Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Lee Jong-sup resigns as envoy to Australia
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Yellow dust engulfs S. Korea, advisory alert issued
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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Kia EV9 wins world car of year
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Korea misses out on global bond index boost
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Seoul invites 18 special guests to ring in new year
The Seoul city government on Wednesday announced a list of 18 people who will join the city‘s bell-tolling ceremony on New Year’s Eve. The 12 civic bell ringers, selected by the city as “People of the Year,” include 18-year-old Yoon Do-il, who risked his life to help others when a knife attack occurred at Seohyeon station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province, in August; Park Sang-woo, a radiology technologist who performed CPR on a person who had collapsed in an Itaewon alley fo
Dec. 20, 2023
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S. Korea nabs 1,183 gang members, most of them 'MZ gangsters'
South Korean police on Wednesday said it has apprehended 1,183 members of organized crime rings across the country, detaining 189 of them on arrest warrants, the majority of whom are younger than 30 and focus more on non-traditional gang activities. The arrests were made after a special crackdown by the National Police Agency during the second half of this year, conducted between Aug. 7 and Dec. 16. The government had apprehended 1,589 gang members after a four-month investigation took place dur
Dec. 20, 2023
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457 organizations, firms fail to meet disability employment obligations
A total of 457 public organizations and private companies failed to comply with disability employment obligations, the labor ministry said Wednesday, with Prada Korea found to have had zero disability employment for over 10 years. Under the act on the employment promotion for people with disabilities enacted in 1991, public institutions are required to have 3.6 percent of their workforce comprising workers with disabilities. The rate required for private firms is 3.1 percent. Those violating the
Dec. 20, 2023
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[Graphic News] Adults 60 and over take up half of new jobs in 2022: data
More than half of the new jobs in 2022 were taken by adults 60 or older, while younger people took up only about 1.15 percent of the year’s newly added posts, data showed. South Korea added 870,000 new jobs in 2022, marking a 3.4 percent on-year increase to bring the total jobs to 26.45 million, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. Of the total, jobs for those aged 60 and older rose the most by 440,000, followed by 260,000 new jobs for people in their 50s. The number of jobs
Dec. 20, 2023
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Temperatures set to tumble midweek
South Korea is forecast to come under the grip of the season's strongest cold wave later this week, with morning lows dipping to minus 20 C in some parts of the country, the state-run weather agency said Tuesday. Wednesday's morning lows will range from minus 12 C to 1 C above zero nationwide, but the mercury is likely to plunge in the afternoon as the country will fall under the influence of continental high pressure expanding from northern China, according to the Korea Meteorologic
Dec. 19, 2023
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Police apprehend Gyeongbokgung vandals
South Korean police on Tuesday said they arrested two teenagers suspected to have recently vandalized the walls of Gyeongbokgung Palace in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. According to Jongno Police Station, the 17-year-old male suspect was taken in by officers at around 7:08 p.m. near his home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The other suspect, a 16-year-old girl, was also apprehended at her home which was nearby. The pair is accused of spray-painting promotional messages of an illegal video-downloading w
Dec. 19, 2023
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More people smoking, drinking, in poorer health in post-COVID era
The number of South Koreans smoking or drinking has risen in the era following the years since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a state-issued report showed Tuesday. The annual report, conducted on 230,000 adults across the country by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), indicated deteriorating health indexes across the board, as obesity and depression were also on the rise in recent years. South Korea's smoking rate had been on a downward trend since reaching 26.7 perc
Dec. 19, 2023
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Seoul’s monthly transit pass to launch Jan. 27
Seoul’s monthly transit pass, known as the “Climate Card,” will be available for use starting Jan. 27, 2024, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday. The Climate Card is a rechargeable monthly transit pass that gives commuters access to public transport systems within the administrative boundaries of Seoul. It is intended to help relieve the increasing cost of living and encourage public transportation use to cut greenhouse gas emissions. “The card readers installe
Dec. 19, 2023
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Teen murder suspect called emergency services to check penalties for murder
A South Korean teen murder suspect called emergency medical services immediately after her crime and asked what sort of punishment she would get, testimonies revealed at her trial on Monday. The 18-year-old female suspect is accused of murdering her classmate after an argument on July 12 at the victim's home in Daejeon, and is being tried by the Daejeon District Court. After the classmate's death, the suspect called the 119 emergency number to report it and asked, "Is it true that
Dec. 19, 2023
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Escaped bear shot to death, animal rights groups urge law revision
South Korean authorities recently shot an escaped bear in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, sparking calls from animal rights groups for the parliament to pass a pending law that bans bear farming. According to the Dangjin Fire Station on Tuesday, officials received reports that a bear escaped from a bear farm in Seokpo-ri, Dangjin, at around 7 p.m. on Sunday. Officials located the animal after two hours of searching and shot the animal dead, upon the request of the farm owner who voiced safe
