Officials hurry to curb contamination from burials, aid meat imports An investigation into more than 4,000 burial sites for animals slaughtered in the fight against foot-and-mouth disease will scrutinize the burials’ impact on the environment and soil, the ruling Grand National Party and the administration decided Thursday. They also decided to exempt quota tariffs on imported pork and powdered...

Smoking will be prohibited at three main squares in central Seoul from March and those who break the ban will be fined 100,000 won ($94) from June after a three-month grace period. Under the city administration’s ordinance putting stricter regulations on outdoor smoking, the no-smoking public areas will be expanded to 23 parks by September and 295 bus stops on central lanes by the end of the yea...

Streaking, carousal as well as egging and flouring other students have long been practiced among middle and high school students after their graduation ceremonies. But the police will crack down on such rituals this year by sending officers to the neighborhoods of 844 schools nationwide for 10 days from Tuesday, when most graduation ceremonies are to take place. More than 47,000 police officers...

The number of people seeking unemployment insurance claims has steadily declined for the past two months, possibly blueprinting a better job market for 2011, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Tuesday. The number of new claimants for unemployment insurance stood at about 130,000 in January, down 6.5 percent from a year earlier. The figure was 82,000 in December, a 12.8 percent decrease fr...

More than 50 million people worldwide visited Seoul City’s international promotion websites last year, with hallyu entertainers the major reason for the boom. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the number of visitors to nine of its websites run in Japanese, English and Chinese marked 5,057,465 last year, about 15 times that of its official Korean site (www.seoul.go.kr). The lion’s ...

Life behind the bars for the Somali pirates transferred to Korea will be tough: they are expected to struggle with lack of heat, plus food and language barriers. Since it is the first time Korean investigators have dealt with suspects of this type, the police are on alert for emergencies that could hinder a smooth investigation process. According to the Busan Coast Guard, who will conduct the i...

In an apparent dampening of the government’s zeal to tackle human rights abuses in North Korea, the National Human Rights Commission’s budget for the area was slashed by one-third this year, officials said Wednesday. According to the independent organization, the budget allotted for the North Korea human rights section is 200 million won ($17,800), down from last year’s 331 million won. The comm...

Korean parents are spending up to 200,000 won ($178) per child on private English education each month, a survey showed on Tuesday. But most are willing to pay this or more for their children’s sakes, indicating that families prioritize English education in their budgets, according to Yoon’s English School, one of the nation’s largest English education franchises. The private English educator s...