The Korea Herald

Seoul doubles budget for overseas training of civil servants

Seoul Metropolitan Government is sending more officials overseas under the mayor’s pledge to expand overseas training of civil servantsOfficials said Monday that the city government plans to send about 780 officials abroad for the maximum two weeks of training from May to December, this year. Last year, 350 officials were dispatched to overseas training courses.The budget for overseas trainings of up to two weeks increased 52 percent from last year’s 1.3 billion won to 2.7 billion won to 2.7 bil

Social Affairs April 16, 2012

Foreign workers given unsuitable jobs

Foreign migrant workers ill-informed of job description before coming to KoreaA human rights watchdog recently ruled that assigning an Indonesian Muslim to a job at a pork processing factory is an infringement of human rights. A similar case was reported to the Joint Committee with Migrants in Korea, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting the human rights of foreign migrant workers, this time involving another Indonesian Muslim worker who was assigned to a dog-breeding farm. “He didn’

Social Affairs April 15, 2012

Lawmakers-elect under probe for election law violations

Prosecutors are stepping up their investigations into election law violations after the general election Wednesday.Gwangju prosecutors said they would summon independent lawmaker-elect Park Joo-sun of a Gwangju constituency as one of his campaign aides allegedly paid a broker for gathering electoral voters. “We have enough evidence to prove the allegation. We will notify Park of summons as early as next week,” a prosecutor told a local daily Thursday. Prosecutors also raided campaign offices of

Social Affairs April 13, 2012

Lawmakers-elect under probe for election law violations

Herald Media, SNUE sign cooperation MOU

Herald Media signed a memorandum of understanding with Seoul National University of Education on Thursday to cooperate in future joint projects to nurture globally minded individuals. Lee Young-man, Herald Media CEO and publisher, and Shin Hang-gyun, president of SNUE, signed the MOU at Herald Media in Seoul on Thursday. Under the memorandum, Herald Media and the university are to strengthen cooperation in student internships at Herald Media and its reporters’ lectures to university students, as

Social Affairs April 12, 2012

Seoul to offer field trips to foreign visitors

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will provide field trips to foreign visitors to the capital to increase their understanding of Korean culture and promote the city, officials said Thursday. The city government plans to offer 1,000 foreign visitors this year a chance to experience Korean culture during their stay in the capital. The program was launched in 2008 to promote the city to foreign visitors. City officials say that this year the program is designed to publicize the 2012 Yeosu Expo from

Social Affairs April 12, 2012

Mongolian teachers to work in Korean schools

Mongolian teachers will teach South Korean students and help provincial communities improve their understanding of multicultural families under a teacher-exchange program.The Korean Education Ministry said Thursday that 20 teachers would be assigned to nine local elementary or middle schools with a concentration of multiethnic students including Mongolian children.They will spend two months from April 23 mostly at schools in Mongolian communities in Gangwon Province. They are to teach English or

Social Affairs April 12, 2012

Murder case reveals emergency line flaws

The recent murder in Suwon has brought the 112 emergency service under fire, as police failed to find a 28-year-old woman for 13 hours after she called for a help. She was brutally murdered on April 1 despite calling with a specific location hours earlier. The case has prompted an outpouring of criticism of the 112 emergency hotline’s tracking ability and lack of a detailed search manual. Under the current location information protection law, the 112 hotline is not allowed to track a caller’s lo

Social Affairs April 11, 2012

86% of tots receive all suggested vaccinations

Some 86 percent of 3-year-olds across the country have been inoculated with all the state-recommended vaccinations, the nation’s disease control agency said on Monday.That proportion is short of the national target of 95 percent, it added.According to a report on the vaccination rate, compiled by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the first time, 86.3 percent of 3 year olds were found to have received all seven vaccines recommended to be given before they are 2 years old. T

Social Affairs April 10, 2012

Too much salt increases chance of obesity: study

Eating too much salt can increase the risk of obesity, especially for teenagers, a government study found on Tuesday. According to a joint study by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, teenagers in the top 20 percent in terms of salt intake are 1.77 times more likely to be overweight than those in the bottom 20 percent. For adults, the top 20 percent are 1.2 times more at risk of becoming overweight than the bottom 20 percent. “The relationship between salt i

Social Affairs April 10, 2012

More teachers insulted by students, parents

Teachers’ group attributes violations to ordinance for greater student rightsMore teachers are being insulted or beaten by students or parents while on their student conduct duties, a report found Sunday. According to the Korean Federation of Teachers’ Association, a conservative teachers’ group, cases that involve infringement upon teachers’ responsibilities and rights have increased 12-fold from 22 cases in 1991 to 287 in 2011. The report was based on reports to the teacher’s group over the la

Social Affairs April 9, 2012

Korea gives posthumous honor to Australian doctor

The late former doctor and missionary Helen Pearl Mackenzie received a posthumous honor from the Korean government for her contribution to helping Korean women and children during the Korean War and training obstetricians and gynecologists.The Ministry of Health and Welfare gave the honorary award to Mackenzie and 211 others in celebration of Health Day on Friday at COEX in Seoul. “There are many good-hearted people like Ms. Mae Hye-ran who had worked so hard to help people in need. We will find

Social Affairs April 9, 2012

Korea gives posthumous honor to Australian doctor

‘Mastering one foreign language is not enough’

German and French used to be second language choices at schools in Korea, but have since been replaced by Chinese and Japanese. This made it easier for Korean students to get high scores on second language exams, plus the Chinese and Japanese economic and cultural influence on Korea was growing.Still, German is still an essential tool for those seeking to do business with Europe, said a distinguished professor who recently came to Seoul from Germany.“European countries are Korea’s major export m

Social Affairs April 6, 2012

‘Mastering one foreign language is not enough’

Ministry considering name change for NEAT

The Education Ministry is considering renaming its English test for students and adults.An official told The Korea Herald that the ministry is searching separate names for the two versions of the National English Ability Test currently being trialed. “The word ‘National’ doesn’t fit in our long-term plan to export the testing tool to other countries where English is not spoken as the mother tongue,” he said, adding that the ministry plans to export the adult version of NEAT. NEAT is being develo

Social Affairs April 5, 2012

POSTECH creates fellowship

Pohang University of Science and Technology said Thursday that they have created a presidential fellowship with the Japanese company Hitachi to assist students’ science research. The $1.3 million scholarship will be available to students who will conduct research on medical equipment, the major field of study for school president Kim Yong-min. The school noted that the scholarship was created from money left over from the president’s research fund from Hitachi and a donation from the company.The

Social Affairs April 5, 2012

Korea ups education on Dokdo

The Korean government is stepping up school education on Dokdo, about a week after the Japanese government approved high school textbooks that claim the easternmost islets as Japanese territory.Seoul’s education ministry said it distributed supplementary textbooks on Dokdo to all elementary, middle and high schools to be used during the designated classes on the islets in the new semester which began in March. “The education on Dokdo is to raise students’ awareness of the necessity for guarding

Social Affairs April 3, 2012

Articles by Lee Woo-young