A fire caused by a butane gas explosion in a Daegu apartment led to 30 residents being evacuated on Monday. The fire began at 8:59 a.m. after a portable stove gas canister exploded while the resident was boiling gomtang, or beef-bone soup. The flames reached several stories high, causing 21 residents in other units to evacuate. Nine residents were rescued by firefighters. Some residents complained about headaches, difficulty breathing and eye sores caused by smoke inhalation, but no deaths were

Social Affairs Dec. 3, 2024

Seoul subway Line No. 2 was delayed over 20 minutes during morning rush hour due to a conductor taking an urgent toilet break on Monday, according to Seoul Metro. The conductor who was driving a train on the outer lane of the circular route had to leave the train urgently to use the toilet in a station at 8:11 a.m. While an engineer watched the train, the conductor ran down the platform and returned in 4 minutes 16 seconds after using the restroom on another floor. However, the 125 trains follow

Social Affairs Nov. 27, 2024

Police awarded a man who rescued a student on a bridge over the Han River, Seoul’s Seongdong Police Station announced on Tuesday. While crossing the bridge, the man found the student standing on the opposite side of the guardrail of the Dongho Bridge in eastern Seoul around 5 a.m. on Friday. He immediately grabbed the student’s hands and pulled him back over the rail. After trying to calm the student down, he took the student to the Oksu patrol box in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, which was n

Social Affairs Nov. 26, 2024

Eighteen people were injured Monday after a motel caught fire in Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to local media. One person was found on the second floor in a state of cardiac arrest, but recovered. The fire reportedly began on the first floor of the four-story building at 10 p.m., but the smoke quickly spread to the entire building. At the time, 22 people were staying in the motel and many of them were foreign workers at a nearby employer who was using the motel to accommoda

Social Affairs Nov. 26, 2024

A man in his 50s has been fined for assaulting a woman who was smoking in the street. Judge Jang Min-ju, presiding over Daejeon District Court’s 11th criminal chamber, fined the man of 700,000 ($498), local media reports on Monday. The man hit the 22-year-old woman on her back at midnight on April 29 while she was smoking in front of a shop in Daeduk-gu, Daejeon. During the police investigation, he reportedly said “How could a girl smoke?” and that he was angry about smoking ne

Social Affairs Nov. 26, 2024

Lawmakers and ambassadors were among the 1,122 people who gathered in Gwangju and Seoul Friday to make kimchi to donate to underprivileged people. The 2024 Korea Kimchi Grand Festival was held for two hours in the National Assembly’s courtyard in Yeouido, central Seoul and May 18 Democracy Square in central Gwangju simultaneously. The event was organized by Herald Media Group, local broadcaster Gwangju MBC and Rep. Ju Chul-hyun of the main opposition Democratic Party. The event at the Nati

Social Affairs Nov. 24, 2024

A 28-year-old Korean man was apprehended at Jorge Chavez International Airport near Lima during an apparent attempt to smuggle out hundreds of arthropods, including 320 tarantulas, on Nov. 8. According to Peru’s nature protection agency, the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (SERFOR), the man was carrying 320 tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants, some of which were protected species. All of the creatures were native species of the Peruvian Amazon and were confirmed to have

Social Affairs Nov. 18, 2024

Cleaning workers contracted by a city government who were asked to help an injured stray cat, killed the animal instead, touching off controversy over alleged animal cruelty, local media outlets reported. The employees of a cleaning company working for the Incheon Seo-gu Office were dispatched to the scene on Nov. 9, following a request to rescue the injured cat, according to the district office on Wednesday. After reaching the street in Seoknam-dong where the cat was found, they used cleaning t

Social Affairs Nov. 16, 2024

South Korea needs a strategy to maintain the growth of the Korean language, according to Ross King, a professor of Korean language and literature at the University of British Columbia. The Korean language has gained popularity in North America in recent years, but a lack of strategy could jeopardize its future, King said. The number of students studying the Korean language has grown by about 75 percent in the US over the past 10 years, while student enrollment in other language courses has dropp

Social Affairs Nov. 14, 2024

The growing popularity of the Korean language could help address Korea's demographic crisis, Sejong City Mayor Choi Min-ho said Wednesday. Speaking at the Global Business Forum, held at Simone in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province, Choi said Koreans should be more open to building a multicultural society, and that Hangeul could play a key role. “It is good that Hangeul is called the pride of Korea. But it could also be something more that helps with Korea’s low birth rate,” he said

Social Affairs Nov. 14, 2024

A single driver has accumulated more than 1.7 billion won ($1.21 million) in unpaid administrative fines as of Oct. 10, police data has revealed. Administrative fines are imposed on car owners for speeding and parking violations, not by police officers but by cameras, according to the Road Traffic Act. Rep. Youn Kun-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea on Monday revealed a police list of the top 100 delinquent drivers who have not paid the largest amounts in administrative fine

Social Affairs Nov. 11, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s approval rating has fallen to a new low in the latest Gallup Korea poll released Friday, coming in at a record 17 percent. The results, however, do not reflect reactions to Thursday’s press conference, which was met with mixed reactions. The poll, conducted between Nov. 5 and 7, indicated that public sentiment has further deteriorated, with only 17 percent rating Yoon’s performance positively -- 2 percentage points lower than two weeks ago. Over the sa

Politics Nov. 8, 2024

The city of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, has started the search for an unknown number of deer that have appeared on trails and attacked local parkgoers. In a joint operation among the city government, Suwon Fire Station and Suwon Jungbu Police Station, officials are scouring Gwanggyo Lake Park and Gwanggyosan to capture the deer that have attacked people at least twice and were seen several times in some neighborhoods in northern Suwon. According to reports, a deer was spotted in Yeonmu-dong early

Social Affairs Nov. 7, 2024

A popular natural rock climbing park in Wonju, Gangwon Province is being criticized for the names of three of its courses being misogynistic. The criticism came to light in a report in local weekly Women News on Monday. The report found names such as “Dolimbbang” which can be read as slang referring to “gang rape," “Hyeongsu,” an older brother's wife or "sister-in-law," and "Hyeongsu II." The names were found on a sign displayed in the

Social Affairs Nov. 6, 2024

Unseasonably warm weather with day highs of around 20 degrees Celsius has delayed the autumn foliage peak, leaving large parts of Korea’s major foliage hotspots green as of Wednesday. Of the 21 hotspots the Korea Meteorological Administration monitored, seven -- including Naejangsan in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province, famous for its maple leaves -- had not reached their foliage peak Wednesday. The KMA announces the “peak” when 80 percent of the place is covered with autumn foli

Social Affairs Nov. 6, 2024