Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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[Kim Seong-kon] Democracy and the future of South Korea
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Seoul says Fu Bao loan 'not going to happen'
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People make most of Election Day off
Wednesday is officially Election Day for the 22nd session of the National Assembly, and it is also a day off for workers in South Korea, as the law mandates significant election days to be state-designated public holidays. After exercising their right to vote at the polls, many people nationwide went out to enjoy the warm spring weather, visiting parks, palaces and other attractions. Here are some of photos of Seoul residents enjoying the day off on Election Day.
April 10, 2024
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Court orders reinstatement after error costs citizenship of immigrant children
The Supreme Court recently ordered the reinstatement of South Korean citizenship for siblings born to a Chinese immigrant, who had been denied citizenship due to an administrative error that happened before their birth. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in their administrative lawsuit against the Ministry of Justice, in which they challenged the ministry's 2019 decision that they were not South Koreans. The siblings were born in 1998 and 2001 to a South Korean man and a Chinese-b
April 10, 2024
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Doctors cancel joint press conference amid signs of internal rift
A doctors' lobby group said Tuesday it was canceling a planned joint press conference with other doctors' groups and medical professors, amid signs of an apparent rift within the medical community over how to respond to the government's plan to increase the medical student quota. The Korean Medical Association made the announcement, saying they need more time for negotiations with the trainee doctors who walked off their jobs seven weeks ago in protest against raising the medica
April 9, 2024
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'Short hair means feminism' attacker gets 3 years in jail
A young man who assaulted a female convenience store clerk because she had short hair was sentenced to three years in jail Tuesday. The Jinju branch of the Changwon District Court found the defendant in his 20s guilty of attacking the female victim and another man in his 50s who tried to stop the assault. The assailant was also ordered to pay 2.5 million won ($1,800) in compensation to the owner of the convenience store, and 10 million won to the male victim for the severe injuries he sustained.
April 9, 2024
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Man finds pile of cash inside treadmill, returns it to owner
A 68-year-old man who returned a pile of cash he had found inside a discarded treadmill was commended Tuesday by local police. Ansan Sangrok Police Station presented a certificate of appreciation to Jeon Jang-pyo, a resident of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, who found 48.7 million won ($36,000) in cash inside the broken machine at around 3:51 p.m. on Sunday. He reported his discovery to the police, who checked the surveillance footage to find that a woman in her 60s and another man had thrown away th
April 9, 2024
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Rift grows within medical circle over expansion plan
The medical community appears to be facing a rift over coming up with a unified proposal for the expansion plan a day after the government requested it, as it seeks a breakthrough in the prolonged medical standoff through dialogue. Lim Hyun-taek, the newly appointed president of the Korean Medical Association -- the largest coalition of doctors’ groups here, with some 140,000 members -- demanded Kim Taek-woo, the chair of the KMA’s emergency response committee, step down Tuesday. Lim
April 9, 2024
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Over 40% of S. Koreans live alone: report
The number of South Koreans living alone rose above the 10 million mark for the first time in March, data from the Ministry of Interior and Safety showed Tuesday, as more older people opt to live alone than ever before. Approximately 10.02 million households consist of one individual, accounting for 41.8 percent of the 24 million total households in the country, according to the ministry. The figure marked a slight increase compared to 9.98 million in the previous month. Among the single-person
April 9, 2024
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3 men flee without paying $320 taxi fare
South Korean police are investigating a case in which three young men fled without paying for their three hour, 40-minute taxi ride, local media reported Tuesday. According to Yonhap News Agency, the police have acquired the DNA evidence of the suspects left on the seat they sat on, along with the black box footage of the car that shows all of their faces. Officers also have their phone numbers, which they used to hail the cab through the Kakao T application. The incident occurred at around 1:30
April 9, 2024
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Police book man in his 50s for creating fabricated video of Yoon
Police said Monday they have booked a man suspected of creating a fabricated video of President Yoon Suk Yeol apologizing for corruption and incompetence ahead of the April 10 general elections. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency Commissioner Cho Ji-ho said during a regular meeting with the press that the man, who is in his 50s and residing in a provincial region, has admitted to making the fake video. Asked if he is affiliated with any political party, Cho said the man is "working for a poli
April 8, 2024
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Teachers' rights to be specified in Seoul education policies
Education authorities in Seoul plan to add a clause specifying the protection of teachers in the student rights plan for the next three years, in light of a series of cases last year related to abuse against teachers. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is currently cooking up the first draft of the student rights comprehensive plan for 2024-2026, and is set to hold a public hearing at its Jongno headquarters on May 11 for feedback from experts, the public, students, parents and teachers
