A rare warning alert asking Seoul residents to "prepare to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter" on Wednesday left many confused as the text message didn't elaborate on where exactly they should go. "Underground shelter" became one of the most-searched-for words online shortly after the warning alarm rang for North Korea's launch of a projectile that it claimed to be a military reconnaiss...

Isolated young and middle-aged people will be eligible for state welfare services from the second half of this year, the government said Wednesday in unveiling a raft of new welfare policies. Socially isolated people refer to people who are emotionally or physically isolated from the majority of society for at least six months, according to the Welfare Ministry. This includes those who have not ...

Citizens say disaster alert left them baffled, not knowing where to go

Mass murder-suicide of 32 in connection to Odaeyang cult shocks nation in 1987

Pro baseball player Lee Young-ha was acquitted Wednesday of charges of violence against a junior teammate during his high school baseball days. Lee, 25, a pitcher of the Doosan Bears, was indicted without detention last year over allegations that he had beaten a teammate while attending Sunrin Internet High School in Seoul. Judge Chung Geum-young of the Seoul Western District Court found Lee no...

South Korea's new coronavirus cases bounced back to over 20,000 on Wednesday, with health authorities preparing to lift nearly all remaining antivirus curbs. The country reported 24,411 new infections, including 48 imported cases, bringing the total caseload to 31,703,511, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Daily infections had remained below 20,000 for the past six days. Wed...

The South Korean government said Wednesday a disaster alert it issued in Seoul at around 6:30 a.m. was issued in error after North Korea attempted to launch a space satellite. According to an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff of South Korea, the North Korea's projectile "flew over the Yellow Sea, and (its trajectory) had nothing to do with the Seoul and the neighboring areas." This came as ...

South Korea's Supreme Court on Tuesday expanded the definition of harassment to include repeated missed calls by an offender meant to intimidate a victim in a landmark ruling. On May 18, the nation's top court remanded the case to the Busan District Court, dismissing the lower court's ruling that refused to recognize the behavior of leaving numerous missed calls as harassment. It was the first S...

A murder suspect fleeing from South Korean and Philippines' authorities has been apprehended in the Philippines capital Manila, South Korean police said Tuesday. According to the South Korean police agency, the suspect was spotted at a condo in Manilla on Monday. The suspect is a South Korean male in his 30s who fled to the Philippines after allegedly murdering his wife, a national of the Philip...

Over half of foreign subscribers claiming unemployment benefits last year were ethnic Koreans with Chinese nationality, data released by a lawmaker showed, despite them accounting for only a third of those paying in to the system. Foreign subscribers of all nationalities were less likely than Koreans to claim, and the disproportionate number of ethnic Korean claimants indicates visa status is on...

The Constitutional Court has ruled that a current law, which revokes a daycare center teacher's license if the principal or teacher is punished for emotionally abusing children, does not violate the Constitution. Earlier in June 2017, two daycare center teachers were accused on charges of showing homophobic videos to 18 elementary school students who visited the daycare center for volunteer acti...

South Korea aims to boost its medical tourism industry as a key driver of future growth, with a target of attracting 700,000 foreign patients annually from 2027. However, challenges such as the language barrier and complex immigration procedures still remain. The Ministry of Health and Welfare set a goal of attracting more foreign patients to undergo medical treatments or get cosmetic surgery in...

The scandal surrounding alleged unfair hiring practices in South Korea's National Election Commission is growing. Jeon Hyun-heui, chair of the Anti-corruption and Civil Rights Commission, told a press briefing Tuesday that it has embarked on an investigation into unfair hiring practices in the election commission, following complaints filed with the civil rights authorities. The investigation w...

The Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday proposed a bill to increase its annual budget by 3.04 trillion won ($2.3 billion) to boost the social safety net, as inflation bites hard on finances of the city's nearly 10 million residents. The plan, submitted to the city council, will bring this year's total budget of South Korea's capital city to 50.3 trillion won. The increased budget will be s...

4,124 drug offenders caught in Q1; drug offenders in 20s,30s most common