Starting from March next year, elementary schools nationwide will be banned from running English education to first and second graders. The measure’s stated goal is to alleviate study burdens on young students by banning advanced learning. Currently, English is taught from third grade on.  　   But critics argue it would also lead to the loss of thousands of jobs of English instructors and eliminate low-income students’ access to affordable education.    “My son has received high quality English

　　Surrounded by former generals, hawkish politicians and a hard-mouthed command-in-chief, US State Secretary Rex Tillerson has been trying to find a balance in the Trump administration’s approach to resolve a nuclear standoff with North Korea. 　While President Donald Trump and his security aides have warned about the North’s relentless nuclear ambition and floated the idea of a preventive strike against it, the US top diplomat has offered a softer line and called for a diplomatic solution. 　Desp

President Moon Jae-in’s ongoing campaign to right past wrongs has put the main opposition Liberty Korea Party on edge. From a first-term lawmaker to party heavyweights, over seven of its politicians have been investigated for corruption or are soon to face interrogation. The latest to come under scrutiny was five-term lawmaker Rep. Won Yoo-chul, who on Wednesday was questioned by the prosecution on the allegation of receiving hundreds of millions of won in illicit political funds from local busi

BTS becomes 1st Korean to crack Billboard ‘Top 10 Artist,’ sets new record in Japan’s Oricon charts

The Donald Trump administration has nominated former White House official and Washington-based academic Victor Cha as the next US ambassador to South Korea and asked for Seoul’s approval, US sources said Sunday. According to sources in Washington, the request was recently delivered to the South Korean government in the form of an “agrement,” a formal request sent to the receiving state from the sending state before dispatching a diplomatic representative. The decision was made after an extensive

South Koreans say stiff competition, uneven playing field and lack of social protection drive them to seek to move abroad

Korean retail giant Shinsegae decided to institute a 35-hour workweek to enhance employee’s working conditions, the company said Friday. The move marks the first time for a local conglomerate to implement such a short work week. Under the policy, all employees from Shinsaegae’s retail sectors are set to work seven hours a day from January. Working hours are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but it could be flexible depending on the types of work. Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin (Yonhap)The wag

South Korea’s media regulator has set out to strengthen its watch on US-based microblogging website Tumblr which has been criticized for its passive attitude in stopping the circulation of profane and inappropriate content on its platform.　The Korea Communications Commission on Wednesday announced a new set of policies to curb the prolfieration of profane content on the web, citing plans to amend current communications law to ensure they can be applied equally to both Korean and foreign internet

Julia Mullock, ex-wife of Yi Gu, the last prince of the Korean Empire, passed away aged 94 late last month in a nursing home in Hawaii.The Ukrainian American was called Julia Lee in Korea after marrying Yi Gu in 1958 in New York where the two met while working at the firm of architect I. M. Pei. Julia Lee with her ex-husband Yi Gu, the last prince of the Korean Empire. (Yonhap)Yi Gu was the only child of Yi Eun (1897-1970), crown prince and seventh son of King Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. King

The ongoing investigation into two previous governments‘ blacklist of cultural figures continues to unearth more dirt, with a recent revelation that Lee Myung-bak administration used one of its supporters as a scapegoat to hide its wrong-doings.A 2011 document of the National Intelligence Service, revealed recently by Kyunghyang Shinmun, a local daily, showed that MBC’s sacking of singer Kim Heung-gook that year was part of the conservative administration’s plan to extract left-leaning entertain

Fierce 5G network rivalry turns ugly amid preparations for PyeongChang Winter Olympics

The US International Trade Commission will open an inspection into South Korean chipmaker SK hynix over an alleged breach of patents owned by the US memory module firm Netlist, according to the industry Sunday. The commission’s action comes about a month after it announced it was embarking on an investigation into Samsung Electronics in October. The USITC said Friday that it held a vote on whether to examine SK hynix’s memory modules and components -- including circuit boards containing DRAM int

With just about 70 days ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, North Korea chose to indirectly forfeit by missing the deadline to send its qualified figure skating pairs team, a report said Friday.  (Yonhap)“North Korea’s Olympic Committee missed an Oct. 30 deadline to confirm it would send its qualified pairs figure skating team to the Winter Games,” NBC Sports said.In September, North Korean figure skaters Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik grabbed their golden ticket to PyeongChang by finishi

Ailing Korean branch of US carmaker to launch Equinox next year to expand sales volume　

Prosecutors on Wednesday summoned Woo Byung-woo, one of ex-President Park Geun-hye’s close aides, over his possible involvement in the national spy agency’s alleged illegal spying on civilians under the Park administration. Woo Byung-woo is surrounded by reporters as he stands in front of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday. YonhapWoo, who served as senior presidential secretary for judicial affairs from 2015-2016, is suspected to have exerted influence on the National In