Over 12 million residents have subscribed to the Korean government’s virtual assistant service for the public, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety said Thursday. The virtual assistant service named “GoodPy” provides various information on vaccine appointments, traffic fines, as well as reminders for driving license renewal and regular medical checkups. GoodPy sends notifications to its subscribers via popular mobile applications Naver, KakaoTalk and Toss. Last month, th

Spring flowers in Korea are blooming earlier while ice is forming increasingly later in the last three decades, a recent report from the Korea Meteorological Administration showed. The KMA on Tuesday released the latest climatological averages from 1991 to 2020, comparing the data with the previous figures recorded from 1981 to 2010. Used for analyzing changes in the ecosystem over a long period of time, seasonal observation is a study of animals, plants and weather phenomena at the same spot e

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has decided to roll back on its school rebuilding project for nine schools in the capital, after it came under mounting pressure from parents who said it put their children’s safety and education at risk. The Seoul education office said Wednesday that it has excluded the nine schools, which had officially requested a withdrawal, from the list of 93 schools that were selected for the Green Smart Future School project. The plan involves rebuilding

From the most mundane of activities to larger goals such as being widely accepted by society, the lives of sexual minorities in South Korea are fraught with difficulties. “I don’t go to a hospital unless it is known as being queer-friendly. Usually I just don’t go to hospitals,” said Jung-hyun, who is currently transitioning to male. Jung-hyun, a pseudonym, says the mismatch between his male appearance and female gender on official documents leads to strange looks and qu

Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum on Friday made it clear that the government is not shifting gears toward letting guard down against the coronavirus. Kim cautioned against adjustments in guidelines around fully vaccinated people as being interpreted as a change in strategy of learning to live with the coronavirus in circulation at a meeting of the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. "The fourth wave is currently ongoing as we saw the number of newly confirmed cases stayin

The clash over Seoul education authorities’ Green Smart Future School project is growing, with some opponents accusing the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education of “green terrorism” and putting children at risk, expressing their opposition by sending condolence wreaths or ribbons to the school. The form of sending condolence messages has been widely adopted as a form of protest in recent months, particularly during the pandemic where holding rallies are more strictly prohibi

About 2 million adults in South Korea are illiterate, the Ministry of Education said Tuesday. According to the National Institute for Lifelong Education’s survey on adult literacy, 4.5 percent of the country’s 44 million adults, or about 1.987 million people, do not have the basic reading, writing and math skills that are necessary for daily life. They were categorized as Level 1 in the survey, meaning they need elementary school education at the first or second grade level. The

More than 90 percent of South Koreans think the climate crisis should be a prominent issue in the upcoming presidential election, a survey showed Sunday. According to the Gallup Korea poll, conducted at the request of environmental group Green Korea and involving 1,500 people nationwide, 91.1 percent of the respondents said Korea’s climate crisis response should be a major topic ahead of the March 9 election. Where most public opinion polls target people over 19, Green Korea said, the m

Fully vaccinated people will be allowed to have larger private gatherings starting Monday as Korea inches toward herd immunity. The government on Friday announced its decision to extend the current social distancing rules -- Level 4 in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon and Level 3 for the rest of the country -- for four weeks until Oct. 3. But health authorities made a few adjustments to the guidelines in consideration of the prolonged distancing restrictions and the increasing number of

A civic group and labor union on Thursday called on food delivery platforms to allow users to choose reusable containers when they order takeout. “Food deliveries have soared in the past year and eight months, but there are no countermeasures against delivery waste,” Green Korea and Riders Union said during a press conference held in front of Baedal Minjok headquarters in Seoul. “Currently, the only way consumers can save disposable waste is by not receiving disposable spoon

Korea Electronic Travel Authorization, or K-ETA, became effective as of Wednesday, requiring passport holders from visa-exempt countries to obtain K-ETA approval to enter the country. Overseas visitors now need to fill out an online application on the website of K-ETA to submit personal and travel information at least 24 before boarding a flight or ship bound for Korea. Applicants need to pay 10,000 won ($8.60). Once the application is submitted and payment is complete, the result will be se

Korea became the 14th country in the world to legislate a carbon neutrality act after the National Assembly on Tuesday passed the related bill. The other countries that have legislated commitments to reduce carbon dioxide emissions include Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden and the UK. The bill, which requires the government to cut greenhouse gas emissions in 2030 by 35 percent or more from the 2018 levels, was approved with 109 lawmakers voting in favor and 4

Seoul Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon filed an objection on Tuesday after the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials’ review committee decided Cho should face charges of abuse of power in connection with a hiring decision. Cho’s legal representative, Lee Jae-hwa, filed the official request with the chief of the CIO on Tuesday, arguing that the previous day’s review committee meeting was biased and it should reconvene. “(The review committee&rsq

Nearly 7 out of 10 Koreans agree with the government’s plan to grant long-term visas for Afghan evacuees, a survey showed Monday. The government evacuated 390 Afghan nationals, including people who worked for Korean organizations and their families, and plan to grant them long-term stay visas. According to Realmeter’s survey, 68.7 percent of the respondents said they “empathize with” the government’s plan whereas 28.7 percent said they do not agree with it. By

A public debate over whether Korea should accept Afghan refugees continues to heat up with the government granting special stay permits for Afghans here while airlifting nationals who worked for Korea in the war-torn country. Since the Taliban took control of Kabul earlier this month, opinions are split over whether Korea should help Afghan nationals. A national petition against the idea of taking in Afghan refugees posted on the presidential website of Cheong Wa Dae on Tuesday has gained ove

Korea will become the 14th country in the world to legislate a carbon neutrality act, if it is so enacted by the National Assembly, and lay the foundations for future measures, Environment Minister Han Jeoung-ae said Tuesday. “The carbon neutrality act will serve as a basis for putting carbon neutrality at the center in regards to planning the national budget and coming up with new policies,” Han told reporters. Last week, the National Assembly‘s Environment and Labor Commi

More than 4,000 people have been apprehended at illegally operating nighttime entertainment businesses over the last seven weeks, the National Police Agency said Monday. According to police, 635 cases of illegal activities have been uncovered after conducting on-site inspections of 56,699 businesses across the country from July 3 until Sunday. Police said there were 3,566 people who violated the infectious disease control and prevention act. The rest were violations of either the food sanitat

The reservation rate for COVID-19 vaccines among people between the ages of 18 and 49 has been lower than expected, creating an obstacle in the government’s plan to achieve herd immunity by November. According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters, the vaccine reservation rate for the age group, about 15.37 million people, was 61.3 percent as of Thursday at midnight. Online reservations for the age group opened on August 9 with a 10-day rotational booking system, in which people

Heavy rains that swept both Japan and China this week is expected to affect Korea as early as this weekend and throughout next week. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, the rain is forecast to begin in the regions of Jeju Island and southern coastal areas from the early hours on Saturday and expand throughout the country. “The North Pacific high pressure that caused the heavy rain in Japan is moving northward, and the cold dry air in the north that affected China is q

Gangwon Province will achieve carbon neurality in 2040 and lead South Korea into a more eco-friendly future, says Choi Moon-soon, the province’s governor. Speaking on the sidelines of JeongSeon Forum 2021, which aims to develop solutions to achieve carbon neutrality and weather the climate crisis, Choi said that new technologies coupled with the province’s natural assets will help make the goal a reality. “At this year’s forum, the issue of going carbon neutral is bei