Discrimination against women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and racial and ethnic minorities is pervasive in South Korea, a new report from the Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The annual 32rd World Report 2022 highlights the human rights situation in nearly all of the 100 countries where the international organization works. Though South Korea has been described as an “est...

The number of elementary and secondary school students in South Korea is expected to drop below 5 million for the first time in 2026, the government said Thursday, citing an ongoing decline of the school-age population. According to the Ministry of Education, the number of elementary, middle and high school students is expected to decrease each year, falling from 5.28 million this year to 5.21 m...

To help children who have experienced child abuse, the city is set to open a center. With more double-income families experiencing difficulties finding child care because of the pandemic, it will also set up a care center at Myeonghak Smart Square to minimize the gaps in coverage. The city expects its overall child care environment to improve greatly as a public day care center is set to open. A...

Of Seoul’s 25 districts, Gangnam-gu has the largest economy, with its total output being nearly 22 times the size of the smallest, Gangbuk-gu, data showed Thursday. According to the Seoul metropolitan government, Gangnam-gu’s gross regional domestic product in 2019 stood at 71.85 trillion won ($6 billion), followed by Jung-gu’s 53.8 trillion, Yeongdeungpo-gu’s 36.1 trillion and Seocho-gu’s 35....

Rescue workers found one person trapped under the rubble at an apartment building collapse site in the southwestern city of Gwangju on Thursday, but his fate is not yet known. The unidentified man was discovered near the handrail of stairs on the first basement floor of the damaged building in Gwangju, about 330 kilometers south of Seoul, and rescue workers were trying to remove concrete debris ...

The Seoul city government said Thursday it will invest a total of 345.9 billion won ($291.4 million) this year in projects harnessing such cutting-edge digitization technologies as metaverse, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Up to 1,067 projects, including those to be pursued by the city's 25 districts, will benefit from the city's investment plan for "paradigm shift to digitization," ...

South Korea will consider introducing a new visa category for foreign startup entrepreneurs to vitalize the domestic startup ecosystem, according to Seoul's justice minister. At a South Korea-Germany startup industry roundtable meeting in Berlin on Wednesday (local time), Justice Minister Park Beom-kye said Seoul will "review the adoption of a startup visa." "In order to vitalize our startup ec...

South Korea said Thursday it will ban all entrants from using ordinary public transportation to try to stem the inflow of the omicron variant from overseas as the number of imported cases reached an all-time high. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said all entrants must use their private vehicles, or officially designated infection-proof taxis, buses or trains. They will al...

South Korea's military on Thursday reported 11 additional COVID-19 cases, including 10 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,537. Of the new cases, seven are from the Army, three from the Air Force, and one from a unit under the direct control of the ministry. Currently, 212 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,718 are ...

A nuclear reactor automatically shut down Thursday after a coolant pump stopped working, but no radiation leak was found, the operator of the country's nuclear plants said. The Reactor-5 at the Hanul Power Plant in Uljin, some 330 kilometers southeast of Seoul, was shut down at around 1:26 a.m., according to the state-run Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. The Nuclear Safety and Security Commissio...

Yongin 2019: semiconductor complex and childcare program expansion In 2019, the development of the semiconductor complex and attracting investment from LAM Research topped the list, closely followed by the expansion of childcare program and services. Plans to establish new parks on 12 sites that had been unused for a long time came in third, followed by special measures to prevent reckless deve...

Yongin, which received ‘special city’ status on Thursday, will use all possible resources to speed up development of its semiconductor cluster while making improvements in living environments and welfare programs

The white peaks of Mount Hallasan on Jeju Island has gained notable popularity this winter, promoting hikers to pay extra cash to get access to the snowy landscape. Dozens of postings seeking to sell, buy or exchange QR tickets to Hallasan National Park have been posted at secondhand online stores. Offered by the national park, tickets are available online for free on a first come first serve ba...

Everyone talks about the March 9 presidential election. But the local elections to be held in June are the big day Park Hye-min, 29, has been counting down the days to. Park is the executive director of Newways, a nonprofit organization that she founded about a year ago with a friend she met at a book club. The organization’s goal is to discover rookie politicians who speak the same language the...

Second Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-moon tested positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday, leading to 16 Cabinet members taking virus tests and canceling their schedules as they attended the same Cabinet meeting with Choi the previous day. Choi attended Tuesday's meeting on behalf of Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong. The 16 other Cabinet members also in attendance included Interior Minister Jeon Hae-...