Most Popular
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[Exclusive] Korean military set to ban iPhones over 'security' concerns
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Korean, Romanian leaders discuss defense tech, nuclear energy
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S. Korea calls on Japan to confront history amid Yasukuni Shrine visit
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Yoon’s jailed mother-in-law excluded from latest parole list
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Hybe and Min Hee-jin, CEO of Hybe sublabel Ador, lock horns
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[Pressure points] Leggings in public: Fashion statement or social faux pas?
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Korea’s homegrown nanosatellite successfully launches into space
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Aging population to drive down Korea's housing prices from 2040: experts
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Over-50s, men, single-person households take up majority of those filing for bankruptcy
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[Herald Interview] 'Amid aging population, Korea to invite more young professionals from overseas'
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Health minister makes last-minute appeal to medical professors as resignations loom
Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong on Friday made a last-minute appeal for medical professors not to resign en masse in support of a prolonged walkout by junior doctors, as their threat to resign is expected to further disrupt services at major hospitals. More than 90 percent of the country's 13,000 trainee doctors have walked off the job for nearly four weeks in the form of mass resignations to protest the government's decision to increase enrollment at medical schools by 2,000 spots. The labor acti
March 15, 2024
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Power outage disrupts operations on Goyang section of Seoul Subway Line 3
A power outage disrupted subway operations on a Line 3 section in Goyang, northwest of Seoul, on Friday morning, causing massive congestion for commuters during the morning rush hour. Korea Railroad Corp. said the power outage happened at 4:30 a.m. between Wondang Station and Wonheung Station, leaving trains on both directions having to use only one track alternately in the northern end section of the line. Southbound trains heading to Seoul experienced delays during the morning rush hour, and m
March 15, 2024
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Drug ring members jailed for smuggling W160b worth of meth
The Busan High Court on Thursday handed down a 30-year prison sentence to the leader of a crime ring that smuggled 165.6 billion won ($125.7 million) worth of methamphetamine into the country. The man's accomplices were also given jail terms. The man in his 60s was also given a fine of 770 million won for smuggling the drugs and 65,000 cartons of cigarettes into Korea, while his accomplice, also in his 60s, was given a 25-year prison sentence and a 778.7 million won fine. Three other acc
March 14, 2024
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11 Moon aides indicted on charges of falsifying house price data
Prosecutors on Thursday indicted 11 aides of former President Moon Jae-in, accusing them of manipulating government data on housing prices from June 2017 to November 2021. The Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office accused the suspects, including former Land Minister Kim Hyun-mi and Moon’s ex-Chief Presidential Secretaries for Policy Kim Sang-jo and Kim Soo-hyun, of manipulating the data released by the state-affiliated real estate data provider a total of 125 times to create the appear
March 14, 2024
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Provincial colleges to get 80% of new med school spots
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
March 14, 2024
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Patients, families on edge as more doctors consider resigning
Oh Myung-jin, 44, who has to care for two critically ill family members, blew a fuse after hearing the news of medical professors considering leaving their hospitals too, joining junior doctors in their protest against the government increasing the medical school student quota. “If professors also walk out, (patients) won’t be able to get the same treatment starting this month or even next week. (My daughter and father) including myself are living in constant fear,” she told Th
March 14, 2024
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More speeding tickets issued with bidirectional traffic cameras
A total of 2,018 cases of speeding and traffic signal violations were detected after bidirectional traffic enforcement cameras were installed in four locations across Gyeonggi Province, according to the National Police Agency on Thursday. Bidirectional traffic enforcement cameras capture license plates on both the front and rear ends of a vehicle. These are different from the traditional kinds of cameras installed in most locations nationwide which are only capable of capturing license plates on
March 14, 2024
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Junior doctors ask ILO to intervene in Seoul's back-to-work order
A group of medical interns and residents who left hospitals in protest of the government’s planned medical school admissions hike has demanded the International Labor Organization, a labor rights watchdog under the United Nations, intervene in Seoul's back-to-work order, it said on Thursday. “The government is threatening junior doctors to return to work by mentioning suspension of their licenses, a forced labor prohibited by the ILO. Accordingly, we have asked the ILO to interv
March 14, 2024
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Woman throws dogs from ninth floor
South Korean police on Thursday said they were investigating a woman in her 30s on suspicion of killing her two dogs by throwing them from her ninth-floor apartment. The suspect is believed to have thrown two of her dogs out of her apartment window at around 7 a.m. on Monday at Bupyeong-gu, Incheon, according to Incheon Samsan Police Station. Officers arriving on the scene found the bodies of the two dogs on the site. The suspect has a history of mental illness and has been institutionalized wit
March 14, 2024
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Basketball legend-turned-coach faces parent's complaints for 'meokbang'
