Most Popular
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40 flights canceled on Jeju Island due to bad weather
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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N. Korea slams US, other countries for seeking alternative to UN sanctions monitoring panel
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Gov't appears to shelve punitive measures against mass walkout by doctors
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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Govt. asks hospitals to mitigate impact of medical professors' absence
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S. Korea's working-age population to dip nearly 10m by 2044 amid low births
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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S. Korea, China, Japan in talks to hold trilateral summit May 26-27: official
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Doggy patrol team on the move to protect their cities
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Seoul orders nightclubs, discos to close until April 19
The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday ordered the closure of entertainment establishments such as nightclubs and room salons until April 19, amid mounting concerns that mass infections may have occurred at a bar in the city. Mayor Park Won-soon announced the measure, which bans people’s gatherings at such entertainment venues, not the business itself, to last until April 19, when the country’s social distancing measures are due to be lifted. “With my autho
April 8, 2020
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S. Korea to rev up quarantine on nursing hospitals, churches to stem cluster infections
South Korea's health authorities said Wednesday they will step up quarantine on facilities that pose higher risk of cluster transmissions of the novel coronavirus, such as nursing hospitals and churches. Under the measure, nursing hospitals, closed wards of mental institutions, sanatoriums and churches will be designated as a "high-risk group" of being infected with COVID-19 and will be subject to intensive monitoring. "There are more seniors or people with underlying diseases
April 8, 2020
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COVID-19 deaths surpass 200; 53 more infections reported
South Korea’s death toll from the novel coronavirus rose above 200 on Wednesday, with patients aged 80 or older making up the largest proportion of the deceased. After seeing fewer than 50 new infections for two consecutive days, new cases inched up 53 from the previous day, bringing the total to 10,384 as of Wednesday at 12:01 a.m., according to figures from the Korea Centers of Disease Control and Prevention. There were 202 virus-related deaths as of Wednesday morning, including the
April 8, 2020
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58% in poll say everyone should get disaster relief
Six out of 10 Koreans think the government should pay emergency disaster relief money to everyone, not just the bottom 70 percent income bracket as planned to help fight COVID-19, a recent survey showed. In a poll of 500 Koreans nationwide conducted on Tuesday by Realmeter, 58.2 percent said they are for universal payout of the disaster relief, while 36.6 percent said they are against it, the pollster said on Wednesday. “Approvals (of universal payout) outnumbered disapprovals in most r
April 8, 2020
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Poll finds widespread support for social distancing
Most South Koreans support the social distancing campaign to fend off the coronavirus, though three in 10 feel its side effects, a poll showed Wednesday. The survey by the Asian Citizen's Center for Environment and Health, a nongovernmental organization, also found citizens in an overwhelming number are positive toward the unveiling of private information of patients despite concerns of privacy violation. The survey was conducted on 1,000 adults across the country between Monday and Tuesday.
April 8, 2020
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New virus cases hover around 50 for 3rd day amid strict social distancing
South Korea's new coronavirus cases hovered around 50 for the third straight day Wednesday, but the nation marked the grim milestone of 200 virus deaths. Health authorities renewed calls for people to maintain social distancing to curb the spread of the virus, as cluster infections at churches and hospitals, as well as new cases coming from overseas, are still rising steadily. The 53 new cases, detected Tuesday and up from 47 new cases a day ago, brought the nation's total number of infection
April 8, 2020
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Koreans spend 2 hours daily on virus info searches: poll
South Koreans spent an average of two hours per day searching for coronavirus information in March amid a surge in the number of cases, a poll showed Wednesday. The survey, taken by a research team from Yonsei University in Seoul, also showed that those who were in self-quarantine put in a longer time of 2.3 hours for information searches. The team of two preventive medicine professors surveyed 2,035 people living in the Seoul metropolitan area, including 18 self-isolators, between Ma
April 8, 2020
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Bar employee tests virus positive after contact with infected K-pop singer
Night clubs and bars here were on high alert after it was revealed Tuesday that a female bar employee at one of Seoul’s biggest bar districts was confirmed with COVID-19. The employee, 36, whose test results turned out to be positive last Thursday, is believed to have contracted the COVID-19 after coming into contact with a virus patient, Yoon Hak of K-pop group Supernova, on March 26. The singer, 37, was diagnosed with the infection on April 1 and has since been in isolation at a medic
April 7, 2020
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'Thank God, I'm in Korea'
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and the new academic year began online in Korea, international students expressed both satisfaction at how the situation is being handled and the anxiety of being in a foreign country away from family. “There isn’t any other country in the world I would rather be in right now. The good things are that it is being taken seriously, with rigorous testing and quarantine rules, and a culture that was preexisting in Korea when it came to the usage of ma
April 7, 2020
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[Newsmaker] S. Korea considers wristbands to track those in quarantine
