A string of poverty-related suicides is raising calls for the establishment of a more proactive social welfare program.The latest apparent suicide of a 44-year-old man and his two children on Monday brought to the fore the stark reality of those who do not fall under government social protection. Welfare experts are demanding the government actively seek out people that have been overlooked by the existing system.“If Korea’s welfare system was more mature, these tragedies would not happen so fre

Seoul City said Tuesday that it will install advanced water treatment systems in all water filtering centers by next year as part of its efforts to improve the quality of tap water. All Seoul water will go through an ozone treatment with the advanced water treatment system. Currently, only two out of six water filtering centers are equipped with the system. This is part of the city’s policies for improving the quality of tap water. Seoul City will also finish the replacement of old water pipes i

Civic groups on Tuesday called on the South Korean government to overhaul the monitoring system for Korean adoptees sent overseas following the death of a Korean child adopted by U.S. parents.The move came after a 3-year-old boy was allegedly killed by his adoptive father in February, only three months after he was adopted in Montgomery County, Maryland. The father soon faces trial on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse. Six advocacy groups asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to

A Seoul court has handed down suspended jail sentences to four Chinese people for taking major English proficiency exams instead of registered applicants in exchange for money, court officials said Tuesday.The so-called "substitute test-takers" were found guilty of helping other Chinese cheat on the Graduate Record Exam and the Test of English as a Foreign Language by using forged passports.The Seoul Central District Court sentenced two Chinese university students to one year in prison with a tw

Seoul City said Monday that it would unveil the design park in the Dongdaemun area this month that will act as a city hub for culture and design. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza ― 85,000-square-meter structure ― in Dongdaemun, eastern Seoul, consists of five halls with 15 rooms. It will host cultural events such as concerts and exhibitions along with conferences from March 21, officials said. The design park will be open 24 hours a day. While various events will be held in the daytime, some events s

The nation’s top court on Monday classified auto blog commenting and mass emailing software as malware programs, citing their damage to the digital network.A South Korean programmer on Feb. 13 was charged with selling seven types of spamming software that offer services such as collecting email addresses, auto-blog commenting and bulk emailing to an unspecified number of individuals.The Supreme Court sentenced the man, surnamed Kim, to eight months in prison with a two-year stay of execution and

Doctors launched a strike committee and finalized their walkout plan on Monday ahead of collective action scheduled for next week to protest the government’s new medical plans, including telemedicine, officials said. The Korean Medical Association, which represents more than two-thirds of the nation’s medical doctors, will stage a full one-day strike next Monday, excluding emergency room and intensive care center workers. From March 24, all doctors will go on strike for six days with no exceptio

Police said Monday a woman in her 30s is believed to have killed her preschool-aged son and herself over financial difficulties, showing that there are still blind spots in Korea’s welfare system.The 37-year-old woman and her four-year-old son were found dead Sunday in a suspected murder-suicide at an apartment complex in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, according to local police. The deceased woman, who lived in a studio apartment near the site, left her home around 6:00 p.m. with her son to go

A South Korean businessman was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in Oman for bribing an executive of an Omani state-run oil company, a conviction that he strongly denies and plans to appeal, the South Korean Embassy and news reports said Sunday.The 60-year-old businessman, the vice president of a South Korean conglomerate's Middle East regional unit, was sentenced by an Omani court on Feb. 27 and fined 4 million rial ($10.4 million), the South Korean Embassy told Yonhap.The names of the busines

South Korean doctors have voted to go on strike later this month in protest of the government's plan to introduce telemedicine and other contentious medical policies, the doctors' association announced Saturday.In January, doctors threatened to go on strike in March unless the government changes its plan to introduce telemedicine and other programs. Neighborhood doctors fear telemedicine would lead to a reduction in their income as they suspect patients would favor larger hospitals.The Korea Med

A nuclear reactor at a plant in the southwest unexpectedly stopped operations on Friday, plant operators said. The 950,000-kilowatt Hanbit reactor 2 in Yeonggwang, South Jeolla Province, shut down at about 10:50 a.m., according to Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. The operator said the exact cause of the stoppage is unknown, but it will not cause problem with supplying electricity.“We’re looking into the cause of the shutdown and it’s not clear when the reactor will restart,” KHNP public relations