Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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'Super Rich in Korea' will leave viewers appreciating Korea more: producers
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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[Graphic News] Number of Catholics in Korea increased nearly 50% over past 20 years
The number of Roman Catholics in South Korea has steadily increased over the past two decades, though the pace has significantly slowed in recent years, a report showed. The report, issued by the Catholic Pastoral Institute of Korea, said the number of Catholics here increased 48.6 percent from 3,946,844 in 1999 to 5,866,510 in 2018. The diocese of Suwon, just south of Seoul, saw the highest rate of increase in the 20-year period, 89.1 percent. This was followed by Daejeon in central Korea with
Jan. 13, 2020
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Air Force sheds shaved-head tradition over rights issue
South Korea’s Air Force is going lenient on its hair regulations, doing away with the shaved head tradition for new recruits, according to reports Monday.The revision follows the National Human Rights Commission of Korea’s recommendation Monday, urging the Air Force to amend its practice.Under the revised rule, Air Force recruits can opt to have three to five centimeters of hair, as allowed for the Army and Navy recruits. The commission delivered its recommendation in response
Jan. 13, 2020
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[Feature] Weekend rallies in central Seoul a headache for residents
Protesters chanting anti-government slogans and marching with loudspeakers in traffic lanes closed off for them have become a common sight on Saturdays in central Seoul in recent years. In a country where street demonstrations paved the way for democracy, this may be seen as a sign of great strides in freedom of expression. But complaints are growing in rally-prone areas in central Seoul, namely Gwanghwamun Square and the vicinity of the presidential office. “We came here to have lunch,
Jan. 13, 2020
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Ulsan vice mayor again summoned in election-meddling scandal
Song Byung-gi, the Ulsan vice mayor suspected of illegally intervening in the 2018 mayoral election in the southeastern city, was called in by Seoul prosecutors on Monday for his first questioning after a court rejected a pretrial detention warrant for him about two weeks ago.Song, Ulsan's vice mayor for economic affairs, arrived at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in southern Seoul in the morning to be questioned about charges of conspiring with several presidential aides to influe
Jan. 13, 2020
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Seoul district to pay men on paternity leave
Seocho has become the first district in Seoul to pay men subsidies for taking paternity leave.Men who have lived in Seocho for over a year and taking paternity leave after Jan. 1 this year will be qualified to apply for a monthly stipend of 300,000 won ($259) for as long as a year, the district office said. The proposed budget is 243 million won for an estimated 135 beneficiaries for six months.Similar government subsidies for men on leave for child care kicked off last year in Nam-dong, a south
Jan. 13, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Court to decide on Seungri’s arrest
Former boyband Big Bang member Seungri appeared at court on Monday morning for a hearing on an arrest warrant filed by prosecutors.The 29-year-old arrived at Seoul Central District Court in Seocho, southern Seoul, at around 10:05 a.m. He did not respond to questions from reporters.On Dec. 8, prosecutors sought the arrest warrant for Seungri regarding several counts of pimping and gambling charges, among others.The court’s decision over the arrest warrant’s issuance is expec
Jan. 13, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Ex-Supreme Court judge found not guilty in judiciary power abuse case
A former top court judge indicted for his suspected role in a judiciary power abuse scandal during the conservative Park Geun-hye administration was found not guilty on Monday.The Seoul Central District Court found former Supreme Court senior judge Yoo Hae-yong not guilty of colluding in the power abuse scandal to help report the proceedings of a certain case to the presidential office.The ruling is the first to be handed down in relation to the judiciary power abuse scandal that saw a Supreme C
Jan. 13, 2020
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Teacher nabbed for showing preschoolers ‘gory’ video
A Canadian English teacher at an after-school private tutoring service in Sejong is accused of showing preschoolers a video about cannibalism.According to the Sejong Police Station, the Canadian in her 20s on Wednesday showed a class of 6- and 7-year-olds a YouTube clip in which severed human body parts were visible as acts of cannibalism took place.In fact, the clip, made by a BBC science program, shows an attempt to use samples from a presenter's leg to mimic the taste of human flesh, rat
Jan. 12, 2020
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Alarm raised over high job-related fatality rate among postal workers
Scores of employees at the national postal service either killed themselves or died on the job in the past five years.According to statistics released by Korea Post on Sunday, 29 workers at the service run by the Ministry of Science and ICT took their own lives between 2015 and 2019. Twenty-one of them were mail carriers.Reasons for the suicides included family troubles, financial difficulties, depression, drinking and long-term illness. In 12 cases, the motives were unknown. Over th
Jan. 12, 2020
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S. Korea set to unveil new history textbooks following yearslong controversy
South Korea's education ministry is expected to introduce new history textbooks in March, sources said Sunday, following a yearslong debate on the controversial textbooks that were authored by the conservative Park Geun-hye administration.The textbooks authored and published under the disgraced former president had been criticized for their right-leaning values and alleged attempts to distort facts related to her late father Park Chung-hee's 18-year dictatorship. Two years after her appointment
