From Mumbai to Beijing to Madrid, the global coronavirus pandemic has brought back clear skies and visibly cleaner air, as a sharp slowdown in human activity has allowed Mother Nature the much-needed time to heal some of her wounds. Seoul has been no exception. Spring skies were noticeably clearer, compared to those of past years when citizens were advised to wear high filtration masks due to to...

A woman was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of child abuse after her stepson was found unconscious inside a suitcase. Police said Tuesday that they took into custody a stepmother in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, on suspicion of child abuse and are reviewing whether to seek an arrest warrant for her. The 43-year-old woman at her apartment in Cheonan called for emergency help around 7:25 p.m...

Deposits for disposable cups will return in South Korea in 2022, as the government strives to cut back on single-use items and boost recycling. According to the Ministry of Environment on Tuesday, the plan was approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day to require local businesses to charge extra for consumers buying beverage items in single-use plastic or paper cups in deposits to be claim...

Raising the retirement age from the current 60 to 65 will require an additional 15.9 trillion won per year from employers, a private think tank said Monday, suggesting that extra measures are needed to lower the financial burden for companies. The Korea Economic Research Institute, under the country’s top business lobby Federation of Korean Industries, said in a report that wages will account fo...

A local court confirmed a 5 1/2-year prison sentence for Yoon Jung-cheon, a construction contractor alluded in the sexual bribery scandal surrounding former Vice Justice Minister Kim Hak-ui. The Seoul High Court on Friday confirmed the lower court’s prison sentence for Yoon, 59, on charges of fraud and bribery. Yoon has been at the center of a corruption and bribery scandal involving Kim. The c...

The South Korean government announced Friday it will work with packaging and delivery sectors to cut 20 percent of their plastic use. The Ministry of Environment said that it has signed an agreement with the Korea Plastic Packaging Container Association, Baedal Minjok (Baemin), Korea Franchise Association and the Korea Zero Waste Movement Network to work together to reduce the amount of plastic ...

South Korea suffered the biggest on-year job losses in the business sector last month amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said Thursday. According to the ministry’s monthly labor force report, domestic business entities with more than one worker had 1.82 million employees in April, down 2 percent, or 365,000 employees, from the same month last year. It is the sec...

South Korea on Wednesday started requiring all air travelers to wear face masks to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. Following a mandate from the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, as of Wednesday the government is requiring all travelers on domestic and international routes to wear masks. Those without masks will be denied boarding. The measure came as an incr...

The government plans to ensure that 90 percent of cars used in the public sector are eco-friendly models by 2030, a drastic increase from the current 12.7 percent, the Ministry of Environment announced Tuesday. Starting from next year, a total of 1,508 state-run or state-affiliated entities will be required to have electric, hydrogen or hybrid electric vehicles make up at least 80 percent of the...

From the masks, gloves and gowns used on the front lines of the war against COVID-19 to food delivered in disposable plastic containers and coffee served in takeaway cups, single-use products are finding their way back into daily life in South Korea. In the face of an unprecedented health crisis, it may be understandable that the impact of disposables on the Earth becomes an afterthought. But ec...

The global coronavirus pandemic is threatening the future of plastic recycling in South Korea, as major recycling centers are incurring mounting losses amid a collapse in global demand. Many are being forced to cut costs, work hours and head counts just to stay afloat, but a quick turnaround appears unlikely, industry insiders and government officials said. “(Local) recycling centers are largel...

More than 92 percent of South Korean households have received their emergency disaster relief funds from the government, three weeks after the payouts began, the government said Monday. According to the Ministry of Interior and Safety, by Sunday the government had paid out 89.3 percent of the 14.24 trillion won ($11.46 billion) allocated for disaster relief to 92.8 percent of the 21.71 million h...

The number of Vietnamese entering South Korea surged last month, despite a sharp fall in the total number of foreign arrivals. According to data from the Ministry of Justice on Monday, the number of foreigners entering South Korea dropped 62 percent from a month earlier to 34,544 people in April. From a year earlier, the figure was 97.2 percent lower. Of the total, Vietnamese nationals accounte...

LG Electronics’ Polish unit came under fire Sunday for running a video advertisement on social media that many claimed as inappropriate. In one of the videos posted on LG Poland’s official TikTok account, an old man uses LG Electronics’ V60 ThinQ dual screen smartphone to take photos of a young woman in front without her consent. Noticing the shutter sound, the woman turns around and grabs the p...

A top local court confirmed a five-year prison sentence for a cyber-university chairman who sold fake college diplomas to around 200 people. The Supreme Court on Sunday confirmed the lower courts’ five-year prison sentence for Kim Moon-kap on charges of fraud and violation of the Higher Education Act. Kim, 48, was sentenced to prison for issuing fake university degrees after establishing Templet...