Daegu Mayor Hong Joon-pyo has urged for the dismissal of the city's top police official for what he labeled giving "unlawful" permission to the city's Pride parade, where some 1,500 participants celebrated in the city's downtown on Saturday and advocated for the rights and acceptance of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community. "Permission to assemble does not translate into permission to violate others' rights," Hong, the conservative m

Social Affairs June 18, 2023

A daily briefing by the Seoul government on Japan's release of treated radioactive wastewater into the sea will be held to address fears over the toxicity and impact to marine life, officials said Thursday. Government officials held their first briefing on Thursday over some 1.3 million cubic meters of water set to be released from the wrecked Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. The briefing, also attended by independent experts, will take place on weekdays for the time being. A spokesperson dec

Social Affairs June 15, 2023

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wished to scrap the city slogan of "I.Seoul.U" promoted by his predecessor, late Park Won-soon, as soon as he took up the mayoral post in 2021, he said during a Seoul Metropolitan Council questioning Wednesday. Oh's comment came in response to a council legislator's question about who made the decision to change the city slogan despite "unnecessary costs" to do so. "It was I who made the decision," Oh said. "I wished to change the slogan

Social Affairs June 14, 2023

Minor progressive Jinbo Party blasted the Justice Ministry for detaining a 3-year-old Mongolian child for more than two weeks before his deportation in April, and failing to provide sufficient medical care when the child became ill. Accusing the ministry of child abuse and human rights violations, the party said in a statement Wednesday that the case reflects Yoon Suk Yeol administration's hardline stance "inciting bigotry toward foreign migrants." The child was detained for a tot

Social Affairs June 14, 2023

The confrontation between Korean labor and the government reached new heights on Tuesday, as unionists took their concerns that President Yoon Suk Yeol has been suppressing labor unions here to the International Labor Organization's general assembly in Geneva, Switzerland, while the presidential office opened a public debate over the legitimacy of nighttime labor protests. "The Constitution recognizes the freedom of assembly and association as citizens' basic rights, and the citizens have c

Social Affairs June 13, 2023

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday ordered the Ministry of Justice to prepare a legislation to disclose the identities of more offenders targeting women, in a bid to appease public anger toward hideous crimes where women fall victim. According to a presidential spokesperson, Yoon ordered the government to do so "to swiftly address legal grey area" regarding the legitimacy over the disclosure of not only suspects but also defendants in courts, at a closed-door meeting of Yoon and his aid

Social Affairs June 12, 2023

Rep. Yang Hyang-ja, an independent lawmaker who was formerly a chip technician at Samsung Electronics, is poised to set up a new political party. Yang, 56, will hold a launch ceremony for the party at the KBIZ Hall of the Korea Federation of SMEs in Yeouido, Seoul, on June 26. The launch ceremony will include an announcement about the new party, including information on the party's members. Yang's office told The Korea Herald on Monday no further information could be provided. Yang i

Politics June 12, 2023

A Korean Air flight from Paris that was to return to South Korea carrying 354 passengers has been delayed for at least 16 hours due to a mechanical problem, The Korea Herald learned Saturday. The incident left its passengers stranded for more than four hours while aboard the airplane as it waited. The plane was initially supposed to take off at 9 p.m. Friday local time at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. But a mechanical error left the flight stuck on the tarmac. "They knew about the proble

Social Affairs June 10, 2023

Gangwon Province will be given greater autonomy to develop protected natural areas like forests and farmland and instead foster the high-tech industry after rebranding itself as Gangwon Special Self-Governing Province on Sunday. Gangwon Province will become the second province to be designated as a special self-governing province, after Jeju Island in 2006. In 2012, the de facto administrative capital of Sejong was also given the same status by becoming a special self-governing city. Up until no

Social Affairs June 9, 2023

A 27-year-old South Korean man was convicted of an unauthorized visit to war-torn Ukraine, amid a series of convictions handed down here to Korean nationals with apparent intentions to fight with Ukraine against Russia, according to a local court on Friday. The man, whose identity remains undisclosed, was given a 3 million won ($2,314) fine for flying from Korea to Poland in March 2022, crossing the border to Ukraine a few days later and staying there for six months. The man "intended to

Social Affairs June 9, 2023

South Korea has so far busted a total of nearly 1,000 housing rental fraud cases that left about 3,000 victims nationwide suffering from 459.9 billion won ($352.2 million) in damages, the national law enforcement said Thursday, disclosing the preliminary results of an ongoing investigation. This means the victims -- over half of which are either in their 20s or 30s -- have lost what in most cases constituted their life savings due to scammers disguised as landlords in false jeonse contracts. The

Social Affairs June 8, 2023

South Korea is envisioning a plan to scrap the limit of 20 English characters on driver's licenses, the government said Wednesday. The character limit -- imposed on driver's licenses and disability certificates -- has often discouraged holders from having their full name displayed. The eased rule will accommodate names with up to 37 characters on the identification cards and certificates, according to the Ministry of Interior and Safety. Under current rules here, foreigners who earned a license

Social Affairs June 7, 2023

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday plans to have all 450 shuttle buses running between Incheon Airport and Seoul powered by clean energy by 2030. Currently, all 450 airport buses are diesel-powered. Airport shuttle buses run about 550 kilometers a day on average -- shuttling from the airport to a final destination twice a day -- double that of city buses, meaning the amount of carbon they emit is 30 times more than that of sedans, according to Seoul city. In Seoul city's

Social Affairs June 7, 2023

Lee Rae-kyung, the honorary chair of the progressive grassroots advocacy group The Tomorrow, offered to resign from his role to lead the reform of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, about 10 hours after his nomination Monday. Lee's decision comes following controversy in political circles over past pro-North Korea remarks, which surfaced immediately after the news of his nomination. "I regret that a private opinion ... has become the subject of a political witch-hunt,"

Politics June 5, 2023

  The South Korean government on Monday approved a bill to remove the sunset clause for the death penalty in a bid to prevent inmates on death row from avoiding execution after 30 years in prison. The revision, once enacted, will be applied retroactively, the government added. Before being signed into law, the revision bill, which was proposed by the Ministry of Justice, will require parliamentary approval after passing through the Cabinet. South Korean law requires a government-proposed bi

Social Affairs June 5, 2023