The majority of South Korean women view marriage as a hindrance to their careers, in stark contrast to men, a survey showed Monday. According to the poll by recruitment site Saramin on 1,401 married and unmarried workers, 71.8 percent of women said that tying the knot had a harmful impact on their career, while 75.9 percent of men saw marriage as a boost to their working lives. YonhapMost of the female respondents (76.5 percent) cited housework and child rearing as the major factors, followed by

Social Affairs March 21, 2016

South Korea’s migrant worker and refugee advocacy groups called for an end to racial discrimination in central Seoul on Monday, marking the U.N.-designated day to combat racial discrimination. 　In a press conference held at Gwanghwamun Square in the morning, some 30 civic organizations, including the nation’s first migrant workers’ union, groups of public interest lawyers and labor rights activists, gathered to shed light on the plight of migrant workers here. 　The groups accused the government

Social Affairs March 21, 2016

With the risks and challenges faced by refugees around the world having become one of the biggest global issues of today, the status and conditions of asylum seekers in South Korea have also been highlighted. The Korea Herald is publishing a series of articles shedding light on refugees in Korea, their hardships, the systematic fallout and ways to go forward. This is the ninth installment. – Ed.For Milene (not her real name), a 25-year-old asylum seeker from a small country in West Africa, life

Social Affairs March 20, 2016

PAJU, Gyeonggi Province -- A month after the shutdown of Gaeseong industrial park in North Korea’s border city, business owners and employees took to the street on Wednesday, calling for compensation and restarting of operations at the complex. Led by the emergency council of the Gaeseong-based factory owners and workers, some 1,000 people who lost their jobs overnight gathered at Imjingak Pavilion near the heavily guarded Demilitarized Zone in the afternoon.At the rally, the participants, consi

Social Affairs March 16, 2016

With the tragic death of a 7-year-old boy from long-term abuse by his parents revealed last week, the government has laid out additional measures to prevent child abuse. 　But concerns are growing over the efficacy of the measures, with activists taking issue with shortage of financial, human resources in the field and authorities’ lack of will to implement the policies. 　Police on Monday launched a probe into suspected child abuse cases by reviewing the cases of 809 infants aged from 4 to 6 year

Social Affairs March 14, 2016

South Korean police on Thursday caught an Uzbekistani con artist who allegedly swindled money out of a Syrian man with threats involving a nude picture of them together. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency requested an arrest warrant for the 28-year-old woman on charges of fraud.(Yonhap)The Uzbekistani woman, who met the 32-year-old Syrian man through a friend, allegedly blackmailed him from March to December last year, getting about 7 million won ($5,800) from him.The woman reportedly threat

Social Affairs March 11, 2016

The South Korean government mapped out its plans to curb labor market duality to build a fairer business ecosystem and toughen security at the country’s major airports in a policy meeting held Thursday. In the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the Employment and Labor Ministry unveiled measures to root out business practices that disadvantage smaller employers and non-regular workers under the dual structure of the country’s labor market.  (Yonhap)The plans are a mix of financial

Social Affairs March 10, 2016

A French court has approved on Tuesday the extradition of the daughter of a late South Korean tycoon in connection with the deadly 2014 Sewol ferry disaster that left 304 dead.Yoo Sum-na, daughter of the former owner of Cheoghaejin Marine, was wanted by Korean authorities on suspicion of embezzling about 49.2 billion won ($40,500) from subsidiaries of the family company. The Korean authorities had requested the extradition of Yoo, who has been living in Paris, as part of the probe into suspected

Social Affairs March 9, 2016

A few days ago, a poster was pinned up on a bulletin board at Korea University in Seoul, in which a group of female students lambasted their lecturers for discriminatory remarks against women. The poster put up across the campus included testimonies from about 40 female students who had experienced sexist remarks based on their gender. The comments that had allegedly been made by professors described women in general as only looking after their appearance and relying too much on men. Some of the

Social Affairs March 8, 2016

The number of foreign patients diagnosed with tuberculosis in Korea has rapidly risen over the past five years, with government vowing to step up prescreening for foreign visitors to stop the disease from spreading here. According to data compiled by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of foreign patients diagnosed with TB surged nearly threefold from 637 in 2009 to 1,858 in 2014 over the past five years.  (Yonhap)As of 2014, 63 percent of the TB patients were men. By ag

Social Affairs March 8, 2016

Kim Min-jin, 25, who attends a university in Seoul, used to go to the school library to browse books or to do coursework at least once a month when she was a freshman. But now, Kim rarely goes to the library. Instead, she simply turns to the Internet to download digital books and reports available.“Most of the reading material is up online, so I don’t find it necessary to go to libraries now,” Kim told The Korea Herald. “I prefer to download material from an e-library as it is easier for me refe

Social Affairs March 7, 2016

A U.S. soldier was apprehended on charges of breaking into a Korean woman’s residence under influence, police said Sunday.The Seoul Yongsan Police Station booked on Saturday night a 29-year-old soldier, who works at Seoul Airfield, for trespassing onto a 31-year-old woman’s house in Itaewon, central Seoul. He reportedly climbed to the third-floor terrace by using one of the external pipes of the building. (Yonhap)The soldier asserted that he had made a mistake and that he had meant to enter his

Social Affairs March 6, 2016

Gangnam Station in southern Seoul was crowned the most frequented subway station in Seoul for 19 years straight, officials said Sunday.Located in the bustling commercial and business district, Gangnam Station on line No. 2 drew 204,508 passengers on average daily, with a total of 74.6 million using the station last year. (Yonhap)The Seoul Metropolitan Government compiled the data by analyzing passengers’ usage of public transport cards at subway stations encompassing lines No. 1 to No. 9 in Seou

Social Affairs March 6, 2016

The mortality rate for those who do physical work is more than twice that for salaried office workers, a study showed Friday, showing a correlation between occupation and death. A doctors team from Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital looked into the death records of 1.14 million workers enrolled in government-run employment insurance plans, analyzing data from 1995 to 2008. Over this period, there were 563 deaths per 100,000 male workers in the agriculture and fishery sector, compared to 249 deaths of whi

Social Affairs March 4, 2016