Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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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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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Court upholds jail term for man who attempted to murder ex-girlfriend
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S. Korea to boost support for single-parent families
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Seoul to build, refurbish over 1,000 gardens by 2026
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will build up to 1,007 gardens across the city by 2026, starting with 150 new gardens by the first half of 2024, the city government said Thursday. The city government will spend 265.9 billion won ($199.8 million) to install gardens and green areas in various places around the city, specifically for groups such as children, older citizens and people with disabilities. The installation of the new gardens aims to lessen the stress and anxiety levels felt by Seoul
Social AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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Prison term sought for former day care center chief
South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday asked the court to hand down a one-year prison term to the former head of a state-run day care center who is accused of illegally acquiring the content of conversations among teachers at the center last year. The defendant, surnamed Kim, formerly head of the day care center in Sejong City, became the subject of nationwide criticism last year when the center's teachers resigned en mass after raising corruption allegations over textbooks and meals. This i
Social AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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Government begins research on legalizing nonmedical tattooists
The government has set in motion a plan to legalize tattooing by nonmedical practitioners. Currently, only medical professionals are authorized to administer tattoos in Korea. According to the Health Ministry on Thursday, it commissioned research earlier this month to develop a national qualification exam for tattoo practitioners. The result of that study, set to be published in November this year, will likely serve as a reference for formulating details of the licensing exam for tattooists and
Social AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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S. Korean adults' financial literacy higher than OECD average: survey
South Korean adults' financial literacy is higher than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average, a report showed Thursday. According to the survey by the Bank of Korea and the Financial Supervisory Service, the financial literacy of South Koreans aged between 18 and 79 came to 67 points out of 100 in 2022, higher than the OECD's average of 63. South Korea's financial literacy level in 2022 was also higher than the 65 points earned in 2020 and ranked fifth
Social AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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Govt. begins to form committee to allocate additional med school seats to universities
The government has begun forming a committee responsible for allocating 2,000 additional medical school admission seats to universities, officials said Thursday, amid continuing protests from doctors against the plan. The move came as the government is forging ahead with the medical quota hike to address a chronic shortage of doctors in rural areas and essential but unpopular medical fields, despite a weekslong walkout by trainee doctors nationwide. Earlier this week, the government announced th
Social AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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NK leader calls for intensifying war drills
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for intensifying "practical actual war drills" during a visit to a military training base, state media said Thursday, as a joint military exercise between South Korea and the United States was under way. During the visit to the base in the country's western region Wednesday, Kim inspected training facilities and guided the actual maneuvers of military units, the official Korean Central News Agency said. The visit came two days after South Kor
North KoreaMarch 7, 2024
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US focus on 'interim' steps with N. Korea raises questions about policy direction
US officials' recent focus on the idea of "interim steps" for a path towards North Korea's ultimate denuclearization is raising a flurry of questions about their intentions and the direction of America's policy on the recalcitrant regime. The idea has come into the spotlight in South Korea as some observers see it as a potential sign of Washington's greater desire for dialogue with Pyongyang amid little progress in its diplomacy to the North and security concerns he
Foreign AffairsMarch 7, 2024
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S. Korea seeking to establish ground-based military rocket launch site
South Korea's arms procurement agency said Wednesday it is seeking to establish a ground-based military rocket launch site to accommodate future satellite launches. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration unveiled the plan in a policy report to President Yoon Suk Yeol, as the military plans to launch dozens of small-sized reconnaissance satellites by 2030 in addition to its first spy satellite launched last year. While the military currently operates a maritime launch site, there h
DefenseMarch 6, 2024
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Yoon refuses to bend to doctors' protest
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday refused to concede to some 9,000 trainee doctors' walkout, defining their collective action as "illegal" and insisting it must be met with stern actions guided by law and principle. Yoon denied the accusations that the government's measures against defiant doctors, such as its decision to suspend the medical licenses of some 7,000 trainees, were meant to suppress doctors' freedom and rights. Instead, these should be construed as actions "to mee
PoliticsMarch 6, 2024
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Korea, Uzbekistan implement customs protocol
