Prosecutors who worked closely with President Yoon Suk-yeol while he was the prosecutor general are returning to fill top jobs at anti-corruption departments of the prosecution service.　　 Many of the reshuffled prosecutors were those who were demoted during the Moon Jae-in administration for their role in special counsel investigations against the former president’s close aides. The Ministry of Justice announced on Tuesday a large-scale shake-up of the prosecution service with some 683

The thousands of cases South Korea is still counting every day may be as low as the numbers are going to get, according to some top public health officials. In the last 24 hours ending Tuesday midnight, South Korea logged 10,463 new cases, exceeding the 10,000 mark for the first time in nearly three weeks.  Lim Sook-young, a senior Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency official, told a news briefing Tuesday that the downward slope of the country’s COVID-19 curve may have hit

Lax management of ‘extracurricular leave’ exposes blind spot for child safety

South Korea's new coronavirus cases exceeded 10,000 for the first time in 20 days Wednesday, though in recent months the pandemic has shown a downward trend. The country added 10,258 new COVID-19 infection cases, including 205 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,349,756, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. The pandemic has loosened its stranglehold on the country since mid-March when infections peaked at more than 621,000. Daily virus caseloads re

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world's largest technical professional organization, said Wednesday it has launched an investigation into a South Korean research paper accused of plagiarizing multiple papers published in the past. The move came just days after a research team led by Yoon Sung-roh, a professor at the department of electrical and computer engineering at Seoul National University, admitted to engaging in plagiarism when producing the paper rec

The South Korean police on Tuesday found the car of the three-person family who mysteriously went missing almost a month ago on a remote island. Ten-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents, both in their 30s, went missing on the southwestern island of Wando County, South Jeolla Province, on May 31 after they entered the island in a silver-colored Audi sedan on May 23. An Audi sedan with a matching license plate was discovered off the coast of Sinji Myeon in the region at 05:12 p.m., according to

Former President Lee Myung-bak, 81, was granted a stay of sentence due to his health concerns, Suwon prosecutors said Tuesday. The Suwon prosecution service’s deliberation committee said in a press release that Lee was deemed to be “physically unfit” to be in jail, and that he would be granted a three-month break from his time. The deliberation committee decided that the ex-president could face “significant damage” to his health by continuing to serve in jail.

Only a handful of people living in Seoul have discarded unused or expired medicines at designated drug take-back sites, despite a majority of people saying that they are aware of the environmental issues surrounding pharmaceutical waste. According to a report published by the Seoul Institute, 20.1 percent of respondents answered that they “never use the designated sites,” while 29.7 percent responded that they “seldom use the sites.” To be specific, the figure varied de

The Seoul city government on Tuesday announced that it would offer online Korean classes during a six-month trial period, starting Friday this week. According to the city government, the online language classes will be available on the official website of King Sejong Institute Foundation, a public institution operated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The classes will be available, free of charge, to all foreign residents staying in Seoul as well as those staying in other regions

Korea‘s greenhouse gas emissions in 2021 were tentatively tracked to be at about 679 million tons, marking a 3.5 percent increase from the year before. The Greenhouse Gas Inventory and Research Center under the Ministry of Environment released the tentative numbers of greenhouse gas emissions from last year. Korea saw 679 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2021, marking a 3.5 percent rebound from the year before. The energy sector took up 86.9 percent of the total greenhouse

With the opening of the new Jeonju Energy Center, Climate Clock has settled in the city of Jeonju in North Jeolla Province, sending warnings on the Earth’s carbon budget. Climate Clock was installed at the Jeonju Energy Center, which opened on June 21. The digital clock, 8.5 meters wide and 1.8 meters long, displays how much time is left before global warming reaches irreversible levels due to our carbon emission. “Through the installation of the clock and opening spaces for the p

Stigmatization around Korean equivalent to ma’am leaves a large number of Korean women without proper terms of address

South Korea reported an uptick in new coronavirus cases Tuesday, with the COVID-19 pandemic loosening its grip. The country added 9,896 new COVID-19 infections, including 119 from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 18,339,319, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. While the pandemic curve is generally trending downward, Tuesday's tally is up 593 cases from a week ago and 125 from two weeks ago, a possible indication that the pace of decline is slowing. South

The Ministry of Justice is seeking a constitutionality review of a series of prosecution reform laws passed during the final two weeks of the previous Moon Jae-in administration. In a press release, the ministry said it has asked the Constitutional Court to determine whether it was within the jurisdiction of the National Assembly to restrict the functions delegated to the prosecution by the Constitution. Also to be assessed is whether in the process of the bills’ passage, the legislative

Park Eun-ha (Enna Park), Busan’s ambassador for international relations and former ambassador to the UK, is certain that Busan is capable of hosting the World Expo 2030. Park, who is helping Busan‘s bid, emphasizes that an all-out effort involving not only Busan but the whole country should be made so that the city can be selected as the venue for the upcoming Expo, during an interview with The Korea Herald on Friday. Having served the country as a diplomat for some 40 years, Par