South Korea had its warmest January and the least recorded snowfall, with the average temperature standing at 2.8 degrees Celsius, the weather agency said Tuesday. The average temperature in January was 3.8 C higher than the 30-year average temperatures, with an average daytime high of 7.7 C and low of minus 1.1 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. 　 There were no days in January when the daytime low plummeted below minus 12, considered for the cold weather advisory, and w

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2020

Cold wave alerts were issued in most parts of South Korea on Tuesday, with the wind chill expected to plunge to as low as minus 22 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.　 The Korea Meteorological Administration said Tuesday that cold wave advisories would take effect starting 10 p.m. in Seoul, the Incheon island of Gangwhado, and several cities in Gyeonggi Province and South Chungcheong Province. They are to be in place starting 11 p.m. in North Chungcheong and North Jeolla provinces. 　 For mountainou

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2020

Some 340 schools, kindergartens and day care centers nationwide are temporarily closed as of Monday, amid public fears over the spread of the coronavirus. According to the Ministry of Education, 245 kindergartens, 53 elementary schools, 21 middle schools, 16 high schools and one special-education school postponed reopening following the month-long winter vacation or halted operations to rein in the spread of the coronavirus. Most of the schools affected by the virus are in Suwon, Bucheon or

Social Affairs Feb. 3, 2020

Residents of Asan in South Chungcheong Province said on Friday that they would not oppose accommodating South Koreans who had been airlifted from the Chinese city of Wuhan, the center of a deadly coronavirus, earlier in the day. Some residents in the city and Jincheon, North Chungcheong Province, have strongly protested the government’s plan to use facilities there as quarantine wards to house some 700 Koreans, who were evacuated from Wuhan, amid mounting fears over the rapid spread of

Social Affairs Jan. 31, 2020

Korea on Friday confirmed five more cases of a still rapidly spreading and deadly coronavirus, including four cases of human-to-human transmission, as the government struggles to rein in the virus. The total number of infected people here stands at 11.  　 Two of the infected people were believed to have contracted the virus through a family member, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　 A 55-year-old man, the country’s sixth confirmed case of the virus

Social Affairs Jan. 31, 2020

Amnesty International on Thursday expressed concerns about the rights of sexual minorities in South Korea in its yearly human rights report, calling on the government and parliament to improve the situation.  In a review of human rights in the Asia-Pacific region, released Thursday, the human rights organization hailed the Constitutional Court’s 2019 decision ruling the country’s abortion ban unconstitutional as a “historic step” for women’s rights. It also r

Social Affairs Jan. 30, 2020

The total number of vehicles licensed in Seoul last year saw a decrease for the first time in seven years while the number of eco-friendly cars increased, government data showed Thursday.  The number of vehicles registered in Seoul stood at 3.12 million last year, down 0.02 percentage point from a year earlier, according to the statistics from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. The number of hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles in Seoul skyrocketed by 21 percent, 56

Social Affairs Jan. 30, 2020

Residents of Jincheon and Asan in the Chungcheong region on Wednesday strongly protested the government’s plan to use facilities in the cities as quarantine wards for hundreds of South Koreans to be airlifted from the Chinese city of Wuhan amid mounting fears over a deadly coronavirus. 　 The government announced that those evacuated from Wuhan, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, will be housed at state-run facilities in the two cities for a 14-day quarantine period. 　 Four charter fl

Social Affairs Jan. 29, 2020

Ten students from North London Collegiate School Jeju have been admitted to Oxford University or Cambridge University, setting a record among all Korean schools, the collegiate school said Tuesday. The students from the class of 2020 at NLCS Jeju, which opened on the southern island of Jeju in September 2011, were offered spots for various majors, including politics, history, philosophy and engineering, according to the school. Other students at NLCS Jeju were also accepted into Ivy League c

Social Affairs Jan. 28, 2020

Fears multiplied in South Korea on Tuesday over a deadly coronavirus outbreak in China, with more people wearing masks in public and many calling for a ban on visitors from China, as well as for a delay in the reopening of schools after a monthlong winter vacation. 　 So far, four people in Korea -- three Korean nationals and one Chinese -- have tested positive for the new virus, which originated in Wuhan, central China. China had reported 106 deaths and more than 4,500 cases as of Tuesday afte

Social Affairs Jan. 28, 2020

　 President Moon Jae-in on Monday ordered an all-out check on every individual who has recently traveled here from Wuhan, China, as Korea confirmed its fourth case of the Wuhan coronavirus amid growing public fears over the viral illness that has already caused 80 confirmed deaths in China. 　 The government raised the level of the four-tier infectious disease alert to the second most severe rung, after a 55-year-old Korean man, who had visited Wuhan, Hubei province, tested positive for the coro

Social Affairs Jan. 27, 2020

Across from Changdeokgung Palace’s main gate are two Korean traditional-style buildings where efforts are being made to preserve Korean traditional music and rekindle interest in the heritage through cutting-edge technologies.Opened in March 2018, the Seoul Donhwamun Traditional Theater is dedicated to performances of gugak, or traditional Korean music. Right next to the theater, the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music, which opened in November 2019, boasts an archive of 20,000 Korean folk s

Culture Jan. 24, 2020

A Korean transgender sergeant was forcibly discharged Wednesday from the military after undergoing sex reassignment surgery while enlisted, despite her wish to continue service as a female officer.  What the solider has done “falls into reasons deemed unfit” for military service in accordance with related laws, the Army said Wednesday in a statement after a committee convened to decide on the sergeant’s discharge, among other items on its agenda, earlier in the day. 　Staff

Social Affairs Jan. 22, 2020

When her son Jiho, 38, came out as gay 12 years ago, Hong Jung-seun felt as if her world had stopped. The ardent Roman Catholic asked God many times why she and her family were facing this personal crisis and what she had done wrong in her life. She begged God to change her son’s sexuality so that he could lead a normal life. In the end, it was she who changed.“I had been so devoted to serving God, but why my son? I thought it was a punishment for something I did wrong. I h

Social Affairs Jan. 22, 2020

A compact community equipped with public housing, parks, child care and commercial facilities will be built above a highway in northern Seoul as part of efforts to meet housing needs for the young and the newly wed, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday. According to a blueprint revealed by the municipality and the Seoul Housing and Communities Corps., an artificial plot of land will be built above a 500-meter section of the Bukbu Expressway to create a public housing complex for 990 hou

Social Affairs Jan. 20, 2020