While South Korea’s Hangang River attracts millions of visitors to its cherry blossom festival in the spring and fireworks display in the fall every year, there are more festivities the river can offer in the summer.As this year’s Hangang River festival kicks off on July 17, the riverside will turn into a major playground for those seeking a respite from the scorching heat and a getaway from the day-to-day hustle.Hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government under the theme of “Hangang: A Midsumme

The police Wednesday sought an arrest warrant for a 24-year-old man for breaking into a women’s sauna under the influence of drugs.(Yonhap)The man, only identified by his surname Moon, was suspected of injecting crystal methamphetamine at a hotel room and entering the women’s fitting room at a bathhouse in the southern port city of Busan on Tuesday. Moon was caught red-handed after creating a ruckus for several minutes, shouting at terrified women around him, “Someone is trying to kill me.” By O

When South Korean police barred the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from holding a parade in downtown Seoul two weeks ago, gay rights activist Woo Ji-young was saddened, but hardly surprised.“I already expected that the police would not allow the gay pride parade, but could not help but feel frustrated about the reality,” Woo, a secretary general at the Korea Queer Festival Organization Committee, told The Korea Herald. In her eyes, sexual minorities’ rights in Korea are l

Two weeks ago, a South Korean “math prodigy” made headlines across the country after claiming that she had been accepted into two prestigious American universities, Stanford and Harvard.Kim Jung-yoon, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia, rose to fame after media reported that the top-tier universities had competed to recruit her to their undergraduate programs and ended up creating a special shared program only for her to study at both schools. Accordi

The thousands of dogs Aerinwon, a private shelter in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, may have been abandoned, but it doesn’t mean they have given up on humans.They jump around and wag their tails as people pass by their enclosure, as if forgetting their past poor treatment.Their lively response is ironic, considering the majority ended up in the facility as they were considered either too ill or too old. Some people brought them in after rescuing them from an abusive environment, its director Kong K

A text message from a Seoul-based hospital notifying Yoo Hye-ji’s mother of possible infection of Middle East respiratory syndrome sent her whole family into panic Sunday evening. “A patient who stayed at our hospital’s emergency room was confirmed to have MERS, so we are writing to inform you that you might have been exposed to the virus. A member of staff at a community health center will give you a call,” the text message read. “Nearly an hour passed, but my mother’s phone did not ring. I had

The prosecution called in ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker Rep. Hong Moon-jong for questioning on Monday over allegations that he received illicit campaign funds from deceased business tycoon Sung Woan-jong. Hong, 60, is the third political bigwig quizzed by prosecutors in connection with the high-profile graft scandal involving President Park Geun-hye’s top aides. He was suspected of taking 200 million won ($178,000) in illegal campaign funds from Sung, late chairman of Keangnam Enterprises, for t

Samsung Medical Center, one of South Korea’s top hospitals, was identified as a source of infection of the Middle East respiratory syndrome as health authorities revealed Sunday that 17 patients contracted the deadly virus while staying at the facility.The 17 confirmed cases, which includes doctors, patients and visitors, caught the virus from the 14th confirmed MERS patient while sharing the hospital’s emergency room from May 27 to 29, according to the Samsung Medical Center. The hospital said

A doctor confirmed to have contracted Middle East respiratory syndrome has reportedly come into direct and indirect contact with more than 1,500 Seoul residents, said Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon in an emergency press conference, raising speculation that the deadly virus has spread into the community.  　 (Yonhap)According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday, the 35th confirmed MERS patient, a doctor at a Seoul-based hospital, started to show minor symptoms of MERS last Friday, but stil