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

International Rotary, a nonprofit international volunteer organization, held its 2021 Rotary International President Conference and training session at the K Hotel in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Tuesday. Themes of the conference were disease prevention and treatment as well as the environment, and the event was attended in person by Rotary International President Shekhar Mehta. The speakers included former Environment Minister Kim Myung-ja, Ehwa Womans University professor Choe Ja

Social Affairs Oct. 5, 2021

Two presidential front-runners embroiled in political controversies came under fire at Tuesday’s parliamentary audits from ruling and opposition lawmakers alike. Lawmakers denounced Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea and former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, the leading People Power Party hopeful, over allegations of preferential development in the Daejang-dong neighborhood of Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, and abuse of authority in last year’s

Politics Oct. 5, 2021

Muneer Ahmad, 47, who has run Islamic Book Center in Yongsan, Seoul, has rarely experienced hatred or discrimination because of his religion or religious clothing in his 20 years in South Korea. Most of the time he encounters reasonable Koreans. Even when he walks in religious clothing with his wife, who wears a hijab headscarf, most people “just feel strange,” but do not “feel offended.” “When I talk about my culture or religion, first of all, Koreans are not to

Social Affairs Oct. 4, 2021

South Korea has decided to maintain the current social distancing rules for two weeks from Monday. “Considering risk factors for quarantine, such as the stronger spread of coronavirus after the Chuseok holiday, and the two holidays starting this weekend, the government has decided to maintain the current distancing stage for the next two weeks,” Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday. “The limit on the number of people at private gatherings will be the same as now.”&n

Social Affairs Oct. 1, 2021

South Korea seeks to raise pet registration rates and neuter outdoor dogs to minimize the number of lost and abandoned animals. It is also considering introducing a pet acquisition system for owners who are unable to keep their pets, officials said Thursday. In a meeting presided by Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, the government has confirmed a measure to improve a management system for abandoned pets. It was attended by the Office for Government Policy Coordination and officials from 14 related

Social Affairs Sept. 30, 2021

As infections continue to soar among those unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, the South Korean government is reviewing a “vaccine pass” that benefits only vaccinated people in accessing multiuse facilities. Health and Welfare Minister Kwon Deok-cheol hinted Tuesday at the possibility of introducing such a system in Korea. “We are considering ways to ease distancing rules for private gatherings and multiuse facilities centering on those who have been vaccinated,”

Social Affairs Sept. 29, 2021

Ruling and opposition parties failed to agree on the revision of the Act on Press Arbitration on Monday, postponing the plenary session scheduled for Monday to the next day.  Yun Ho-jung, floor leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, and his counterpart Kim Gi-hyeon from the People Power Party met at around 10 a.m. to discuss the controversial “fake news” law.  The meeting presided over by Speaker Park Byeong-seug lasted for several hours but the floor leaders failed to

Politics Sept. 27, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung on Sunday extended his lead in the Democratic Party’s primaries, coming in top in the North Jeolla primary. With Sunday’s victory -- with 54.5 percent of the votes -- Lee Jae-myung solidified his lead over former Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, who had broken the Gyeonggi governor’s winning streak on Saturday. The former prime minister, who had won the South Jeolla primaries by 122 votes on Saturday, came in second with 38.4 percent of t

Politics Sept. 26, 2021

Pregnant women and children aged 12 to 17 will get COVID-19 vaccines in the fourth quarter of this year, officials said Thursday. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would announce new immunization plans on Monday afternoon for those who have until now been left out of the vaccination drive. The plan will include inoculating pregnant women, children and adolescents. Details on booster shots will also be unveiled. In August, a vaccination committee recommended that

Social Affairs Sept. 23, 2021

It is time to harvest, but farmers are facing a labor shortage due to a sharp drop in foreign arrivals caused by the pandemic. Even prior to the pandemic, the Ministry of Justice has been implementing a foreign seasonal worker system since 2017 to combat the shortage. In the first year of implementation, 1,085 people came in, and the number of entrants increased to 3,487 in 2019, but there were none last year when COVID-19 began to spread. This year, 504 people entered the country, and 1,01

Social Affairs Sept. 21, 2021

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung is leading the polls among the four major candidates for next year’s presidential election, a survey showed Friday. According to a poll conducted by Gallup Korea, Lee is in the lead, with 34 percent of survey respondents saying they have favorable sentiment toward the Gyeonggi governor. Lee was followed by former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl at 30 percent and Rep. Hong Joon-pyo at 28 percent. Both Yoon and Hong are vying to become the president

Politics Sept. 21, 2021

In a press briefing that marks 100 days in office, People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok called on the opposition party and its supporters to be wary of false and misleading videos on YouTube. To win the presidential election, Lee said the party should focus on people thinking logically and rationally instead of people who see only what they want to see. “A new media called YouTube recommends videos that you might want to watch through algorithms,” Lee said. “The algori

Politics Sept. 17, 2021

The ruling Democratic Party is seeking to revise election laws to allow South Korean expatriates to vote by mail, upon growing calls from overseas Koreans who want that option. Overseas Koreans with voting rights include those with permanent residency in other countries, students studying abroad and workers dispatched by Korean companies. The total number of eligible voters living abroad is about 2.14 million, or 4.5 percent of all voters. Despite their significant numbers, overseas voters ha

Social Affairs Sept. 16, 2021

Young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Korea experience isolation and mistreatment in schools, a report showed Tuesday. Human Rights Watch and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School released a report titled “I thought of myself as defective: Neglecting the rights of LGBT youth in South Korean schools.” The two organizations interviewed students, teachers, parents, service providers and advocates in the nation. Many of th

Social Affairs Sept. 14, 2021