic identificat

Social Affairs June 20, 2023