Seoul City said Tuesday that it will install advanced water treatment systems in all water filtering centers by next year as part of its efforts to improve the quality of tap water. All Seoul water will go through an ozone treatment with the advanced water treatment system. Currently, only two out of six water filtering centers are equipped with the system. This is part of the city’s policies for improving the quality of tap water. Seoul City will also finish the replacement of old water pipes i

Civic groups on Tuesday called on the South Korean government to overhaul the monitoring system for Korean adoptees sent overseas following the death of a Korean child adopted by U.S. parents.The move came after a 3-year-old boy was allegedly killed by his adoptive father in February, only three months after he was adopted in Montgomery County, Maryland. The father soon faces trial on charges of first-degree murder and child abuse. Six advocacy groups asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to

Seoul City said Monday that it would unveil the design park in the Dongdaemun area this month that will act as a city hub for culture and design. The Dongdaemun Design Plaza ― 85,000-square-meter structure ― in Dongdaemun, eastern Seoul, consists of five halls with 15 rooms. It will host cultural events such as concerts and exhibitions along with conferences from March 21, officials said. The design park will be open 24 hours a day. While various events will be held in the daytime, some events s

Doctors launched a strike committee and finalized their walkout plan on Monday ahead of collective action scheduled for next week to protest the government’s new medical plans, including telemedicine, officials said. The Korean Medical Association, which represents more than two-thirds of the nation’s medical doctors, will stage a full one-day strike next Monday, excluding emergency room and intensive care center workers. From March 24, all doctors will go on strike for six days with no exceptio

Tens of thousands of doctors are set to launch a general strike next Monday in protest of government policies that would introduce telemedicine and for-profit operations but would not raise medical charges. The Korean Medical Association, which represents more than two-thirds of the nation’s medical doctors, said on Saturday its members overwhelmingly approved the first industrial action in 14 years.Nearly 70 percent of its 70,000 members participated in the eight-day vote that ended Feb. 28. Th

The National Pension Service said Thursday that it would launch a call center for foreign clients to offer advice in three Asian languages. The call center will offer counseling and help issue certificates of service subscription in Chinese, Indonesian and Thai from next week, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. English-language telephone assistance is already available.Chinese service will be available at (02) 2176-8735, with Indonesian service at (02) 2176-8734 and Thai service at (02) 2176-8730. Nearly hal

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a life sentence for a 25-year-old man on charges of kidnapping and raping a female child in Naju, South Jeolla Province. Defendant Ko Jong-suk was convicted of kidnapping an 8-year-old girl asleep at her home, and attempting to kill her after raping her under a bridge in 2012. The victim was left with permanent organ damage. The court upheld the lower court’s decision for Ko to receive chemical castration for five years to stifle his sexual impulses. This is

The government said Wednesday that it will push to strip teachers of their licenses if they are jailed for sex crimes. Under the current law, teachers who are convicted of sex crimes can be sacked, but they are allowed to keep their teaching licenses.The stricter rule is part of the measures announced by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family to prevent sex crimes. Sexual and violent crimes comminted by teachers have long been an issue in Korea, but critics pointed out the limitations of nom

Tensions between Korea and Japan are growing again as Tokyo released Monday an online video clip that criticizes Seoul’s efforts to have the name East Sea used along with Sea of Japan in U.S. textbooks. Japan’s latest response came as some U.S. lawmakers pledged to push for the adoption of the dual-name system after Virginia passed a bill this month requiring makers of school textbooks to label the body of water between the two countries with both names.“The (name) Sea of Japan has been used sin

Seoul City on Tuesday issued what it called a “livelihood alert” following its disovery of a massive smishing scam that involves imposters claiming to raise money to award a gold medal to figure skater Kim Yu-na. Officials said that scammers send a text reading, “Thank you, Kim Yu-na. We will compensate for your robbed gold medal. Compensation of 30,000 won ($28),” along with the URL or Internet address, taking advantage of the public sentiment over the Olympic Games to cheat money out of smartp

