Most Popular
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BTS, NewJeans fandoms clash over Hybe-Min Hee-jin conflict
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N. Korea launches missiles in latest show of military, nuclear strength
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High temperatures may worsen mental health conditions: study
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Samsung chief travels to France to encourage young talents
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Korean battery makers zero in on global commercial EV market
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Yoon leaves for Prague to cement nuclear energy push
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N. Korea fires multiple short-range ballistic missiles: JCS
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[Off the Pages] German bestseller gets new twist in ‘Snow White Must Die -- Black Out’
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4th case of lumpy skin disease confirmed in S. Korea
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Main opposition to railroad multiple contentious bills after Chuseok
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Carbon neutrality law violates basic rights: Constitutional Court
South Korea's carbon neutrality law does not conform with the Constitution because the absence of post-2030 targets violates the basic rights of the people, the Constitutional Court ruled Thursday. In a unanimous decision on Thursday, the court ruled that first paragraph of Article 8 of the country's Framework Act on Carbon Neutrality and Green Growth for Coping with Climate Crisis is unconstitutional. This marks the first court decision in Asia to recognize an inadequate climate respo
Aug. 29, 2024
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Foreign, multicultural students rise amid declining school population
The number of Korean students in kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school nationwide fell by nearly 100,000 in a year to 5.68 million while the foreign national or multicultural student populations increased, showing a stark contrast to the country's low birthrate crisis. According to the Ministry of Education's "2024 Basic Education Statistics Survey" results Thursday, as of April 1, there were 5.684 million elementary, middle and high school students in Korea. This
Aug. 29, 2024
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Deceased K-pop star's brother celebrates passage of 'Goo Hara law'
Koo Ho-in, the older brother of deceased K-pop star Goo Hara, celebrated the news of the National Assembly on Wednesday passing a law revision that would prevent parents who neglected child-rearing duties from collecting their child's wealth. "It (the bill) finally passed thanks to all the attention (from the public). I thank you all in this time of difficulty," Koo wrote on his Instagram page late Thursday. He shared the news that the long-pending bill had finally been passed,
Aug. 29, 2024
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S. Korean food agency bans 34 imported drug-laced candies
The South Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced Thursday that it has banned 34 imported sweets after detecting illegal substances, including marijuana. The ministry said it tested 34 items, including gummies, chocolate, candy and beverages, suspected of containing drugs imported from countries where recreational marijuana is legal. The inspection confirmed that these products purchased directly from overseas websites contained drugs or substances prohibited here. Officials reported t
Aug. 29, 2024
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Police bust crypto scammer who received plastic surgery to evade arrest
South Korean police said Thursday that they have arrested the leader of a cryptocurrency scam operation that defrauded investors of 16 billion won ($12 million) and who even underwent plastic surgery to avoid capture. The man, in his 40s, was apprehended earlier this month for deceiving 158 victims between November 2021 and June 2022 by promising a monthly return of 18 percent on investments in a so-called cryptocurrency mining business, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Police
Aug. 29, 2024
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Coach jailed for sexual exploitation of underage athlete
A coach for the national jump rope team was sentenced to five years in jail for his yearlong sexual exploitation of a teenage athlete, in a ruling Wednesday by a local court. The Uijeongbu District Court found the 28-year-old defendant guilty of violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth Against Sex Offenses, specifically Article 7 that prohibits sex with a juvenile by a deceptive scheme. He was also banned from working at facilities for juveniles or people with disabilities for
Aug. 29, 2024
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Ruling bloc seeks tougher sentences for deepfake sex crimes
The government and the ruling party agreed on adopting longer prison sentences of up to seven years for deepfake sex crimes Thursday, as South Korea grapples with a surge in female victims of such illegal pornography. The decision made during an emergency meeting at the National Assembly followed President Yoon Suk Yeol’s order, on Tuesday, of a crackdown on the latest reports of digital sex crimes involving the production and circulation of fake sexually explicit images of women and girls
Aug. 29, 2024
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Aricell CEO arrested in first case under industrial accidents law
The chief executive of lithium battery manufacturer Aricell and his son, who oversees factory operations, have been arrested over the deadly fire at the company’s Hwaseong plant that claimed the lives of 23 -- 17 Chinese nationals, five Korean nationals and one Laotian national. The incident marks the first time a company head has been formally arrested under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which came into effect in January 2022. The law mandates a minimum prison sentence of one year
Aug. 29, 2024
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Unionized hospital workers pull out from strike
Unionized hospital workers pulled out from their planned strike Thursday after reaching an agreement on pay raises and better working conditions with hospitals, withdrawing from a decision that could have caused potential chaos at understaffed hospitals already suffering from junior doctors' collective walkouts in February. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union -- which has some 30,000 nurses, caregivers and other medical workers as members -- said Thursday that health care work
Aug. 29, 2024
