After two years of planning, Seoul City’s plan to install floating airfields to operate seaplanes on the Han River went back to square one Sunday. According to officials, the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided to hold off the plan due to safety concerns, noise pollution issues and low economic feasibility -- as was widely expected by experts. Since 2014, the city government has been reviewing plans to operate seaplanes on the country’s fourth-longest river in the capital, in a bid to boost to

Employees at a well-known general hospital just outside Seoul handed over approximately 4,000 blood samples of patients to a local medical supplier without patients’ consent for two years, it was revealed Wednesday. The hospital, CHA Bundang Medical Center in Seongnam, wasn’t aware of the irregularity until a former staff member blew the whistle last month. It said it has fired the three employees involved in the illegal transfer of blood samples.“We will also improve the current medical waste d

In a world where innovation is driven by technology, creating a vision of innovation starts with designers, who can give consumers an experience through innovative designs, according to Dick Powell, co-founder and chairman of design and innovation company Seymourpowell.“Years ago, when we did research about the future of TV, we expected some interesting opportunities beyond an ordinary TV in the living room, and now we are seeing slimmer and aesthetically designed TVs that are changing our lives

On a crisp autumn Sunday, 10 Seoulites gathered at a subway station near Gyeongbok Palace. From an architect to a housewife and retiree, the group was composed of people from different walks of life, but their mission for the day was the same: discover the hidden charm of a town called Seochon. “Many may consider Seochon as an area that has recently gained popularity among foreign tourists, but Seochon has numerous historical sites that boast rich traditional value as well as an artistic atmosph

After 14 years of working at the United Nations Environment Program, Monika Macdevette believes today’s youth hold the key to the future of both the Earth and humankind. Environmental problems will only get worse, more diverse and complicated, as long as civilization continues to develop along its current path. That’s why youths need to “bring inquisitiveness to ask questions why these problems are happening, where they come from and force answers,” the UNEP deputy director of environmental poli

 The Korean government is close to recognizing fetal deaths and premature births as being linked to the use of a toxic humidifier disinfectant, paving the way for state compensation, the environment ministry said Wednesday. “The matter is still under discussion between ministry officials and experts, but it is true that we found medical evidence linking between fetal deaths and a mother’s use of toxic humidifier disinfectant,” Seo Hong-won, an official at the Environment Ministry, told reporters

The Ministry of Environment said Tuesday that it had ordered a recall of tattoo inks after it found toxic substances such as zinc and lead in them.The ministry said that 12 out of the 25 tattoo inks tested by the Korea Consumer Agency exceeded the permissible levels of heavy metal content. One of the tested products contained up to six different heavy metal substances that exceeded the ministry-set health limits.The ministry added that two of the tattoo ink products even contained three times mo

Seoul plans to resume this month the operation of the hugely unpopular water taxi services on the Han River, it revealed Tuesday, in response to an inquiry from Rep. Hong Chul-ho.According to the ruling Saenuri Party lawmaker, the 3.7 billion won ($3.34 million) water taxi project was a money-losing disaster before the service was suspended in April 2014, with daily average passengers of just seven.  (Herald DB)Seoul spent the 3.7 billion won on installing 17 taxi stands and operating 10 water t

현직 큐레이터·예술계 종사자들이 말하는 공공미술좀 더 유연하고 열린 관람 문화 정착도 중요예술과 문화는 작가들과 큐레이터들만의 전문 영역이라고 생각하던 과거와 달리 최근 들어 시민과 예술 간의 벽이 허물어지고 있다.이 같은 변화에 따라 공공미술의 중요성 또한 대두되고 있다. 우리 나라 예술계에도 동일한 움직임이 감지되는 가운데 8월, 서울시는 10명의 현직 큐레이터들과 100여명의 서울시민을 대상으로 서울시 공공미술 시민 발굴단을 선발, 공공미술의 가장 큰 주체이자 향유자인 시민들의 참여를 유도하는 2달간의 프로젝트를 시작했다. (왼쪽부터) 서울시 공공미술 시민발굴단에 참여한 서지은, 권연희, 김현지 씨.10개 그룹으로 나눠 그룹별 주제에 맞는 공공미술작품을 찾아내고, 페이스북, 인스타그램, 트위터 등 SNS를 통해 시민에게 알리는 활동을 맞게 된 시민발굴단은 그룹별로 시민 10인과 전문가 1인이 함께 공공미술 작품과 한 팀을 이뤘다.이 프로젝트에 전문 큐레이터로 참가하게 된 현 코