Parents of student basketball players at Whimoon High School recently filed complaints against the team's head coach Hyun Joo-yup to Seoul education office, claiming that his TV and YouTube appearances are disrupting his duties as the coach. According to reports by local media, the petitioners -- which also include officials from the school and the team -- accused Hyun of abnormal operations of his team due to his side job. The suspicions reported to the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Educati
March 14, 2024
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Leader of doctors' group questioned again over trainee doctors' walkout
A leader of the Korean Medical Association, the biggest doctors' group, appeared before police Thursday for his second round of questioning over suspicions of instigating a mass walkout by trainee doctors. Park Myung-ha, chief of the KMA emergency committee's organizational affairs, arrived at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency's office in the city's western Mapo district for the second time, following his last on Tuesday. Park is one of the five former and current KMA leaders against whom the
March 14, 2024
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10 rescued, 1 missing after fishing boat sinks off south coast
A fishing boat carrying 11 people sank off the country's south coast Thursday, leaving three dead and another missing, the Coast Guard said. Four South Korean and seven foreign crew members were aboard the 139-ton trawler when it sank in waters 4.6 nautical miles south of Yokji Island off the coastal city of Tongyeong, some 330 km south of Seoul, after sending a distress call at 4:12 a.m., the Coast Guard said. Ten crew members were rescued by the Coast Guard and nearby boats, including thr
March 14, 2024
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Miss Chunhyang beauty pageant accepts foreign candidates for first time
For the first time in its 75-year history, South Korea's Miss Chunhyang beauty pageant will see foreign nationals compete. This year’s beauty pageant is accepting applicants from five countries -- China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia and Canada -- the Chunhyang Festival Organizing Committee told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. Named after the heroine of the Korean folk tale Chunhyangjeon, the Miss Chunhyang beauty pageant has taken place in the story's setting of Namwon, North Jeolla
March 13, 2024
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Women's groups protest adult content convention
Local women's rights groups in Tuesday held a joint protest against an adult film convention to be held in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, next week. Suwon Women’s Group Network, an umbrella group of seven women's groups based in Suwon, and other civic groups voiced their opposition to the "K-XF: The Fashion!" festival. According to the festival's organizers, the event scheduled for April 20-21 will feature adult film actors from Japan, along with local online celebritie
March 13, 2024
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[Campus Now] Hallyu, brokers and students' Korean dreams
South Korea's universities are witnessing a transformative shift in their cultural landscape, brought by a surge in the number of international students. Though the trend was stagnant during the pandemic era, the number of international students in Korea has steadily increased over the decades, amounting to 181,842 as of 2023. That is more than double the number 10 years ago (85,923), and 10 times more than in 2004 (16,832), when the Education Ministry began compiling related statistics. Th
March 13, 2024
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PM denounces attempts to delay med school quota hike plan
South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Tuesday criticized recent attempts made by protesting doctors to delay the government's plan to increase the annual medical school enrollment quota by 2,000 and to lower the cap on the number of students. Han's remarks follow a proposal made by a group of senior doctors and medical school professors the same day, who called for the government "to decide on the quota increase after allowing overseas researchers to review the matter
March 13, 2024
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Police bust illegal gambling ring that hired minors to attract peers
Gyeonggi Bukbu Provincial Police Agency said Tuesday it had uncovered a cybercrime ring accused of operating an illegal gambling website and attracting minors into gambling. Police apprehended 35 suspects, including the ringleader in his 40s, on suspicion of operating illegal gambling websites for five years, from December 2018 to March this year. Out of the 35 suspects, 10 had been arrested as of Tuesday. According to police officials, the criminal ring operated gambling websites out of Dubai a
March 13, 2024
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Jeju introduces virtual news presenter
Jeju’s provincial government has recently hired a news anchor to conduct its weekly YouTube program for 600,000 won ($450) a month: virtual human J-na. The computer-created female presenter primarily delivers policy updates and local news from the island, reading scripts prepared via artificial intelligence. The program, developed and managed by a private contractor company, costs 600,000 won per month, according to the island province. "Employing human news presenters incurs signif
March 13, 2024
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Labor groups slam BOK report on foreign care worker wages
Labor groups have reacted with anger to a report by South Korea’s central bank that proposed to bring in foreign care workers and pay them less than the minimum wage. “The bank’s suggestions of paying migrant workers cheaper than the minimum wage are discriminatory and anti-human rights ideas,” said Citizens‘ Solidarity for Securing the Publicness of Care and Realizing the Right to Care, a major coalition comprised of the country’s two umbrella trade unions, t
March 13, 2024
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Late firefighter's father donates life savings in memory of son
The father of a firefighter who perished on the job has donated 500 million won ($381,000) to the National Fire Agency, which the NFA on Tuesday vowed to use to provide scholarships for the bereaved family members of those who lost their lives in service. The agency on Tuesday held a ceremony for the launch of the Firefighter Hero Kim Gi-beom Scholarship at Gangbuk Fire Station in Daegu. The scholarship was based on funds donated by Kim Gyeong-su, whose son Kim Gi-beom died at the age of 26 in 1
March 13, 2024