Most Popular
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Korea enters full election mode
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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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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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’s New Year’s bell-tolling ceremony to feature ‘Midnight Sun’ installation
The Seoul city government announced Thursday that this year's bell-tolling ceremony on New Year's Eve will feature the installation of a 12-meter-radius artificial sun in downtown Seoul to mark the new year. Right after the bell rings 33 times at midnight on Dec. 31, the orb, which is described as a sun-shaped structure, will be lifted 15 meters into the air to signify the rise of a new dawn. Weighing about 2.5 metric tons, the orb will emit light for three minutes, illuminating the ni
Dec. 28, 2023
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Future grim for cult leader convicted of sex crimes: experts
Jeong Myeong-seok, the leader of a controversial religious group, Jesus Morning Star, lodged an appeal on a court ruling last week sentencing him to 23 years behind bars for sexual assault and molestation. However, the future looks grim for Jeong, as legal experts on Thursday said it is highly unlikely that the 78-year-old will succeed in reversing the Daejeon District Court’s ruling in the appellate court due to the trustworthiness of the victims’ testimony and evidence. “The
Dec. 28, 2023
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Man kills son, found dead soon after
A South Korean man killed his son and was later found dead, local police said Thursday. According to Ulju Police Station in Ulsan, the man in his 40s gravely injured his 20-something son with a weapon at 4:32 p.m. on Wednesday on the streets and quickly fled the scene. The victim received medical treatment at a nearby hospital, but died less than an hour later at 5:21 p.m. that day. Police tracked down the culprit and found him dead inside a car parked about 5 kilometers from the crime scene. In
Dec. 28, 2023
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Lee Sun-kyun's alleged blackmailer taken into custody
A woman suspected of blackmailing actor Lee Sun-kyun was taken into custody by local police late Wednesday, a few hours after the actor was found dead in an apparent suicide. According to reports, Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency apprehended the suspect in her 20s after she failed to appear at Incheon District Court Tuesday for a scheduled substantive review of her arrest warrant. In Korea, substantive review of an arrest warrant is a process by which an individual the police seeks to arrest m
Dec. 28, 2023
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[Best Brand] 100 Classics nurtures student skills for digital age
Using AI learning tools to unlock students’ abilities, such as creativity and critical thinking, has become more pivotal than ever at a time when AI becoming more influential in the educational landscape. In line with these developments, “100 Classics,” an English education service brand for children and teenagers, offers an integrated English curriculum through debate sessions, interactive presentation activities and essay writing using materials recommended by prestigious sch
Dec. 28, 2023
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[Best Brand] Seoul Cyber University leads in majors focused on AI
As the era of the "fourth industrial revolution" dawns, Seoul Cyber University is working to create diverse majors and education programs with a focus on artificial intelligence. Established in 2000, Seoul Cyber University is an online university in Korea with the largest number of enrolled students as of 2023, according to data from the government. The university has seven campuses across the nation, including in cities such as Seoul, Incheon and Busan. Composed of 11 departments and
Dec. 28, 2023
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Election watchdog to introduce manual ballot counting for April elections
The National Election Commission said Wednesday it will introduce a manual ballot counting system for general elections in April in an effort to ensure transparency and prevent potential election rigging. Currently, machines are used to sort out and count votes. Under the envisioned new system, however, ballots will first be sorted out by machines, and election staff will manually check all of them before putting them into the counting machines. "It is meant to boost transparency and credib
Dec. 27, 2023
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Leader behind Gyeongbokgung graffiti attack also targeted subways: police
A person who paid two teenagers to vandalize the walls of Gyeongbokgung had also ordered another teen to graffiti subway stations in Daegu, a police investigation found Wednesday. The individual identified as "team leader Lee," thought to have paid a 17-year-old male surnamed Im and 16-year-old female to graffiti the palace walls with the web addresses to illegal video streaming platforms, is also believed to have contacted another teen in Daegu on Dec. 18 for a similar request. Lee to
Dec. 27, 2023
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2028 Suneung will 'aim to ensure fairness'
South Korea's Education Ministry confirmed changes for the college entrance exam starting in the year 2028 on Wednesday, largely by consolidating the test topics, aiming to "ensure fairness and stability" in the country's highly competitive education system. Currently, the standard score for each test taker of the same subject might differ among those who got the same raw score, depending on their choices of elective topics for the subject, prompting questions about the test&
Dec. 27, 2023
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Ticket scalping expands beyond music to anything that can be bought
South Korea is being plagued by illegal ticket sales ranging from music and other forms of performing arts to reservations for hotels, restaurants and popular services all throughout the country. An online post on Joonggonara, a website for secondhand sales, offered a reservation for a meal for two at a high-end sushi restaurant in Gangnam's Cheongdam-dong, an affluent region in southern Seoul, for 540,000 won ($410) -- 100,000 won more than the original price. A separate post on the simila
