The National Office of Investigation said Sunday it will conduct a special crackdown on organized crime for four months, starting from Monday. A total of 320 dedicated investigation teams of 1,539 police officers will be set up at city and provincial police agencies and police stations across the country to respond with all-out efforts. Crackdown targets include gangsters involved in gambling websites, fraudulent phone calls and text messages and violations of public welfare by extorting money f

Existing countermeasures against school violence in Korea were found to have been mostly ineffective, with preventative programs implemented by schools seven years ago not leading to an actual decrease in cases of bullying, a study showed Thursday. According to the study, various types of school violence prevention programs were deployed across a number of schools from 2016 to 2017. But even though students spent more time in school violence prevention classes and more parents participated in si

ASAN, South Chungcheong Province – A serene countryside village in Asan, located in central South Chungcheong Province, was filled with hysterical barking and sometimes whining as rescuers entered a dog meat farm on Wednesday. With fear and anxiety in their eyes, the dogs on the farm -- most of whom had never experienced meaningful interactions with humans -- seemed confused. Rescuers carefully went into narrow, dirty cages and moved the dogs into mobile kennels one by one. "It's

Kim Hyun-sook, South Korea's minister of gender equality, vowed policy efforts to narrow the gender wage gap by expanding vocational courses, her office said Monday. South Korea still experiences a wide gender wage gap, a low ratio of female lawmakers and significant rate of sexual violence that an average woman suffers through a lifetime, she added. In the statement issued on International Women's Day, she also said that the government will protect the people from violence, such as st

Jeong Myeong-geun, the Mayor of Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is pushing for new regulations against sex offenders, to provide a safer environment for citizens. On October 31, 2022, Park Byung-hwa, a sex offender who committed multiple crimes in Suwon decades ago, was released after completing a 15-year prison term. Park moved into a studio apartment in Hwaseong, which his family had prepared in advance. Nearby residents, who belatedly learned of this, strongly protested. After learning the issue

The Ministry of Environment said Monday that it has "conditionally agreed" to a strategic environmental impact assessment submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for the construction of a second airport in Jeju, bringing a decade-old project back on track. The project, first proposed in 2005, centers on building a new airport with a 3,200-meter-long airstrip in Seogwipo, southeast of Jeju. Previously, the Environment Ministry has repeatedly opposed the Transport

The government on Monday unveiled a set of plans to revise the current 52-hour workweek to give workers greater flexibility in their working hours. The current system, introduced in 2018, limits workers to working up to 52 hours a week. The new plan will allow them to manage the time they work not only on a weekly basis but also on a monthly, quarterly and yearly basis, giving them the option to work up to 69 hours in a week, provided they work fewer hours in other weeks. This means that during

The quarantine authorities said Friday that they would start to discuss lifting the remaining COVID-19 control regulations, including all indoor mask mandates and the obligation to isolate for seven days quarantine after a case is confirmed. "Now we will begin discussing the remaining disease control regulations, including lowering the COVID-19 crisis alert level, adjusting infectious disease level, lifting the seven-day isolation obligation, and lifting mask mandates in every place,"

Some 43,000 teenagers from 170 countries will gather in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, this August for the world's biggest scouting event. Government ministries, including the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, said they discussed measures Friday to facilitate the event and ensure safety. Hosted by the World Organization of the Scout Movement, the World Scout Jamboree is the world's largest youth camp held every four years. Adolescents gath

Prosecutors cleared Covana Contents, an exhibition agency run by first lady Kim Kun Hee, of allegations that it received bribes disguised as sponsorships from companies on Thursday. The Seoul Central District Prosecutor's Office said that it has dismissed Kim's bribery charges for lack of evidence. As CEO of Covana Contents, Kim has curated several art exhibitions, including an exhibition of artworks by Alberto Giacometti in 2018 and an exhibition of Fauvism in 2019, which were sponsor

Among household consumption expenditures last year, expenses for children's private education increased by nearly 20 percent year-on-year, recording the highest since 2019. In addition to inflation, the demand for private education appears to have increased due to concerns about gaps in the education system during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statistics Korea, spending on children’s private education by married couples averaged 363,641 won ($280) per month, up 18.3 percent from

A South Korean research team has confirmed Wednesday that some COVID-19 variants -- delta and omicron -- can be transmitted between dogs. Although there have been many reports on the transmission of the coronavirus from humans to dogs, this is the first study that proves transmission of the virus among dogs. A joint research team, led by Professor Song Dae-sub of Seoul National University's College of Veterinary Medicine and researcher Yoo Kwang-soo of Jeonbuk National University, unveiled

The Constitutional Court on Tuesday ruled that the law that dictates that students who commit school violence can face measures such as a mandatory apology to the victim, prohibition of contact or retaliation and changing classes is constitutional. The Constitutional Court rejected an appeal that claimed the law forcing perpetrators to apologize to victims infringes on their freedom of conscience and personal rights. Six judges out of nine voted that the law is constitutional. The case was filed

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will conduct a joint inspection of sexual exploitation and unsuitable businesses to protect children and adolescents from harmful environments. In order to keep children away from potentially damaging environments, the ministry will conduct a crackdown on businesses deemed inappropriate for adolescents to visit or work at. The ministry will first clarify the type of facilities and businesses that teenagers should stay away from, and then conduct a joint

Seoul International School offers Maker Education that focuses on the STEAM disciplines -- science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics -- through elementary and middle school programs. Maker Education, also known as hands-on learning, is rooted in the Maker movement that began in 2005, it said. It encourages students to engage in creative processes to gain knowledge and experience rather than simply observing them. Maker Education enhances students' creativity and thinking skills

More than a half of women said that marriage and childbirth are not an essential part of their lives, a survey showed Sunday, suggesting a growing trend of women defying the expectations of traditional gender roles in Korean society. According to a survey by the Korean Association for Social Welfare Studies, only 4 percent of the female respondents said marriage and childbirth are "mandatory," while 12.9 percent of male respondents answered the same. In the survey conducted on 281 sing

GWANGJU -- Kim Volodymyr, a 17-year-old fourth-generation Koryoin, had no particular interest in K-pop, Korean language or food before coming to the country. He heard his parents talking about South Korea from time to time, but never thought that he’d be living in the country. Escaping from his hometown Kremenchuk, an industrial city in Ukraine that became the target of massive bombing, Kim entered his ancestors' land in July last year with a flight ticket sent by a friend who left Uk

A 15-year prison sentence has been confirmed for a mother in her 20s who killed her two-month son by pressing the child with her body. The Daejeon High Court said the 25-year-old mother, who had been convicted of child murder, did not file a petition for appeal. She confessed that she pressed him for a significant time because he wouldn't stop crying. The defendant committed the crime while undergoing an appeals trial over another child abuse case involving her two other children, who were

Ministers of finance and labor on Monday urged the opposition party to stop pushing a bill that would prevent unionized workers from being sued by companies to recover financial losses from sit-in protests, calling it "illegitimate." In an emergency press briefing, Labor Minister Lee Jung-sik said the bill lacks “legal stability and predictability" and could lead to "strike omnipotence." “If the revision is passed, the labor union will be able to resolve the

The South Korean government on Friday announced its plan to introduce an "anti-drone system" to prevent terrorist attacks from targeting key national facilities with drones. The meeting of the 16th National Counter Terrorism Committee, convened by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, approved the government's plan of deploying the anti-drone system to key facilities, including oil refineries and power plants, in stages of order of importance. The government will also seek to actively supp