South Korea saw the number of its new coronavirus cases drop below 60 on Sunday, a day after its highest one-day total in nearly four months due to imported cases involving Russian sailors and Korean workers returning from Iraq. On Sunday, Korea reported 58 new COVID-19 cases, 46 imported from overseas and 12 locally transmitted, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The total caseload rose to 14,150. Korea reported 113 cases on Saturday, including 86 imported

Social Affairs July 26, 2020

The number of infections linked to a front-line Army base has risen to 17, health authorities said Thursday, with a civilian counselor believed to have brought the virus to the military barracks. 　 Four more people -- one soldier, two career advisers and a family member of one of the counselors -- at the 220-strong unit in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　 Kwon Jun-wook, deputy director o

Social Affairs July 23, 2020

At least 13 soldiers from an Army base near the inter-Korean border tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, raising fears of further infections in enclosed military barracks and in the community. Two soldiers at a 220-strong unit in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after showing symptoms of fever the previous day. Eleven more cases from the unit were reported Wednesday, raising the total at the unit to 13. Some 50 soldiers who came into cl

Social Affairs July 22, 2020

Changes made to the points-based residency visa requirements, which will go into effect Dec. 1, are meant to advantage a “superior pool of foreigners” and to mitigate the negative impact of the “overuse” of low-income foreign workers on the South Korean labor market, the Ministry of Justice said Wednesday. 　 The newly revised rules for the F-2-7 visa, which the ministry announced in a public notice on July 7, include a dramatic increase in the number of points to be awar

Social Affairs July 22, 2020

GEORGIAN ENVOY’S VISIT -- Otar Berdzenishvili (right), ambassador of Georgia to South Korea, shakes hands with Herald Corp. CEO and Publisher Kwon Chung-won during a courtesy visit to Herald Corp. headquarters in central Seoul on Tuesday.

Social Affairs July 21, 2020

The fight against COVID-19 for the past six months feels like running the first 10 kilometers of a marathon “at full speed” said Jeong Eun-kyeong, chief of Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 　 Gearing up for an “inevitably long fight” against the novel coronavirus, Jeong laid out major tasks for Korea: developing a vaccine and treatment, building up medical capacity for a spike in COVID-19 patients – especially in seriously ill patients, enhancing p

Social Affairs July 20, 2020

At least three COVID-19 cases of secondary transmission from imported infections were confirmed across South Korea, health authorities said Friday, as the government grapples with a continued influx of the coronavirus infections from overseas. “There were some three to four cases involving those who came from overseas, which led to secondary transmission in the local community,” said Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Jeong Eun-kyeong at a briefing Friday.

Social Affairs July 17, 2020

The newly revised rules for the points-based residency visa will go into effect Dec. 1, amid an outcry from expats in South Korea who say the sweeping changes will crush their plans and dreams here.  　 The Justice Ministry on July 7 put up a public notice -- in Korean -- of the rule adjustments for the F-2-7 visa. The changes are final and the ministry is in the process of “translating it” for non-Korean speakers, a ministry official told The Korea Herald on Thursday. &nbs

Social Affairs July 16, 2020

Even before the COVID-19 outbreak hit Europe earlier this year, the European Union had faced a slew of challenges ranging from Brexit and climate change to migration. Germany’s six-month-long presidency of the EU Council, which began July 1, comes at a critical time as the EU seeks to cushion the economic and social fallout of the prolonged pandemic. “The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to rethink the presidency,” German Ambassador to South Korea Stephen Auer said during a

Social Affairs July 16, 2020

Arrivals from two more countries with high infection rates of the novel coronavirus will be required to submit a negative COVID-19 test result to enter South Korea starting from Monday, health authorities said Wednesday. Two more countries were added to the list, Sohn Young-rae, a senior Health Ministry official said, without revealing the names of the countries, citing diplomatic reasons. The two countries are believed to be the Philippines and Uzbekistan. Since Monday, the government has r

Social Affairs July 15, 2020

The COVID-19 was an unexpected twist that has profoundly changed how we live in South Korea. But for foreign students seeking to make most of their time here, the coronavirus is the ultimate unwelcome guest. Maria Sanchez, a 23-year-old student from Colombia, arrived in Seoul on Feb. 27 at the peak of the first wave of the novel coronavirus outbreak here when the virus caseloads were rising by hundreds daily. “My family and friends were worried about me because at that time the situat

Social Affairs July 13, 2020

Before you go on a grand tour around the places in Seoul, which has served as the capital of Korea for over 600 years, a brief stop at the National Palace Museum of Korea would help you prepare. The museum, which opened in 1992, displays more than 20,000 royal relics from palaces of the 1392-1910 Joseon dynasty. It collects, studies, preserves and presents the art and culture of the Joseon royal and the Korean imperial courts.  It has 11 exhibition halls where visitors can get a glimps

Social Affairs July 11, 2020

All foreign arrivals from countries with a high infection rate of the novel coronavirus will be required to submit a negative COVID-19 test result to be allowed entry to South Korea, health authorities said Friday. Starting Monday, foreign nationals from countries that the government has internally designated as “high-risk” countries will have to submit certificates issued within 48 hours proving they tested negative for the coronavirus on a polymerase chain reaction test. Even w

Social Affairs July 10, 2020

Park Won-soon, 64, left his mark in South Korea’s civic activism as an avid activist and human rights lawyer, even before he was elected Seoul mayor in a 2011 by-election. He was voted to a third term in 2018, becoming the longest-serving mayor of the country’s capital, home to nearly 10 million people. A member of President Moon Jae-in’s liberal Democratic Party of Korea, Park had been considered a potential presidential candidate in the 2022 election. He had also not been

Social Affairs July 10, 2020

Only one out of 3,055 South Koreans sampled for coronavirus antibody tests were found with immunity to the virus, health authorities said Thursday, though they downplayed the outcome given the samples lacking in representation and numbers. 　 The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced the result of a  antibody test performed on 3,055 people -- 1,555 samples from the National Nutrition Survey and 1,500 from a medical institution in Seoul -- to see how many people had immu

Social Affairs July 9, 2020