A bill to install closed-circuit TVs in operating rooms failed to win a consensus at the National Assembly as the opposition party and the medical community took a cautious stance and called for further discussion. On Thursday, the National Assembly’s welfare committee met to review a change to the medical law that would have required closed-circuit TVs in operating rooms. It was the fourth review since November last year. Both the ruling and opposition parties agreed that operating roo

Social Affairs June 24, 2021

The COVID-19 outbreak is showing signs of worsening ahead of the easing of social distancing next month. The number of newly confirmed cases stood at 645 as of midnight on Tuesday, up 250 from the previous day. The number is expected to reach 700 on Wednesday. The total number of confirmed cases to date is 152,545. Health Minister Kwon Deok-chul said at a meeting on Wednesday, “Cluster infections are occurring in places with many risk factors such as schools, academies, workplaces, chur

Social Affairs June 23, 2021

Rep. Lee Nak-yon, a former Democratic Party leader and presidential hopeful, said Tuesday South Korea should aim for “soft power diplomacy” in line with a global paradigm shift for peace and creativity. “The paradigm of the world order and development has been changing since the post-cold war era,” Lee said in his keynote speech of an international conference on international order. “The scope of the territory, the size of the population and military power are b

Politics June 22, 2021

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug said he hoped North Korea would take a proactive role in inter-Korean dialogue, stressing that South Korea’s National Assembly was considering the ratification of the inter-Korean summit agreement. “The Korea-US summit was an important achievement,” said Park on Monday at a press meeting. “The position of South Korea in relation to the peace process on the Korean Peninsula is evaluated to have been well reflected. “It w

Politics June 21, 2021

A debate on anti-discrimination law is gaining momentum in South Korea with the support of scores of lawmakers, presidential candidates and members of the public. Anti-discrimination bills that have been proposed several times since 2007 has never passed the National Assembly due to opposition from conservative politicians and religious groups. This time around the bill has stronger support from a broader spectrum in society. Last week, 24 lawmakers from the ruling bloc, including the Democr

Politics June 20, 2021

When Kim Hyun-kyung, 31, was thinking about changing jobs a year ago, she was drawn to education firm Eduwill’s four-day workweek. Although she was a bit suspicious at first of whether it really worked, she now fully enjoys the policy. Kim takes a day off every Wednesday because she says it is the best day to take a break. “It makes me think on Monday ‘Oh I am OK because I rested yesterday,’ and on Tuesday, I think, ‘I am fine because I will rest tomorrow.&rsq

Social Affairs June 19, 2021

Aided by the success of South Korean popular culture, interest in learning the Korean language has ballooned in recent years. The number of foreign applicants for the state-run Korean proficiency test surpassed 375,000 in 2019, a hundredfold rise over the last decade. American apps such as Duolingo and Rosetta Stone have been popular choices for many foreigners, but a local company hopes to change that. “We wanted to make an app that teaches Korean by Koreans,” Lee Hyun-jun, CEO

Social Affairs June 16, 2021

Seventy US civic groups sent a joint letter to Japan opposing the release of contaminated water from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, arguing that Japan’s filtration system is insufficient to make the water safe. According to the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement on Tuesday, US nongovernmental organizations including the Manhattan Project for a Nuclear-Free World wrote to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry on June 5 o

Social Affairs June 15, 2021

Attention is now being paid to Lee Jun-seok, who became the first person to lead the conservative main opposition People Power Party while still in his 30s. The 36-year-old graduated from the elite Seoul Science High School and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and computer science from Harvard University. One of the “Park Geun-hye kids” who were drawn into politics by Park in 2011, when she was the head of Saenuri Party, a predecessor of People Power Party, and befor

Politics June 11, 2021

Lee Jun-seok, a 36-year-old politician, won the leadership election for the opposition People Power Party, becoming the youngest ever leader of the nation’s main conservative party. On Friday, Lee defeated his rival Na Kyung-won, a former floor leader of the party, to claim the chairmanship, the party said. Earlier, the People Power Party’s election commission conducted a vote on 328,000 electors from Monday to Thursday. The final winner was determined by a combination of vo

Politics June 11, 2021

Seoul City will implement a one-month pilot project and ease social distancing rules at some private sports facilities, officials said Thursday, amid growing vaccination rates in the city. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it would allow fitness centers and indoor golf practice centers in the Mapo-gu and Gangdong-gu areas to operate until midnight for a month starting Saturday. The facilities in the two areas will be allowed to extend their hours for two hours beyond the current 10 p.m.

Social Affairs June 10, 2021

Calls are growing for Seoul to boycott the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympics in protest against the Japanese government’s marking of Dokdo as its territory on its Olympics website. The Korean government recently found that Dokdo remains on the Japanese territorial map on its Olympics website as a faint dot when the screen is zoomed in. Earlier, Japan had made the island unseen on the map after Korea’s protest. The Korean government recently protested again to remove the island, but th

Politics June 9, 2021

A Seoul court ruled Monday that victims of Japan’s wartime forced labor cannot sue Japanese companies. The victims said they would appeal the ruling. The Seoul Central District Court rejected a lawsuit filed by 85 plaintiffs, comprising forced laborers and bereaved family members of forced laborers, against 16 Japanese companies including Nippon Steel, Nissan Chemical and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Rejection means the court made its decision without hearing the case because it d

Social Affairs June 7, 2021

Lee Jin-ah, 43 and the mother of a 13-year-old son, has been following the updates of the death of Sohn Jung-min, a medical student who died in the Han River, every day, through news articles and YouTube videos. “Because I have a son, I am emotionally attached to Jung-min’s father. I feel so sorry for him. It is so terrible to think that my child could be dead like that,” she said. Lee does not know why Jung-min died, but does not trust the police investigation. “I

Social Affairs June 7, 2021

Discussions on abolishing the age limit for presidential candidates are gaining traction in the wake of the sensation caused by 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok in the main opposition People Power Party’s leadership race. Under the current Constitution, a candidate must be over 40 years old to run for president. The clause was first introduced in 1962 during the fifth constitutional amendment led by the military regime. In order for the Constitution to be revised, the motion needs the support

Politics June 6, 2021