1 in 650 Korean seniors pick up cardboard: data

Older local residents pushing carts laden with discarded cardboard on the street have become a poignant symbol of South Korea’s elderly poverty crisis. These individuals roam the streets collecting cardboard boxes to sell to recycling centers. According to the Ministry of Welfare on Wednesday, at least 1 out of every 650 South Koreans aged 65 or older engage in the activity to make a living. Between February and May this year, there were 14,831 such individuals. Their average monthly inc

July 10, 2024

Samsung faces labor struggle at home as union stages indefinite strike

Samsung Electronics' largest labor union announced Wednesday an indefinite extension of their ongoing strike, claiming that their collective action could cause potential disruptions in production at one of the world’s leading chip manufacturing sites. The announcement followed a three-day strike, which ended without any engagement from management. “We declare a second round of strikes for an indefinite period as we have confirmed that management doesn’t have the will to ta

July 10, 2024

29 probed in baseball drug scandal, including 9 active players

Over two dozen people are being investigated in a drug scandal surrounding former professional baseball player Oh Jae-won, Seoul police said Wednesday. Seoul Gangnam Police Station said it has forwarded the case to the prosecution, with 29 people facing charges of violating the Narcotics Control Act. The list includes 13 active or retired pro baseball players, a trainer for Oh's former team the Doosan Bears of the KBO, parents of a player from Oh's baseball academy, three people who

July 10, 2024

Man cleared of spy charges, wrongful imprisonment and 55 years too late

South Korea's highest court recently upheld a lower court ruling that cleared an 82-year-old man of spy charges, for which he served a seven-year prison term after being convicted over five decades ago. The Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the prosecution, who claimed that the man, surnamed Kim, was guilty on some of the charges pressed against him back in 1969. The court said the evidence presented against him did not indicate that Kim could potentially threaten the nation's securi

July 10, 2024

Actor caught drunk driving, 'attacks' citizens who reported him

An actor in his 40s is being investigated on the charge of drunk driving, with additional allegations of him assaulting the people who reported him to the authorities. The officials at Seoul Seongdong Police Station said they have handed prosecutors a drunk driving case that occurred at on July 2 in Seongdong-gu, eastern Seoul. The actor is believed to have been drinking at a restaurant in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul, before driving his car some three kilometers to his home in Seongdong-gu. The m

July 10, 2024

Over half of sudden unintended accelerations involve under-60 group: report

More than half of recorded incidents suspected of being sudden unintended acceleration have involved drivers under the age of 60, government data showed Wednesday, contrary to the spreading belief that many such cases are caused by operator error on the part of older drivers. There have been 456 reports of SUA in South Korea from 2014 through last month, according to a Korea Transportation Safety Authority report submitted to Rep. Ahn Tae-jun of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The

July 10, 2024

S. Korea adds fewer than 100,000 jobs for 2nd month in June

South Korea added fewer than 100,000 jobs for the second consecutive month in June due to the slowing growth of manufacturing jobs and the weak construction industry, data showed Wednesday. The number of employed people came to 28.91 million last month, up 96,000 from a year earlier, according to the data compiled by Statistics Korea. In May, 80,000 new jobs were added on-year, which was the fewest since February 2021, when the country shed 473,000 positions amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In Januar

July 10, 2024

Labor side proposes 13.6 pct hike in 2025 minimum wage; management suggests near freeze

The labor segment of the Minimum Wage Commission proposed a 13.6-percent increase in next year's minimum wage Tuesday, while management representatives called for a near freeze. The proposals were made during the ninth plenary session of the commission tasked with determining the legal minimum wage per hour for 2025. This year's rate is set at 9,860 won (US$7.13), with an eye being placed on whether it will surpass 10,000 won for the first time. The labor side of the commission, which

July 9, 2024

Another round of heavy downpours forecast till early Wednesday, Seoul expected to receive up to 120 mm

Another round of monsoon rains will hit most regions of the country till late Wednesday with the greater Seoul area to receive up to 120 mm of rainfall until late Wednesday, the state weather agency said Tuesday. Heavy downpours have left one person missing, and many houses and roads inundated in the southern regions, and heavy rain warnings across the country may be issued later in the day, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. The downpours will continue in the wider Seoul area

July 9, 2024

Leader of crime ring sentenced to 23 years for drugging, blackmail

A South Korean court sentenced a 27-year-old man who led a scam that involved spiking teens' drinks with drugs and blackmailing parents to 23 years in jail Tuesday. The defendant surnamed Lee is believed to have been the leader of a crime ring that made drinks out of methamphetamine and milk and distributed them to middle and high school students in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul on April 3, 2023. The perpetrators falsely claimed that the drinks would help students concentrate. Lee ordered his

