Articles by Kim Yon-se
Kim Yon-se
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[News Focus] Sejong outnumbers 4 big cities in COVID-19 cases
SEJONG -- For several weeks until the first week of March, Sejong was posting the smallest number of novel coronavirus infections among 17 major regions in South Korea. But the nation’s smallest region among the 17, on the basis of population, ranked eighth as of Sunday in the wake of a heap of confirmed cases reported at Government Complex Sejong since March 7. As of 10 a.m. Sunday, the administrative city saw the number of COVID-19 patients rise to 40, outnumbering tallies in Incheon
Social Affairs March 15, 2020
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[News Focus] 22 civil servants at Government Complex Sejong infected with COVID-19
SEJONG -- Sejong has only about half as many residents as Songpa-gu, one of 25 wards in Seoul. The administrative city’s population posted 343,000 as of February, whereas Songpa had 675,000 people. Nonetheless, as of 8:01 p.m., Thursday, Sejong had overtaken three of the nation’s provinces -- South Jeolla Province, population 1.86 million, North Jeolla Province, population 1.81 million, Daejeon, population 1.47 million, Gwangju, population 1.45 million and Jeju Provi
Social Affairs March 12, 2020
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[단독] 제주 국제학교 4곳, 코로나로 토요일 수업 실시
제주영어교육도시의 국제학교 4곳이 토요일 수업을 실시하기로 했다. 또 인터넷을 활용한 비대면 수업을 적극 확대한다. 이는 국내외 코로나19 확산에 따른 복안이다. 동·하절기 방학을 줄이는 대신에 온라인과 주말 등교로 수업일수를 채우겠다는 것. 서귀포 대정에 위치한 브랭섬홀 아시아의 개학일은 국내학교와 마찬가지로 오는 23일이다. 단, 이에 앞선 16일부터 20일까지는 온라인 수업을 진행한다. 이 학교 관계자는 “제주교육청이 온라인 수업 전반에 대한 점검차 방문한 바 있다”며 “정규 시수로 인정받는 데 문제가 없을 것”이라고 10일 밝혔다. 학교 측은 또 내달 첫 주말을 시작으로 총 3주간의 토요일 등교를 공식화했다. 4월4일, 11일, 18일이다. 이와 관련해 학부모 공지까지 이미 마친 상태다. 인근의 세인트존스베리아카데미 제주 또한 마찬가지. 이 학교는 토요수업 계획을 23일 개학
한국어판 March 10, 2020
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[Exclusive] Jeju’s international schools to make up for COVID-19 delay through online learning, Saturday classes
SEJONG -- One of the major concerns amid the COVID-19 panic in South Korea is how it will affect the academic calendar for students in elementary school through high school. Considering the delayed start of the new school year, which was supposed to begin March 2, parents are asking whether their children will be able to attend classes for the required number of days and whether the authorities will fine-tune the vacation period to make up for school closures. But the Ministry of Education has
Social Affairs March 10, 2020
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[News Focus] Sejong residents on alert after string of COVID-19 reports
SEJONG -- Residents of the central administrative city of Sejong are sounding alarm bells now that the COVID-19 epidemic has truly reached them, with five new cases reported over four consecutive days beginning Thursday. The man who tested positive Thursday was not counted in the statistics for Sejong because he had moved to North Gyeongsang Province before receiving his diagnosis. But he had lived and worked in Sejong until Feb. 29. A woman in her 40s residing in Saerom-dong was confirmed po
Social Affairs March 8, 2020
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[News Focus] South Korea’s population dips by 6,800 in 3 months
SEJONG -- South Korea continued to post a negative growth in population in February -- for an unprecedented third consecutive month. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, the nation’s population declined by 2,882 as of February, compared to a month earlier, to post 51.844 million. The pace of negative growth has increased since the nation entered the era of population decline in December 2019, when it fell by 1,566. The figure for January 2020 was minus 2,352. Over the past
Social Affairs March 5, 2020
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[News Focus] Compared with other OECD nations, Korea has far fewer doctors, nurses, per 1,000 people
SEJONG -- South Korean health care workers are suffering the effects of severe overwork from taking care of an exponentially increasing number of COVID-19 patients. More and more doctors and nurses from across the country are volunteering to join emergency medical teams serving the Yeongnam area, which encompasses Daegu and neighboring North Gyeongsang Province, where the highest and second-highest numbers of infections with the new coronavirus disease have been reported among the nation&rsquo
Social Affairs March 3, 2020
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[News Focus] Korean won loses ground to major currencies