Dec. 27, 2023
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City of Seoul to extend late-night public transit for New Year's Eve
Subways and buses running in central Seoul will extend late-night operating hours for those enjoying New Year's Eve celebrations, with the bell-ringing ceremony at Bosingak Pavilion and Sejongdaero expected to take place from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m the next day. Normally, on public holidays subways are scheduled to arrive at their final station by midnight. However, on Sunday, subway trains will operate until 2 a.m. on New Year’s Day. A total of 173 subway trains will run on Line Nos. 1 to
Dec. 27, 2023
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8 trains to be added to Seoul Metro Line No. 9 by early 2024
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that it will add eight six-carriage trains on Line No. 9 of the Seoul Metro, increasing the number of trains in operation from the current 45 to 53 by early 2024. Out of the eight that are planned to be added, five will begin operating from this weekend on Dec. 30. With the newly added trains, the city government plans to reduce train arrival intervals and extreme overcrowding during rush hour. By the year-end, train arrival intervals are exp
Dec. 27, 2023
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Gender gap at work improving, albeit slowly
The gender gap at South Korean workplaces has shown signs of narrowing over the past decade, signaling that the country might be breaking away from the long-standing division of labor between the sexes and outdated stereotypes toward women who work. The gender gap in the employment rate has narrowed slightly from 22.5 percentage points in 2012 to 18.6 percentage points last year, according to the 2023 Women’s Participation in Economic Activities White Paper, jointly published by the Minist
Dec. 27, 2023
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Actor Lee Sun-kyun found dead
South Korean police confirmed that Lee Sun-kyun had been found dead Wednesday morning at Waryong Park in northern Jongno-gu in Seoul. He had been under investigation for alleged drug use. Police confirmed his identity after earlier reports said the body of a man suspected to be the well-known actor had been found at the park. Lee was found unconscious inside of his car at around 10:30 a.m., having inhaled smoke from charcoal briquette. Emergency workers said he was already dead at the time of
Dec. 27, 2023
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S. Korea to push for DNA tests on descendants of separated families
The unification ministry said Tuesday it will push to conduct DNA tests on descendants of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War in a bid to use their gene information for potential family reunions with their relatives in North Korea. The move comes as more aging separated family members in South Korea have died without having a chance to meet with their long-lost relatives in North Korea amid strained inter-Korean ties. A plan to conduct DNA tests on children and grandchildren of separate
Dec. 26, 2023
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Actor Lee Sun-kyun requests lie detector test over drug suspicions
Actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning "Parasite" requested a lie detector test Tuesday for his ongoing drug investigation, claiming innocence, sources said. Through his lawyer, Lee submitted a polygraph test request to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul, the legal sources said. Lee has gone through three rounds of police questioning on suspicions of using marijuana and other illegal drugs at the home of a hostess working at a high-end
Dec. 26, 2023
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Police hunting down mastermind behind defacing of Seoul palace walls
Police are hunting down the mastermind who commissioned a teen to spray paint 44-meter-long graffiti on the walls of a historic palace in central Seoul earlier this month, officials said Tuesday. A 17-year-old, only identified by his surname Im, was arrested last week after spray painting the phrase "free movie" in Korean on both sides of the western gate to Gyeongbok Palace and palace walls near the National Palace Museum of Korea on Dec. 16. Investigators have since found that Im was
Dec. 26, 2023
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Apartment fire on Christmas could be due to ‘negligence’: police
A fire that broke out in an apartment building in Dobong-gu, northern Seoul that left two people dead and injured 30 others Monday was likely caused by human negligence, the police and fire authorities said Tuesday. A police official on-site said that it seems “unlikely that the fire was ignited due to electrical factors” after a joint on-site investigation. “It seems unlikely that the fire was caused by a short circuit or malfunctioning electrical equipment. Based on the evide
Dec. 26, 2023
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Underage drinkers turning themselves in becomes issue in S. Korea
Earlier this month, online communities across South Korea were abuzz with a story of a group of high school students who fled from a local eatery without paying. On the back of a bill, they wrote "I'm sorry but you didn't check our IDs. If we report you, you'll get shut down. We'll just go. We'll come back later after we're adults." Legal minors reporting themselves after consuming alcohol, or threatening to do so, is quickly becoming a social issue. South
Dec. 26, 2023
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A closer look into Korea’s suicide statistics
It is no longer news that South Korea has a high suicide rate. With 25.2 deaths per 100,000 people in 2022, the country topped the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in terms of suicide rates. This rate is more than double that of the OECD average of around 10-11 deaths per 100,000. But under the headline numbers, when, where and how do most suicide attempts occur here? A recently released set of data encompassing crucial information from first response records t
Dec. 26, 2023