A major children's hospital in Seoul said Thursday it has decided to suspend most of its weekend operations starting this month due to a shortage of pediatricians, reflecting the country's dire population crisis. Sowha Hospital announced a temporary suspension of its weekend and holiday operations, except for Saturday mornings, citing "a shortage of medical staff" and the need for "facility maintenance." However, no specific date has been provided for the resumption

A local Hangeul foundation is hosting an online contest for foreigners to transcribe their native language in Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, this summer. The contest, dubbed "Hangeul Festa 2023," hosted by Hangeul Nuri Foundation, requires its applicants to submit videos of the following descriptions from June 1 to Aug. 31 via its official website (https://www.hangeul-festa.org/en/). The contest will be held in three categories: transcribing in Hangeul the lyrics to a song; transcribing

The Busan Metropolitan Police Agency on Thursday revealed the identity of a 23-year-old woman held on suspicion of murdering and dismembering the body of another woman in her 20s. Police said they decided to make the suspect’s identity public after convening a committee to contemplate the disclosure. According to police, the suspect is 23-year-old Jeong Yu-jeong. South Korean law allows police to reveal the identity of a suspect only under certain conditions, where the crime is considered

A teenage hacker and an operator of a Telegram chatroom in his 20s were arrested on the charge of leaking scores of 270,000 high school sophomores of a mock scholastic ability test held nationwide in November last year, the police said Thursday. The 19-year-old has allegedly broke into the Gyeonggi Office of Education‘s server on Feb. 18 and stole the mock test results of high school sophomores, according to Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency. The teenager gave the data to the Telegra

Seven out of 10 South Koreans residing in the greater Seoul area expressed their opposition to Japan's move to discharge radioactive wastewater from the now-defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, local broadcaster CBS reported on Thursday, citing a survey. In the poll of 1,000 people aged 18 or above conducted by polling organization Jowon C&I May 27-29, 70.8 percent of respondents said they are against Tokyo's plan to release the destroyed nuclear plant's w

South Korea will build more industrial clusters to nurture innovative firms in high-end industries such as chips and biotechnology by lifting regulations and forging more partnerships with foreign businesses, the government said Thursday. The plan also aims to attract participation from municipalities in cluster projects, as well as in ventures and startups, to enhance South Korea's industrial competitiveness. Legal and accounting consulting services will also be provided to such businesses

South Korea’s anti-corruption watchdog said Thursday that it has launched a full-scale probe into allegations that high-ranking officials at the National Election Commission used their power and position to secure employment for their own children within the state agency. The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission said it would probe incumbent and retired officials and those previously acquitted from the election watchdog to look into employment practices. The commission said it has r

South Korea lifted nearly all its COVID-19 restrictions Thursday, including the isolation mandate for COVID-19 patients, as the country lowered the COVID-19 crisis level from the top level on Thursday. On May 11, President Yoon Suk Yeol declared that the government would downgrade the status of the COVID-19 crisis from "serious," the highest level, to "alert," starting from Thursday, June 1. With the alert level lowered, the COVID-19 isolation period of seven days has been sh

More than 1.5 million South Korean people are at risk of “lonely death,” or unattended death, accounting for 3 percent of the country’s population, a government survey showed. The Ministry of Health and Welfare said it had conducted the poll on a sample of 9,471 single-member households from November to December last year to check their circumstances that could possibly lead to a lonely death in the future. The 10-step checklist includes questions about whether the respondent h

Police on Wednesday exercised the first order to disperse a massive downtown rally led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, one of the biggest umbrella labor unions in South Korea, taking a hard-line stance as instructed by President Yoon Suk Yeol. The order was issued concerning unionized workers marching from the presidential office in Yongsan in central Seoul to the Korean National Police Agency's headquarters in Seodaemun-gu, demanding Yoon resign for "oppressing labor righ

A government agency that oversees policy coordination on Wednesday recommended that the Ministry of Education lower the standard for foreigners’ educational qualifications to teach online classes at hagwons -- or private academies -- to match those of domestic instructors. The Regulatory Tribunal of the Office for Government Policy Coordination recommended that the Education Ministry revise its current standard for foreign instructors teaching online lectures at hagwons to match that for K

Blame game intensifies as evacuation alert over NK satellite launch leaves Seoul in chaos

Foreign residents of Seoul were startled and confused as they woke up to emergency sirens and an alert sent out by the city government early Wednesday morning, just after North Korea launched what it says was a space satellite. At 6:41 a.m., the Seoul city government sent phone alerts and sounded sirens, warning people to prepare for evacuation without saying why -- or where they should evacuate to. Many foreign residents did not immediately know what the alert and the blaring sirens were about,

A breakdown of the three types of alarms and two types of sirens

A rare warning alert asking Seoul residents to "prepare to evacuate to the nearest underground shelter" on Wednesday left many confused as the text message didn't elaborate on where exactly they should go. "Underground shelter" became one of the most-searched-for words online shortly after the warning alarm rang for North Korea's launch of a projectile that it claimed to be a military reconnaissance satellite at 6:32 a.m. According to the Ministry of Interior and Sa