On a sunny day in April, a truck carrying pigs approached a slaughterhouse in Gyeonggi Province. When the truck arrived, workers prodded the pigs to come out, but they would not move down the steep ramp. Workers responded by beating them with clubs, and the pigs hurried out squealing. The squealing continued until they moved to where they were slaughtered. This is only a glimpse of the animal abuse and cruelty involved in transporting animals from farms to holding pens and slaughterhouses,

Social Affairs April 26, 2021

Politicians and the public have appealed for leniency for a middle school student who faces legal punishment for allegedly damaging election posters ahead of the April 7 mayoral by-election in Seoul. The 13-year-old boy is accused of damaging posters of Park Young-sun of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea and Kim Jin-ah of the minor Women’s Party with a wooden ice cream stick at an apartment complex in Seocho-gu early this month, according to the police. While under questioning he

Social Affairs April 25, 2021

Japan’s planned release of contaminated water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant will play havoc with human health and is more hazardous than that of Wolseong nuclear plant’s in 2016, experts say. Japan announced last week it would discharge more than 1.25 million metric tons of contaminated water from the nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean, arguing the radioactive water will not pose a threat to human health. However, Korean experts warn high-risk radioactive mater

Social Affairs April 24, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug held talks with European Parliament President David Sassoli on Tuesday to discuss pending issues such as the supply of COVID-19 vaccines, Japan‘s wastewater release and peace process on the Korean Peninsula, among others. During the dialogue via video link, Park asked for Sassoli’s attention and cooperation from the European Parliament to allow vaccines produced in Europe to be introduced to Korea in a timely manner. Korea’s vaccin

Politics April 21, 2021

President Moon Jae-in has nominated former Interior Minister Kim Boo-kyum as his third prime minister and is replacing five other ministers as part of a major Cabinet shake-up, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. The ministers in charge of industry, land, labor, science and oceans are set to be replaced in the reshuffle, and key Cheong Wa Dae staff are to be reorganized. The reshuffle is seen as an attempt to stabilize state affairs at the end of Moon’s term after the ruling party lost mayoral

Politics April 16, 2021

The number of foreign nationals booked for drug offenses in South Korea has risen 140 percent in two years, despite an overall decrease on the foreign crime rate here, police data showed. According to Rep. Kang Ki-yoon of the People Power Party, National Police Agency data, based on the number of bookings, shows a gradual increase in crimes committed by foreign nationals, coming to 36,069 in 2017, 34,832 in 2018, 39,249 in 2019 and 39,140 in 2020. The increase has been slower than the overal

Social Affairs April 15, 2021

A conflict over landfills has arisen with Incheon refusing to receive garbage from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province beginning in 2025. Experts say Seoul and Gyeonggi Province should look to reducing garbage to better persuade Incheon. Sudokwon Landfill in Incheon has been taking waste from the metropolitan area since 1992. The first and second parts of the landfills were used between 1992 and 2018. The initial phase of the third part, or 3-1 landfill, is being used between 2018 and 2025 by Seoul, I

Social Affairs April 14, 2021

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s idea of using self-test kits as part of a “Seoul-type social distancing” is facing opposition from medical experts, the ruling party and the central government, who question their effectiveness. On Monday, Oh proposed a plan to allow customers to enter restaurants, bars and karaoke late at night after conducting self-tests using kits. This could help ease restrictions on business hours, allowing nightlife entertainment businesses to remain open until

Social Affairs April 13, 2021

New Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, whose main pledge was to stabilize the city’s housing market, faces a difficult task of winning support from a ruling party-led government and lawmakers, on top of having to curb soaring property prices that have risen in anticipation of promised policy easing. Oh’s real estate policy focuses on revitalizing private-led development and urban redevelopment with various deregulation policies. Through this, he aims to provide 360,000 housing units in five

Social Affairs April 11, 2021

Oh Se-hoon, the new mayor of Seoul, who returned to the post Thursday 10 years after stepping down, has vowed to take care of citizens suffering as a result of the prolonged pandemic and to push for deregulation to increase the supply of housing. After arriving at Seoul City Hall on Thursday at 8:50 a.m., Oh met with reporters and expressed his feelings about his first day of work, saying that as mayor he would take care of Seoul citizens suffering the effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak

Politics April 8, 2021

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea suffered an election debacle Thursday in the Seoul and Busan mayoral race regarded by many as a litmus test for next year's presidential electionon.  Oh Se-hoon, a former mayor and the sole candidate from the main opposition People Power Party, won the by-election for Seoul mayor by a landslide. Oh of the main opposition People Power Party defeated his rival from the DP, Park Young-sun, 57.5 percent to 39 percent to claim the Seoul mayor

Politics April 8, 2021

While politicians make real estate development in Seoul their top priority, environmental campaigners say the next mayor must pay more attention to climate and environmental issues for the sake of future generations.　 “The direction we’ve been running so far has been to create added value by building more properties, roads and cars. I think it is time that we can turn around a little,” said Kim Dong-eon, eco-city team leader at the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement,

Social Affairs April 7, 2021

Oh Se-hoon, a former mayor and the sole candidate from the main opposition People Power Party, won the by-election for Seoul mayor by a landslide. Oh won the race, taking 57.5 percent of the votes, compared to former SMEs minister Park Young-sun's 38.18 percent.  Exits poll results showed that Oh received 59 percent of the votes while Park Young-sun, former minister of SMEs and startups and the sole candidate from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, received 37.7 percent of the votes i

Politics April 7, 2021

Amid growing anti-China sentiment in South Korea, people are calling for the withdrawal of the construction of a tourist-focused Chinatown in Gangwon province. As of Monday, more than 410,000 people signed up to a petition against the construction of the tourist site on the website of presidential Blue House. This reflects growing anti-China sentiment in the nation as China attempts to rewrite history through its northeastern project -- to make all history within the Chinese border into Chinese

Social Affairs April 5, 2021

With the number of new COVID-19 cases hovering in the 400s and 500s for weeks, the authorities have toughened basic quarantine rules, warning there will be zero tolerance for violations. As of midnight, the number of new COVID-19 cases increased by 473 to 105,752, the government’s central response team said Monday. Although the number dropped by 70 from the previous day’s 543, it is hard to say that the spread has slowed down because fewer COVID-19 tests are carried out on weekends

Social Affairs April 5, 2021