More than 80,000 crimes by romantic partners were reported in the past five years, with the numbers showing an upward trend, data showed Monday. Of the 81,056 reports, 61,133 involved violent crimes such as murder, sexual assault, other assault, battery or criminal intimidation, according to the data submitted by the National Police Agency to Rep. Yang Ki-dae of the ruling Democratic Party. There were 227 murder reports involving romantic partners during the five-year period. According to the

South Korean authorities’ overzealous approach to the COVID-19 response regarding foreigners has raised concerns about discrimination and xenophobia. “When a Korean person catches COVID-19, people in the area are notified that someone has been infected. The alert goes right to their phone. When someone who isn’t Korean catches COVID-19, that same message suddenly is amended to state the nationality of the infected person. Why is it important to know the person’s nationa

Easing quarantine measures should be centered around fully vaccinated people in the initial stages of returning to normalcy, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Friday. “While expanding the scope of recovery for daily life, we will try to find a balancing point that can stably manage quarantine,” Kim said in the meeting of the government-private sector committee to draft a road map to normalcy. “Vaccination greatly impacts infection prevention and reduces severity and mortalit

More than 150 cases of sexual harassment and violence against teachers were reported in the first half, as the number of cases rebounded and continued an upward trend that had existed before the pandemic, data showed Tuesday. Of the 1,215 cases concerning infringement of teachers’ rights reported from the first six months of 2021, 118 fell under the category of actions that cause sexual humiliation or disgust while 33 were sexual crimes against teachers, according to the data submitted by

Norbert Kurilla, advisor to the President of the Slovak Republic, discussed ways for future collaboration and exchange efforts with Seoul’s Sejong University during a recent visit to Korea. Kurilla met with Sejong University’s dean of the Graduate School of Public Policy on October 8, the school said Monday. As there are numerous Korean companies in Slovakia, the school said Kurilla expressed interest in expanding cooperation and networking between the two countries. The Slovak

The Supreme Court on Sunday overturned a lower court’s ruling that a foreign woman who married a Korean man and later divorced could not have child custody due to a lack of Korean language communication skills. The nation’s highest court said that it partially reversed and remanded the case to the Jeonju District Court after the lower court previously ruled in favor of the Korean husband and gave him parental rights over the Vietnamese wife in a divorce and child custody case. Acc

Temperatures dropped sharply across the country over the weekend as cold wave alerts were issued for most regions. The Korea Meteorological Administration said Sunday’s morning lows dropped below 5 degrees Celsius nationwide with many regions marking the coldest weather of the year. Seoul saw its first ice of the year Sunday, a week earlier than the last year and 17 days earlier than the average, according to the KMA. The capital city’s Sunday morning low recorded 1.3 degrees C

Over 60 percent of sex crime support centers are headed by those with no expertise in the field, the main opposition People Power Party’s Rep. Kim Byong-wook said, citing Ministry of Education data. Of the 304 universities operating a support center for sexual violence, the lawmaker’s office on Tuesday said 185 were found to be led by people who did not major in subjects related to sexual damage consultation. According to the data, the largest number of universities’ suppor

The government raised its goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2030, the presidential carbon neutrality committee said Friday. The previous goal was to decrease the level of greenhouse gas emissions by 26.3 percent from 2018 output. The country produced 727.6 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions in 2018. The goal now is to reduce the figure to 436.6 million tons. The move is a follow-up to the carbon neutrality act that was legislated last month, the committee said, a

In June, former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl stormed the political landscape as he announced his bid to run for the presidential campaign. Since then, polls have repeatedly picked him as one of the front-runners among all presidential contenders both from his People Power Party and the opposite Democratic Party. Yoon has continuously put himself at the center of attention with his controversial comments. His latest lapse came during People Power Party’s televised debate hosted by lo

Rep. Noh Woong-rae of the Democratic Party on Tuesday denounced a memorandum of understanding signed by the Ministry of Environment, Kakao Mobility and T Map Mobility, claiming that the deal could result in a monopoly of electric car charger information. On July 29, the Environment Ministry and the two platform service providers inked the MOU to provide smart service of electric car chargers for the public by sharing information on electric vehicles and their owners over the next five years.

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug is embarking on trips to Italy and Egypt to attend summits and discuss bilateral relations. The Assembly speaker will depart on Tuesday for Italy to participate in the seventh G-20 Parliamentary Speakers’ Summit slated from Thursday to Friday in Rome, according to Park’s office. Under the motto of “Parliaments for the People, the Planet and Prosperity,” the G-20 parliamentary leaders will discuss their joint responses to some

Starting Tuesday, the first appointments for COVID-19 booster shots will open up as the nation continues to cope with the more contagious delta variant. “As the delta variant spreads and the number of breakthrough infections goes up while the vaccination effect is decreasing over time after the basic inoculation, the need for an additional jab is increasing,” Jeong Eun-kyeong, commissioner of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, said Monday. According to the Korea Disea

The Korea CEO Summit is holding a three-day forum to discuss the meaning and importance of Dokdo on the easternmost islets of Ulleungdo and Dokdo from Thursday. According to the Korea CEO Summit, the forum is taking place as part of the Summit Club, which invites CEOs to speak on business innovation and entrepreneurship while travelling to famous spots in and out of the country. The participants will visit Dokdo and meet the Dokdo Security Police on Friday. Later in the day, they will partic

Afghan evacuees in Korea started a new chapter of their lives Wednesday, as the government kicked off a basic social adaptation program to help the refugees settle in the country. The Ministry of Justice started the Korea Immigration and Integration Program for the adults to help them understand and learn Korean culture and the language. There are six levels in the program, the ministry said, and it aims to have the Afghans get through the first three levels, which would require at least 215 h

Korea’s four local governments in the central region -- Daejeon, Sejong, North and South Chungcheong provinces -- are picking up the pace in their bid to host the 2027 FISU World University Games. When the bid process was opened for the 2027 and 2029 University Games on Sept. 1, the local government’s joint organization named Chungcheong Megacity Bid Committee (CMBC) submitted a letter of intention to host the 2027 Games to the International University Sports Federation. The CMBC

Seoul is the third-best city in the world to be a university student, according to a recent report from UK-based education consultant Studee. Studee on Tuesday released the Student Cities Index for 2021, indicating the best 100 cities for university students across the globe. “Seoul has the greatest number of high-ranking universities anywhere in the study,” the report said. “The city also offers reasonably cheap rent and above-average levels of free speech.” Studee a

Chuseok outbreak worries became a reality as the number of newly-confirmed COVID-19 cases reached a record high of 2,434 Thursday after millions were on the move during the three-day holiday earlier in the week. According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the country on Friday reported 2,416 local infections and 18 imported cases from the previous day. By region, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon had 1,747 cases or 72.3 percent of the total. The new high number of daily i

Police will be able to conduct undercover investigations in digital sex crime cases, and online grooming of minors will be punishable by law from Friday, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family said Thursday. Online grooming, which was difficult to punish due to a lack of legal grounds, will now face a fine of up to 30 million won ($25,400) or three years in jail, according to the revised Act on the Protection of Children and Youth against Sex Offenses. Before the revision, only the act of

President Moon Jae-in continued his vaccine diplomacy in New York, launching a fresh round of talks on securing more COVID shots from Pfizer and a new $52.5 million investment plan unveiled by US bioprocess vendor Cytiva to boost Korea’s vaccine production. Moon on Tuesday met with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla to discuss multilateral ways on how Korea and the US vaccine producer can work together for vaccine cooperation, according to Cheong Wa Dae. Moon talked about securing additional vac