A 21-meter-high arch was placed on the Yanghwa Bridge on Wednesday, signaling the resumption of suspended construction work.The currently curved bridge, which has prompted safety concerns among drivers, will be reshaped into a straight line within eight days of engineering work, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said. “Opening to traffic could be possible by early May after related works are compl

An annual education report warned Friday that the nation’s teaching workforce was getting older. According to the Korean Educational Development Institute, the teaching workforce here has gotten older ― by up to three years ― compared to 10 years ago. Last year, the average ages of teachers at kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools were 31.8, 39.7, 41.3 and 41.5, respectively. Compared

Free lunch for every student will cost more than 13 trillion won ($11 billion) for five years, a report by the National Assembly’s budgetary committee found Tuesday. A total of 13.44 trillion won, including 2.77 trillion won this year, will be needed in the coming five years to offer free meals at all schools, according to the report disclosed by Rep. Kim Dong-sung of the ruling Grand National Par

A terrorism expert Monday raised the possibility of home-grown terrorist attacks in Korea where social minorities struggle with prevalent discrimination against them. “Migrant workers, children of married immigrants and North Korean defectors who may experience disgrace and discrimination against them here are more likely to vent their anger through terror attacks,” Lee Man-jong, professor of law

A boarding school for North Korean defector children will open in Seoul next week, aimed at offering Korean language lessons to those from low-income households, a non-profit defectors’ group said Friday.According to North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity, the Samheung School will start its first semester on Feb. 25, with 27 elementary students. Considering that their parents usually return home lat

A 50-year-old office worker, Jun Soon-geol, and his wife Shin Joo-ryeon, also 50, adopted two baby girls 11 years ago.They soon discovered that the younger child, Ah-young, was suffering from cerebral palsy but have never regretted their decision. “Government subsidies have helped a lot for raising our daughter. But we hope that more support is given for essential but expensive medical equipment l

Amid soaring jeonse prices, the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to supply about 13,000 rental homes for low-income households in the first half of the year.The city said Thursday that more than 80 percent of the total 15,665 public houses will be provided within the timeframe. They include 4,995 permanent rental houses for low-income households, 2,822 for families with multiple children

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is to offer financial support to cultural events held by the foreign community here, officials said Wednesday.The city will cover up to 80 percent of the event costs or 6 million won ($5,320) for selected events.Since 2003, the city has offered such financial support to give opportunities for both foreign residents and locals to better communicate through cultural

One-on-one Korean language lessons will be offered for children of foreign parents or multicultural households from March, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday. Starting with 200 households this year, the city plans to extend the number of families receiving the service to 2,500 by 2013. There are about 20,000 children with foreign parents who are at compulsory education ages ― between 3

A Hollywood-style movie studio will be built in Seoul to promote Korea’s burgeoning filmmaking industry and to attract foreign travelers, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday. As part of the “Digital Media City” project in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, the new movie complex will accommodate facilities for special effects, large-scale sets, a theme park and other tourist attractions. Sche

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Tuesday that he would spend reserve funds to continue the city’s projects that have been suspended due to the opposition of the city council.The announcement comes after a series of talks between Oh and the Seoul City Council ended without reaching any agreement by Monday. “(The city government) has decided not to neglect any more citizens’ inconvenience and suspended s

Another round of heavy snow hit the nation’s east coastal area Monday, which had already received a record snowfall of more than 100 centimeters over the weekend. While officials and local residents were busy clearing streets and vehicles, the weather agency expected more snow of up to 50 centimeters in Gangwon Province until Monday evening. On Friday alone, Gangneung, a major city in the region,

Despite a falling birth rate here, many Korean children are still finding their home abroad, a report found Sunday. Of the total 2,439 children adopted in 2009, 1,125 were sent abroad, slightly down from 1,250 in 2008, the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs said. Adoptions have declined here along with the country’s falling birth rate. Over the past 10 years, the number of domestic adop

A record snowfall almost paralyzed city life on Korea’s east coast over the weekend, as officials and soldiers struggled to restore normal life. As of Sunday morning, some 1,280 residents of 640 households were stranded in their homes in major cities including Gangneung, Donghae and Samcheok, the emergency management agency in Gangwon Province said. Damage caused by the snow was estimated to surpa

The new leader of the nation’s largest umbrella labor union pledged Thursday that the group will head toward a hard-line stance if no revision is made to the labor union law. “My predecessor, who saw labor-management relations stabilized, had worked in a way to be helpful to the Korean economy. However, there is no room for us to do so,” said Lee Yong-deuk, chairman of the Federation of Korean Tra

CHICAGO (AP) ― Many breast cancer patients can skip aggressive lymph node surgery without increasing their chances of a recurrence or death if their disease shows limited spread, according to a study that has prompted changes in practice.Under current guidelines, the often-debilitating surgery is done if the cancer has spread outside the breast to any lymph nodes.In the study, rates of survival an

Allergic rhinitis, or AR, is a common disease that is often considered a trivial and temporary illness less severe than asthma. However, the disease can bring dramatic changes in the quality of life of the patients, affecting their daily activities. It also results in relatively high medical expenses and financial burden. According to the National Health Insurance Corporation, 4.1 million people s

Wearing uncomfortable high heels can lead to host of problemsWalking for 30 minutes a day has a variety health benefits such as reducing the chances of cancer, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, anxiety and depression.In its new health guidelines published last week, the World Health Organization advised people to engage in “moderate” physical exercise such as walking to reduce the risk of breast and

Unlike other Gangnam mothers, Park Sung-hee, 43, does not believe in the effectiveness of studying abroad at an early age.“My children have no problem studying English to prepare for the college entrance exam. Among other things, there are many highly-qualified teachers and private institutes in Seoul too,” said Park, a mother of two residing in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. “I’m sure that the blind

Illegal violent protests have significantly declined over the past couple of decades, especially since the 2008 inauguration of the Lee Myung-bak administration, police data revealed Tuesday. According to the National Police Agency, an average of 12,200 demonstrations had taken place in each of the past three years. Of them, 56 cases, or 0.46 percent, were illegal violent protests ― a drastic decr