In Gwanak Dream Town, an apartment complex in Gwanak-gu, southern Seoul, the area that is home to middle-class residents is fenced off with barbed wire to prevent their poorer neighbors from coming in. The fence was installed in 2003 after residents of buildings numbered 101 to 144 demanded separation from the public housing section -- buildings numbered 145 to 149, where the government subsidizes the rent. Now, they live side by side with little interaction. “In the very beginning,

Social Affairs Oct. 18, 2021

Plastic waste and disposable packaging are overflowing as coronavirus concerns prompt more South Koreans to shop online and order delivery food or takeout coffee. According to the Ministry of Environment, the amount of plastic waste generated last year increased by 20 percent compared with the previous year. Paper waste increased by 25 percent on-year. Korea introduced a garbage volume-rate system in 1995, meaning people have to pay for garbage bags as an incentive to minimize trash. The cou

Social Affairs Oct. 16, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug returned home Friday after attending the seventh G-20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit in Rome following an official visit to Egypt. During the 11-day trip, he focused on “sales diplomacy” to expand summit talks at the parliamentary level and allow South Korean companies to enter the regions, his office said. Park met all 18 representatives of 16 countries who attended the two-day speakers’ meeting in Rome, which ran Oct. 7-8,

Politics Oct. 15, 2021

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook received COVID-19 booster shots Friday, 168 days after receiving their second vaccinations. Moon received the AstraZeneca vaccine March 23 and April 30, and his booster shot was from Pfizer. Starting Tuesday, the government began additional vaccinations for workers at COVID-19 treatment hospitals, who were vaccinated six months ago. They will get boosters from Pfizer through Oct. 30. Alongside medical workers, older adults and those who lea

Politics Oct. 15, 2021

The current social distancing rules will be extended for another two weeks, with some easing of the restrictions, officials said Friday. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday, “We would like to take a step closer to daily recovery while reducing the risk of infection by easing quarantine rules centered on those who have been vaccinated.” Starting next week, up to eight people will be able to gather in the Greater Seoul area at any time, as long as four in the group are fully vac

Social Affairs Oct. 15, 2021

JINCHEON -- Clad in a taekwondo uniform, a 13-year-old Afghan girl says she is happy with her newfound freedom in South Korea. She can participate in all sorts of social activities, which were limited only to boys in her home country, and is glad she can do taekwondo without wearing a hijab. “I want to learn Korean and work here,” she told reporters at a press briefing organized by the Ministry of Justice. Another evacuee, a 15-year-old boy, hopes to make Korea his new home,

Social Affairs Oct. 14, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug asked for Egypt’s help in engaging with North Korea, and for the push to officially end the 1950-53 Korean War, in his meeting with Egypt’s President of the Senate Abdel-Wahab Abdel-Razeq and Speaker of the House of Representatives Hanafy Ali El Gebali. Park, who is current on an official visit to Egypt, is the first National Assembly speaker to visit Egypt since Speaker Lee Man-seop in 2002. The meeting with his Egyptian counterparts wa

Politics Oct. 12, 2021

South Korea is seeking to live with the pandemic by relaxing its social distancing rules and launching an expert committee for a return to normalcy. “If the situation in October is managed stably, the recovery that the people desire can be accelerated. And the pain of small-business owners and self-employed people can be relieved a little more,” said Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Tuesday. Kim said increasing the vaccination rate is the most important thing for a step-by-step r

Social Affairs Oct. 12, 2021

Lee Jae-myung, who was selected as the ruling Democratic Party‘s presidential candidate, now faces several challenges in the race for the top job, from clarifying property speculations and bringing together scattered party supporters. Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee on Sunday won the majority of the Democratic Party’s primaries, crushing his rival Lee Nak-yon, a former prime minister. He won 50.29 percent of the votes and the narrow win was a surprise for Gov. Lee, who had won a solid

Politics Oct. 11, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung was announced on Sunday as the ruling party nominee for the upcoming presidential election. Lee has gained a total of 719,905 votes (50.29 percent), defeating his chief rival Lee Nak-yon, former prime minister, who received 560,392 votes (39.14 percent), in the party’s primary elections. Former Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae and Rep. Park Yong-jin received 129,035 votes (9.01 percent) and 22,261 votes (1.55 percent), respectively. The ruling party held

Politics Oct. 10, 2021

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party will confirm its presidential candidate Sunday, with Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung maintaining the top spot in the cumulative votes. 　 Starting at 3:30 p.m. on the day, the ruling party holds its last regional primary in Seoul and the third Super Week -- national electoral vote -- to choose a final candidate at SK Olympic Handball Gymnasium in Songpa-gu, Seoul.　 At 6 p.m., the results of about 140,000 votes from party members in the Seoul pr

Politics Oct. 10, 2021

Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug appealed for support for the declaration of the end of the war on the Korean Peninsula in a bilateral meeting with the speakers of the UK’s two houses of Parliament. Park made the request at a meeting with Speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle and House of Lords Speaker John McFall at the 7th G20 National Assembly Speakers Meeting. According to a news release from the Korean speaker’s office, Park told Hoyle, “South Korea is pushi

Politics Oct. 10, 2021

More government support is required to address poverty among the nation’s older adults, a lawmaker said Thursday. According to the most recent data from Statistics Korea revealed by Rep. Ko Young-in of the Democratic Party, the poverty rate for people aged 66 and older was 45 percent in 2019 as compared with 10.72 percent for people under 66. When the nation’s population was divided into 10 income brackets, almost half of senior citizens were in the bottom two, with 29.42 percent

Social Affairs Oct. 7, 2021

South Korea’s anti-corruption agency has launched an investigation into allegations that South Korea’s spy chief Park Jie-won attempted to meddle in the upcoming presidential election. On Tuesday, the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials booked Park on charges of violating the National Intelligence Service Act and the Public Official Election Act. The investigation kicked off around three weeks after Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s campaign aides

Politics Oct. 6, 2021

The daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases again topped 2,000 after three days below that mark, officials said Wednesday, with breakthrough infections accounting for more than 20 percent of the total. Breakthrough infections refer to cases in fully vaccinated individuals. As of Tuesday at midnight, the number of new cases had increased by 2,028 in the previous 24 hours, for a cumulative total of 323,379 cases to date. Of the new cases, 2,002 were locally acquired. Of South Korea’s pop

Social Affairs Oct. 6, 2021