The historic city of Gyeongju may soon lose one of its most iconic street snacks, the 10-won waffle, as the South Korea’s central bank takes issue with its design resembling a real coin. The Bank of Korea on Thursday said it will put the brakes on the sale of the waffles designed after national coins that have become popular street snacks in some tourist destinations. The central bank has recently urged a warning to local producers of the coin-shaped snack to stop applying the design of go

The Education Ministry said Thursday it has teamed up the police and the market watchdog, the Fair Trade Commission, to identify irregularities in operations of, hagwon, or private academies and institutions nationwide for next two weeks. The ministry started receiving reports on hagwon that provide one-on-one classes, run false advertisements, promote excessive spending on private education, and charge separately for textbooks. The reports can be filed on the Education Ministry's website u

An alleged infanticide committed by a Suwon woman in her 30s, who was found to have kept two infant bodies in a freezer at her apartment, was caught while the government was investigating the cases of more than 2,000 babies who were logged born in hospitals, but whose births remain unregistered by their parents for years, according to the state audit agency on Thursday. The Board of Audit and Inspection said it has been looking into these cases since March and has asked local governments and the

Percentage of teens drinking alcohol also up, while smoking decreases

The monsoon season is likely to begin nationwide on Sunday, the weather agency predicted, Thursday. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, clear days are expected to continue through Saturday due to the influence of what is called a migrating anticyclone, or the circulation of winds around a central region of high atmospheric pressure. As the North Pacific High moves northward starting Sunday, a stationary front crossing northern Taiwan and the southern coast of Japan is forecast

The Korean age system is set to change at the end of June, but some aspects of the old system will remain, the Ministry of Government Legislation said in a press release Wednesday. While age standards across Korea will soon be calculated in the same way as most places around the world -- from the time of birth -- there are still some exceptions to the new rule. Notably, age restrictions on the buying of alcohol and tobacco will continue to use the old formula. In this system, age is calculated b

In-flight disturbances and other illegal acts on board have risen significantly this year as more people have gone on overseas trips since the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, government data showed Thursday. According to the data from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, 159 such cases were reported between January and April, compared with 85 cases in the same period in 2021 and 264 cases throughout all of 2022. The data was released by Rep. Kim Su-hong of the main opposition De

A final decision has been reached to permanently close the 82-year-old Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital, hospital officials announced Wednesday. Located near Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul’s Jung-gu district, the general hospital -- which had opened as the nation’s first surgical hospital in 1941 -- has been suffering from mounting losses. While the exact closure date is yet to be decided, Seoul Paik will “now proceed with necessary preparations in the following weeks, such a

Offenders accused of stalking or harassment will now face punishment, even without the need for victims' to consent to it, in a bill unanimously passed by the National Assembly on Wednesday. The bill, approved by the parliament, eliminates any possibility for stalking and harassment offenders to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with the victim, a practice that has often left victims vulnerable to coercion or retaliation. All 246 lawmakers present in the plenary session voted for the bill. Th

A woman has been taken into custody on suspicion of murdering her two newborn children, Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police revealed Wednesday. According to the police, a woman in her 30s was taken into custody in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, after the bodies of two babies were found in her fridge. The children were born in November 2018, and November 2019, but were killed immediately and their bodies stored in the fridge, according to reports. The suspect is said to have told the police that she kill

A singer who raised donations by faking cancer was found dead in an apparent suicide, police said Wednesday. The deceased, 33-year-old Choi Sung-bong, was the semifinalist in tvN's 2011 singing competition program "Korea's Got Talent." Police and emergency officials found him dead at his home in Gangnam-gu around 9:41 a.m. on Tuesday. Officers arrived at the scene after receiving a report that he may have attempted suicide. Prior to his death, Choi posted on his YouTube chann

One-third of South Koreans believed that a victim of sexual assault has some responsibility for the attack if the crime occurred while the victim was inebriated, a government survey showed Wednesday. According to the survey of 10,020 people aged 19 to 64, 32.1 percent of respondents said that if a victim was drunk when assaulted, the victim is partially responsible for being attacked. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family conducted a survey on public's perceptions of sex crimes over th

Korea to enhance teachers’ rights; minister says public school quality has declined

Victim blaming still prevalent in Korean society

Ruling marks first case in Korea where court rejects driver accountability in suspected unintentional sudden acceleration