A Chinese national was sentenced by the Daegu District Court on Tuesday to six months in prison and two years of probation for illegally using a Korean citizen's resident registration number to get health insurance coverage for medical services. From 2012 to May 2022, the female Chinese national received medical treatment using a Korean citizen's resident registration number. According to the police investigation, the Chinese national received about 9.5 million won ($7,500) worth of be

‘Spotlighting pacifism in 1998 Korea-Japan declaration crucial’

President Yoon Suk-yeol on Tuesday granted special pardons to 1,373 people ahead of the upcoming New Year, including former President Lee Myung-bak and several key political aides to both of his conservative and liberal predecessors, calling the decision an opportunity to "clear up the past” and "unite" the power of the nation. Among the list, former South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyung-soo was included but without reinstatement. A reinstatement would allow him to wo

The Embassy of Sweden and the Korea Foundation is co-hosting Icons, an exhibition of 21 portraits of people with Down syndrome, at the Korea Foundation Gallery in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. The event runs through Feb. 9. The photographed portraits, which show models with Down syndrome representing various famous icons in popular culture, art and society, aims at challenging the preconceptions about beauty and other social standards. The exhibition brings often marginalized groups of people to c

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increase in depression disorder among men in their 30s and 40s, especially those with a lower education level or an unmarried status, data showed Tuesday. A report on adult mental health analyzed by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency based on a Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey said groups are considered at risk when the odds ratio, or relationship between a variable and the likelihood of an event occurring, is higher tha

KH's NK project partner and its link to opposition leader under scrutiny

A local civic group supporting Muslims in the conflict over a mosque construction in Daegu announced Monday that they filed a petition to the UN requesting emergency relief. The activists condemned the central government, Daegu Metropolitan Government and Daegu’s Buk-gu office, accusing them of inaction in the issue. “The fact that the government, Daegu and Daegu Buk-gu turn a blind eye to ongoing acts of religious discrimination and racial hatred constitutes a serious human rights v

A key Workers' Party meeting of North Korea opened earlier this week with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance to discuss next year's policy direction, Pyongyang's state media said Tuesday. The previous day, Kim presided over the sixth enlarged plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee to review last year's policies and discuss tasks for 2023 amid "unpredictable difficulties constantly threatening the existence and development" of the North, the Korea

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon of the ruling People Power Party declared his bid for party leadership Tuesday, vowing to lead the party to victory in the 2024 general elections and help the government of President Yoon Suk-yeol succeed. The People Power Party will hold a national convention March 8 to pick its new chair. The People Power Party has been led by an emergency leadership committee since its former chairman Lee Jun-seok was ousted in August after he was suspended of his party membership over alleg

North Korea convened a congress of a major youth group in Pyongyang for the first time in five years earlier this week, its state media said Tuesday. The ninth Congress of the Korean Children's Union opened in the capital the previous day amid "high enthusiasm of all the participants for further strengthening the group into a children's revolutionary organization" of the ruling Workers' Party, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The regime's leader

South Korea's new COVID-19 cases rose over 87,000 Tuesday, a significant hike from the previous day but a similar level reported last week. The country confirmed 87,596 new coronavirus infections, including 66 from overseas, bringing the total to 28,772,196, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency said. Daily coronavirus case numbers tend to be lower on Monday due to fewer tests over the weekend and go up during weekdays. The country confirmed 25,545 new cases Monday, 87,536 last Tu

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un attended a meeting to mark the anniversary of the promulgation of its Socialist Constitution half a century ago, according to Pyongyang's state media Tuesday. It took place at the Mansudae Assembly Hall in Pyongyang on Monday evening to mark the 50th anniversary of North Korea's institution of the Socialist Constitution, the official Korean Central News Agency reported. It marked the first time Kim attended an event to commemorate the country's adop

　Nearly half of recently married couples in South Korea had no children in 2021, data showed, amid the country’s chronic low birthrate and changing social norms. 　Some 45.8 percent of the country’s 871,428 couples who were legally married in the five years up to November 2021 did not have children, rising from the 44.5 percent tallied in 2020, the data from Statistics Korea showed. 　The statistics cover couples who tied the knot for the first time from November 2016 to October 202

S. Korea struggles to shoot down NK drones that flew over Seoul, Gimpo, Paju and Incheon

A two-story redbrick house surrounded by trees in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, looks like any of the other ordinary suburban homes in the neighborhood. But residents in the house have a special purpose in common -- to put themselves on a path to recovery from drug addiction. The 165-square-meter house is the Gyeonggi branch of the Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Center, a private halfway house agency for recovery from drug addiction that aims to help drug users kick the habit without medical assi