Jan. 12, 2020
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Court to begin review of ex-president's graft scandal
A Seoul court is set to begin a review this week of its ruling over disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached in 2017 following a bribery scandal that rocked the country.Park was impeached midterm in March 2017 on allegations she and her close friend abused their power and received billions of won in bribery from top conglomerates, including Samsung and Lotte.The Seoul High Court is scheduled to begin the retrial Wednesday, roughly five months after the country's top court orde
Jan. 12, 2020
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[News Focus] No. of Koreans aged over 80 up 1 million since 2009
SEJONG -- South Korea has been picked as one of the few aged societies in Asia, alongside Japan, Hong Kong and Macao, with the average lifespan continuously rising.According to Statistics Korea, life expectancy at birth – average projected lifespan -- reached 82.7 years as of 2018. Korea posted the same life expectancy a year earlier, ranking quite high among 36 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Japan topped the list with 84.2 years, followed by Switzerla
Jan. 12, 2020
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S. Korea's 'pneumonia-like' illness case unrelated to China outbreaks: KCDC
South Korea's public safety and health agency on Saturday said that it has confirmed that the single "pneumonia-like" illness case reported earlier in the week is not related to the outbreaks in China. The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it carried out a so-called pan-coronavirus test on the patient under quarantine and confirmed the illness was not caused by a new strain of the coronavirus that has made people sick in Wuhan, Hubei Province. The 36-year-old Chines
Jan. 11, 2020
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Korea to open 30 new Korean-language institutes overseas this year
South Korea will open 30 new state-supported Korean-language institutes across the globe this year to meet growing demand for Korean-language education, driven by the global sensation of K-pop and other Korean cultural content, an official has said. "Boosted by the popularity of K-pop idol group BTS, a boom of learning Korean is growing globally. So (the King Sejong Institute Foundation) plans to establish 30 more King Sejong Institutes this year," Kang Hyoun-hwa, the foundation's chie
Jan. 11, 2020
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Seoul city to turn old highway into 7.6 km-long park
In another attempt to emulate New York's landmark High Line, the Seoul city government unveiled a plan to build a gigantic linear park on the site of the country's oldest highway, which will be turned into an underground roadway.The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it plans to spend 57.3 billion won ($49.3 million) for the oblong-shaped park stretching 7.6 kilometers and measuring 40 to 55 meters in width. The narrow shape of the park will be due to the former highway structure. The envisioned
Jan. 11, 2020
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Catholics in Korea increased nearly 50% over past 20 years: report
The number of Catholics in South Korea has steadily increased over the past two decades, though its growth significantly slowed in recent years, a report showed Saturday.The report issued by the Catholic Pastoral Institute of Korea said the number of Catholic Christians here increased 48.6 percent from 3,946,844 in 1999 to 5,866,510 in 2018. By diocese, Suwon, just south of Seoul, logged the highest increase rate of 89.1 percent in the 20-year period, followed by Daejeon in central South Korea w
Jan. 11, 2020
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Former Samsung exec questioned in group merger probe
A former Samsung executive who led the group's now-defunct strategy unit was questioned by prosecutors Friday over an ongoing probe into a controversial merger at the country's top conglomerate.Prosecutors called in Kim Jong-joong, a former Samsung president, on his suspected role in the controversial merger of two Samsung affiliates, Samsung C&T Corp. and Cheil Industries, in 2015.Kim led the group's now-disbanded elite unit that served as its control tower during the internal merger.
Jan. 10, 2020
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[Newsmaker] Arrest warrant sought for Seungri over procuring prostitutes, illegal gambling
The prosecution sought an arrest warrant for K-pop star Serungri on Friday over suspected illegal overseas gambling and procuring prostitutes for his investors. The Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office said it had filed an arrest warrant for the 30-year-old former Big Bang member, on seven charges including illegal overseas gambling, illegal currency transactions and procuring prostitutes. A hearing on whether to issue an arrest warrant for Seungri, whose real name is Lee Seung-hyun, wil
Jan. 10, 2020
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Korean man gets one-year prison term for beating Japanese woman
A South Korean man was sentenced to one year in prison on Friday for insulting and beating a Japanese woman in Seoul last August.The Seoul Western District Court handed out the jail term to the man identified only as Bang.The 34-year-old Bang is accused of assaulting and hurling insults at the 20-year-old Japanese visitor near the university district of Hongdae in western Seoul around 6 a.m. on Aug. 23. The man was also found to have pulled the victim's hair and used words disparaging the Japane
Jan. 10, 2020
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[Weekender] A case for Korean millennials in the workplace
Millennials everywhere get a bad rap, and South Korea is no exception.As more millennials join the workforce, theories and assumptions about the millennial ways abound.Millennial workers have been called weak and entitled, or are portrayed as not trying hard enough. They also hold a reputation for being quitters and job-hoppers.But blaming the “millennial mindset” for traits seen in young workers can prevent us from seeing the whole picture, experts say. For today’s youths, get
Jan. 10, 2020