A festival advocating equality for sexual minorities will open at the end of May and run for two weeks in central Seoul, with the main event parade planned for June 1, organizers said Tuesday. Under the slogan “The 20th Fight for Rights,” the 20th annual Queer Culture Festival, including a pride parade, film festival and lectures, will run for about two weeks from the end of May to early June, with exact dates to be confirmed later.  (Seoul Queer Culture Festival Organizing Committee)The committ

An Angolan family had been stranded for 60 days in Incheon Airport’s transit zone as of Monday, and that stay at the airport is likely to be protracted as late as May, prompting human rights activists  to call for action. (Yonhap) Nkuka Lulendo, his wife and four children aged under 10 arrived to South Korea on a tourist visa on Dec. 28. They have been staying at the transit zone, fighting the immigration o

Police said Sunday they plan to conduct an intensive crackdown on drug-related crimes over the next three months amid escalating allegations involving drug use and sexual abuse at Gangnam-based nightclub Burning Sun.  (Yonhap)The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency will clamp down on drug-related crimes from Feb. 25 to May 24 to root out sexual abuse linked to the use of drugs and cozy ties between nightclubs and some police officers.A total of 1,063 officers specializing in investigating drug-rela

More air purifiers will be installed in classrooms across South Korea, the Education Ministry said Sunday, as concerns are growing over children’s health amid toxic levels of dust particles. (Yonhap)The plans were laid out at a meeting among some 17 officials from 17 regional education offices to boost students’ safety at schools. This year, 58.2 percent of the classrooms in the country have air purifiers installed, up from 29.1 percent last year, according to government data. Some 88.3 percent

A video clip showing a woman who appears to be Cho Hyun-ah, formerly Korean Air vice president, shouting at her husband, and photos showing his injuries were revealed late Wednesday.  (Yonhap)In the video, the woman shouts “Die! Die!” at her husband, surnamed Park, who filed for divorce last year citing physical and verbal abuse against him and their twin sons. Photos released along with the video show injuries to the man’s neck -- apparently strangle marks.The photos and video footage, which ai

The number of foreign residents in Korea continues to grow and now accounts for some 3.6 percent of the country‘s population. This is part of a series that examines how Korea is grappling with the issue of multiculturalism, as well as the challenges facing new arrivals. -- Ed.Yemeni asylum seekers learn about Korea’s language and culture in Itaewon, central Seoul, at the Union of Yemen Community in Korea. (Union of Yemen Community in Korea)When hundreds of Yemenis fleeing war and the humanitaria

(Yonhap)Q. ‘Fine dust’ vs. ‘ultrafine dust’?A particle of “ultrafine dust,” or particulate matter 2.5 is smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. The width of PM2.5 is about 30 times less than that of a human hair. “Fine dust,” or PM10, is particulate matter 10 micrometers or smaller in diameter. In South Korea, the average level of PM2.5 was 25.1 micrograms per cubic meter in 2017, the worst among 35 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The OECD average

South Korea’s Special Act on the Reduction and Management of Fine Dust went into effect across the country Friday to tackle fine dust pollution amid growing concerns over public health.　This comes as Korea grapples with massive air pollution; it ranked bottom in air quality among 35 member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 　The government is working on a range of measures -- including artificial rain -- which center on cutting emissions produced domestically an

A long-delayed commencement ceremony was held Tuesday for 250 Danwon High School students who died in the Sewol ferry disaster on April 16, 2014. (Yonhap)The students were on a school trip to Jeju Island when the ferry carrying 476 passengers sank off the southwestern coast near Jindo, killing 304 aboard. Only 75 students survived, and they graduated in 2016. The victims’ families had asked the school to postpone the honorary commencement ceremony until all the bodies of the victims had been rec

The prosecution indicted Yang Sung-tae, former Supreme Court chief justice, Monday on charges he abused his power to influence politically significant trials and disadvantage justices critical of him.　Ending an eight-month investigation, the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office filed 47 charges against Yang, including abuse of power and dereliction of duty for approving or orchestrating the use of trials in backdoor deals with the previous Park Geun-hye administration. 　In a dramatic fall

