The government’s plan released Friday to prevent suicides such as by monitoring their student social media messages sparked controversy in Korea for being ineffective and unrealistic.The Education Ministry said it would work on introducing an application and software that would alert the parents if words suggestive of a suicide are used by a student in text and social media messages or Internet searches. They said a similar application has already been developed by the Korea Communications Commi

Social Affairs March 15, 2015

The Seoul Metropolitan Government has published a free guide containing information about labor laws and practices in Korea for workers from overseas.The “Notebook on the Labor Rights of Foreign Workers,” available in five languages ― Korean, English, Mandarin, Tagalog and Vietnamese ― is presented through short comics and Q&A-style text for easy understanding, Seoul officials said. Topics include standards for wages and vacations, compensation for workplace accidents, and protections for female

Social Affairs March 12, 2015

Terrestrial broadcasters in Korea reported a sharp decline in advertising revenues in 2014, with KBS and MBC showing the biggest drops.According to a report by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corp. on Sunday, KBS’ advertising revenue in 2014 fell 10.9 percent to 522.9 billion won ($475.3 million) from 580 billion won in the previous year.In the same period, MBC saw an 8.2 percent decrease to 664.8 billion won from 719.2 billion won.The drop in advertising revenue of the two broadcasters is large

Feb. 2, 2015