July 9, 2024

DJ sentenced to 10 years in jail for deadly drunk driving

A local DJ was sentenced to 10 years in prison Tuesday for a February drunk driving accident that resulted in the death of a 54-year-old motorcyclist. The Seoul Central District Court found Ahn Ye-song guilty of death by dangerous driving, hit and run, drunk driving and not taking appropriate measures after causing an accident. It also ordered that her car be seized as a relatively rare form of punishment imposed on particularly severe drunk-driving cases. The investigation found that Ahn, whi

July 9, 2024

Speed limit of e-bikes, e-scooters slashed to 20km/h in pilot plan

To address a sharp rise in accidents involving e-scooters and e-bikes, the South Korean government plans to implement a lower speed limit for micromobility vehicles in a project scheduled for the latter half of this year. According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety on Tuesday, the maximum speed for micromobility vehicles will be slashed to 20 kilometers per hour, from the present 25 km per hour, in major cities like Seoul and Busan from July to December. Once the pilot project proves

July 9, 2024

Twins, Bears to move to Olympic Stadium

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Tuesday that the Seoul Olympic Main Stadium would serve as a temporary baseball venue for the next five years as construction is set to begin on the new Jamsil Dome Stadium. The arrangement is part of a broader urban development plan unveiled in September 2023, which includes the construction of the Jamsil Sports MICE Complex in southeastern Seoul. The project will expand the city's capacity for meetings, incentives, conventions and exhibitions (M

July 9, 2024

Suicide prevention education mandated

Starting on Friday, suicide prevention education in schools, workplaces, public institutions and hospitals will be made mandatory once a year as part of the country's efforts to tackle the devastating suicide rates and increase help-seeking behaviors for those struggling, the Health Ministry said Tuesday. The strengthened suicide awareness and prevention training comes after the Cabinet on Tuesday approved a partial amendment to the Act on the Prevention of Suicide and the Creation of Cultu

July 9, 2024

Injunction to keep Korea's only Go department rejected

The Seoul High Court recently turned down an injunction filed by professors and students at South Korea's only university teaching Go, calling for the suspension of the decision to shut down the department, according to legal professionals on Tuesday. The court ruled that students planning or preparing to enroll in the major faced an unexpected situation following the department's decision to close. However, the court also pointed out that upholding the injunction to halt the closure w

July 9, 2024

Of the emergency patients being turned away by hospitals, 40% were due to doctor shortage

Of cases in which hospitals refused to take emergency patients, 41.9 percent occurred because the hospital lacked the necessary medical staff to take care of the patient, fire agency data has shown. From 2023 to June of 2024, there were 4,227 cases across the country in which a hospital refused to admit an emergency patient taken there by ambulance, according to the National Fire Agency data provided to the Rep. Kim Sun-min of the minor opposition Rebuilding Korea Party. Of those cases, 1,771

July 9, 2024

Pregnant woman injured in road rage attack

A man in his 50s is being investigated by local police on suspicion of deliberately driving his car into another vehicle, injuring a pregnant woman, who was a passenger in the other car at the time. According to the Hwaseong Seobu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, the driver ran his car into the side of another car Saturday. The other driver's pregnant wife and two young children, aged 3 and 4, were in the vehicle at the time. The female victim, who was 24 weeks pregnant at the time, fel

July 9, 2024

Man kills mother, who he did not believe was his biological mom

The South Korean prosecutors said Monday it has indicted a man in his 30s for killing his own mother in her sleep. The Daegu District Prosecutors' Office pressed the matricide charges against the suspect, who has intellectual disabilities. He is accused of killing the victim at 4 p.m. on June 10, while she was sleeping at a restaurant she owned in Sangju, North Gyeongsang Province. The suspect told the investigators he committed the crime because of a grudge for his mother repeatedly repr

July 9, 2024

Govt. to cut trainee doctor quota unless hospitals accept resignations by next Monday

The government has notified hospitals that it will reduce next year's quota of trainee doctors unless they accept their resignations by next week, according to officials and the medical community Tuesday. The move is seen as a measure to put pressure on trainee doctors, who have left their worksites since late February in protest of the medical reform, to return to hospitals. The notice was sent to training hospitals Monday, when the government announced a decision to withdraw its plan to t

July 9, 2024

Seoul cancels administrative actions against protesting junior doctors

Five months after protesting junior doctors tendered their resignations en masse despite stern legal warnings from the government, the Health Ministry said Monday it would scrap all administrative actions imposed on intern and resident doctors, in a move seen as an effort to convince protesting doctors to resume their training and end disruptions to the nation's medical service. Describing the appeasement step as a "last resort" for the government to address the medical standoff a

July 8, 2024