Dec. 19, 2023
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S. Korean seniors poorest in OECD: report
South Korea’s older adults have remained the most mired in poverty among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development for 14 consecutive years since 2009. The OECD currently has 38 member countries. In the Paris-based organization’s analysis of the latest available data, the relative poverty rate for Korean seniors aged 66 or older stood at 40.4 percent in 2020, a whopping three times the OECD average of 14.2 percent, and the only country with old-age pove
Dec. 19, 2023
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Ex-US Amb. Sung Kim to join Bae, Kim & Lee
Sung Kim, who served as US Special Representative for North Korea and US ambassador to South Korea, will join Bae, Kim & Lee to lead a new team at one of the top law firms here, according to the firm. On Tuesday, Bae, Kim & Lee said that Kim will oversee its Global Future Strategy Center, which aims to help the firm and local businesses navigate cross-border issues. The center will also give “strategic advice” to multinational firms operating in Korea. The new partnership is
Dec. 19, 2023
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Korea to offer up to W39m for parental leave
The South Korean government has decided to expand financial support for working parents so that both can take parental leave starting next year, as part of efforts to boost the country's dwindling birth rate, according to the Labor Ministry. The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that the government approved a revised Employment Insurance Act reflecting expanded parental benefits at a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. Under the revised law, set to go into effect on Jan. 1, working parents wi
Dec. 19, 2023
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Prosecutors seek 5-year jail term for ex-minister Cho Kuk in appeals trial
Prosecutors sought a five-year prison term for former Justice Minister Cho Kuk on Monday during an appellate trial on charges he used his influence to receive academic favors for his children and interfered with an inspection into a corruption case. Prosecutors also sought a fine of 12 million won (US$9,200) and the forfeiture of 6 million won during the trial at the Seoul High Court, the same sentence demanded during the first trial. "The defendant committed a crime by cheating through the
Dec. 18, 2023
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Incheon to subsidize families with cumulative W100m won per child
The Incheon Metropolitan Government stated on Monday that it will provide up to a combined 100 million won ($76,969) in subsidies cumulatively over the life of a child up until age 18. Titled “100 million+i dream,” the policy proposes to provide cumulative monetary support for every child born in Incheon from 2023 from birth until they reach age 18. The total cumulative 100 million won figure comes from combining 28 million won in new funds and 72 million won that is already currentl
Dec. 18, 2023
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Workplace bullying over office dinners persists: study
A civic group said Monday that it has received 48 complaints this year on abuse related to "hoesik," Korean work dinners that often accompany rounds of drinking. Gabjil 119, a group seeking to raise awareness of workplace bullying in South Korea, shared details of the hoesik-related complaints, most of which were superiors forcing subordinates to participate by threatening to give low performance reviews if they were absent. The group said it verified the identities of those who submit
Dec. 18, 2023
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Gyeongbokgung graffiti suspect turns himself in
Less than a day after another piece of graffiti defaced one of South Korea’s most significant cultural heritage sites, a suspect turned himself into the police, according to officials on Monday. The suspect, who is believed to be a man in his 20s, voluntarily surrendered to the Seoul Jongno Police Station at around 11:45 a.m. and underwent police questioning about the crime, including whether he had an accomplice. Police are still looking for two suspects who had vandalized the walls of Gy
Dec. 18, 2023
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College probed for allegedly forcing repatriation of Uzbek students
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea announced Monday that it has initiated an investigation into Hanshin University in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, after claims that the university's staff forced 23 students from Uzbekistan to leave Korea. The NHRCK received a petition, lodged by the husband of one of the students, about the incident and referred it to the relevant department on Dec. 11. "The investigation has just begun," an official from the NHRCK said Monday. The commis
Dec. 18, 2023
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'Women are useless': professor investigated for misogyny, extortion
The Cultural Heritage Administration on Monday launched an investigation of a male professor here over a string of allegations including misogynistic comments and extortion. Local media outlets reported that a professor at Korea National University of Cultural Heritage has been accused of insulting students, extorting money from them and making them run personal errands. Educational institutions here are conventionally under the supervision of the Education Ministry, but this particular institut
Dec. 18, 2023
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'I have a ticket!' Man hanging on departing KTX train goes viral
A video of a man hanging on a KTX train as it began departing from a station has gone viral online in South Korea. In the video, reportedly recorded just before 4 p.m. Friday at Gwangmyeong Station in Gyeonggi Province, a person appearing to be a man of foreign nationality hanging on the outside of a train leaving for Mokpo, which had just started moving, between two cars. A female station official ran alongside the man, shouting, "Get off! Get off!" in Korean. But the man continued to
Dec. 18, 2023