The Ministry of Interior and Safety announced Monday that emergency alerts sent through the “Emergency Ready App” will now be available in five different languages. According to the Interior Ministry, the application formally sent out its emergency alerts through the app in English and Chinese only. However, starting Monday, the app will also begin to issue its alerts in Japanese, Thai and Vietnamese. The Emergency Ready App is an application run by the Ministry of Interior and Safet

A Seoul court has ordered a local hospital to pay 423 million won ($319,993) to the family of a US national who died from a pulmonary embolism shortly after a hip replacement surgery in 2019, legal sources said Monday. The Seoul Central District Court recently delivered the ruling nearly five years after the bereaved family filed a damages suit against the hospital for negligence that resulted in death. The incident happened in August 2019 when the man, who was a 59-year-old American civilian em

The proximity of a mattress to the source of last week's deadly fire at a hotel in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, appears to have significantly contributed to the rapid spread of the blaze, authorities investigating the case said Monday. The preliminary investigation suggests an electrical fault in the air conditioning unit as the likely cause, with sparks igniting the nearby sofa and the mattress. Fire authorities suspect that overheating or dust in the aging device precipitated the fault. Ca

From rebranding projects to collaborations with chefs, influencers, district office looks to help businesses get back on their feet

Prosecutor General Lee One-seok said Monday that he will respect the upcoming conclusion by a panel of external private experts on first lady Kim Keon Hee's luxury handbag case. Lee made the remarks after referring the case to the investigation review committee, an external body that deliberates on investigations of high public interest, last Friday. Earlier that week, he was briefed that an investigation team from the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office decided not to seek charges ag

Eleven mpox cases have been reported so far this year in South Korea, but all detected cases were the less deadly Clade II variant, health authorities said Monday. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said the latest case was reported last month, adding that health authorities have bolstered screening at borders to cope with the deadly new variant. South Korea reported 151 mpox cases last year. The majority of patients were males aged 20 to 40 in the greater Seoul area, with cl

Deadly blaze raises concerns about rescue mattress, lack of sprinklers, poor initial response

Following Thursday’s hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which claimed seven lives and injured 12 people, concerns have been raised about the lack of fire safety measures in accommodations here. According to the National Fire Agency on Sunday, a total of 1,843 fires occurred at accommodation facilities between 2019 and 2023. These fires resulted in 32 deaths and 355 injuries. By type of lodging, motels had the most fires, with 645 incidents, accounting for 35 percent of the total.

A recent survey indicated that the majority of single people in South Korea would like to get married, but also showed concerns over various issues, including finances and child care. Lifeplus FemTech Research Institute, an affiliate of Hanwha Insurance, conducted a survey on what unmarried men and women in the Greater Seoul area -- Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province -- thought about marriage. Of the 1,000 people between ages 25 and 39 who participated in the survey, 79 percent of men and 63

Five day laborers, including three Chinese nationals, were killed in a traffic accident in Ansan on Saturday while heading to a worksite, local authorities said. The accident occurred in Ansan, about 30 kilometers south of Seoul, at around 5:45 a.m., while the victims were heading to a worksite in a van, according to Gyeonggi Province fire services. The van carrying the victims collided with a bus and hit a passenger car before coming to a stop, resulting in a total of 14 casualties. The five la

A nationwide union of nurses and medical workers said Saturday that their members have voted to launch a strike next week, calling for a pay raise and the normalization of the crippled medical system amid a prolonged walkout by trainee doctors, its officials said Saturday. The Korean Health and Medical Workers' Union, which has some 30,000 nurses and medical workers at 61 hospitals as members, said more than 91 percent of its members supported the strike plan, according to the officials. If

Seoul has posted its 37th tropical night this summer, the most in the city's history, the state weather agency said Saturday. Seoul experienced yet another tropical night phenomenon overnight, setting the highest number in a single year since modern meteorological observation began in the city in 1907, the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. A tropical night refers to a phenomenon when the nighttime temperatures stay above 25 degrees Celsius from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the followin

On national security, Oh says S. Korea needs nuclear capability similar to Japan's

South Korea is suffering under a relentless heat wave, with Seoul, Busan, and other regions breaking records for consecutive tropical nights, data by the country's weather agency showed Friday. As of Friday, Seoul and Jeju have each experienced 33 and 39 straight nights of sweltering temperatures, respectively, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration. A tropical night refers to overnight temperatures remaining at or above 25 degrees from 6:01 p.m. to 9 a.m. the following day. S

W75b project, funded privately, aims to boost Seoul’s water leisure culture