Lack of child care facilities another burden after their return to workA growing number of hospital workers including nurses, doctors and assistant medical staff are women, but their working environment is still difficult for balancing career and family.In a desperate bid to keep their career ongoing in the male-centered system, they take turns being pregnant, curtail their maternity leave “voluntarily,” and some even give up having children completely. According to a Korean Medical Women’s Asso

Community Chest of Korea has seen its year-end and New Year’s donations reach an all-time high as it celebrated the end of its donation campaign on Tuesday. The CCK said it raised a total of 254.1 billion won ($225 million) as of Jan. 30, surpassing its two-month goal of 218 billion won and breaking its 2010 record of 224.2 billion won.The nationwide charity network conducts the annual donation drive named “Hope Sharing Campaign” from December to January. The CCK’s giant “Thermometer of Love” pe

The U.S. military will interview all Koreans who have been granted passes onto U.S. military bases here, amid an investigation by police into two men for illegal issuing of passes.The Stars and Stripes reports that the 19th Expeditionary Sustainment Command said it has made “internal changes” to how it issues passes through the U.S. Forces Korea’s Good Neighbor program.The 8th Army’s logistic support arm said all civilians who have required passes through the Good Neighbor Program will be interv

Protest president’s alleged unilateral decision-making and political biasUnionized workers of the nation’s second-largest terrestrial broadcaster MBC staged a general strike on Monday, demanding their president Kim Jae-chul resign over his alleged political bias and unilateral decision-making style.

The Korea Foundation said it will open a forum on hallyu, or the Korean Wave, at the foundation’s cultural center in Seoul on Tuesday to celebrate the 55th anniversary of the Korea Society, a private, non-profit, New York-based organization that promotes understanding between the U.S. and Korea.Under the theme, “Riding the Wave: Korea’s Growing Cultural Reach,” the discussion will start at 2 p.m. with moderator Stephen Noerper, vice president of the Korea Society.Panelists include Alexandra Munr

The number of victims seeking counseling at women’s support centers has seen a large increase over the years, but some centers have closed because of funding problems.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday, the number of women seeking counseling for domestic violence and sexual assault has doubled from 40,208 in 2005 to 90,197 in 2010.While those seeking counseling for sexual violence rose from 19,065 to 23,956. Domestic violence counseling has rocketed over the same period fro

The Education Ministry announced it will invest 27.3 billion won ($24 million) in the promotion of Korean studies this year. The project, launched in 2007, aims to foster research on Korea, highlighting the significance of Korean studies at home and abroad as well as continuing to strengthen the basis for research by supporting major institutions and scholars in the field.Korean studies focus on a broad range of topics related to Korea including its history, culture, anthropology, society, polit

Labor Minister Lee Chae-pil on Monday reiterated his determination to end long working hours in Korea, saying the ministry aimed to revise laws to regulate weekend work. “It is abnormal to have no regulation in place on weekend work,” the minister said. Last week, he said the ministry would push for a revision of labor laws to include weekend and holiday work in calculation of overtime work which is by law capped at 12 hours a week. Currently, it is not illegal to have an employee work on the we

The number of victims seeking counseling at women’s support centers has seen a large increase over the years, but some centers have closed because of funding problems.According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday, the number of women seeking counseling for domestic violence and sexual ass

The education ministry announced on Monday that it will earmark 27.3 billion won (US$24.3 million) this year to promote Korean studies both at home and abroad.As an academic discipline focusing on the study of Korea, areas of Korean studies include Korean history, culture, society and economics.The

The prosecution on Sunday said it is tracking 59 accounts thought to have been used for bonds with warrant trading of CNK International, a mineral mining company accused of stock rigging and insider trading. The investigators are now looking into whether the bonds were used by company chief Oh Deok-hyun as a tool to lobby politicians and businessmen. According to Seoul Central Prosecutors’ Office, 30-50 people are suspected of holding such bond accounts, suggesting that a large group of people h

More than a third of all children of North Korean defectors here were born in another country. The Korean Educational Development Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, said in a report released Sunday that children born in China or other countries during their parents’ defection into South Korea require educational approaches different to other young North Korean refugees.The study found that 36 percent of 1,681 student defectors in primary and secondary school were born outside of North Korea.Ot