First lesbian couple expecting baby had to travel overseas for sperm donation as Korea restricts women without a husband from accessing assisted reproductive technology

Street vendors in Myeong-dong, one of Seoul's main tourist districts, could be forced to label their prices following complaints of overcharging, Jung-gu District Office said Sunday. According to the district office, a considerable number of vendors in Myeong-dong do not display their prices, making it difficult for consumers to compare costs without making direct inquiries. The proposed system aims to enhance transparency by obligating all vendors to display their prices prominently. The d

Proper sex education, change in perceptions of single motherhood needed, experts say

Expect periods of moderate or heavy rain throughout the week, as rain clouds are likely to hang over South Korea in the start of what is forecast to be a particularly wet summer, the weather agency said Sunday. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the storm systems that drenched much of the country Sunday will stay in place through Monday, before making way for a new stationary low-pressure system that will wreak havoc on the peninsula. On Sunday, heavy rain advisories were issu

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency arrived in South Korea on Friday to explain the analysis of the UN watchdog's safety review of Japan's planned release of treated radioactive water from its crippled Fukushima plant. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi was met by a group of angry protesters at Seoul's Gimpo airport. Grossi flew in from Japan following the agency's conclusion that Japan's plan to release treated radioactive water from the plant i

Seoul Metro has once issued a "map" of subway trains to help passengers avoid being too cold or too hot, as it turns up the air conditioning in the summer heat. There has been a 60 percent increase in complaints regarding uncomfortable heating and cooling conditions on trains compared to the same month last year, Seoul Metro said, issuing guidance on subway usage on Thursday. From January to May of this year, complaints about "being hot" increased by approximately 60 percent.

More than 70 percent of Koreans are either unsure or do not plan on going on a summer vacation this year, with 1 in 3 citing financial reasons, a survey showed Friday. According to a survey that polled 3,000 individuals aged between 20 to 69, conducted by PMI, an online research institution, 36.8 percent of respondents have no plans for a summer vacation. Another 36.2 percent have not yet made a firm decision, bringing the total percentage of respondents unlikely to enjoy a summer vacation to ov

The police have taken action to address the increasing number of pedestrian accidents involving two-wheeled vehicles, especially motorcycles. The National Police Agency has recently announced their plan to designate a specific day in each region dedicated to enhancing two-wheeled vehicle safety. This initiative aims to crack down on two-wheeled vehicles driving on sidewalks and crosswalks, particularly in areas with high pedestrian traffic. Their focus is on eradicating the motorcycles' u

Two-week reporting period ends, but ministry to continue monitoring industry

South Korea’s human rights commission said Friday that North Jeolla Province has accepted its recommendation to rectify discrimination against foreign residents by including them in COVID-19 subsidy programs. The National Human Rights Commission of Korea had previously determined in 2021 that North Jeolla Province's failure to provide COVID-19 subsidies to foreign residents constituted discrimination. Consequently, in a recommendation issued last December to the regional governor, it

A 49-year-old senior hospital administrator has been sentenced to three years in prison for drugging nursing assistants and sexually assaulting them, Daejeon High Court said Thursday. The court banned him from working at facilities associated with children or the disabled for a period of five years. Additionally, he was required to participate in 80 hours of treatment programs for sexual offenders. In January of last year, during a staff dinner gathering at the hospital in Eumseong, North Chungc

A doctor who had been running a pediatric clinic for 20 years will shut down the establishment because of alleged malicious complaints made by a parent, the latest in a series of closures of pediatric clinics. The clinic, located in Gwangsan-gu, Gwangju, will shut down on Aug. 5 because it was subject to "malicious false complaints" from a parent, it said in a closure notice dated Thursday. The child, who was born in 2019, visited the clinic recently with a skin condition, local media

Soil and rocks swept down a hillside onto a road in the southwestern city of Jeongeup on Thursday night and struck a passing taxi, but the driver escaped unhurt, fire authorities said Friday. The taxi was passing Local Highway 29 in Jeongeup, 180 kilometers southwest of Seoul, when rocks, earth and sand slid down from the hill near a reservoir at 11:50 p.m. onto about a 100-meter section of the road, according to fire authorities. The taxi was hit by the landslide, but the driver fled for safety

A woman arrested for starving her infant to death four years ago is expected to receive a heavier punishment than expected, as police decided Friday to apply the murder charge to her instead of the fatal child abuse charge. The woman, in her 20s, was put under emergency detention on June 30 on charges of neglecting her baby son and letting him starve to death by not feeding him for three days at her previous home in Daejeon, 139 kilometers south of Seoul, after giving birth in April 2019. A cour

A father was put under emergency detention Thursday on charges of killing a newborn and abandoning the body in collusion with the baby's maternal grandmother, police said, the latest in a string of child abuse cases involving unregistered babies. The man in his 40s was first taken into custody in Yongin, south of Seoul, in the wee hours of Thursday on charges of murder and corpse abandonment before the grandmother in her 60s was detained later in the day on the same charges, police said. Th