Saenuri Party floor leader Choi Kyung-hwan and Democratic Party counterpart Jun Byung-hun met Monday to negotiate over the basic pension bill ― only to confirm their differences, fanning concerns over the forthcoming pension program starting from July. While the ruling party insists on paying out a monthly pension of 100,000 won ($90) to 200,000 to the poorest 70 percent of the pensioners by income, the DP calls for distributing 200,000 won to the poorest 80 percent of senior citizens. The discu

South Korea and China agreed Friday to strengthen cooperation in their efforts to denuclearize North Korea, affirming once again their commitment to resolving the issue, the foreign ministry here said.The two sides reached the agreement during talks in Seoul between South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Lee Kyung-soo and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, a foreign ministry official said.The meeting followed Liu’s talks with top North Korean diplomats in Pyongyang earlier this week. Liu f

The Korean consul-general in Shenyang, China, failed to clarify the authenticity of Chinese immigration records used as evidence in a pro-North Korea espionage case. Cho Baek-sang testified to a parliamentary committee amid growing suspicions that intelligence and prosecution officials may have falsified documents including one regarding the suspect’s visit to North Korea via a northeastern Chinese province. The defendant, a former Seoul City employee, was in August 2013 cleared of charges of de

Graduate student Choi Yoon-young, 25, suddenly fainted one day after feeling severely dizzy. She was worried she had a serious disease such as anemia or a brain tumor, but it turned out to be a few tiny stones in her ears. About 80 percent of vertigo, or severe dizziness, cases are caused by moving calcium crystals in the ear, doctors say. This is called otolithiasis ― a functional disorder of physical balance and kinesthetic sense, A layer of stones settles in the ears to control physical balan

LONDON (AP) ― A saliva test for teenage boys with mild symptoms of depression could help identify those who will later develop major depression, a new study says.Researchers measured the stress hormone cortisol in teenage boys and found that ones with high levels coupled with mild depression symptoms were up to 14 times more likely to suffer clinical depression later in life than those with low or normal cortisol levels.The test was tried on teenage boys and girls, but found to be most effective

“Dokdo,” South Korea’s name for its easternmost islets, was used together with the Japanese name “Takeshima” in a U.S. Congressional Research Service report amid frosty relations between Seoul and Tokyo, sparking concerns that this may benefit Japan. The U.S. congressional report’s adoption of the dual names for the Dokdo Islets came as some U.S. lawmakers are pushing for the use of “the East Sea” along with “the Sea of Japan” in textbooks, led by the state of Virginia.The CRS reports, which pro

Representatives from the government and a group of doctors agreed to toss the controversial telemedicine bill to the National Assembly, officials said Tuesday. The Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korean Medical Association said in a joint briefing that they have agreed to push the bill expected to give designated hospitals the right to use IT technology when examining patients in remote areas. “Both parties acknowledged the necessity of telemedicine monitoring and consulting, though not a

Seoul City ordered the suspension of the construction of the nation’s highest skyscraper on Monday after a fire over the weekend escalated concerns over safety, officials said. The city directed Lotte Engineering and Construction to stop work on the Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul until an investigation into the fire is completed. The fire erupted in the steel container of a welding machine on the 47th floor on Sunday at midnight. The fire was extinguished in 25 minutes and no causalities we

Concerns escalated over environmental damage following another large oil spill off Korea’s southeastern coast after an 88,000-ton bulk carrier collided with an oil tanker on Saturday.Officials said Sunday that at least 237 kiloliters of oil was found to have leaked into the water near Busan from a hole, about 20 centimeters by 30 centimeters, in the hull of the Liberian-registered freighter Captain Vangelis L. caused by the accident. The amount of oil that spilled was over 70 kiloliters more tha

The government said Thursday that it will remove the financial transaction feature from civil servants’ ID cards to prevent possible personal data leaks amid rising concerns over the safety of information contained on the cards. The Ministry of Security and Public Administration said that civil servants would no longer be able to make payments and cash withdrawals using their smart cards. They do not function as credit cards. The electronic ID cards for public servants, introduced in 2008, have