A funeral was held Sunday for emergency doctor Yoon Han-deok, who died of a heart attack at his office and whose death cast light on the difficult working conditions faced by emergency medical staff. Lee Guk-jong, head of the trauma center at Ajou University Hospital, pays his respects to Yoon Han-deok, head of the National Emergency Medical Center, at Yoon’s funeral in Seoul on Sunday. (Yonhap)Yoon, head of the National Emergency Medical Center, was found dead on Monday during the Lunar New Yea

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon on Saturday pledged to completely eliminate the business of dog meat in South Korea’s capital. 　“Once dog-butchering businesses are completely removed soon, I plan to make a declaration,” he said in a meeting with an audience after watching animated film “The Underdog” at a local cinema. (Yonhap)Park promised to “put pressure” in various ways to shut down the few remaining dog meat shops in Seoul after watching the Korean film about the journey of abandoned dogs to find

Some 1,200 tons of plastic waste shipped back to Korea from the Philippines last week are unrecyclable, environment authorities concluded after opening some of the containers carrying the garbage Thursday. (Ministry of Environment)Officials from the Ministry of Environment and Customs office opened some of the 51 trash-filled containers at Pyeongtaek Port to check on conditions of the waste as part of administrative procedures to process it. The first batch of the plastic waste, which a Korean c

Women-only taxis equipped with child car seats and taxis unable to refuse passengers based on their destinations will begin running in Seoul as early as this month, the Seoul city government said Thursday.  (Yonhap)The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it issued a business license Feb. 1 to a taxi franchise company, Tago Solutions, which consists of some 50 companies with 4,500 taxis. Tago Solutions plans to test-run two services for three months: Waygo Lady and Waygo Blue. Waygo Lady taxis, dr

Seoul residents find it most difficult to grab taxis at night near Gangnam Station, followed by the areas of Jongno, Hongik University and Itaewon, according to a recent report by Kakao Mobility and the Seoul Digital Foundation. The report on the imbalance in demand and supply for taxis at night in Seoul was based on data from Kakao’s taxi ride-hailing app from November 2017 to October 2018.It was toughest to grab a taxi near Gangnam Station at midnight, with demand on the taxi-hailing app highe

A high court on Friday sentenced former South Chungcheong Province Gov. An Hee-jung to 3 1/2 years in prison for raping his female aide, overturning a lower court’s not-guilty ruling, in the country’s highest-profile case amid the ongoing #MeToo movement. (Yonhap)The Seoul High Court ruled that An, who was once considered a strong presidential contender, had used his authority to sexually assault the victim, citing sufficient evidence to prove that Kim’s sexual freedom was violated against her w

Hundreds of South Koreans on Friday bid farewell to Kim Bok-dong, a South Korean victim of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II, near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, where she has attended a weekly rally demanding an apology from Japan. About 1,000 mourners, according to the organizer Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance, came together for a send-off ceremony for Kim, who died late Monday after battling cancer for about a year. Despite biting cold, the organizers and

A Seoul court on Wednesday sentenced South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo, a close associate of President Moon Jae-in, to two years in prison for colluding with a power blogger to rig online comments to benefit the ruling Democratic Party and Moon.  　The Seoul Central District Court viewed the governor, once a presidential hopeful, as an accomplice of blogger Kim Dong-won, known as Druking, in swaying public opinion in favor of the party and presidential hopeful Moon ahead of the 2017 p

Kim Bok-dong, a South Korean victim of sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II and a symbol of the fight against wartime violence, died late Monday, bringing the number of survivors to 23. She was 92.Kim, who was at the forefront of raising awareness about Japanese military sexual slavery and campaigning to end violence against women around the world, died at 10:41 p.m. Monday at Yonsei Severance Hospital in Seoul, according to the Korean Council for Justice and Remembrance.

The South Korean government’s first artificial rain experiment this year over the Yellow Sea failed to induce rain, the Korea Meteorological Administration said Monday, with 14 more experiments planned throughout the year. (Yonhap)The KMA observed an increase in the size of precipitation particles in the clouds, but there was no rain or snow, it said, announcing the interim result of the experiment carried out Friday. The KMA and Ministry of Environment conducted the cloud seeding experiment ove