SEJONG -- The South Korean won has lost its value versus yuan as well as key currencies such as the US dollar, euro and yen over the past two weeks. Despite the simultaneous epidemic shock in the region from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) that originated in China, the recent weak position of the local currency against the yen and yuan is attributable to the rapidly growing number of infections here since the third week of February, according to market analysts. The Chinese yuan traded at 17
Economy March 1, 2020
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[News Focus] Employment falls in almost all age groups
SEJONG -- The tight hiring market has been a point of contention over the past two or three years, though the Moon Jae-in administration has continued to express a strong commitment to job creation as often as possible. Recent data from a government agency showed that people are still having difficulty holding jobs, which particularly has been witnessed among almost entire generations. According to Statistics Korea, the number of employed people fell for the second consecutive month -- from 2
Economy Feb. 27, 2020
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[News Focus] Korea’s gender gap set to widen
SEJONG -- Women have longer lifespans than men, and a government database suggests that the gender gap in South Korea’s population will grow wider in the coming years and decades. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, women outnumbered men by 121,783 as of January 2020. The sex ratio, or the number of men per 100 women, posted an all-time low of 99.5, down 0.1 percentage point from a year earlier. The nation’s male and female populations stood at 25.862 million and 25.
Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2020
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[News Focus] Will President Moon change major foreign and economic policies during remaining 2 years?
SEJONG -- The next presidential election will take place in two years, possibly on March 9, 2022. After that, there will be a two-month period in which a president-elect leads a transition committee before President Moon Jae-in’s term expires at midnight May 9. That means Moon has about 24 months to determine what his legacy will be, political commentators say. The Moon administration came to power on the strength of massive candlelight vigils in late 2016, when former President Park Ge
Politics Feb. 23, 2020
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[News Focus] Number of de facto jobless up 440,000 in 2 months
SEJONG -- South Korea saw the number of de facto jobless people -- meaning those underemployed -- increase sharply in recent months, the latest data showed. According to Statistics Korea, the “extended (or sentiment-reflected)” unemployment rate climbed to 12.1 percent in January 2020. The figure indicates that 3.58 million of the extended economically active population of 29.65 million are de facto unemployed. This far exceeds the nation’s official jobless rate (4.1 pe
Economy Feb. 20, 2020
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[News Focus] Korea’s household debt surges 100% in a decade
SEJONG -- In 2013, South Korea saw its collective outstanding loans plus credit-based payment services extended to the household sector top 1,000 trillion won ($842 billion) for the first time in history. The mounting household debt was somewhat attributable to eased lending regulations on the debt-to-income ratio in 2012 during the Lee Myung-bak administration. The Park Geun-hye administration further pushed for double-track deregulation, under which the loan-to-value ratio as well as the de
Economy Feb. 18, 2020
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[News Focus] Pessimists outnumber advocates over Moon in most areas
SEJONG – More people have a negative assessment of President Moon Jae-in’s performance than a positive one, a recent poll has shown. According to the survey by Gallup Korea, which was released on Saturday, the approval rating for the president was 44 percent across the country. In contrast, the disapproval rating for him rose to 49 percent. By region, in particular, Moon’s approval rating was outstripped by disapproval ratings in most major cities and provinces, excepting Gw
Politics Feb. 16, 2020
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[News Focus] Overseas Korean food fairs to entice palates
SEJONG -- South Korea’s food producers are pinning high hopes on the overseas K-food Fair events this year on the back of the growing popularity of local dishes thanks to TV programs and movies. Over the past few years, the annual exhibition has provided local producers -- mostly food processing firms -- with wider opportunities to tap overseas markets, including in Asia, America and Europe. Small and medium-sized enterprises mostly participate in the events, organized by the Ministry o
Industry Feb. 13, 2020
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