An enforcement decree for the new workplace disaster law aimed at better protecting workers from industrial accidents will be reviewed during a Cabinet meeting this week, according to labor and business community sources Monday, despite criticism from both manager and labor groups over the government proposal. In January, the National Assembly passed a bill that strengthens the punishment of business owners and CEOs of companies with five or more employees in the event of serious workplace disas

Nearly half of South Koreans are in favor of a cautious approach to the issue of COVID-19 vaccinations for teenagers aged between 12 and 17, a poll showed Monday. In the poll of 1,006 people aged 18 and above conducted by the Korea Society Opinion Institute on Friday and Saturday, 49.1 percent said the government should take some time to observe vaccination situations in other countries before administering COVID-19 vaccine shots to the teen group. In contrast, 42.6 percent said vaccinations for

South Korean tattooists once again filed a petition with the Constitutional Court Monday against the medical law that requires tattooing to be conducted only by licensed medical personnel. A total of 153 tattooists associated with the Korea Fashion Tattoo Association and the Korea Tattoo Federation said Article 27 of the medical law that outlaws tattooing by people with no medical license violates their constitutional rights. "South Korea is the only country that punishes tattooing by non-m

Skin color directly linked to discrimination

President Moon Jae-in raised the need Monday for the government to consider imposing a formal ban on dog meat consumption in South Korea. "Hasn't the time come to prudently consider prohibiting dog meat consumption?" Moon told Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum during their weekly policy consultation session, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. The president made the remarks while being briefed by the prime minister on the government's plan to improve the system to take ca

People Power Party threatened to filibuster if Democratic Party pushes ahead

South Korea will begin administering COVID-19 vaccines to pregnant women and younger children starting Oct. 18 as part of its efforts to inoculate more people amid little signs of letup in the fourth wave of the pandemic, health authorities said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) announced the list of fourth-quarter vaccine recipients to achieve its goal of inoculating more than 80 percent of the country's adults by end of October and achieve herd immunity by November

President Moon Jae-in instructed his government Monday to make all-out efforts to tackle the rapid spread of COVID-19 infections across South Korea, Cheong Wa Dae said, as the country is preparing to implement measures in stages to ease social distancing rules and recover the normal life of the public. He delivered the message to Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum during their weekly meeting, according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Park Kyung-mee. "In order to achieve the phased recovery of daily

First Vice Foreign Minister Choi Jong-kun will visit Pakistan this week for policy talks with senior officials there on bilateral cooperation and regional security, the foreign ministry said Monday. Choi is set to attend the 11th South Korea-Pakistan policy consultative meeting with ranking Islamabad officials Wednesday. The two countries last held the policy session in Seoul in November 2018. Choi plans to use the meeting to express appreciation to the Pakistani government for its support for S

Pyongyang still remains unresponsive to Seoul’s hotline calls

North Korea dismissed the US as the “most heinous human rights abuser” for using its human rights agenda to put pressure on other countries and interfere in their internal affairs, its state media said Monday. 　 The Korea Central News Agency published an article written by Kim Jin-hui, a researcher with the Institute of International Studies of the DPRK, accusing the US of interfering in the sovereignty of countries such as Cuba, Venezuela and Syria, crippling their economic develo

More than 42 percent of 30-somethings in South Korea remained unmarried last year, census data showed Monday, underscoring the trend in which many young people delay or give up on marriage amid a prolonged economic slowdown. Out of 13.7 million singles aged 15 and older, 2.82 million people in their 30s were single last year, up from 2.68 million five years earlier, according to the 2020 census by Statistics Korea. The percentage of unmarried people in their 30s reached 42.5 percent last year, u