Woman claims to smell 'rotting body' to get attention of police

A woman has been arrested after making six false police reports, including of smelling a "rotting corpse" and self-harm, police said Wednesday. According to Bucheon Ojeong Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, the suspect, a woman in her 50s, is being investigated on charges of violating the Minor Offenses Act. She faces charges of making six false police reports about a neighbor’s death or inflicting self-harm from 1:50 a.m. to 3:30 a.m. the previous day. “I think the perso

July 19, 2023

'Underground phobia' grows amid regular deadly flooding

Fatal flooding in underground spaces such as underpasses and underground parking lots during monsoon season has become an annual incident. At least 14 people have been confirmed dead in the flooding of the Gunpyeong 2 underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on Monday. In September last year, seven people died in a flooded underground parking lot after Typhoon Hinnamnor hit Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. In 2020, four people lost their lives when underpasses in Busan and

July 19, 2023

Criticism escalates over authorities' response to tunnel flooding

A blame game has begun over the deadly tunnel flood that took 14 lives in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, with criticism growing over the lack of a timely response, and authorities passing the buck. An association of civic groups in North Chungcheong Province on Wednesday accused multiple local authorities of failing to prevent a "serious civic accident" under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, where those responsible might face at least a year in prison or a fine of up to 1 b

July 19, 2023

'Go back to Africa' ad ignites racism debate in Korea

A company that sells supplements for children posted an advertisement on social media in which an illustrated Black character is asked whether she is from Africa, and then told to go back to her country. The advertisement was taken after public outcry over its racist overtones. The company recently posted an animated advertisement on Instagram to promote supplements that it advertises as effective in whitening skin for children. This supplement contains ingredients such as glutathione powder, al

July 19, 2023

Marine goes missing during search operation

After days of monsoon rain left at least 44 dead, clear weather has emerged across the country, but danger from swollen rivers and strong torrents of water remained Wednesday. According to the Marine Corps on Wednesday, a private from the First Marine Division's artillery battalion, who was searching for missing people around the Bomun Bridge on the Naeseong River in Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, was swept away by a rapid stream at around 9:10 a.m. Marines were deployed to search

July 19, 2023

Teacher left with PTSD, injuries after a sixth grader's assault

A sixth grade student's assault of a teacher has rekindled controversy over teachers' rights and authority. According to local media reports, a female elementary school teacher in Seoul has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and injuries requiring three weeks of treatment after being assaulted by a six-grade student. The victim told the local media that she was punched dozens of times in front of other students. The student also stomped on the teacher when she fell to t

July 19, 2023

13 regions, including Yecheon, designated as special disaster areas

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday declared 13 municipalities as special disaster areas, after torrential rain pummeled most of the country and brought widespread destruction. The areas include Yecheon in North Gyeongsang Province, which reported nine deaths as of 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, along with Gongju and Nonsan-si in South Chungcheong Province, Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province and Iksan in North Jeolla Province. “Areas where preliminary investigations have been completed are

July 19, 2023

Alert fatigue: Text warnings fail to hit home

Between 7:58 a.m. and 7:47 p.m on July 11, Cho Young-eun, a resident in Guro-gu, southern Seoul, received a total of 13 alerts from six different public offices regarding heavy rain. Five were from the Ministry of Public Administration and Safety, three were from the Korea Forest Service, two were from the Seoul Metropolitan Government and one each from district offices of Yongsan-gu, Gwanak-gu and Seongdong-gu. Mostly titled "Public Safety Alert," the messages urged the recipients to

July 19, 2023

PM orders thorough preparations for impending downpours this week

Prime Minister Han Deok-soo instructed the government Wednesday to thoroughly prepare for possible damage from another wave of torrential downpours expected later this week. Han gave the instruction during an emergency response meeting with relevant government officials, as heavy rains have been battering most parts of the country, resulting in damage and dozens of deaths. "The country is expected to witness a slight decrease in rain activity for today and tomorrow, according to the Korea M

July 19, 2023

[Contribution] AI digital textbooks: Pioneering a new era of education transformation

By Jang Sang-yoon In our quest to gain new inspirations while preparing for the world’s first nationwide introduction of AI digital textbooks, I embarked on a journey to the British Educational Training and Technology Show 2023, the largest education technology expo worldwide, in March, along with the Ministry of Education press corps. I still can’t forget the sight of a gray-haired senior teacher with his glasses slightly down, passionately explaining the program that he had dev

