South Korea’s health authorities said Thursday they will provide epidemiological information collected from thousands of local COVID-19 patients to medical professionals, in a bid to come up with effective measures to counter a possible resurgence of the virus. The Central Disaster Management Headquarters and National Medical Center will disclose clinical data on 5,500 people who have been released after fully recovering from the virus, through Friday. The large volume of data ranges

Social Affairs June 25, 2020

South Korea reported 28 more cases of the novel coronavirus, chiefly in the Seoul metropolitan area, bringing the national’s total infections to 12,563, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. The latest figure is nearly a half of Wednesday’s 51 new cases, which sparked concern over a growing number of infections from overseas and provincial areas. Of the 28 new patients, five were imported cases and the rest were domestic infections. The death toll f

Social Affairs June 25, 2020

Health authorities on Wednesday decided to lower the bar for releasing coronavirus patients from quarantine, as virus infections continued a sustained rise, threatening the capacity of the local health system. Starting Thursday, asymptomatic patients will be released from quarantine if they show no symptoms for 10 days after having tested positive, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. At present, isolation ends only when the patients turn two negative te

Social Affairs June 24, 2020

North Korea’s literary news outlet praised J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series, the best selling book series in history, for the pioneering spirit that it models for children. In a review dated June 20, Literature Newspaper, a mouthpiece of the Joseon Writers’ Alliance, the Central Committee of North Korea’s official literary organization, belatedly introduced the British writer’s work. The first book in the seven-book series was published in 1997,

North Korea June 24, 2020

South Korea reported 51 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, with new infections detected in more cities compared with the previous trend of concentration in the Greater Seoul area. Of the new cases, 31 were domestic cases, including 11 which were registered in Seoul and eight in Daejeon, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Door-to-door sales companies are said to be responsible for the increased caseloads in the two cities recently. Twenty cases

Social Affairs June 24, 2020

Friction between Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl appears to have subsided, after hitting a point where President Moon Jae-in had to summon them together to call for cooperation on prosecution reform. Ever since the minister took office in January, Choo has clashed with Yoon over myriad issues, from a personal reshuffle that relegated Yoon’s key lieutenants at the prosecution office, to investigations into scandals involving former Justice Minister Ch

Politics June 23, 2020

The main opposition United Future Party urged the government on Monday to employ psychological warfare against North Korea if there are further provocations. “A certain way of stopping North Korea’s provocations is to make them feel that they have more to lose than gain from provocations,” the party’s in-house foreign policy and security group said in a statement. Among other actions, the government should resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts at the border as it

Politics June 22, 2020

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has ordered a fresh probe of the 2010 bribery case against former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook amid growing calls to revisit the case, according to an official statement from the prosecution. Yoon has reportedly ordered the head of the human rights department of the Seoul Prosecutors’ Office to lead the investigation following a petition over alleged fabrication of evidence and power abuse. Two teams -- the inspection headquarters of the SPO and hum

Social Affairs June 22, 2020

The government is unlikely to meddle in disputes over tuition refund between colleges and their students as classes and assessments have shifted online due to the novel coronavirus outbreak. After the Ministry of Education last week made clear the government’s position that it is a matter to be settled between the two sides, the ruling Democratic Party of Korea appears to have reached a similar conclusion Sunday that the issue should be settled by schools, not with taxpayers’ mone

Social Affairs June 21, 2020

For Japanese, Hashima Island may be a site that evokes pride that propelled the country to the global stage as an economic powerhouse. However, Koreans consider the islet off the coast of Nagasaki, also called Battleship Island, as a tragic place where hundreds of victims of forced labor suffered wrenching hardships in the undersea coal mines. It was listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 2015 along with other 22 sites of Japan’s Meiji Industrial Revolution. The problem for Korea

Foreign Affairs June 18, 2020

Political parties raised a unified voice against North Korea’s destruction of a joint liaison office, criticizing the provocation that jeopardizes relations and urging the North to return to dialogue. Ruling Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Hae-chan said Wednesday that North Korea has crossed the line by blowing up the symbol of the Panmunjom Declaration, which was signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during their first summit in April 2018 to pledg

Politics June 17, 2020

Partisan strife is back to cripple the newly minted National Assembly, following the ruling party’s push to go ahead with the appointment of a party member as the chief of a key parliamentary committee Monday. The main opposition United Future Party boycotted all parliamentary sessions scheduled for Tuesday in protest against the Democratic Party of Korea’s decision to appoint all six standing committee chief positions endorsed at a plenary session a day earlier. Committee me

Politics June 16, 2020

North Korea resurged as a point of division in the National Assembly on Monday, as ruling and opposition parties pushed starkly different resolutions on the 20th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit. The ruling Democratic Party on Monday called on the two Koreas to abide by all inter-Korean agreements and reverse the tide of deteriorating relations. Meanwhile, the opposition party criticized Pyongyang’s recent harsh rhetoric and urged the South Korean military to maintain it

Politics June 15, 2020

The chief of the prosecution on Friday ordered a thorough review of the 2010 bribery case against former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, as speculation continues to run rampant that she was framed for political reasons. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-yeol ordered the expansion of an internal review team to determine whether prosecutors abused their power and forced jailed witnesses to give false testimony against Han in exchange for reduced sentences. Han was convicted of accepting bribes and

Social Affairs June 12, 2020

The Supreme Court upheld on Thursday an 18-year prison sentence against a longtime confidante of former President Park Geun-hye for her role in an influence-peddling scandal that eventually brought down Park’s presidency in 2017. The Supreme Court upheld on Thursday an 18-year prison sentence for a longtime confidante of former President Park Geun-hye for her role in the influence-peddling scandal that eventually brought down Park’s presidency in 2017. Choi Seo-won, formerl

Social Affairs June 11, 2020