South Korean police concluded Sunday that the recent murder of a 23-year-old woman in southern Seoul was a random crime by a man suffering from mental illness. The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said in a press briefing that the killing by the 34-year-old man, only identified by his surname Kim, was a typical crime committed by the mentally disturbed.Kim was arrested last week on suspicion of stabbing the woman to death at a public bathroom near Gangnam Subway Station on May 17. He allegedly w

The government presented a plan Friday to expand child protection workforce and parenting education so as to better prevent and cope with child abuse.In a policy meeting with relevant ministries, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said it would implement an on-site inspection until end-June on 1,153 infants aged 0-3 with no records of receiving medical check-ups or vaccinations.The ministry also plans to increase the workforce to protect children by 22 percent to 835 from the current 684 within

A South Korean sex workers’ advocacy group vowed Thursday to launch a trade union within this year to protect their labor rights and file a petition to the United Nations to challenge the highest court’s ruling in favor of the antiprostitution law. Denouncing the Constitutional Court’s ruling earlier this year as “taking side with those having power,” the Hanteo National Union said it would seek for those selling sex to be entitled to labor rights such as severance pay, state pension and health

The Health and Welfare Ministry said Thursday that it plans to change the health warnings on alcohol bottles for the first time in 21 years to raise awareness on the health risks of excessive drinking. The ministry said it will be compulsory for alcohol manufacturers to include specific dangers of drinking for youths and pregnant women in written warnings on alcohol bottles starting September. The revision to the National Health Promotion Act, which will take effect from Sept. 3, requires alcoho

The Environment Ministry’s current plan on air quality control lacks in accuracy and efficacy by overlooking a number of important factors and exaggerating numbers, the nation’s audit agency said Tuesday. (Yonhap)According to the Board of Audit and Inspection, the ministry failed to identify main pollutants causing air pollution and erroneously measured the amount of fine dust in the air. It also overestimated the amount of fine dust reduced through the plan. The assessment came as the audit age

South Korean children spend an average of 34 minutes outside each day, significantly less than children in other countries, a study showed Tuesday.The National Institute of Environmental Research said that Korean children spend less time exposed to nature and are more likely to stay indoors due to time spent on private education and digital technology in their spare time. The state-run institute questioned 8,000 youths aged 18 and younger between 2013 and 2015 to find out the extent to which chi

The most popular baby names for girls and boys in South Korea in the 2010s were Seo-yeon and Min-joon, respectively, a report said Monday. According to records of birth registrations compiled by the Supreme Court since the 1940s, Min-joon was crowned the most popular name throughout the 2000s and 2010s, while Seo-yeon ranked second in the 2000s and took the top spot in the 2010s. (Yonhap)In the 1940s, the most popular girl’s name was Young-ja and for boys, it was Young-soo. This was followed by

Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to create an underground passage to connect major tourist attractions in central Seoul, the mayor said Tuesday.  Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon said that the underground path would link Seoul City Hall, Deoksugung Palace and Gwanghwamun Square, to recreate the city’s historic Yukjo Street leading to Gyeongbokgung Palace. The underground pathway will house exhibition centers, cultural venues, museums, restaurants and shopping malls. Gwanghwamun Square in central Seo

Prosecutors called in an opposition lawmaker-elect for questioning on Monday on suspicion that he received illegal political funds ahead of last month’s parliamentary election. Park Joon-young of the People’s Party, who served as governor of South Jeolla Province, denied the charges before entering the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office in southwestern Seoul. “I did not receive the money. There must be a misunderstanding,” the 69-year-old told reporters at the scene. “It is a shame that

Tens of thousands of South Korean workers took to the streets during May Day rallies across the nation on Sunday opposing state-led labor market reform plans. 　An estimated 80,000 laborers belonging to the nation’s two biggest umbrella trade unions – Federation of Korean Trade Unions and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions -- participated in demonstrations in 15 cities. 　The unionized workers called for a withdrawal of labor reform plans which they see as making it easier for employers to dismi

UIJEONGBU – One Sunday afternoon last month, a support center for foreign workers in Uijeongbu, some 20 kilometers north of Seoul, was filled with some 50 migrant workers who had travelled there from factory-concentrated cities in Northern Gyeonggi Province. The foreign workers from nearly 10 Southeast Asian countries had gathered to attend a 30-minute lecture aimed at raising awareness on preventing work accidents by the state-run Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.The program began wi

Amid snowballing suspicions over the government’s alleged involvement in pro-government rallies by a right-wing organization, President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday loosely denied her office’s ties with the group. “I was briefed that it was not true that (a Cheong Wa Dae official was behind the right-wing group’s rallies),” she said in a meeting with editors in chief held at the presidential office.Questions have been thrown around in recent days upon news reports that Cheong Wa Dae and a business l

A South Korean passenger train derailed early Friday in the southern port city of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, leaving one engineer dead and eight passengers injured, according to the state-run railway operator.The overnight train was traveling from Seoul to Yeosu when its locomotive and four of the train’s seven passenger cars came off the tracks near Yulchon Station at around 3:40 a.m., the Korea Railroad Corporation said. Officials of state-run railway operator KORAIL perform rescues and res