A mutual protocol that requires South Korea and Uzbekistan to provide administrative assistance in customs matters to each other was put into effect as of Feb. 24. The protocol, signed in September by top customs officials of the two countries, facilitates the exchange of mutual information on goods and vehicles transported across customs borders and enables cooperation in law enforcement to simplify the flow of goods between the two countries. The protocol also aims to bolster bilateral coopera
Foreign AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Kazakhstan, S. Korea to increase direct flights
Kazakhstan and South Korea have agreed to introduce new air routes and increase the number of flights between the two countries, the Kazakh Embassy in Seoul said in a press statement. According to the embassy, Kazakh Vice Minister of Transport Talgat Lastayev met with South Korean Deputy Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Lee Yoon-sang in Sejong and discussed increasing the frequency of flights between Kazakhstan and Korea and adding new destinations. Lastayev and Lee agreed to eleva
Foreign AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Korea, India agree to deepen defense ties, upgrade trade pact
South Korea and India, in a joint commission convened for the first time since 2018, concurred on further bolstering defense ties, defense industrial cooperation and working toward upgrading their bilateral free trade agreement, according to South Korea's Foreign Ministry. South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar held the 10th South Korea-India Joint Commission Meeting on Wednesday at the premises of the Foreign Ministry in Seoul
Foreign AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Companies caught asking job applicants about body type, wealth and parents' job
South Korea's Labor Ministry said Wednesday that it found 281 cases of hiring process violations in October and November of last year, among the most common of which involved asking job applicants questions that had been deemed inappropriate. The ministry said it reviewed employments conducted via the state-run job search website Worknet in the two months by 627 business establishments, and found that 151 of the establishments committed violations of varying degrees in hiring employees. Acc
Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Voter support for opposition party plummets: poll
The rate of respondents willing to vote for main opposition party candidates in the upcoming April 10 legislative election dropped by a whopping 9 percentage points from the previous month, poll results showed Wednesday. In a survey conducted by local pollster Metrix on 1,000 Koreans aged 18 or older on March 2-3, when asked which party they would vote for "if the election was held tomorrow," some 26 percent of respondents chose candidates from the main opposition Democratic Party of K
PoliticsMarch 6, 2024
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Pressured to be 'best moms,' women say it's not just about money
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 AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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North Korea sends political prisoners to nuclear facilities: defector
North Korea is forcing political prisoners to work at some of its high-risk nuclear facilities, a North Korean defector was quoted as telling South Korean authorities. A former Pyongyang resident in her 40s who defected in 2019 said in an in-depth interview with authorities in Seoul that North Korea was sending its political prisoners to labor camps close to nuclear sites, according to a recent report by the government-run Korea Institute for National Unification. “The levels of radiation
PoliticsMarch 6, 2024
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Hot summer temperatures to persist due to El Nino impacts
As ocean surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean gradually decrease, climate conditions will most likely switch to a neutral state between April and June, according to the World Meteorological Organization. El Nino is a natural phenomenon in which ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific remain 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than usual for more than five months. The El Nino phenomenon officially began between May and June 2023 and was recorded as one of the five strongest El N
Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Misogyny making short hair unsafe
Prosecutors have sought a five-year sentence for a man in his 20s who was arrested for attacking a woman he perceived to be a feminist "because she had short hair." In November last year, the man kicked and punched a female convenience store worker, saying, "Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist. I'm a male chauvinist, and I think feminists should be punished," according to police. He also assaulted another customer, in his 50s, who tried to intervene. At t
Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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70% of globe's hooded cranes now in S. Korean bay: experts
Nearly 70 percent of the entire global population of hooded cranes, an endangered migratory bird species, is thought to be resting in a South Korean bay, local experts said Wednesday. A joint on-spot survey of Cheonsu Bay, in Seosan, South Chungcheong Province, reported the spotting of about 14,000 cranes in the area -- 11,000 at the eastern part of Ganwol-ho, an artificial lake in the bay, and another 3,000 at the western part. The research was conducted by Seosan Birdland, an ecotourism center
Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024
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Professors sue health ministry over med school expansion plan
Faculty councils of 33 medical schools filed for an injunction Tuesday against the planned hike in medical school enrollment quotas, along with an administrative lawsuit against the Health Ministry, reports said the same day, citing education and health authorities. This comes after 40 medical schools nationwide have collectively requested an increase in the annual student quota by 3,401 in a government survey. The professors say the schools made their decisions without heeding their opinions. M
Social AffairsMarch 6, 2024