Few Koreans would deny that South Korea is a highly competitive society. People say that the competition is so stiff that your child should begin preparing for it as soon as he or she turns three years old. Indeed, parents send their three-year-olds to preschool and private academies for piano, violin or art lessons after school. Then, a little later, English-speaking kindergarten awaits your child. When your child enters elementary school, the competition for college entrance has already begun.

Viewpoints March 20, 2024

JAKARTA, Indonesia, March 19, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Continuing its commitment to financial inclusion in Indonesia, JULO has launched a distinctive nationwide healthcare financing feature. JULO Health is now available to finance Indonesians' healthcare needs across any of the nation's health facilities - from hospitals, clinics, dental care, pharmacies, to laboratories and diagnostic centers - in just a few in-app clicks with monthly installment options. Healthcare financing on JULO app

PR Newswire March 19, 2024

BELLEVUE, Wash., March 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Edan Instruments, Inc. (300206.SZ), a leading global provider of medical and healthcare solutions, announces a collaboration with Global Health Labs, Inc. (GH Labs) to co-develop AI-enabled ultrasound devices. The collaboration aims to revolutionize healthcare access, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Under the agreement signed on March 13, 2024, in Bellevue, Washington, EDAN and GH Labs will combine their

PR Newswire March 19, 2024

Only half of South Korea's adult population is willing to get married, with fewer than half expressing intentions to have children in the future, according to the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy on Sunday. The presidential committee shared findings from a survey conducted by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs, which polled 2,000 respondents aged between 19 and 49 in August last year. The survey revealed that among the 1,059 unmarried respondents

Social Affairs March 17, 2024

“The groom provides the home, and the bride furnishes it" has been a long-standing custom in Korean marriages. But, with evolving perspectives on gender roles, and home prices virtually beyond reach for average Korean men of marrying age, the way couples manage the finances of their marriage is undergoing severe changes. Newlyweds, single men and single women interviewed by The Korea Herald generally envisioned an equal partnership founded on equal contributions -- be it financially,

Social Affairs March 16, 2024

Parents with higher levels of education spend more on their children’s private education, data showed on Friday. Parents holding master’s degrees spent an average of 600,000 won ($450) to 640,000 won per child per month on private education last year, according to Statistics Korea. This is 3.8 times more than the monthly average of 170,000 won to 200,000 won spent per child by parents with educational backgrounds below middle school. Mothers with a high school degree spent an avera

Social Affairs March 15, 2024

Of the 2,000 new seats for medical schools being floated by the South Korean government, universities in provincial areas are to get 80 percent, with the rest for schools in Seoul and the vicinity, officials said Thursday, reaffirming the policy decision that has been facing fierce opposition from doctors since last month. According to the government, the plan is to develop competitiveness in regional universities by increasing the number of medical students at those schools with relatively few

Social Affairs March 14, 2024

South Korean prosecutors said Monday it has indicted a baseball coach at a local elementary school on charge of child abuse, after he made one of his student athletes run 100 laps around the school grounds as punishment. According to Incheon District Prosecutors' Office, the suspect in his 30s is suspected of physical and psychological abuse against a member of his team. He is accused of forcing the student do the laps in addition to 500 pushups within 90 minutes last year. The child's

Social Affairs March 12, 2024

South Korean prosecutors on Monday asked the court to sentence Cho Doo-soon to one year in prison, after the convicted child rapist broke his curfew and stepped outside of his home after dark late last year. The prosecution said Cho violated a legal order not to leave his home after 9 p.m., and left his residence in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province at around 9:05 p.m. on Dec. 4, where he allegedly wandered around the adjacently stationed police post. Officials also said Cho denied a police order to retu

Social Affairs March 11, 2024

With only a month left before the April 10 parliamentary elections, political parties are unveiling various pork-barrel election pledges and intensifying efforts to secure key districts, as recent public opinion polls indicate a slight yet significant shift. The quadrennial vote holds significant importance for the ruling People Power Party as a failure to regain a majority in the 300-member National Assembly could potentially render President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for the next three years o

Politics March 11, 2024

I read recently that the average birth rate per woman in South Korea has fallen to 0.72 despite $270 billion in government incentives. Although there are undoubtedly multiple reasons for this, as someone specializing in language education, I began to question whether English language teaching might be a contributing factor. The expression “English Fever,” has often been linked to the well-known phenomenon among South Korean parents who traditionally perceive education as the pathway

Viewpoints March 11, 2024

South Korea ranked last, at 29th out of 29 OECD countries, in the working environment for women for 12 consecutive years, according to UK-based The Economist on Thursday. Ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, The Economist released the glass-ceiling index. This UK media outlet has published the index annually since 2013 for OECD member nations, assessing factors such as women’s labor participation rate, gender income disparity, the proportion of women in high-ranking posit

Social Affairs March 8, 2024

지난 연재에 이어 마지막 정리가 된다. 이것이면 신 토익 파트1의 모든 중요 단어가 정리된다. 토익 공부와 상관없는 분들께서도 실용적인 단어들을 암기해 두시면 꼭 쓰실 일이 있을 것이다!  151. put out(끄다): "People are putting out a campfire." 사람들이 모닥불을 끄고 있다.  ★★★ 152. rack(걸이): "A man is hanging coats on a rack." 한 남성이 코트들을 걸이에 걸고 있다.  ★★★★ 153. railing(난간): "A woman is leaning against a railing overlooking the sea." 한 여성이 바다가 내려다 보이는 난간에 기대어 있다. ★★★★ 154. raise(올리다): "A man is raising a flag on a flagpole." 한 남성이 깃대에 깃발을 올리고 있

English Eye March 8, 2024

Kim, a 33-year-old woman living in Seoul, was taken by surprise when she found out she was pregnant late last year. With no intention of getting married or having a child of her own, she began searching for hospitals that would terminate the pregnancy for her. While searching online, Kim encountered numerous advertisements and blogs listing prices for abortions by vacuum aspiration. The prices varied according to the stage of pregnancy: 600,000 won ($450) before week 7 and 900,000 won before wee

Politics March 7, 2024

With South Korea’s total fertility rate reaching as low as 0.72 in 2023, making it one of the lowest among the ranks of the 38-member Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the government is devising a list of attractive policies to persuade women to have babies -- that includes giving them hefty amounts of subsidies dubbed “childbirth benefits.” From the central government, potential mothers receive 1 million won ($751) to pay for their medical expenses. Once t

Social Affairs March 6, 2024

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday announced plans to expand state-backed scholarship programs to woo South Korea's young generation. Yoon told some 460 participants in a policy debate held in the city of Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, that the government "has the responsibility to help the talented young generation live up to their capacity." Yoon said the number of students eligible to get state-sponsored scholarships, provided by the state-run Korea Student Aid Foundation, wil

Politics March 5, 2024

I have spent several days reading coverage of the recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that recognized extrauterine embryos as children. Then I read the court’s actual decision and found that the two -- the coverage and the ruling -- have almost nothing in common. Headlines decry how the court has effectively “ended in-vitro fertilization” in the state, with breathless reports of clinics closing. Panicked current and prospective IVF parents, even some in Texas are described as &

Viewpoints March 5, 2024

Proposed Bill: Partial Amendment to the Telecommunications Business Act Proposed by Rep. Yoon Doo-hyun (People Power Party) ● To ensure consumers are protected after the abolition of the Mobile Device Distribution Improvement Act, this amendment transfers provisions related to selective contract discounts and prohibitions on compulsory subscriptions to add-on services to the Telecommunications Business Act. It also promotes free competition among mobile communications businesses and enhances use

Politics March 4, 2024