The government policy to lift the outdoor face mask mandate was to officially in Monday, with some raising concern about the new measure’s potential effects on spreading of COVID-19 infections. Starting Monday, masks are only mandated indoors and during outdoor activities of events that carry a high risk of infection, such as gatherings of 50 or more people, concerts and sports games. All forms ...

A murder case is gripping South Korea with a curious blend of fatal attraction, gaslighting and insurance fraud, but law enforcement authorities face a tough fight to prove the crime. It is the story of a man named Yoon Sang-yeop, who drowned in the summer of 2019 during a trip to a valley with his wife Lee Eun-hae and her friends, just four hours before his life insurance expired. How it came ...

Woori Bank came under scrutiny for an internal control failure Thursday, after an employee confessed to embezzlement of 50 billion won ($39.4 million). The employee is currently in police custody and investigators are looking to probe the lender’s headquarters to verify the suspect’s statement and seize evidence. The Financial Supervisory Service, the nation’s financial watchdog, said it will l...

The shadow pandemic. This is what the United Nations called violence against women in a November report last year, in which over two-thirds of women surveyed from 13 countries said that domestic violence has increased during the pandemic where they live. The pandemic’s impact on women in South Korea is harder to gauge, as the country was not included among the surveyed countries in the report. ...

The United States’ approval rating in South Korea jumped at one of the steepest rates among Asian countries in 2021, a poll showed Friday. The approval rating of U.S. leadership in South Korea climbed to 59 percent last year from 30 percent a year earlier, according to Gallup. The increase marks the second highest among 33 Asian countries where the poll was conducted between April 2021 and Janu...

Protests by disabled activists, together with a train breakdown, caused massive subway disruptions during morning rush hour on Thursday. The rallies began at around 7 a.m. at the Gyeongbokgung Station on subway line No.3. and City Hall Station on line No. 2. In an unrelated development, commuters on subway line No.4 also faced a major disruption to service, when three north-bound trains passing...

From international marriages, political asylum to run-ins with the law, there are a myriad of legal problems that foreign nationals can get embroiled in. The Korea Herald takes a look at some of the cases involving legal disputes of foreigners in South Korea. The following is the final installment. -- Ed. The Refugee Act stipulates that anyone within South Korean territory has the right to apply...

From international marriages, political asylum to run-ins with the law, there are a myriad of legal problems that foreign nationals can get embroiled in. The Korea Herald takes a look at some of the cases involving legal disputes of foreigners in South Korea. The following is the second installment of a three-part series. -- Ed. For decades, there has been a custom of Korean bachelors from rural...

From international marriages, political asylum to run-ins with the law, there are a myriad of legal problems that foreign nationals can get embroiled in. The Korea Herald takes a look at some of the cases involving legal disputes of foreigners in South Korea. The following is the first installment of a three-part series. -- Ed. The Act on Citizen Participation in Criminal Trials, introduced in 2...

Domestic news is all about President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and his plans for the next five years at South Korea’s helm. But Udaya Rai, who leads Migrants’ Trade Union in Korea, finds little clues as to how the country would be different for his fellow migrant workers who fill the “3D” jobs -- dirty, dangerous and difficult -- which are often shunned by locals. The president-elect’s image as being...

Saturday’s meeting between officials of the agency of boy band BTS, Hybe, and President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol’s transition committee went without discussing the K-pop sensation’s possible military service exemption, a high-ranking official said, while hinting it could be discussed in the new administration. There was “no mention about the military service at all,” Ahn Cheol-soo, chief of Yoon’s pr...

When 34-year-old Lee Min-ho tested positive for COVID-19, the most immediate concern for his young family was getting food and supplies. Instead of calling up his parents, Lee opted to use what is called an “errand app” on his phone. “I just needed a few items from the local store, and I didn’t want to bother other people. So I requested (an errand runner) to pick up the groceries and leave them...

Amid nationwide concern about the rising juvenile crimes, President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol and his transition team have been studying ways to reduce the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 14 to 12. The Ministry of Justice officials met with the presidential transition committee chief last week, vowing to support the process of changing the legal definition of a “criminal minor,” referring ...

In the aftermath of Yoon Suk-yeol winning the closest presidential race in history, disdain from the female population toward him has left many suspecting that his victory has exacerbated the country’s gender conflict, particularly among the younger population. The National Police Agency on Monday ordered the Seoul cyber police to investigate a series of postings at an online community, discussi...

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol suggested Wednesday that President Moon Jae-in should keep his local breed Pungsan dogs, which were gifted to him by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The dogs, named Gomi and Songang, were given by Kim during the Inter-Korean Summit of 2018 as a symbol of peace in the peninsula. The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae confirmed hours earlier that the dogs belong to th...