Court orders full review for asylum seeker claiming anti-gay persecution

A South Korean court has overturned an immigration office’s decision to block a full review of an African man’s asylum claim based on persecution over his sexual orientation, finding insufficient grounds to reject it at the preliminary screening stage, according to local daily Kyunghyang Shinmun. The Incheon District Court ruled in favor of the man on Sept. 22. He had sued the head of the Incheon Airport Immigration Office after authorities declined to refer his application for a formal refugee

2026-10-01 16:46:49:00

Korea reports gains in public-sector disability hiring, workforce diversity

South Korea’s central and local governments hired more people with disabilities last year, while people with severe disabilities made up a larger share of employees with disabilities across the public sector, according to a government report released Wednesday. The number of new hires with disabilities at central government ministries and local governments rose 4.3 percent on-year to 1,024 in 2025, up from 982 a year earlier, according to the 2026 Annual Report on Balanced Personnel Management r

2026-09-30 14:34:30:00

Share of foreign students in Korea less than half OECD average

Foreign students are taking up a growing share of spots at Korean universities, but their presence remains less than half the OECD average, new data showed Tuesday. They accounted for 5.3 percent of Korea’s higher education enrollment in 2024, compared to an average of 12.1 percent among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to the OECD’s Education at a Glance 2026 report. Korea’s share has risen sharply from 1.7 percent in 2015. The OECD average also in

2026-09-29 18:00:00:00

TOPIK cheaters to face 5-year exam ban under new rules

People caught engaging in fraudulent activities during the Test of Proficiency in Korean could be barred from taking the exam for up to five years, as the Education Ministry seeks to strengthen exam security amid rising concerns about increasingly sophisticated cheating methods. The ministry said people impersonating candidates, leaking exam papers or using forged identification documents would be subject to the ban. The government also plans to expand the use of radio-frequency detectors to ide

2026-09-29 14:26:36:00

Foreign students at Dongguk find 'another Korea' beyond K-pop through Buddhism

Rows of students stood shoulder to shoulder, then bowed in unison. Among the roughly 10,000 students and faculty taking part in Buddhist prayers at Dongguk University’s recent Young Camp event were scores of international students — some Buddhist, many not. For nearly an hour, they chanted centuries-old texts and repeated bows, joining a ritual far removed from the K-pop concerts and other pop-culture experiences often associated with studying in South Korea. For Pooja Rajput, a 24-year-old Indi

2026-09-29 13:07:53:00

A decade on, what has changed under Korea’s antigraft law?

Ten years after South Korea’s antigraft law took effect, reports of suspected violations have reached a record low. But accepting money or valuables remains the leading reason people are sanctioned. Public institutions received 1,280 reports last year, down from a peak of 4,386 in 2018, the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said Monday, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the law’s implementation. The number of people sanctioned fell to 340 from 446 in 2024, a decline of 23.8 pe

2026-09-28 14:31:02:00

Seoul education chief pushes to make international learning part of everyday classrooms

Within five to 10 years, Seoul education chief Jeong Geun-sik wants students to routinely discuss climate change with classmates in France, work on urban problems with peers in Indonesia and carry out AI projects with students in the United States — without leaving their own classrooms. “Students should be able to encounter and learn about the world in Seoul classrooms even without going abroad themselves,” Jeong said in an interview with The Korea Herald. Rather than treating international educ

2026-09-27 13:52:25:00

Sookmyung brings Chuseok traditions to international students

Sookmyung Women’s University held a cultural event Tuesday for international students ahead of Chuseok, Korea’s autumn harvest holiday. International students posed for commemorative photos dressed in hanbok, traditional Korean attire, and took part in traditional games including ddakji, a paper-flipping game prominently featured in Netflix’s hit series “Squid Game,” and gonggi, a Korean game similar to jacks. Participants also made traditional crafts, including lanterns, mother-of-pearl inlaid

2026-09-23 15:57:07:00

New prosecution service to launch with 80-85% of prosecutor quota

South Korea will launch a slimmed-down, indictment-focused replacement for the Prosecutors’ Office on Oct. 2, staffed by about 1,900 prosecutors. Separately, nearly 70 percent of the current office’s investigator positions will be eliminated as investigative authority shifts to a new agency. The Public Prosecution Service will focus on indictments and courtroom prosecutions, while the Serious Crimes Investigation Agency will take over major criminal investigations currently handled by prosecutor

2026-09-22 14:28:09:00

World has ‘forgotten’ N. Korean nuclear threat, atomic scientists group chief says

North Korea’s nuclear program has become “a major open wound” in the global nonproliferation system that the international community has neglected for far too long, the head of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists said in Seoul on Monday. Alexandra Bell, president and CEO of the US-based organization behind the Doomsday Clock, said Pyongyang’s nuclear threat remains a major unresolved challenge to the international nuclear order and called for renewed urgency in addressing it. Founded in 1945 b

2026-09-21 15:13:56:00