South Korea's major department stores and duty free shops have enjoyed increased sales with the start of an annual shopping festival coinciding with China's National Day holiday season, industry officials said Monday.Korea Sale FESTA, which is South Korea's biggest shopping gala, opened last week for a month-long run. It features various special discounts and offers as well as cultural performances associated with the Korean Wave, or hallyu, for shoppers at home and foreign tourists.Sales at Lot

RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) -- The Palestinian high court on Monday ordered municipal elections to be held only in the West Bank and not in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, though a new date for the suspended polls was not set.The ruling could bring to an end hopes that the municipal elections would be the first polls since 2006 in which both Islamist movement Hamas and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah, which runs the West Bank, would participate."The court orders the imple

STOCKHOLM (AP) -- Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded this year's Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries on how cells break down and recycle parts of themselves in an internal garbage disposal process.The Karolinska Institute honored Ohsumi for "brilliant experiments" in the 1990s on autophagy, a phenomenon that literally means "self-eating" and describes how cells gobble up damaged content and provide building blocks for renewal. Japanese scientist Yoshinori Ohsumi speaks

Seo Ji-eun, 30, curator at Coreana Museum of Art in Gangnam, is one of the supervising curators for some 100 Seoul residents who are participating in a two-month-long municipal citizen program to uncover public art on the city’s streets.Under the Seoul Metropolitan Government’s project “Art on Seoul’s streets found by citizens,” participants find and promote lesser-known public art and landmarks in groups of 10, joined by field experts and art connoisseurs.After a five-year career as a curator w

Han Hyo-dong, 58, a master zookeeper supervising carnivores including tigers and leopards at Seoul Zoo, first joined the zoo’s animal welfare team in 1985. Seoul Zoo, located in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi-do, opened its doors in 1984 with 77 species of animals on a 196,000-square-meter plot. “I had the intention of learning about deer when I first joined, because I was thinking of operating deer farms in my hometown,” said Han, reminiscing the past when antlers could be sold at high prices.Han Hyo-dong,

A day for zookeeper Han Hyo-dong, Seoul Zoo’s master zookeeper who has worked there for the past 32 years, begins at 6 a.m.At the crack of dawn, he arrives at his office next to the Beast Pavillion, located at the very back of the Seoul Zoo in Gwacheon. As soon as he changes his clothes and puts on his boots, he walks around the breeding cages and checks each tiger’s condition.(The Korea Herald)Every morning he writes down detailed logs of the zoo’s 24 Siberian tigers on their conditions and hea

The revelation of toxic substances in toothpaste products, albeit at a minuscule level, has further fanned the fires of public frustration over the government’s lax regulations, amid ongoing safety concerns on the use of chemicals in everyday products in South Korea. On Monday, Rep. Lee Jeong-mi of the minor Justice Party said that a total of 11 toothpaste products sold by the local cosmetics company AmorePacific contained from 0.0022 to 0.0044 parts per million of Chloromethyl-methylisothiazolo

Approximately 5,000 to 6,000 animals are hit and killed on the streets of Seoul every year, a lawmaker said Tuesday.According to the opposition The Minjoo Party Rep. Song Ok-joo, Seoul Metropolitan Government data showed that 17,036 animals were killed on the streets of Seoul over the past three years, with the number rising each year.A total of 7,465 animals were killed on Seoul streets in 2014, while the number jumped to 6,065 in 2015. Within the first half of 2016, 3,506 animals were found de

Despite the shrinking number of HIV infections and AIDS patients worldwide, the rates of HIV and AIDS among South Koreans has increased sharply over the past decade, data showed Tuesday.According to World Health Organization data gathered by the ruling Saenuri Party’s lawmaker Yoon Jong-pil, the number of new HIV infections and AIDS patients around the world decreased 35 percent from 2000 to 2015, while the number in South Korea quadrupled over the same period.In 2010, 219 South Korean patients

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it will start a campaign to fix the incorrect use of English, Chinese and Japanese on signboards.Any Seoul resident or visitor can participate by reporting incorrectly written instructions -- including signs installed at subway stations, bus stations, cultural assets and more -- to visitseoul1@seoul.go.kr from Sept. 21 to Oct. 4. To check Korean orthography, one can visit dictionary.seoul.go.kr. All reports will be sent to an advisory committee

Seoul stands to see the third biggest economic loss globally -- approximately $103.5 billion -- if faced with natural catastrophes and man-made economic shocks between the period of 2015 and 2025, a report showed Monday.Based on the original research by the Cambridge Center for Risk Studies at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School, UK insurance firm Lloyds’ City Risk Index 2015-2025 listed 301 major cities in terms of expected loss to a selected location’s economic output -- average