Civic groups demand government audit against the state-funded schoolStudents and faculty members of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on Monday called for a new leadership after a spate of student suicides at the school, calling the current president’s reform efforts a “failure.”Four KAIST students have killed themselves since January, with the latest death confirmed last Thur

Social Affairs April 12, 2011

{Suh Nam-pyo}(A student in the KAIST campus in Daejeon walks past a hand-written poster protesting the school president’s policies that stir competition, including a unique system under which students pay different amounts of tuition based on their grades. Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)“KAIST is facing the biggest crisis since its opening,” the president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science

Social Affairs April 8, 2011

Officials say no hazard expected from crippled Japan nuclear plantThe government’s safety assurances over radioactive rainfalls on Thursday could not relieve the concerns of citizens, especially parents of young children.Some schools suspended classes Thursday as seasonal rainfalls scattered across the nation, while vehicles of worried parents crowded the entrances of schools that did open. Lee So

Social Affairs April 7, 2011

Half of Seoul’s plastic surgery and skincare clinics located in the districtThis is the first of a three-part article on medical tourism in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. ― Ed. Jenny Cheng, a Chinese-American living in Las Vegas, stopped over in Korea last month en route to China. It was a brief stay of less than six hours, but enough to receive laser wrinkle-removal thanks to several online consulta

Social Affairs April 6, 2011

Ahn Chul-soo, a chair professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has accepted a teaching offer from Seoul National University, an AhnLab official said Tuesday. Ahn, 49, is the founder of computer vaccine developer AhnLab, one of Korea’s first-generation IT startups. Ahn Chul-sooThe state-run university had earlier made an unofficial offer to Ahn for the chief position now

Social Affairs April 5, 2011

Experts urge Seoul to take more active stance on Dokdo issueNew Japanese textbooks claiming Japan’s sovereignty over Dokdo disappointed many in Korea following a rare outpouring of sympathy for their former colonial ruler, hit hard by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese Textbook Authorization and Research Council announced Wednesday its review results of middle school textbooks that

Social Affairs April 3, 2011

Civic groups Wednesday expressed disappointment with Japan’s adoption of textbooks that claim its sovereignty over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.“Educating young students would be the important aspect of Japan’s strategy to seize Dokdo,” said Koh Chang-keun, head of Dokdo Network. “The young people who will lead Japanese society in 20 to 30 years would understand that Dokdo is currently domi

Social Affairs March 30, 2011

Amounts remain below permissible levels: agencyTraces of radioactive material are being detected across the nation following a widening nuclear crisis in Japan, but the minuscule amounts pose no health risk, officials said Tuesday. “Tiny doses of iodine 131 were detected at all 12 monitoring stations nationwide Monday. There were also traces of cesium 137 detected at the Chuncheon center,” Yun Cho

Social Affairs March 29, 2011

Move comes after officials detect radioactive traces from JapanThe Korean government has decided to tighten its monitoring of radiation levels after minuscule amounts of a radioactive material from Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant was detected here for the first time Sunday.“We will collect and test water and creature samples in 20 areas near Uleungdo, Dokdo, waters south of Jeju and other sou

Social Affairs March 28, 2011