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Newborns hit new low, but births to those unmarried reach record high: data
Births to those not married accounted for nearly 5 percent of all births last year, setting a new record high, while the total number of newborns dropped to a new low, data showed Thursday. According to Statistics Korea, of the 230,028 babies born last year, 10,900, or 4.7 percent, were born to women who were not married, marking the highest proportion since records began in 1981. Babies born to people who were not married have steadily increased since 2020, reaching 9,800 in 2022, or 3.9 percen
Aug. 29, 2024
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Sinkhole swallows up car, injuring 2 in Seoul
A sinkhole opened up in the middle of a road in western Seoul on Thursday morning swallowing an entire car. Two people were injured, with one in critical condition, according to fire authorities. At 11:26 a.m., the vehicle, carrying the driver and a passenger, rolled over sideways crashing into the sinkhole while driving on Seongsan-ro in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, northwestern Seoul, toward Seongsan Bridge. The two who were injured, a woman in her 70s and a man in his 80s, sustained serious
Aug. 29, 2024
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[LLG] When compassion meets law: Lawyer defends goats, dogs, other helpless animals
As a child, Park Joo-yeon always loved animals. She enjoyed going to the zoo and constantly pestered her parents to have pets at home. In 2011, while undergoing training after passing the state bar exam, Park came across a horrendous photo that opened her eyes to aspects of animal life that she had not seen before. It was of a piglet being subjected to a gruesome death by protesters opposing an army base relocation plan in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. The incident, which took place in 2007, involv
Aug. 29, 2024
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[From the Scene] How ‘world’s first oil town’ is wrestling to become ‘green'
BAKU, Azerbaijan -- Driving just a few miles from the venue of this year’s global climate conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, a transformation is taking place. Once known as the Black City, from all the soot created in the 19th century from pumping and refining oil, it claims the dubious honor of being the world's oldest oil town. Having the world’s first-ever mechanically drilled oil well in 1846, the country at one point provided more than half of the world's oil. Having fu
Aug. 29, 2024
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[Graphic News] Average book price nears 20,000 won
The cost of purchasing a book in South Korea is approaching 20,000 won ($14.80), according to recent research by the Korean Publishers Association. In 2023, the average book price was 18,633 won. Books in the miscellaneous category were the most expensive, with an average price of 24,517 won. Other high-priced categories included history (24,289 won), social science (24,203 won), and descriptive science (24,157 won). The study also revealed that 62,865 books were newly published in 2023, a 2.8
Aug. 29, 2024
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NCT member Taeil leaves band over sexual offense allegations
Taeil, a member of K-pop boy band NCT, has left the team after being accused of sexual offense allegations, NCT's agency said Wednesday. "Our company recently found out that Taeil has been accused in a criminal case in relation to a sexual crime," SM Entertainment said. "In the process of verifying the details, the company reached the conclusion that (he) could no longer be part of the team, given the gravity of the incident." The company said the decision was made upon
Aug. 28, 2024
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Haru Invest CEO stabbed during fraud trial
The chief executive of Haru Invest, a troubled South Korean cryptocurrency deposit service, was injured Wednesday after being stabbed during a fraud trial. The CEO, only identified by his surname Lee, was stabbed in the neck by a man in his 50s during the trial at the Seoul Southern District Court and was taken to a hospital. His injuries are not life-threatening, according to authorities. Police said they have arrested the assailant on charges of attempted murder and are investigating his motiv
Aug. 28, 2024
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[Online Predators] Deepfake pornography haunts S. Korea
Song, a 17-year-old high schooler based in Gyeonggi Province, used to be just like any other girl her age on social media -- posting photos and short-form videos of herself or with her friends dancing along to trending audio tracks. That was until she received an anonymous message on Instagram. It still haunts her to this day. “I looked at my phone after school when I saw a message sent through an unidentified account,” Song told The Korea Herald. “The message read, ‘Do y
Aug. 28, 2024
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Suicide warning signs were there, but 7 out of 10 went unrecognized
Nearly everyone who died by suicide showed warning signs beforehand, yet few people around them took these signs seriously, a report showed Wednesday. A 2023 report by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Foundation for Suicide Prevention reveals that while 96.6 percent of suicide victims exhibited suicide warning signs through unusual behavior, only 23.8 percent of their loved ones recognized these signals. The report analyzed victim records from 1,099 suicide cases and interviews w
Aug. 28, 2024
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New guidelines proposed for writing foreign nationals' names
The government has proposed new guidelines for state and municipal offices when writing the names of foreign nationals in South Korea on administrative documents, to improve the convenience of identity verification, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Wednesday. Under the new standards, the government proposes that foreigners' names in the Latin alphabet be written as surname followed by given name, in uppercase, with a space between each. If a name in the Latin alphabet is already lis
Aug. 28, 2024
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Understaffed, overwhelmed: S. Korean ERs in emergency mode
Seven months into South Korea's medical sector standoff, fatigue and backlogs of patients are hammering emergency departments nationwide as emergency medicine physicians are reeling from the mass walkout of medical interns and residents in February, with some deciding to leave their jobs for good. Seven out of 14 ER doctors at Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, have tendered their resignations, putting the emergency unit under immense pressure as it grapples with personne
Aug. 28, 2024