Civic groups demand government audit against the state-funded schoolStudents and faculty members of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on Monday called for a new leadership after a spate of student suicides at the school, calling the current president’s reform efforts a “failure.”Four KAIST students have killed themselves since January, with the latest death confirmed last Thur

{Suh Nam-pyo}(A student in the KAIST campus in Daejeon walks past a hand-written poster protesting the school president’s policies that stir competition, including a unique system under which students pay different amounts of tuition based on their grades. Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)“KAIST is facing the biggest crisis since its opening,” the president of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science

Officials say no hazard expected from crippled Japan nuclear plantThe government’s safety assurances over radioactive rainfalls on Thursday could not relieve the concerns of citizens, especially parents of young children.Some schools suspended classes Thursday as seasonal rainfalls scattered across the nation, while vehicles of worried parents crowded the entrances of schools that did open. Lee So

Half of Seoul’s plastic surgery and skincare clinics located in the districtThis is the first of a three-part article on medical tourism in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. ― Ed. Jenny Cheng, a Chinese-American living in Las Vegas, stopped over in Korea last month en route to China. It was a brief stay of less than six hours, but enough to receive laser wrinkle-removal thanks to several online consulta

Ahn Chul-soo, a chair professor at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has accepted a teaching offer from Seoul National University, an AhnLab official said Tuesday. Ahn, 49, is the founder of computer vaccine developer AhnLab, one of Korea’s first-generation IT startups. Ahn Chul-sooThe state-run university had earlier made an unofficial offer to Ahn for the chief position now

Electronic books will replace textbooks while medical students will practice surgical operations in an augmented reality, according to an international report that predicted the future campus in the next five years or less.The 2011 Horizon Report, published by the New Media Consortium, a non-profit group dedicated to exploring new technologies in learning, introduced six technologies likely to ent

Experts urge Seoul to take more active stance on Dokdo issueNew Japanese textbooks claiming Japan’s sovereignty over Dokdo disappointed many in Korea following a rare outpouring of sympathy for their former colonial ruler, hit hard by a devastating earthquake and tsunami. The Japanese Textbook Authorization and Research Council announced Wednesday its review results of middle school textbooks that

Almost one in four households in Seoul consisted of just one person last year, the city’s census found Thursday. Single-person households jumped from 4.5 percent in 1980 to 23.8 percent in 2010, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government.Their number increased more than 10-fold between 1980 and 2010, while the total population of Seoul nearly doubled in the same period. “A growing number of si

Civic groups Wednesday expressed disappointment with Japan’s adoption of textbooks that claim its sovereignty over Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo.“Educating young students would be the important aspect of Japan’s strategy to seize Dokdo,” said Koh Chang-keun, head of Dokdo Network. “The young people who will lead Japanese society in 20 to 30 years would understand that Dokdo is currently domi

Amounts remain below permissible levels: agencyTraces of radioactive material are being detected across the nation following a widening nuclear crisis in Japan, but the minuscule amounts pose no health risk, officials said Tuesday. “Tiny doses of iodine 131 were detected at all 12 monitoring stations nationwide Monday. There were also traces of cesium 137 detected at the Chuncheon center,” Yun Cho

Move comes after officials detect radioactive traces from JapanThe Korean government has decided to tighten its monitoring of radiation levels after minuscule amounts of a radioactive material from Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant was detected here for the first time Sunday.“We will collect and test water and creature samples in 20 areas near Uleungdo, Dokdo, waters south of Jeju and other sou

The government will start a nationwide inspection on all school buildings for their earthquake preparedness, officials said Friday. Based on the data collected, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology plans to order up to 20 percent of the subject buildings to adopt earthquake-resistant designs by 2015.The nationwide overhaul comes after a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the northe

Seoul City will launch new tourism programs Saturday in which travelers are guided to visit rare spots in every corner of the city, officials said Friday. The city has run the program Culture Experience of Seoul since 2008 and last year alone some 7,500 international visitors, students and diplomats participated in the tourist activities. As part of the program, the city introduces “Seoul Explorat

About 10,000 more abortions than usual were carried out in Europe when the Chernobyl power plant exploded in 1986.“The decisions were made not because of their possible exposure to high levels of radiation, but because of the excessive atomic scare,” said Lee Jae-ki, nuclear engineering professor at Hanyang University and member of the International Commission on Radiological Protection.“There is

Ideological tensions are have been reignited over a ban on corporal punishment at schools as some educational offices resist the “indirect punishment” system recently announced by the government.The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology announced a revised education law on Friday which bans physical punishment but allows schools to adopt other disciplinary measures.Since the corporal punis

No radioactive materials were found in rain that fell here over the weekend amid fears of radiation leaks from quake-hit Japan, the government said Tuesday. The Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said that sampling tests on rainwater collected from across the nation Sunday showed no traces of radioactive iodine or cesium. “There was no trace of either iodine-131 or cesium-137 in any of

The Seoul Metropolitan Government launched a global alliance Monday aimed at fostering the burgeoning convention industry along with six major cities abroad.The “Future Convention Cities Initiative” started last July along with four founding member cities ― Seoul, London, Sydney and Toronto.During Monday’s launch ceremony, San Francisco, Abu Dhabi and Durban, South Africa newly signed an agreement

The Korean Red Cross reported Monday that it has collected more than 10.5 billion won ($93.3 million) less than a week after starting a fundraising campaign to help victims of the deadly earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan’s northeastern coast on March 11. The amount surpassed the 8.65 billion won collected in a month last year to help earthquake victims in Haiti, the charity added.Lump sum d

The South Korean government on Sunday dispatched a nuclear safety expert to quake-hit Japan to better respond to health problems among Korean residents there. Jung Kyu-hwan, a radiation expert and senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, will control radiation levels and prepare for any new developments, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said. Passengers from Jap

Gangnam-gu Office will offer customized safety services to foreign residents in cooperation with district police stations, officials said Sunday. The district office said it will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Gangnam and Seocho police stations Tuesday. Foreign nationals who cannot speak Korean well have sometimes become easy targets for crimes here. So, as part of the MOU, a matching