Clear skies are expected Friday, but parts of the country will continue to see unhealthy levels of find dust, the weather agency said. The average temperature for this time of the year is forecast for the day, with daytime highs of 3 to 11 degrees Celsius. (Yonhap)Morning temperatures recorded minus 4 C in Seoul, minus 7 C in Chuncheon, 2 C in Busan, minus 2 C in Gwangju, and 4 C in Jeju.The northern part of Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon, North Chungcheong and Gyeongsang provinces will suffer fr

Social Affairs Jan. 19, 2018

South Korea’s national ice hockey team announced the full roster for the PyeongChang Olympics on Thursday, a day after South and North Korea agreed to field a joint women’s ice hockey team.Sarah Murray, the national team coach, a former Canadian star and daughter of ex-National Hockey League coach Andy Murray, announced her 23-player team with 14 forwards, six blueliners and three goaltenders. For the men’s team, coach Baek Ji-sun announced his 25 players, with 14 forwards, eight defenses and th

North Korea Jan. 18, 2018

Graduate students have established the first labor union in South Korea, to fight unfair treatment they may receive as school assistants, the labor union said Wednesday. Students from six graduate schools in Seoul gathered to create the National Graduate Student Labor Union last month.  Statement released by the National Graduate STudent Labor Union (National Graduate STudent Labor Union-Yonhap)“While graduate students contribute to the academia and school’s administrative processes as assistant

Social Affairs Jan. 17, 2018

More men appear to be doing household chores, and the number of men taking on the role of full-time househusbands peaked in 2016, a state statistics agency reported Wednesday. According to Statistics Korea on Wednesday, the number of men in charge of child-rearing and housework amounted to 170,000 last year, marking the highest since the ministry started to compile the data in 2003. The number of full-time househusbands was 166,000, while 4,000 took charge of child-rearing.  (Yonhap)The number o

Social Affairs Jan. 17, 2018

SEJONG -- The Education Ministry on Tuesday said it will postpone by one year the decision on a controversial plan to ban extracurricular English courses for preschool children. “We have found that the country lacks a social consensus on English language education as a whole. And we concluded that we need to first resolve the problems caused by private institutes encouraging advanced learning for young children,” said Shin Ik-hyun, chief of Student Welfare Policy Bureau at the Education Ministry

Social Affairs Jan. 16, 2018

The leaders of two minor opposition parties are preparing a joint proposal for a merger and are expected to make the announcement as early as this week, party officials said Monday.Chairmen Ahn Cheol-soo of the center-left People’s Party and Yoo Seong-min of the center-right Bareun Party are likely to release a statement containing the spirit underlying the founding of their new party and its identity, a lawmaker close to Ahn said.  People’s Party Chairman Ahn Cheol-soo (right) and Bareun Party

Politics Jan. 16, 2018

South Korea’s top court on Sunday sent back a case of a Ugandan asylum seeker who claimed that she was persecuted in her home country because she was homosexual, citing a lack of credibility in her testimonies. The Supreme Court annulled an earlier ruling in favor of the plaintiff and ordered a retrial, saying she lacked coherency and reasoning in her claims. The Ugandan filed a lawsuit against the chief of the Korea Immigration Service in Seoul after she was refused refugee status.  (Yonhap)“Sh

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2018

A former aide of ex-President Lee Myung-bak denied all allegations of bribery involving the nation’s intelligence agency, as he underwent overnight questioning Saturday, prosecutors said Sunday. Kim Paik-joon, Lee’s former senior secretary for administrative affairs, left the prosecutors’ office in the wee hours of Sunday morning after 11 hours of questioning.  Kim Paik-joon, a former senior aide to ex-President Lee Myung-bak, appears in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2018

The prosecution is expected to freeze an additional 3 billion won ($2.81 million) belonging to ousted President Park Geun-hye, which her lawyer returned to her account Friday. According to prosecutors Sunday, Park’s lawyer Yoo Young-ha deposited the money into an account belonging to Park just before the court ordered Friday a freeze on Park’s assets totaling 6 billion won. The assets included the 3 billion won which had been kept by Yoo, and a 2.8 billion won residence in southern Seoul.Yoo pre

Politics Jan. 14, 2018

The severe cold snap is easing and the weather on Sunday is expected to be much warmer.The overall temperature is forecast to stand higher, with the day time high expected at 3 to 10 degrees Celsius, and the low at minus 13 to 0 degrees Celsius. In Seoul, the days highest temperature will be 5 degress Celsius.  (Yonhap)Special cold wave warnings are in effect in Gangwon Province and Chungcheong provinces, but the regions will also see increases in temperature, with the flow of the relatively war

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2018

President Moon Jae-in reiterated Wednesday his pledge to hold a referendum on constitutional amendment in tandem with the upcoming local election in June, urging the National Assembly to come up with an agreed revision bill by March. In the New Year’s press conference at the Blue House, Moon also said the government is willing to prepare a proposal of its own if necessary. “The Constitution that was last amended 30 years ago cannot reflect the will of the people,” Moon said during the televised

Politics Jan. 10, 2018

A Christian university in Korea has come under fire for punishing students and professors for their involvement in a seminar on gender identity and prostitution in December. Handong Global University brought five students to the student guidance committee -- three of them for hosting an academic seminar on different perspectives on the subjects and two others for writing and posting about the seminar on social media. English literature professor Na Youn-sook has also been investigated and is awa

Social Affairs Jan. 9, 2018

While the long-frozen inter-Korean relations appear headed for a thaw following an agreement to hold high-level talks on North Korea’s possible participation in the PyeongChang Winter Games on Tuesday, South Korea’s main opposition leader warned against the high possibility of a contingency on the peninsula after the sports event. In an interview with The Korea Herald On Jan. 2, conservative Liberty Korea Party Chairman Hong Joon-pyo warned the country could face a critical situation before mid-

Politics Jan. 8, 2018

The chairman of the board of directors of an unaccredited cyber university has been arrested on suspicion of running a fake diploma mill and swindling some 200 people out of billions of won. Seocho Police said Wednesday that they had arrested Kim Moon-kap, chairman of the board of directors of Templeton University and booked the dean of its business department, Park, without detention on suspicion of fraud and violation of the Higher Education Act. Kim, 45, is suspected of issuing fake universit

Social Affairs Jan. 5, 2018

Private English language education institutes for preschoolers are expected to be put under stricter operating regulations. The Ministry of Education on Friday said it is currently discussing ways to regulate hagwon, or private education institutions, aiming to reduce the study load, especially for young children. “We will soon decide on specific measures to regulate hagwon hours and tuition and also propose a law revision to change the criteria for establishing such institutes,” a ministry offi

Social Affairs Jan. 5, 2018