The Seoul Metropolitan Police said on Tuesday that the response rate of school violence among students has dropped sharply from 14.2 percent in 2012 to two percent in 2022. Touting the role of school police officers, who assist school administrators maintain a safe and secure environment, the police said that the number of students arrested for school violence also declined from 3,257 to 2,014, down 38.2 percent. In addition, the number of youth arrested for crimes also fell by nearly 50 percent

Social Affairs Nov. 28, 2023

South Korean high school senior students spent some 4 million won ($3,060) on average last year to receive tutoring on the college entrance essay test to learn how to write a good composition, government data showed Monday. They also paid more than 1 million won annually for college admissions counseling. According to data released by the Education Ministry and Statistics Korea on students’ private education spending in 2022, the average monthly expenditure for 12th graders who engaged in

Social Affairs Nov. 27, 2023

A man in his 60s who was convicted of setting his neighbor on fire, eventually killing him, after losing a game has been handed a 35-year prison term, the district court in Gwangju said Friday. The Gwangju District Court convicted the man on charges of murder and breaching the Special Act on Prevention of Insurance Fraud. The man, whose identity has been withheld, was accused of killing the victim -- also in his 60s -- after the two had been playing the traditional Korean game yutnori for money

Social Affairs Nov. 24, 2023

Illicit sales of drug test kits from overseas are on the rise via social media, according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on Friday. They are being marketed to potential drug users looking to evade testing by police, the ministry said. The test kits, which are equivalent to the rapid tests used by police here, produce results within a few minutes, allowing drug users to take measures to prevent getting a positive result in later police testing. To alter results of the typically more reli

Social Affairs Nov. 24, 2023

The chicken is in the deep fryer, vegetable fried rice is being cooked in a pan and beef stew is being heated up in a stock pot as lunchtime approaches at Soonggok Middle School in Seongbuk-gu, northern Seoul. But the meal preparation for some 660 students is all done at the hands of cooking robots. The middle school is the first in the country to adopt cooking robots designed to perform culinary tasks, such as stir-frying, boiling and frying ingredients. It is part of a trial starting the secon

Social Affairs Nov. 23, 2023

A teacher on a fixed-term contract at a middle school in Seoul has come under fire for using school property to take photos of scantily clad former students for his social media account, as well as selling them as photo books. The teacher, whose identity has been withheld, has been running the social media account since 2017, where he uploaded some 1,600 photographs of women posing suggestively for nearly 87,000 followers, his now-closed Instagram account showed. Apart from running and posting s

Social Affairs Nov. 23, 2023

Controversy over the difficulty of the Suneung, South Korea’s college entrance exam, is likely to persist as this year’s exam has so far not seen a perfect score in tentative grading, giving an inkling that the test might not see a single perfect scorer for the first time in 13 years. While test-takers are to receive notice of their scores on Dec. 8, none of the high school senior students who took the test received full marks after tentative grading of their answers, according to th

Social Affairs Nov. 21, 2023

A 37-year-old executive at a tech startup in Seoul surnamed Choi made what seemed a bold decision after welcoming the birth of his first child two years ago: he took three months of paternity leave. At first, he was worried about the looks he would get at the office, not to mention missing out on a promotion and pay raise, as well as being perceived as being less committed to work than his peers. But Choi’s choice came with multiple benefits. “I had plenty of time to bond with my son

Social Affairs Nov. 20, 2023

Half a million took the Suneung, South Korea’s national college entrance exam, on Thursday, as this year’s test saw the scrapping of the so-called highly difficult “killer questions” for the first time. All eyes are on whether the new test format will reduce reliance on private education, as a slew of test takers assessed this year’s Suneung to be more difficult, despite the absence of such questions. In the run up to the test, many examinees expected the difficulty

Social Affairs Nov. 19, 2023

Hundreds of students showed up at Dongsung High School in Jongno-gu, central Seoul, Thursday, carrying backpacks and clutching study materials for last-minute cramming before sitting for South Korea’s college entrance exam, known as the Suneung. Some busied themselves taking pictures with classmates. Others waited nervously. A student hugged his parents before entering the school gate, saying, “You guys believe in me, right? I can do this.” The parents shed tears of relief and

Social Affairs Nov. 16, 2023

The bereaved family of a 23-year-old elementary school teacher who took her own life in July on Wednesday protested the police's decision to close the investigation into the case, holding a press conference with foreign media in Seoul. The press conference was in response to the police's announcement on Tuesday saying they found no evidence of any crime and wrapped up the monthslong probe. The family said the closure was "too hasty" and that there were other factors and poten

Social Affairs Nov. 15, 2023

The Suneung, South Korea’s national college entrance exam, has been administered on a Thursday every year since 2006. The nationwide test, regarded as the most important exam Koreans take in their lifetimes, is held on the same weekday every year to secure the test distribution process, according to officials. Transporting the examination papers to 84 cities, counties, and districts across the country takes three days. This process involves not only the travel time but also a cross-checkin

Social Affairs Nov. 15, 2023

Park, 61, had a long list of questions he wanted to ask about his health and what he should do to recover after being diagnosed with heart failure, a chronic condition in which the heart muscle doesn’t pump blood as well as it should. His doctor, however, was busy staring at the computer screen to prescribe him medication and set up his next appointment. “I was barely even allowed to speak or ask questions (about my condition or the causes of it) during the consultation, before the d

Social Affairs Nov. 14, 2023

Amid growing calls for stronger punishment for stalking, the Supreme Court’s Sentencing Committee on Monday said it had decided to recommend a maximum prison term of five years, depending on the gravity of the offense. The decision comes after the commission, affiliated with the Supreme Court of Korea and consisting of 13 commissioners, held its 128th meeting on Friday to review sentencing guidelines for stalking. For what it calls a general stalking crime with mitigating factors, the Sent

Social Affairs Nov. 13, 2023

South Korea’s two top courts are facing a leadership vacuum following Constitutional Court President Yoo Nam-seok’s retirement on Friday, while the position of chief justice has remained vacant for 47 days. President Yoon Suk Yeol named Lee Jong-seok as the nominee for the president of the Constitutional Court of South Korea last month and a parliamentary confirmation hearing for Lee is set to take place on Monday. Lee is currently one of nine justices in the Constitutional Court. Si

Social Affairs Nov. 10, 2023