July 19, 2023

Campaign launched to separate classification of insam from ginseng

Two Korean organizations, the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea and Geumsan Ginseng and Herb Development Agency, initiated a petition on Tuesday calling for the English name of the plant "insam" to be distinct from the all-encompassing term "ginseng." They argue the broad categorization neglects the distinct cultivation, variety and health benefits of insam. According to the official guidelines for translating and notating public Korean terms into English by South Korea'

July 18, 2023

US soldier defects to N. Korea from S. Korean side of DMZ

An unidentified United States national defected to North Korea from the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area while in the heavily fortified demilitarized zone on Tuesday, the United Nations Command confirmed. The Korea Herald learned that the defector was a US soldier, although it was unable to confirm if he was stationed in South Korea or had been visiting the country as a tourist. "A US National on a JSA orientation tour crossed, without authorization, the Military Demarcation Lin

July 18, 2023

Korea appeals to nullify ruling to compensate Elliott over Samsung merger

South Korea's Justice Ministry said Tuesday it has filed an lawsuit in England to block a June ruling in an international arbitration court that ordered Seoul to pay $107.8 million in damages and legal costs to US hedge fund giant Elliott Investment Management. The Justice Ministry claimed that the National Pension Service, a public pension scheme that was at odds with Elliott over the controversial merger in 2015 of two key Samsung Group affiliates -- Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries -

July 18, 2023

S. Korea to lower gender gap in public sector

The South Korean government announced a comprehensive five-year plan to address the gender gap in the public sector by increasing the proportion of leadership positions held by women. In South Korea, women occupy only 8.5 percent of senior government positions, significantly below the 37.1 percent average for countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The plan proposes to equal the OECD average within the next five years. The plan, announced Tuesday by a joint task f

July 18, 2023

Hero of Osong; man saves 3 in underpass flooding disaster

According to a report by CJB on Tuesday, a 44-year-old cargo truck driver named Yoo Byung-jo rescued three people while seeking refuge on the roof of his truck near an underpass that flooded in Osong-eup, North Chungcheong Province, on Saturday. On the day of the flooding accident, Yoo explained that he noticed the bus in front had stalled when the water started rising in the tunnel. He drove his truck into the bus in an attempt to push the bus along, but the attempt failed and his truck lost po

July 18, 2023

Action for Clean Environment completes 2023 Fellowship for Young Leaders Program

Action for Clean Environment, a nonprofit organization promoting global environmental activism, hosted a completion ceremony for the 2023 Fellowship for Young Leaders Program last Saturday at the Seoul Club in Seoul. The three-week fellowship featured sessions aimed at active engagement between participants, which consisted of debates on the issue of pollution; a tour of the Smart Farm in Gangnam-gu, Seoul; and essay writing and presentations. This year's fellowship marked the program'

July 18, 2023

Yoon orders speedy relief, declaration of disaster zones

President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday called for speedy disaster relief in areas battered by monsoon rains that have showed no signs of abating over the past couple of weeks, and hinted at designating affected areas as special disaster zones. Yoon said in a Cabinet meeting in his office that the government will muster up all available resources such as state budget funds and aid workers by prioritizing rescue operations, recovery work and support for victims of the heavy rain. "Citizens'

July 18, 2023

Vietnamese students nabbed for catapulting steel balls at apartment windows

Gwangju Nambu Police Station arrested two Vietnamese nationals without detention on charges of property damage for allegedly shooting steel balls and breaking the windows of an apartment Monday. The two students allegedly fired the steel balls with a slingshot near an apartment in Nam-gu, Gwangju, damaging two windows on the 5th and 6th floors. The police received a report and conducted an investigation for four days before apprehending the suspects at a university dormitory at 5 p.m. on July 14

July 18, 2023

44 dead, 6 missing amid continued downpours as of Wednesday morning

In the wake of record-breaking nationwide downpours, authorities discovered three bodies on Tuesday in Yecheon-gun, North Gyeongsang Province, bringing the death toll associated with the heavy rain in the province to 22. This brings the total number of deaths from downpour to 44 nationwide as of 6 a.m. The North Gyeongsang Fire Service Headquarters confirmed on Tuesday that the body of a woman in her 50s who had gone missing on Saturday with her husband, was discovered at 10:27 a.m. by Marines a

July 18, 2023

NHRCK calls for equal access to education for children of foreign nationality

South Korea’s human rights commission is calling for children with foreign nationality residing in Korea not to be discriminated against and instead be treated equally in preschool and kindergarten tuition subsidy programs. In early July, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea determined that the Ministry of Education excludes children of foreign nationality residing in Korea from preschool and kindergarten tuition subsidies, restricting their equal rights to education, survival a

July 18, 2023