The number of chickenpox patients has hit a record high, raising concerns for the upcoming spring semester as the infectious disease is known to spread among infants and elementary school students. The Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention received reports of 13,661 patients with chickenpox in January and February as of Monday. This number exceeds the 10,886 cases reported for the first two months of 2018. At the current rate, KCDC predicts the number of patients to hit a record high in

Social Affairs Feb. 25, 2019

Park Joon-hyuk, a 25-year-old university student who was hospitalized after a fall at the Grand Canyon National Park in the US, will return to Korea on Friday afternoon with the help of citizens and aviation company authorities. 　Park boarded Korean Air KE006A on Thursday at 11:40 a.m., US time, at the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport. His flight is scheduled to arrive at Incheon around 5:39 p.m. The flight was originally scheduled to arrive early Friday morning, but heavy snow in Las Ve

Social Affairs Feb. 22, 2019

A wide sinkhole opened up in Busan on Wednesday night and a parked car fell in. The sinkhole developed around 8:36 p.m. on Wednesday in a parking lot outside a residential building in Yeonje, Busan. The building security guard discovered the sinkhole around midnight.  (Yonhap)A resident’s SM5 fell into the sinkhole from the rear, but there are no reports of casualties.According to police, the sinkhole is 2.5 meters wide and 3 meters deep. A drainpipe is buried in the ground nearby, but police sa

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2019

A 60-year-old murderer who was paroled in October is now charged with larceny after being accused of stealing a wallet in a Gwangju internet cafe in January. As a result, his parole may be revoked. The man was originally sentenced to 11 years in jail in 2009 for murdering a Gwangju-based karaoke owner with whom he was having an affair. When he was originally questioned by police in connection with the murder, he unsuccessfully argued that the victim’s death was an accident and that a refrigerato

Social Affairs Feb. 20, 2019

Heavy snow covering the nation is expected to continue into the afternoon Tuesday, with some regions seeing rain.The Korea Meteorological Administration forecast snow in most parts of the nation, as a low pressure system is developing along the southern coast of the peninsula. (Yonhap)As of 9 a.m., heavy snow advisories had been issued for all or parts of Seoul, Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province, the North and South Chungcheong provinces and North Gyeongsang Province. The Korea Meteorological

Social Affairs Feb. 19, 2019

The body of a 51-year-old man was found inside an oil pipeline in Incheon on Sunday. The body, identified by police to be that of a nearby resident, was discovered by a worker during a pipeline company inspection. The body was found in a long-sleeved shirt and pants.  (Yonhap)According to Incheon Seobu police, the body was not badly decomposed, but it was difficult to immediately determine the cause of death. Police are looking into the possibility of homicide considering that the dead man was n

Social Affairs Feb. 18, 2019

JTBC chief Sohn Suk-hee was questioned at length about alleged physical assault and breach of duty over the weekend.Sohn’s questioning at Seoul Mapo Police Station started at around 7:40 a.m., Saturday and ended at 2:47 a.m. Sunday.  (Yonhap)Police interrogated Sohn based on accusations of bribery and physically assaulting a freelance journalist, identified by the surname Kim, who was reporting on a car accident in which Sohn was involved some years ago. According to Kim, Sohn offered him a job

Social Affairs Feb. 17, 2019

A fire broke out at a hardware store in a building near the Euljiro 4-ga Subway Station in downtown Seoul at 12:35 p.m.The fire caused a large cloud of smoke to cover the Jung-gu and nearby Jongno areas. (Yonhap)Fire officials are currently trying to put out the fire. There have been no reports of casualties so far.After the blaze began, the government sent out an emergency text to nearby residents at around 1:40 p.m., alerting them of the fire and asking them to exercise caution.By Lee Tae-hee

Social Affairs Feb. 14, 2019

Parents and students have filed a lawsuit against the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation, claiming some questions from the 2019 college scholastic ability test, or Suneung, were beyond the level of high school.A civic education group held a press conference Wednesday asserting that some questions from the 2019 Suneung were taken from outside the national curriculum, making it more difficult for students who did not attend cram schools or receive private tutoring and instead relying sol

Social Affairs Feb. 14, 2019

Since the death in October of Kim Seong-do, who had lived on Dokdo with his wife since November 1991 as one of the islets’ two official residents, numerous people have expressed interest in taking his place. However, Ulleung-gun has clarified that it has no plans to accept new residents and the late Kim’s widow, Kim Sin-yeol, will remain there as the sole resident. Local media reported on Tuesday that the late Kim’s son-in-law Kim Kyung-chul would officially reside on Dokdo starting in April. Ac

Social Affairs Feb. 13, 2019

On the heels of a recent embezzlement scandal at the animal protection organization CARE, another animal protection group known as Gaon now stands accused of appropriating donations.Seo Sun-il, head of Gaon, was indicted without detention Sunday on suspicion of embezzling donations and using them for his personal use. Seo allegedly misused approximately 98 million won ($87,150) worth of donations received by the group between November 2016 and April 2018. The funds were donated by some 1,000 peo

Social Affairs Feb. 11, 2019

The bitter cold snap gripping Korea as of Friday will continue through the weekend, with temperatures in many parts of the nation plummeting below minus 10 degrees Celsius.As of 10 a.m., cold wave advisories were in effect nationwide, with the exceptions of South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju Island. Chuncheon is forecast to be the coldest, with its morning low at minus 11 degrees C. Temperatures in Seoul plummeted to minus 10 degrees C in the morning, with Incheon hitting minus 9 degrees C, Daej

Social Affairs Feb. 8, 2019

Traffic surged on expressways around the country Wednesday as people headed home on the last day of the Lunar New Year holiday.Heavy traffic began on expressways on Wednesday morning, according to the state-run Korea Expressway Corp. Vehicles on the Seohaean and Cheonan-Nonsan Expressways were moving at slower than 40 kilometers per hour as of 7 a.m. 　 (Yonhap)Traffic congestion is expected to peak between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. and to continue through Thursday. The state agency predicted that traffi

Social Affairs Feb. 6, 2019

Unionized workers at Sunjung International, the company in charge of luggage classification and cabin cleanup for 13 airlines at Gimhae International Airport, have warned of a strike ahead of the busy Lunar New Year holiday.Of the 194 employees, 102 had expressed their intentions of going on strike as of Wednesday. Sunjung International clients account for approximately 100 of the 160 flights leaving the airport per day. Gimhae International Airport (Yonhap)Since October 2018, the company’s labo

Social Affairs Jan. 31, 2019

Police on Thursday raided the office and related facilities of Coexistence of Animal Rights on Earth over accusations that the organization ‘s head Park So-youn euthanised rescued dogs and embezzled donations.Jongro Police Station sent investigators to the CARE offices around 10 a.m. to secure the organization’s accounting documents. The raid included Park’s house, CARE’s Wonseo-dong office, its animal shelters and adoption centers. Park faces allegations that she euthanised over 230 rescued dog

Social Affairs Jan. 31, 2019