Korea’s labor market will face an oversupply of nearly 500,000 college graduates by 2020, as a mismatch between jobseekers and the demand for their skills widens a government report said Tuesday. The Ministry of Employment and Labor projected in the report that some 4.6 million holders of two-year college degrees or higher will enter the labor force over the next decade. The national economy is likely to add just 4.1 million jobs for them, resulting in an oversupply of 500,000 workers, it said.

Activists protest relocation of prosecutor suspected of sexual harassmentWomen’s rights groups in Gwangju are protesting the deployment of a prosecutor accused of sexually harassing female reporters. On Monday morning, an association of women’s groups in the city issued a statement denouncing the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office for deciding to dispatch Choi Jae-ho, a mid-ranking prosecutor from Seoul Western Prosecutors’ Office, to the region, after complaints of repeated sexual harassment were file

A group of teenagers became the latest campaigners against Korea’s cigarette industry on Friday, calling tobacco production unconstitutional. The students, members of an anti-smoking club at Handong International School in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, have begun an online movement to gather a million signatures. In the petition the middle school and high school students claim that the Tobacco Enterprise Law is “unconstitutional.”The club, Blue Jeans, is run by 10 students from the internat

After being plagued by more than two months of labor union strikes, MBC has taken additional disciplinary measures against strike leaders, its union said Tuesday, escalating labor-management conflict at the public broadcaster.The union said MBC management fired labor union head Jung Young-ha and his deputy Kang Ki-woong and suspended five others for two to three months for masterminding an "illega

After being plagued by more than two months of labor union strikes, MBC has taken additional disciplinary measures against strike leaders, its union said Tuesday, escalating labor-management conflict at the public broadcaster.The union said MBC management fired labor union head Jung Young-ha and his deputy Kang Ki-woong and suspended five others for two to three months for masterminding an “illegal” walkout.A total of 17 unionists have now been disciplined since the MBC strike began on Jan. 30.T

A South Korean has been arrested for allegedly killing his girlfriend who was initially believed to have accidentally suffocated while eating a live octopus, a prosecutor said Tuesday. After an investigation lasting many months the suspect identified only as Kim was formally arrested for murder last Friday, prosecutor Lee Geon-tae at Incheon city, west of Seoul, told AFP.Kim would be charged within the next 10 days, he said. “He’s still denying the charge... we believe enough evidence has been c

Seoul Metropolitan Government has opened a farm school for the homeless to help them stand on their own as farmers or farm hands. The Seoul Farm School, opened on Monday, is expected to offer agricultural education so that the homeless can support themselves and break free from life on the streets. “I want to start a new life at the farming school. I’ve been living on the streets and eat at homeless shelters, but I want to earn money that can support me in the future,” said Ki Un-chan, 52, one o

The Korean government banned imports of a Chinese motorcycle brand because it breached limits on harmful emissions, officials said Monday. The Opera motorcycles, imported by local firm Hansom Bike, were found to emit 6.875 grams of carbon monoxide per kilometer, three times more the legally permitted 2 grams, the environment ministry said. A total of 96 units have been imported since October 2010 and some are believed to have been sold to customers, it added. The ministry said it will push for a

The majority of the cases outlined in newly revealed evidence concerning the Prime Minister’s Office placing civilians under illicit surveillance were compiled as part of legitimate police procedure during the previous administration, according to Cheong Wa Dae.About 80 percent of the documents were compiled during the Roh Moo-hyun administration, said the presidential office. In addition, the presidential office says that of the 420 or so cases conducted under the current administration, only a

Tuberculosis is still strongly linked to poverty, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. In its study on 42,763 people with practically no income who visited public health centers and other medical facilities for TB checkups in 2008, about 80 were diagnosed with the pneumonic disease. The frequency rate could be translated into 187 out of every 100,000 people who fall sick to tuberculosis. Other studies have found the national average rate to be 91 in 100,000.Tuberculo

Greenpeace East Asia executive director Mario Damato and another employee were denied entry into the country on Monday.Mario Damato was accompanying Greenpeace International executive director Kumi Naidoo into the country on Monday when they were denied entry at Incheon International Airport at roughly 2 p.m. on Monday.Naidoo was allowed entry.According to a Korea Immigration Service officer, they received a request to deny entry to Greenpeace officials from a government branch. The officer, on

A U.S. language instructor who fled South Korea after being suspected of child molestation was recently arrested in his native country and extradited to the South, police here said Monday.The 56-year-old teacher, whose identity was withheld, is accused of five counts of molestation of four boys between June and July 2010, the police said.The suspect allegedly forced the boys into areas at an eleme

The government plans to convert existing school loans into lower-interest ones beginning next month as part of efforts to expand the financial support system for young people, President Lee Myung-bak said Monday.The government will utilize 50 billion won (US$44 million) contributed by local banks as a guaranty fund for the interest-lowering measure, Lee said during his biweekly radio address. "As

There were about 19 times more cases of bulimia in women as in men over the past five years, a survey has found.Bulimia is a type of eating disorder that involves eating large amounts of food and getting rid of the calories in an unhealthy way, such as vomiting or excessive exercise. According to a survey by the National Health Insurance Corp., released on Sunday, women bulimia patients outnumbered men 2,002 to 100 in 2007, 1,711 to 91 in 2008, 1,939 to 93 in 2009, 2,150 to 112 in 2010, and 2,12