South Korea is considering using electronic wristbands to track whereabouts of those placed under compulsory home quarantine, authorities said Tuesday. But faced with concerns over privacy and human rights, the authorities stressed using wristbands is only one of the several options under consideration to counter increasing cases of self-quarantine violations. The government is considering connecting the wristband to a mobile application installed on a smartphone. The wristband would trig
April 7, 2020
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Two virus patients recover after plasma therapy: hospital
Two patients infected with COVID-19 have recovered after plasma treatments, in the first such cases here, a Seoul-based hospital said Tuesday. Doctors at Severance Hospital in Shincheon had plasma of virus survivors injected into the two patients, who were in critical condition, and both have since been declared free of the virus. No side effects have been reported, the hospital said. “Both patients showed improvements in inflammation and the number of lymphocytes, among others, after
April 7, 2020
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New infections under 50 for 2nd day, PM urges youth to stop clubbing
South Korea reported fewer than 50 new cases of COVID-19 for the second day in a row on Tuesday, offering a degree of relief, as authorities urge young people to maintain physical distancing to stem the contagion. Korea counted 47 new patients and six more deaths from the previous day, pushing the respective tallies to 10,331 and 192 as of Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. The capital area added 14 and local epicenter Daegu not
April 7, 2020
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[News Focus] European nations sweep top 10 in infection rate
SEJONG -- Though the US has the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19, 10 European countries have been hit harder in terms of the number of infected people relative to the population. The Korea Herald compared 50 countries around the globe where the number of novel coronavirus infections exceeded 1,400 as of 11 p.m. April 6 (South Korean time). The paper’s calculations were based on epidemiological data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Ten of the 50 countries had more
April 7, 2020
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New virus cases fall below 50 for 2nd day, but vigilance urged
South Korea reported fewer than 50 new cases of the novel coronavirus Tuesday for the second straight day, but health authorities warned against complacency. South Korea has recorded around 100 or fewer daily new cases for more than three weeks, but health authorities still remain on high alert over cluster infections at churches and hospitals, as well as new cases coming from overseas. The 47 new cases, detected Monday and unchanged from 47 new cases a day earlier, brought the nation's total
April 7, 2020
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Three-fourths of religious sect-linked patients showed no symptoms: report
About 76 percent of coronavirus patients linked to a religious sect, the biggest cluster outbreak in South Korea, showed no symptoms, a report showed Tuesday, renewing concerns that people can spread the virus without knowing they are infected. A total of 10,459 followers and trainees of the Shincheonji religious sect in Daegu have been tested so far, and 4,258 of them tested positive for the novel coronavirus, according to the report by Daegu city. Of the 4,258 patients, 75.7 percent, or 3,2
April 7, 2020
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Social distancing slackens, jeopardizing virus control
Social distancing is an epidemiologists’ term that has entered the public lexicon with the dawn of the COVID-19 outbreak. Its aim is to slow transmission of the virus by reducing human-to-human contact so that fewer people become ill until we have vaccines and cures. Experts say it is our most effective weapon against the new disease. South Korea is well into the second phase of the nationwide “intense” social distancing campaign that officially kicked off in late
April 6, 2020
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Public anxiety grows as Korean expats rush home
Public concerns are growing over a continued influx of COVID-19 cases from abroad, as more and more Koreans living overseas rush home amid increasing uncertainties in the wake of the global novel coronavirus crisis. Despite a stabilizing trend in new infections here, the country has seen an increasing number of imported cases in the past weeks, posing a threat to the country’s fight to stem the spread of the infectious virus. Kim Ji-young, a student doing her master’s degree at a
April 6, 2020
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Over 30% of virus patients in cluster case show no symptoms: KCDC
More than 30 percent of coronavirus patients in a cluster of infections showed no symptoms, an investigation showed Monday, renewing concerns that people can spread the virus without knowing they are infected. A total of 39 people linked to the main building of the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries in the central city of Sejong tested positive for the virus between March 10 and 24, with 13 of them showing no symptoms at the time of detection, according to the epidemiological investigation by th
April 6, 2020
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Cured virus patients might have tested positive due to virus reactivation: KCDC
More than 50 people who recovered after contracting COVID-19 have tested positive again, but the results might have been due to the reactivation of the novel coronavirus, health authorities here said Monday. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said 51 people from Daegu and the surrounding North Gyeongsang Province, the epicenters of the COVID-19 outbreak here, had tested positive for the virus after they were released from quarantine. KCDC Director-General Jeong Eun-ky
April 6, 2020
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Police book 10 paid members of Telegram sexual chat room
About 10 paid members of an illegal chat room on the Telegram messenger service that distributed photos and videos of a sexual nature have been booked for possessing child sexual exploitation materials, police said Monday. They are also accused of paying cryptocurrencies to the pay-to-view online chat room, dubbed "Baksabang," to view illegal photos and videos of violent sex acts involving underage girls. Police have apprehended Baksabang founder Cho Ju-bin, a 25-year-old, and his th
April 6, 2020