CHEONGJU, North Chungcheong Province -- The bullet train slowed to a near-halt as it approached North Chungcheong Province, as if the locomotive was cautious not to bring any more jitters to a region where a record July downpour has taken at least 16 lives as of Monday. Most of the deaths occurred in the flooded underpass in Cheongju's Osong-eup, about 2 kilometers from Osong Station where the KTX train stopped. When this reporter arrived Monday morning, the floodwaters that had engulfed th

Social Affairs July 17, 2023

More deaths have been reported across the country as flooding from heavy rain claimed over 30 lives as of Sunday, including a 34-year-old man who tried to save his father from an open manhole on Saturday afternoon. Both father and son were found dead. The father, chief of a Gwangdeok-ri village in North Chungcheong Province, was trying to remove objects obstructing the town's drainage facilities when he was swept into the manhole. His son jumped in in an attempt to save him. Rescue personne

Social Affairs July 16, 2023

Most intercity train routes across South Korea, except those for the high-speed KTX trains, have been suspended Sunday due to torrential rains that have battered the country for days. All non-KTX trains -- including the Saemaeul and Mugunghwa -- have been grounded as of Sunday morning, according to state-run railway operator Korea Railroad Corp. Korail has closed all 12 train routes that pass through Suwon Station in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and 21 of 25 routes that stop at Seodaejeon Station.

Social Affairs July 16, 2023

The high school senior being questioned for killing a fellow student was found to have bullied the victim last year, staking a contrast from the suspect’s earlier testimony that the two had been friends. According to the metropolitan education office in Daejeon, the two 17-year-olds attended the same school and were classmates. But the suspect, whose identity has been withheld, was moved to another class as a disciplinary measure for bullying the victim. The victim’s family said th

Social Affairs July 14, 2023

South Korean police on Thursday requested an arrest warrant for a high school senior over the death of another high school senior in Daejeon. Officials at Dunsan Police Station, who are currently investigating the case, said the 17-year-old turned herself in, confessing to have killed her friend at the victim’s home on Wednesday afternoon. The suspect, whose identity has been withheld, told police that they got into an argument while talking, while refusing to elaborate on the details. The

Social Affairs July 13, 2023

Backing what many in South Korea already believe as a fact, a recent research found a correlation between university rankings and income levels of graduates. The study, conducted by a joint team of researchers from Seoul National University and the Korea Development Institute, analyzed the wage levels of 21,178 South Korean adults aged between 25 and 59, classifying them into five groups based on the rankings of their alma mater institutions. The researchers found that the average income increas

Social Affairs July 12, 2023

No matter what country you visit, restaurants and public bathrooms are probably among the places you visit the most. Here are some tips on things one might find handy when dining with South Koreans, or going to a bathroom here. Dining manners in Korea Conventional table manners suggest that one should make as little noise as possible and keep one’s mouth shut when eating. Over the years, however, a trend of making noise while eating has spread among young Koreans, influenced by “

Hashtag Korea July 11, 2023

At least four Korean men had been mistakenly conscripted into the nation's military service between 2016 and April 2022, despite having been exempt based on the results of a physical examination, local media reported Monday. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve in the military for around two years. Those deemed unfit for active duty serve in alternative posts for the equivalent period. According to the reports, physicians at the Military Manpower Administration's phys

Social Affairs July 10, 2023

  Kim Gyu-jin and Kim Se-yeon held their wedding ceremony during the 2023 Seoul Queer Culture Festival earlier this month in central Seoul. Hundreds at the festival congratulated the wife-wife couple on their union -- even though it is not legally recognized by South Korean law -- as well as on the baby they are expecting. The Kim couple revealed that their quest to have a child required a trip to a foreign country, Belgium, as accessing a sperm donor had not been possible for them in South

Social Affairs July 10, 2023

South Korean midfielder Lee Kang-in finalized a deal to play for Paris Saint-Germain through 2028, according to the French team’s website on Sunday, while his compatriot Kim Min-jae is reportedly inching to closing a deal with Bayern Munich. The 22-year-old Lee will become the first South Korean to officially don the PSG uniform in the coming season, after playing two seasons for Mallorca in the Spanish League. “It’s incredible to be able to join Paris Saint-Germain, it’s

Soccer July 9, 2023

Gang wars and bloody power struggles over territory and clout may be a thing of the past, as a new young generation of gangsters utilizes social media for communication and hold meetups, prosecutors have revealed recently. According to local media reports, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office recently discovered that young gangsters of the same age belonging to different factions and families hold regular social meetings among themselves. The prosecutors came to learn of such meetups

Social Affairs July 6, 2023

In 1986, a tiny rural town near the city of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, was rocked by a series of rapes and murders targeting its female residents. A total of 10 women were killed over the course of five years, while the authorities failed to identify the perpetrator, limited by the technology of the time and a series of mistakes that occurred during the investigation. For over three decades, the Hwaseong serial murders remained one of the most famous unsolved cases in South Korea, capturing pu

Hashtag Korea July 5, 2023

A Vietnamese worker in his 30s was killed when a boxed polyurethane foam product exploded at a shipping terminal in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, local police said Wednesday. The incident occurred Monday, when the unnamed man whose main task is sorting packages was handling a box containing 15 cans of spray polyurethane foam. One of the cans exploded, striking the victim in his chest and causing the injury that eventually killed him. Officials said while polyurethane foam can spontaneously ignite

Social Affairs July 5, 2023

A 19-year-old under investigation for attempting to open an emergency door during flight has admitted that he had taken methamphetamine days before the incident, police said Friday. The unnamed teenager, who tried to open the airplane door in a flight from the Philippines to Incheon, said he took drugs with six Filipinos at a hotel in Cebu two days before the flight. He has since been questioned by the Incheon Airport Police. The suspect was on the Jeju Air flight that departed from Mactan-Cebu

Social Affairs June 30, 2023

“Happiness Does Not Come in Grades.” This is the title of a Korean teen movie released in the summer of 1989. The film went on to become the third highest-grossing film of that year. Just like any typical teen movie, the film weaves together a budding romance, friendships and the trials of school life. Set in Korea in the 1980s, the film ends in tragedy -- the lead character, played by then-17-year-old Lee Mi-yeon, kills herself under immense pressure for academic excellence. The f

Hashtag Korea June 28, 2023