One Korean practice that has often baffled foreigners is the trash bins inside public bathrooms accompanied by signs asking users not to flush down toilet paper and instead to toss it into a bin. This is about to change. Starting Jan. 1 next year, all public bathrooms will be devoid of trash cans, under a revised law that passed the Cabinet on Tuesday.(Yonhap)“We believe it’s more reasonable to distribute rapid dissolving toilet papers for public restrooms instead of trash cans which can cause h

Social Affairs May 2, 2017

A US soldier accused of smuggling bags of methamphetamine to South Korea via military mail was handed a three-year jail term suspended for five years, district court records showed Friday. Prosecutors revealed last month that an unnamed 19-year-old soldier -- suspected to be from the 2nd Infantry Division near Uijeongbu -- tried to smuggle 4 kilograms of methamphetamine through the military’s postal service last October, but was stopped by a customs inspection at Incheon Airport. The bags were c

Social Affairs April 28, 2017

South Korea’s national equestrian federation elected Sohn Myung-won as its new president Thursday. Sohn, 76, president of a private consulting firm, clinched 33 out of 35 votes and will fill the seat left vacant since February, said the Korea Equestrian Federation. Sohn was the sole candidate running for the position. He was previously CEO of Hyundai Mipo Dockyard and SsangYong Motor.  (Yonhap)The electoral college was constituted of 125 members randomly selected from a pool of board members, th

Social Affairs April 27, 2017

Following are excerpts from The Korea Herald’s interview with Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party. -- Ed.Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party (Yonhap)Q: You have declared opposition to a US preventive strike on North Korea. Would you continue to oppose it even if Pyongyang proceeds with a sixth nuclear test or fire an intercontinental ballistic missile?A: A pre-emptive attack should not be allowed even if the North carries out a sixth nuclea

Politics April 26, 2017

Overseas voting for the May 9 presidential election got underway with polling stations in New Zealand opening Tuesday. The six-day voting is scheduled to take place in a total of 204 diplomatic offices and military bases in 116 countries from Tuesday to Sunday, according to the National Election Commission.Voters in New Zealand cast their ballots for South Korea’s May 9 presidential election at a polling station inside the Korean consulate in Auckland on Tuesday. (Yonhap)The polling booths in Ne

Social Affairs April 25, 2017

Walking along the busy streets of Seoul, it is easy to overlook the bumpy yellow patterns on sidewalks, but those bumps are essential for the visually impaired to navigate the streets. The Seoul Metropolitan Government came under fire Monday for removing some of them recently, allegedly because they were not visually appealing to pedestrians who are not blind.Tactile paving is used for the visually impaired on sidewalks in Yongsan, Seoul. (Jung Min-kyung/The Korea Herald)Exact data on how much t

Social Affairs April 24, 2017

Overseas voters who have registered to vote for the upcoming May 9 presidential election will be entitled to cast their ballots for six days from April 25-30, the National Election Commission said Sunday. The election watchdog recently revealed that a record number of 294,633 overseas Korean nationals signed up to head to the polls this year. The figure marked a 31.8 percent rise, compared to the previous 2012 presidential election.  The Democratic Party of Korea encourages overseas Korean voter

Social Affairs April 23, 2017

Plans to include clauses regarding security guards’ role in receiving residents’ mail to related regulations have been halted, the Korea Post said Thursday. Related clauses, which would legally bind security guards to manage postal service within residential areas, were first drafted and proposed by the Korea Post in October. The proposed changes were approved by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, but were stopped by the Korea Housing Management Association and the Ministry of Lan

Social Affairs April 20, 2017

The family of Yoo Byung-eun, the late operator of the sunken ferry Sewol, must repay Korea Deposit Insurance Corp. 19 billion won ($16.7 million), a New York state court ruled in November, court records showed Wednesday.The court took side with South Korea’s state-run KDIC, which filed a lawsuit against family members of Yoo, the late chairman of Chonghaejin Marine, to take responsibility for his unpaid debt from the financial crisis in 1997.KDIC redirected the blame to Yoo’s second-eldest son Y

Social Affairs April 19, 2017

A contaminant detected in ground water beneath a US Forces Korea garrison in central Seoul was 162 times higher than the permissible level, a government report revealed by civic groups showed Tuesday. The garrison around Noksapyeong Station has been suspected as the main source of contaminants such as petroleum and benzene that have polluted the neighborhood of Yongsan for decades.The revelation came after the Supreme Court ordered the South Korean government to disclose the results of a 2015 st

Social Affairs April 18, 2017

Low income individuals are more likely to smoke than those who are considered wealthy, a study conducted by Seoul National University Hospital showed Monday. The study, conducted by professor Kang Young-ho, looked at 1.59 million people between 2008 and 2014. It looked at both genders in 245 counties and cities.(Yonhap)Male smokers in 236 of the 245 locations followed the overall correlation between smoking and income levels. Female smokers’ income levels corresponded to the findings in 239 of t

Social Affairs April 17, 2017

A group of Siberian tigers currently exhibited at a local zoo in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province, will be transferred to a government-owned arboretum this summer, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs on Wednesday. Selected tigers at the Seoul Zoo will be relocated to a 48,000-square-meter forest designed to simulate a wild tiger habitat. The area, called “Tiger Forest,” is part of the ministry’s 220.1 billion won ($192.4 million) project to build Asia’s largest arboretum

Social Affairs April 12, 2017

A declassified diplomatic dossier has revealed suspicions that North Korea may have been involved in the death of the daughter of a Myanmarese judge, who sentenced one of its terrorist agents to death for the 1983 Rangoon Bombing. The justice had tried two North Korean suspects in the attack on a South Korean diplomatic delegation in the capital city of the Southeast Asian country. The daughter died in 1985, while studying in Japan. A page from declassified documents explains North Korea’s alleg

North Korea April 11, 2017

Moon Jae-in (Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)Following are excerpts from The Korea Herald’s interview Monday with Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea. -- Ed. Q: You and the Democratic Party of Korea have been labeled as leftist, progressive or pan-progressive. How do you define your ideologies?A: I think the labels are meaningless. At a time of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, what use are such labels? The tasks that face us are not about political cant. Were

Politics April 10, 2017

The city of Seoul is gearing up for its annual spring festival lineup, but is facing difficulties as the events’ main venue, Seoul Plaza, is illegally occupied by die-hard supporters of ousted President Park Geun-hye. Despite the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s repeated requests to vacate the space, about 40 pro-Park tents remain clustered in one-third of the area, refusing to yield both to government orders and the Constitutional Court’s decision to expel Park from power.Pro-Park protest tents

Social Affairs April 10, 2017