Faced with the unprecedented novel coronavirus threat, South Korea is gearing up for its general election with extra caution to ensure voters can exercise their rights while minimizing the risk of person-to-person viral spread at polling stations. With 43 million eligible voters, the country will hold elections at around 14,300 polling stations nationwide on Wednesday, amid its nationwide social distancing campaign to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus. Nearly 11.7 million cast their

Social Affairs April 12, 2020

  More than a quarter of all eligible voters in South Korea have already cast their votes in last week’s advance voting period. And parties are all out to turn the higher-than-expected voter enthusiasm to their favor in the lead up to Wednesday’s main voting. Voter turnout in the two-day early voting Friday and Saturday reached a record high of 26.67 percent with 11.7 million voters, according to the National Election Commission. The ruling Democratic Party interprets it as

Politics April 12, 2020

The novel coronavirus is forcing people around the world to keep their distance physically, but that isn’t stopping them from standing united in the fight against the global pandemic. As neighbors, landlords or consumers, many people in Korea are reaching out to those hit harder by the COVID-19 outbreak. Youngsters have initiated a “good consumer movement” through social media platforms such as Instagram. When visiting a regular haunt -- whether it’s a cafe, hair s

Social Affairs April 11, 2020

President Moon Jae-in on Thursday pledged 210 billion won ($172 million) for the development of medicines and vaccines, including one for the novel coronavirus, saying he wants the country to lead the world not just in virus control but also in the prevention and cure of COVID-19. Presiding over a meeting of five related parties -- the government, academia, research institutions, hospitals and pharmaceutical firms -- Moon promised to cut the red tape to expedite clinical trials. “Wit

Politics April 9, 2020

Scrambling to make appeals to voters ahead of elections next week, rival political groups on Monday proposed coronavirus relief subsidies for all South Korean citizens to mitigate the economic fallout from the pandemic. Lee Hae-chan, the leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, said Monday that the ruling party will push to expand the scope of the government’s stimulus program to have all income brackets benefit from it. The government’s plan, announced last week, envis

Politics April 6, 2020

Massive group transmission cases have been avoided thanks to nationwide efforts to practice social distancing and stamp out the novel coronavirus, the government said Saturday. The government announced that it will lengthen the period of its social distancing guidance for two weeks until April 19 to help curb the spread of the virus that has killed at least 177 here. “As a result of the social distancing campaign, it clearly proved its effectiveness in preventing the spread of infect

Social Affairs April 4, 2020

The first case of a local transmission of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed on Jeju Island, local officials said Saturday. The local transmission involves a man in his 30s who tested positive Friday night. He is related to a woman in her 20s who was confirmed to have contracted the respiratory virus on March 29, according to Jeju officials. She had recently traveled to Korea from Latin America. Jeju had reported 12 novel coronavirus cases as of Saturday morning, with 11 infections im

Social Affairs April 4, 2020

South Korea, one of the first countries hit by novel coronavirus outside China, marked a grim coronavirus milestone Friday when the virus toll surpassed 10,000 -- 74 days after the first case was reported. 　 Grim as it may look, the crossing of the 10,000 mark came amid a stabilizing trend of new infections. The country counted 86 new cases in the 24 hours to midnight Thursday, markedly down from a peak of 909 on Feb 29. Of the 10,062 people infected with the virus, 6,021 have fully reco

Social Affairs April 3, 2020

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recorded 86 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, taking the country’s tally to 10,062. The death toll rose by five to 174. The number of cases surpassed the 10,000 mark 74 days after a Chinese woman from Wuhan, the global origin of the novel coronavirus pandemic, was tested positive for the first time on Jan. 20. Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said Friday he expected that the inflow of virus cases from abroad will come under control soon.

Social Affairs April 3, 2020

The number of people who have contracted the new coronavirus crept toward 10,000 as the government considers maintaining social-distancing measures. South Korea reported 89 new cases Thursday, bringing the total number to 9,976, according to Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the new cases, detected in the 24 hours of Wednesday, 21 are in the hardest-hit city of Daegu, 21 are in Gyeonggi Province while 14 are in Seoul. The government said Thursday that it will announce

Social Affairs April 2, 2020

South Korean nationals living abroad began casting ballots for the April general elections Wednesday, but the global coronavirus pandemic has disrupted the process. 　 A total of 171,959 overseas nationals registered to vote over six days through Monday, but some 80,000 won’t be able to do so in the aftermath of the fast-spreading coronavirus, which has killed over 42,000 people around the world. The National Election Commission has suspended election-related affairs at 65 diplomati

Politics April 1, 2020

With rival political groups set to go head to head in the April parliamentary elections, the Moon Jae-in administration’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak is dominating election campaigns. The outbreak has killed at least 152 people in South Korea and infected 9,583 so far. The conservative opposition United Future Party is urging voters to pass judgment on the “failed” response of President Moon Jae-in and his ruling camp, while the liberal bloc is pinning hopes on a

Politics March 29, 2020

Candidate registration for the April 15 elections began Thursday -- at stake are 300 seats in the 21st National Assembly.  Largely overshadowed by the coronavirus outbreak, the poll outcome will shape the country’s political landscape two years before the next presidential election and serve as a litmus test of public sentiment for President Moon Jae-in and his liberal Democratic Party.  Currently, the Democratic Party controls 121 seats in the unicameral parliament, which is

Politics March 26, 2020

The government has started running a program from Thursday that takes just 10 minutes to trace people who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus, in the latest technology adopted to combat the pandemic. Co-developed by the Land Ministry, the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus tracker allows data of confirmed COVID-19 patients to be immediately analyzed and provided to health investigators. Previously, it took about 24 hours

Social Affairs March 26, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic is expected to disrupt the upcoming April general elections, as its consequences have extended to every corner of the daily lives of voters. The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented uncertainty on the election, as voters could eschew casting ballots in fear of the risk of contagion in crowded polling places. Revised election rules adopting a mixed-member proportional representation system, which will be applied to the poll for the first time, gave birth to ne

Social Affairs March 25, 2020