The number of female local government employees surpassed that of their male counterparts for the first time ever in 2023, data showed Tuesday, but higher-ranked civil servants were still mostly men. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety released data on those working in the government bodies of metropolitan and provincial regions or districts, which showed that 157,935 civil servants were women as of late 2023. This figure accounts for 50.4 percent of the total 313,296 workers in local govern

Summit seen as milestone for South Korea's value-based diplomacy, affirms its position as economic, IT powerhouse: experts

South Korean spy agency said Tuesday it was forming a consultative body of concerned ministries and other government agencies to enhance satellite cyber security. The consultative body led by the National Intelligence Service is aimed at protecting satellites throughout their lifespan from their design to operation. The NIS explained that the body was created against amid emerging domestic and international space cyber threats, citing the recent cyber attack against the Korea Satellite Operation

Junior doctors divided despite government's expectation of them to return, with some refusing to come back

Pansori sung in Korean, French at Cheong Wa Dae event

South Korea voted in a Cabinet meeting to suspend the September 19 Inter-Korean Military Agreement on Tuesday after a week of North Korea’s unceasing provocations ranging from attempting to launch another spy satellite to sending trash balloons. The Cabinet decision was approved by President Yoon Suk Yeol the same day, making the pact -- reached on September 19, 2018, to minimize front-line tensions -- lose effect entirely for the time being. South Korea earlier halted parts of the pact to

Korean husbands visited marriage counseling centers to consult on divorce more often than foreign wives last year, a report on multicultural couples showed. Of more than 1,000 cases of divorce counseling for international couples, 20 percent more Korean men visited the center than foreign women, according to statistics released by the Korea Legal Aid Center for Family Relations. Korean husband-foreign wife couples took 80 percent of the total counseling for multicultural couples last year. "

Korea's expertise in innovation, commitments to global stability to make Moroccan initiative successful, FM says

Nine out of 10 Korean nationals believe that South Korea is now facing a climate crisis, according to survey results released by the Korea Meteorological Administration on Tuesday. According to the survey, 89.9 percent of respondents answered that Korea is in the midst of a climate crisis and 90.1 percent of respondents answered that they feel the impacts of climate change directly, due to extreme weather events such as prolonged heat waves. In January, the KMA stated that 2023 was Korea’s

An international non-government organization committed to protecting the rights and welfare of migrant workers has issued a statement expressing concerns about a pilot program for introducing Filipino caregivers to South Korea. Migration Forum in Asia recently issued a statement, saying the plan for a pilot program for Filipino domestic workers has a “discrepancy in terminology” and a “lack of clarity in the scope of work” they can be asked to do. “The program has

South Korean police on Tuesday said that a young unmarried couple have been arrested on suspicion of illegal adoption of a child, neglect leading to the death of the child and burial without proper procedures. Dongbu Police Station in Daegu requested the indictment of a male suspect in his 20s and a female suspect in her 30s on charges of child abuse resulting in death and abandonment of a dead body. Abusing a child to death, even with no intent to kill, is punishable between five years and a li

Around 20 cows escaped from a farm in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province in the middle of the night, wandering around on a nearby road for over an hour, before rescue authorities captured and returned them to the farm's owner early Tuesday. According to the Gyeongsang Fire Service Headquarters, the cows broke out of their barn at around 1:20 a.m. Tuesday. Several eyewitnesses filmed the animals walking around the road in a herd. Authorities said no accidents were reported as a result of th

Nigeria's lithium reserves, youth population, energy mix plan opportunity for Korean EV makers, says foreign minister

South Korea's military said Tuesday it remains ready to immediately operate mobile loudspeakers near the border with North Korea as Seoul took steps to fully suspend a 2018 inter-Korean military pact. Earlier in the day, the Cabinet endorsed the suspension of the Comprehensive Military Agreement in response to the North's trash-carrying balloon campaign and jamming of GPS signals in recent days. The motion will be sent to President Yoon Suk Yeol for signing, and the suspension will all

The ruling People Power Party said Tuesday it will push for a law revision allowing compensation for any citizen who suffers damage from North Korea's trash-carrying balloons. During a party meeting, PPP floor leader Choo Kyung-ho noted the lack of legal grounds to compensate South Korean citizens who had their cars partially destroyed and experienced other property damage from the balloons. "We will push for an amendment to the Framework Act on Civil Defense to establish the legal bas