Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said the city government would build an aerial cable car connecting major leisure attractions and cultural sites on the banks of the Han River, while visiting London on Monday. Oh made the remark after touring the IFS Cloud cable car, which offers 360-degree views of London across the River Thames. Oh visited London as part of his 10-day trip to Europe, which aimed to look for policy ideas and to discuss ways to enhance international cooperation. Taking inspiration from Lo

Social Affairs March 14, 2023

South Korean prosecutors said Monday that they had indicted 137 people on charges of attempting to evade the country’s mandatory military service, including charges for those aiding such offenses, vowing it will beef up efforts to prevent these crimes from happening in future. Among those indicted were the sons of lawyers and doctors, musicians, actors, professional athletes, an entertainment agency chief, as well as a number of local military brokers who helped men attempt draft evasion,

Social Affairs March 13, 2023

Like many parents, the ultimate goal that Cho Mi-jin, a 47-year-old mother in Seoul, has in mind is for her children to enter a prestigious university. But she does not want her children to endure the intense competition and grueling years they would have to go through in public schools and private cram schools -- locally known as hagwon -- for that one common goal: admission to top universities through a high score on the Suneung, Korea's college entrance test. Instead, she has come up with her

Social Affairs March 13, 2023

A middle school teacher in Seoul was booked by police on suspicion of brandishing scissors at a colleague. The Seoul Seongbuk Police Station said Friday that the offender, whose name and age have not been disclosed, is facing assault charges involving scissors and physical abuse. According to police, the offender, who also serves as the director of the school affairs department, allegedly shouted and cursed at the victim for raising an issue during a meeting earlier this month. After the quarrel

Social Affairs March 10, 2023

Airport police said they evacuated 218 passengers and 12 crew members from a Korean Air plane after a suspicious item reported to be a live bullet was found on the plane as it was ready for departure early Friday morning. No injuries were reported as everyone disembarked. Korean Air flight KE621 was scheduled to depart from Incheon to Manila, the Philippines, at around 7:45 a.m., but a report was filed with emergency response officials that a live bullet had been found on the plane. At around 8:

Social Affairs March 10, 2023

South Korea’s Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon met with French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin on Wednesday, his office confirmed Thursday, a trip highlighting his focus on coping with the fast-growing number of foreign residents here. The two ministers exchanged information on immigration and border and migration management policy issues between Korea and France and decided to build a cooperative system to deal with the challenges of international migration, the ministry added. Han headed

Social Affairs March 9, 2023

Koreans spent a record high of 26 trillion won ($20 billion) on private education in 2022, with spending on English being the highest, data from Statistics Korea and the Education Ministry showed Tuesday. Last year’s out-of-school expenditure marked a 10.8 percent increase from 2021’s 23.4 trillion won, showing that obligations for students here extend beyond the school curriculum to hagwons, also known as cram schools that provide tailor-made lessons. By subject, the average monthly

Social Affairs March 7, 2023

Students who experienced bullying during their school years are more likely to report high levels of suicide-related behavior, research showed Sunday. A joint research team led by Professor Park Ae-ri at Sunchon National University and Professor Kim Yu-na’s research team at Yuhan University showed that college students who had experienced school violence were 2.6 times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers who hadn't been involved in such incidents. The finding came to light

Social Affairs March 5, 2023

After three years of indoor mask mandates, students in Korea returned to classrooms without masks on Thursday for the new semester. The full-scale reopening of schools comes as part of the government’s decision to end the 27-monthslong mandate in January, allowing schools from elementary to secondary levels to be mask-free. With the rules lifted, the temperature check routine before entering classrooms and cafeterias and the installation of plastic dividers at canteens to stop the virus sp

Social Affairs March 2, 2023

Soon after President Yoon Suk Yeol gave a key address, calling Japan a partner for South Korea's regional security and economy, some hundreds held a rally on Independence Movement Day on Wednesday, urging him to keep his promise of resolving historic disputes with the neighboring country including the one over sexual slavery during its 1910-45 rule of Korean Peninsula. In the late morning chill, around 200 civic activists gathered near the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul, holding paper

Social Affairs March 1, 2023

The Seoul city government takes a big step toward cashless payments on public transportation Wednesday, as cash payments began to be phased out on buses. A quarter of the city's 7,394 buses, on 108 of its 370 routes, will only allow passengers to pay by card or app. The expansion is a fivefold increase from the current 418 buses on 18 routes. Night buses are so far not being included. Following the change, riders on cashless buses will have to tap a contactless bank card or mobile wallet to

Social Affairs Feb. 28, 2023

A cable car project on Mount Seorak first proposed in the early 1980s which has been at the center of controversy over its environmental impact received a partial nod from the Ministry of Environment on Monday. The Environment Ministry's grant, though conditional, lifts the biggest administrative hurdle for the project pursued by a municipality in Gangwon Province for decades. The project budget of 50 billion won ($38 million) will undergo a regional finance review by the Ministry of the In

Social Affairs Feb. 27, 2023

In line with the paradigm shift in education through technology, South Korea’s Ministry of Education said Thursday that digital textbooks for Korean schools will go into use in 2025. The ministry said it would begin with three subjects: English, Mathematics and Information. Other subjects will be decided in May. Digital conversion of paper-based books to electronic books will be carried out by developing tailor-made technologies for each subject, helping students and teachers learn and t

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2023

Eating soy products such as tofu and soybean paste can decrease the risk of gastric cancer, research showed Wednesday. A joint research team led by Kang Dae-hee and Shin Woo-kyoung, professors at Seoul National University’s Department of Preventive Medicine, showed that higher consumption of soy or bean-based products may be linked to a reduced risk of developing stomach cancer. The finding was based on research conducted over an average of nine years with 139,267 participants -- 46,953 ma

Social Affairs Feb. 22, 2023

Fraudulent phone calls and text messages, also known as phishing, in South Korea have caused nearly 1.7 trillion won ($1.3 billion) in damage over the past five years, data showed Tuesday. According to data received by Rep. Kang Min-kuk of the People Power Party from the Financial Supervisory Service, a total of 227,126 scams were reported from 2018 to 2022, and the expense of reported loss from these scams was some 1.66 trillion won, with the number of such crimes seeing an uptake since 2020. V

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2023