Regular walking can reduce and prevent symptoms of depression in middle-aged people, a study showed Wednesday. According to the latest edition of the Frontiers in Psychiatry, which publishes peer-reviewed research on psychiatry, a collaborative research team of Yonsei University’s College of Medicine, the Department of Psychiatry at Ajou University and Soon Chun Hyang University Bucheon Hospital found that middle-aged people who engaged in walking every week felt better emotionally and wer

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2023

Parents have been banned from using recording devices or other means to record lessons without the teacher’s permission, according to a new teachers’ manual distributed by the Ministry of Education on Wednesday. The move aims to prevent parents from installing sound recording apps on their child’s phone to eavesdrop on classrooms, as some parents have reportedly confronted and verbally attacked teachers in the past based on such audio recordings, according to the ministry. Unde

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2023

Drug-related crimes have increased in South Korea’s military according to data that shows a consistent rise in the number of cases inside the barracks in recent years. According to a local news report on Friday, a sergeant first class in the Army was caught purchasing birth control pills containing methamphetamine in March 2019 but was handed a suspended prosecution disposition from the military prosecutor’s office. In April, six soldiers stationed in a division in Yeoncheon, Gyeongg

Defense Sept. 25, 2023

In response to the growing international demand for learning the Korean language, the South Korean Education Ministry took a proactive step in 2021 by creating a government-managed Korean language education curriculum. Prior to the central government's involvement, the selection and distribution of language courses and textbooks were primarily handled by local Korean language education centers. This led to concerns about the lack of structured content that could cater to the diverse languag

Social Affairs Sept. 24, 2023

More than 1,800 breaches of the country’s Youth Protection Act were found during a nationwide government inspection of downtown areas to examine whether operations met requirements. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Friday it had detected 1,802 violations of the act, and that it had asked the local governments responsible to investigate 65 of those cases and issued corrective orders for the rest. The inspection was conducted from July 17 until Aug. 18 at places such as beache

Social Affairs Sept. 22, 2023

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said Wednesday that it has distributed some 70,530 electronic devices for 7th-grade students across middle schools in Seoul to help prepare students for the AI digital textbooks that will go into use starting in 2025. The devices will also provide diverse learning resources and interactive education content for students. The Education Office will also install charging stations at each school to keep students’ devices powered up and ready for use,

Social Affairs Sept. 20, 2023

For Kim, a retired teacher in her late 60s, teaching was one of the greatest gifts of her life. Recalling students’ laughter and small parties in classrooms celebrating Teachers’ Day every year, she was a teacher who was revered and appreciated by both students and parents. However, when Kim visited a memorial altar for a Seoul elementary school teacher who took her own life on Sept. 4, she lamented at how different schools have become and how the teaching profession -- widely revere

Social Affairs Sept. 19, 2023

Prosecutors filed a request for an arrest warrant on Monday for actor Yoo Ah-in on charges of illegal drug use, four months after the court rejected the police’s request an initial warrant against him. The department investigating violent crimes under the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it has requested the court issue an arrest warrant for the 37-year-old actor. Yoo, whose real name is Uhm Hong-sick, is suspected of breaching the country’s Narcotics Control Act

Social Affairs Sept. 18, 2023

Concerns are growing over the excessive consumption of caffeine among adolescents, according to a report on Sunday, citing a teen health study. According to last year’s “Youth Health Behavior Survey” conducted by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on some 60,000 middle and high school students in 800 schools nationwide, 22.3 percent of the respondents answered “yes” when asked if they drink high-caffeine beverages more than three times a week. Some 26 p

Social Affairs Sept. 17, 2023

Private education spending among households with preschoolers or kindergarteners has increased by 38 percent in the last five years, a report showed Sunday. According to a report published by Kim Hye-ja, a researcher at the Korean Educational Development Institute, on the relationship between social awareness and educational expenses, the average spending on private education for preschoolers and kindergarteners jumped from 162,000 won ($121.71) in 2018 to 224,000 won in 2022, up 38.3 percent th

Social Affairs Sept. 17, 2023

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that it would update its subway map design to give riders a more comprehensive overview of the system. The city government claimed that foreigners in Korea often find the current map challenging to use and understand. The new subway map design will use a new layout that the city says will help riders understand multiple routes and transfer stations. The colors and patterns differentiating routes will also be upgraded, allowing travelers to navigat

Social Affairs Sept. 13, 2023

South Korean entry-level public school teachers earn less money than their counterparts in most member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Education Ministry said Tuesday. According to the latest edition of the OECD report “Education at a Glance,” released and analyzed by the Ministry of Education and the Korean Educational Development Institute, the average gross salary of entry-level teachers was $33,615 for elementary teachers and $33,67

Social Affairs Sept. 12, 2023

The Ministry of Education has set the goal of reducing household spending on private education by 6.9 percent to 24.2 trillion won ($18.15 billion) this year, from last year’s record high of 26 trillion won, according to a plan submitted to the National Assembly. “(The ministry) is currently making efforts to reduce (households’) expenses on private education, and such initiatives will be pushed ahead in the latter half of this year and the first half of this year. … The

Social Affairs Sept. 11, 2023

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon on Friday ordered the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office to ensure that teachers’ rights are “truly guaranteed” when the prosecution investigates cases related to teachers' guidance of students. The minister said the prosecution should “reflect the distinct characteristics of a school environment” and the “role of teachers in schools,” adding that the enforcement of criminal laws related to teachers and child abuse should be

Social Affairs Sept. 8, 2023

The incidence of depression in South Korean children has doubled in five years, and more than 800 elementary, middle and high school students here took their lives over the same period, data showed Thursday. According to data submitted to Rep. Kim Woni of the Democratic Party of Korea by the Education Ministry and the National Health Insurance Service, the number of children aged between 6 and 11 who were treated for depression surged 91.5 percent, from 1,849 in 2018 to 3,541 in 2022. Some 24,58

Social Affairs Sept. 7, 2023