April 8, 2024
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Man injured trying to stop misogynist attack to be honored
A South Korean man who sustained serious injuries while trying to stop an assault of a woman will be designated as a "wounded noble person" by the law and receive state compensation, the city government of Jinju said Monday. The city government recently granted a model citizen certificate to the man in his 50s, and is preparing for the abovementioned official designation. The Act on Honorable Treatment and Support for Persons Who Died or Were Injured for Public Good stipulates benefits
April 8, 2024
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S. Koreans shoulder slightly less than W1m a year for medical services
South Koreans paid an average of 960,000 won ($709) in 2021 for medical services, excluding state health insurance coverage, government reports showed Monday. In a joint report, the National Health Insurance Service and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs analyzed the data of 12,874 adults across the country, out of whom 11,844 used medical services in 2021. South Korean law subsidizes the costs of medical services through the National Health Insurance program, to which all citizen
April 8, 2024
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Stray bullet injures American, state to pay compensation
A South Korean court recently ordered the state to pay 209 million won ($154,000) as compensation to a US national who police mistakenly injured with a gun while trying to take down a dog on a rampage. The civil case division of the Seoul District Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the 68-year-old American, who demanded compensation for injuries he sustained in the unintended attack. "The accident occurred as a result of a police officer's illegal actions, which is beyond the degree o
April 8, 2024
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Seoul's transit pass hits 1 million issuance milestone
Seoul’s all-inclusive monthly transit pass, the "Climate Card," surpassed 1 million issuances last week, just 70 days since its debut, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday. According to the city's data, the number of climate cards issued as of Friday had reached 1,008,000, since its launch on Jan. 27. Of the total, mobile-only cards accounted for approximately 49 percent, while the remaining 515,000 issuances were for physical cards, a city official said. The number
April 8, 2024
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Senior doctors positively assess Yoon-junior doctors meeting, vow 'unified' response hike plan withdrawal
A major doctors' association on Sunday assessed positively the recent meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and the chief of a striking trainee doctors' group despite criticism by some junior doctors, vowing a unified response with trainee doctors and medical professors to the government's medical school quota hike plan. Last week, Yoon met with Park Dan, the head of an emergency committee at the Korea Intern Resident Association, to discuss the ongoing standoff over the plan to
April 7, 2024
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Teen's death in online suicide inducement case results in suspended sentence
A South Korean who gave instructions to a teen concerning suicide has been given a 10-month prison term, suspended for two years, after the teen died using the information, a local media outlet reported Sunday. The Uijeongbu District Court recently found the defendant guilty of violating the Act for the Prevention of Suicide and the Creation of Culture of Respect for Life, according to a report by the Seoul Economic Daily. It bans distribution of information that shows specific methods of suicid
April 7, 2024
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86-year-old woman who donated life savings dies alone
A Busan district office on Saturday announced the death of an 86-year-old woman who had recently donated 50 million won ($37,000) that she saved up while working as a housekeeper. Gweon Ok-seon donated her life savings in January to three welfare organizations in the southern port city -- the regional branch of the Red Cross, the Community Chest of Korea and the welfare center of her local Mandeok 3-dong -- according to the Buk-gu Office in Busan. She passed away alone at a hospital in Mandeok-d
April 7, 2024
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Ministry to study how much repeat Suneung-takers spend on tutoring
The Ministry of Education said Sunday it has ordered a study on private education spending of those taking state-administered college entrance exam multiple times, in a bid to figure out a more accurate estimate of the private education sector in South Korea. According to the ministry, 31.7 percent of college entrance exam takers in 2023 had already graduated from high school, an increase from 23.2 percent in 2017. South Korean students take the annual exam, known as Suneung, in the last Novembe
April 7, 2024
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Reports of workplace abuse double over past 5 years
Over 10,000 cases of workplace abuse were reported to authorities last year, the Labor Ministry said Sunday, marking a steep increase every year since the government first started compiling such reports in 2019. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, it received 10,028 reports of workplace abuse in 2023, up 12 percent from 8,961 the year before. South Korea in 2019 revised the Labor Standards Act to stipulate in Articles 76-2 and 76-3 the prohibition against workplace harassment and
April 7, 2024
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Users of bullet trains KTX, SRT hit record Q1 figures
The number of passengers on South Korea's bullet trains KTX and SRT hit a record high for the first quarter of a year, the trains' operators said Sunday. From January to March, the number of KTX users jumped to 19.26 million from 17.91 million during the same period of last year, according to Korea Railroad. SR Inc. said the number of SRT users rose to 6.43 million from 6.3 million during the same period. The operators said the "pent-up" travel demand after years of the COVID
April 7, 2024