With risks and challenges faced by refugees across the world having become one of the greatest global issues of today, the status and conditions of the asylum seekers in South Korea have also been highlighted. The Korea Herald will publish a series of articles shedding light on refugees in Korea, their hardships, the systematic fallout, the country’s own history and ways to go forward. The follow...

The Seoul government is set to push for reforming the labor market following a deal reached at the trilateral committee on labor, business and government on Sunday, despite vehement opposition from some unionists and a grueling process ahead at the National Assembly. The compromise came after months-long negotiations, with the trilateral committee agreeing on the broad picture of the labor marke...

Long working hours and social pressure against them taking leave for child care are some of the major difficulties faced by modern fathers in their 30s and 40s, a survey in Seoul showed Tuesday. According to the survey conducted by Seoul Foundation of Woman & Family from May 28 to June 10, 48.5 percent of the respondents cited long working hours and heavy workload as the reasons for poor work-fa...

More than 100 international marriage brokers have been caught illegally offering matchmaking services, the police said Sunday. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency booked 111 brokers belonging to 72 international matchmaking agencies without detention for violating the Marriage Brokers Business Management Act. The brokers were accused of receiving an average of 15 million won ($12,700) from Korean ...

South Korea’s largest trade union group decided to return to the long-stalled trilateral negotiations among labor, management and government Wednesday, giving a boost to the government’s push for labor market reform. Key officials from the Federation of Korean Trade Unions made the decision at a high-level meeting four months after the three-way talks collapsed in early April. The union officia...

As South Korea reached a landmark deal with North Korea on Tuesday to defuse cross-border tensions after recent military confrontations, South Koreans expressed relief for being pulled back from the brink of war. “I was worried about the possible breakout of war, but I am so relieved that the two Koreas struck a deal,” Nam Bo-ra said. “It is not that I couldn’t continue on with my life due to t...

For Kim Ji-hwan, a 30-something office worker, punishing work hours and a heavy workload allowed him barely any time see his kids back home. Kim felt that he was growing apart from his kids, which led him to consider taking paternity leave, despite concerns over financial problems and his reputation at the office. “But I knew that this moment when I can be with my children will never come back,...

A Seoul court ruled Monday that the South Korean government should compensate a Korean citizen paralyzed from the waist down in an industrial accident while working at the U.S. military base. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in favor of the man, whose name remained unidentified, ordering the government to pay 360 million won ($305,000) in compensation. The man, who has worked for the U.S....

Lawyers for Hong Joon-pyo, governor of South Gyeongsang Province, denied charges that he received illicit political funds from the late business tycoon Sung Woan-jong during the first hearing held Friday in connection with a high-profile graft scandal. The hearing took place at Seoul Central District Court, about three weeks after the prosecution indicted Hong and former premier Lee Wan-koo w...

An appeals court upheld an earlier ruling Tuesday that the media does not have to compensate a woman for publishing a poster containing her photo without her consent. But those who made the poster should compensate the woman, according to another ruling. The Seoul Central District Court rejected the 30-something woman’s appeal for financial compensation from five media outlets that published the...

Last year, Kim Sang-sik agreed to work long hours on low wages as a building night guard in Incheon after several job-hunting attempts ended in vain. The 32-year-old worked from 7 p.m. to 8 a.m. every day, but received only 1.3 million won ($1,140) a month for his 13-hour days of labor. When he took a day off, 50,000 won was deducted from his wages each time. The pay was far lower than the stip...

While South Korea’s Hangang River attracts millions of visitors to its cherry blossom festival in the spring and fireworks display in the fall every year, there are more festivities the river can offer in the summer. As this year’s Hangang River festival kicks off on July 17, the riverside will turn into a major playground for those seeking a respite from the scorching heat and a getaway from th...

The police Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a 24-year-old man for breaking into a women’s sauna under the influence of drugs. The man, only identified by his surname Moon, was suspected of injecting crystal methamphetamine at a hotel room and entering the women’s fitting room at a bathhouse in the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday. Moon was caught red-handed after creating a ruckus f...