Three citizens were selected as honorary vice mayors of the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Monday under Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon’s initiative to reflect citizens’ ideas in policy formulation, city officials said Tuesday. Following his motto, “Citizens are the Mayor,” the city government has so far selected citizens to be one-day mayors.This time, the city selected citizens to be messengers for ordinary citizens for a year in unpaid positions. There are three incumbent official vice mayors for

Korean children start learning English at age 4.3 on average, and the more educated the mother the earlier a child begins, according to a survey by Yoon’s English School, a local private English institute, on Tuesday. A poll of 667 mothers conducted from Dec. 28 to Jan. 5 found that 42.7 percent said they started their children’s English education when they were between the ages of three and four.About 28.6 percent said they had their children begin learning English at between five and six years

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon asked President Lee Myung-bak to pardon residents arrested for violently defying eviction in Yongsan in 2009, city officials said Tuesday. Park sent an official letter to President Lee, asking for the pardon of all eight people arrested amid a deadly standoff between then-tenants and police over the forced eviction from Yongsan District 4 three years ago. The conforontation led to a fire that killed five evictees and one police officer. Park, who took office last year,

The government announced a wide range of measures against school violence Monday, focused on united action by all members of society.The measures call for strengthening the role of teachers and headmasters in resolving school violence, zero-tolerance toward bullying and more protection of and care for victims, as well as expanding character education for all school ages.“Every member of society including teachers, schools, parents and the government should act to eradicate school violence. The g

The Korean government plans to go on a road show in U.S. cities where prestigious universities are clustered in a bid to attract young Korean scientists to the new domestic science belt, officials said Sunday. Vice Minister of Education and Science Kim Chang-kyung will make presentations to Korean scientists on doctoral or post-doctoral courses in Chicago and Boston from Monday to Saturday. He will explain the “Brain Return 500” project focused on bringing Korean scientists back home.The project

Kim Chang-ryul, a member of K-pop group DJ DOC and a sophomore at Kyung Hee Cyber University, has given his performance fees from school events and commercials to underprivileged students at the university as scholarships, the school said Sunday. “I heard there are many students worrying about their tuition fees lately. The scholarship may not be large but I would like to help students in need,” Kim said. The 39-year-old singer is well known for passing high school qualification and college entr

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Thursday it will raise public transit fares by 150 won ($0.13) late this month to reduce mounting deficits in the public transportation system.The minimum bus and subway fare will rise from 900 won to 1,050 won for adults from Feb. 25. Fares for children and teenagers will remain unchanged.The decision to allow the fare hike was taken to lower deficits stemming from energy costs, fee discounts and some free rides, among other factors, officials said. It is

Community Chest of Korea has seen its year-end and New Year’s donations reach an all-time high as it celebrated the end of its donation campaign on Tuesday. The CCK said it raised a total of 254.1 billion won ($225 million) as of Jan. 30, surpassing its two-month goal of 218 billion won and breaking its 2010 record of 224.2 billion won.The nationwide charity network conducts the annual donation drive named “Hope Sharing Campaign” from December to January. The CCK’s giant “Thermometer of Love” pe

The Education Ministry announced it will invest 27.3 billion won ($24 million) in the promotion of Korean studies this year. The project, launched in 2007, aims to foster research on Korea, highlighting the significance of Korean studies at home and abroad as well as continuing to strengthen the basis for research by supporting major institutions and scholars in the field.Korean studies focus on a broad range of topics related to Korea including its history, culture, anthropology, society, polit

Ministry says action violates law guaranteeing schools’ independenceThe Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education ordered schools in the capital to revise their student conduct rules according to the ordinance on the enhancement of students’ rights proclaimed last week, officials said Monday. The SMOE has distributed guidelines to all elementary and secondary schools as a reference to revise their school rules last week, they said. But the Education Ministry, which has opposed to the student right

Students, teachers stress more talk and caring atmosphere in schoolsThe following is the last of a series of articles on school violence brought into the public spotlight following recent student suicides. ― Ed.A Seoul-based middle school has seen the number of incidents of school violence fall from five to one last year as a result of a three-year effort to reach out to troubled students ― both bullies and those being bullied. It is a typical public school in Korea, under the same stressful sys

A senior police officer has been reprimanded after he replied to President Lee Myung-bak’s New Year’s text message with a warning that he will judge the president on a recent law revision seen as limiting the investigative rights of the police. President Lee sent a thank-you message to all police officers last Saturday, a day before the Lunar New Year holiday, saying, “I am grateful for your hard work and the fulfillment of your responsibility while others are resting. Korea relies on you and tr

Sledding and ice fishing on the Han River may become history as the river running through Seoul is less likely to freeze during winter due to climate change. The river froze over for as long as 80 days in the 1900s, but due to climate change the period was shortened to an average of 14.5 days in the 2000s, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday in a report on the Han River history. This year, the river first froze on Jan. 14, a day later than usual and 12 days later than last year.Last ye

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Education Ministry clashed over the controversial ordinance on students’ rights on Thursday as the ministry sought legal action to prevent its implementation.As soon as the Seoul Metropolitan Government proclaimed the ordinance in the name of SMOE chief Kwak No-hyun on Thursday morning, the education ministry filed a suit with the Supreme Court. “We will support schools to effectively implement the ordinance so that every student’s dignity and r

Hundreds of college students were found to have been admitted illicitly by abusing a special admission system for rural students and overseas Koreans.The Board of Audit and Inspection released the results of a probe into college admission on Wednesday, and said that it found 865 students illicitly enrolled in colleges nationwide under a program for rural students and overseas Koreans. “We discovered illegal admission practices for seven students under the overseas Koreans program. Their parents

Education ministry seeks suit to prevent implementationThe Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education and the Education Ministry clashed over the controversial ordinance on students’ human rights on Thursday as the ministry sought legal action to prevent its implementation.As soon as Seoul Metropolitan Government proclaimed the ordinance in the name of the SMOE chief on Thursday morning, the education ministry filed a suit to the Supreme Court. “It’s a historical event that the city council passed t

Oh Dong-chan, pharmacy professor of Seoul National University, has been chosen as one of the early career scientists of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, an internationally renowned research foundation, SNU said Wednesday. Oh is expected to receive $715,000 for the next five years in funding for his research on microbes in relation to drug use, according to the school. “The research on discovering new antibiotic compounds based on microbes is promising … on discovering antibiotics from natura

Teachers call for effective alternative discipline for student misconductThis is the second of a series of articles on school violence brought into the public spotlight following recent student suicides. ― Ed.A 28-year-old middle school teacher who reported an in incident of violence to the school’s teacher in charge of student discipline received a shocking response. “He first asked me back, ‘Did the student break something? If not, deal with the case by yourself,’” she said, declining to be na

A majority of Seoul citizens agree on imposing a smoking ban on streets in the capital, according to a survey of 1,000 citizens earlier this month. About 80 percent said they would support designating streets as non-smoking areas while 16.9 percent opposed the idea, and 3.9 percent said they do not know, according to a poll conducted by Nam Jae-kyong, a Grand National Party member of the city council, from Jan. 2-6. The survey is expected to be used as background data on revising an ordinance th

About one-third of Korean universities announced they will lower their tuition fees by 4.8 percent on average for the 2012 school year in a bid to meet the government’s request to reduce tuition costs in line with state tuition subsidies for students.A total of 109 universities out of 344 nationwide plan to lower their fees by 4.8 percent on average from last year, according to the Korea Student Aid Foundation on Tuesday. “Students will be able to feel the change, with a tuition fee cut combined