The overall number of students in South Korea decreased amid the continuing low birthrate, while the number of students from multicultural families hit a record high this year, government data showed Tuesday. According to statistics released annually by the Education Ministry in August, the number of students in nationwide preschool, elementary, middle and high schools reached 6.63 million as of April 1, down 2.7 percent from the previous year. The number of middle school students saw the bigges

Special inspector Lee Seok-su, who had been tasked with investigating a scandal-marred senior presidential aide, offered to resign Monday amid a widening probe into his alleged information leak.  A special team of prosecutors probing allegations surrounding senior presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo leaves after searching the office of a company headed by Woo’s wife in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. (Yonhap)Lee, part of a probe involving civil affairs presidential secretary Woo Byung-woo, is suspec

Prosecutors on Monday raided a company headed by the wife of scandal-marred senior presidential aide Woo Byung-woo, as well as a branch of the Seoul police. The raid came six days after prosecutors launched a task force to investigate corruption allegations involving the civil affairs presidential secretary Woo and the suspected info leak by special inspector Lee Seok-su who had probed the suspicions.  A special team of prosecutors probing allegations surrounding senior presidential secretary Wo

The amount of alcohol consumed by South Koreans is decreasing, with fruit-flavored soft alcohol gaining in popularity, government data showed Friday. According to the report released by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, which surveyed 2,000 Koreans aged 15 or over, Koreans on average drank 4.9 cups of beer (about two pints) and 6.1 shots of soju, a popular grain-based liquor, at a time in the first half of this year.These findings are a slight decrease compared to 2013 when the average beer

The United States on Thursday threw its support behind World Bank chief Jim Yong Kim for a second term at the helm  of the multilateral development lender."I am proud to announce that today the United States has nominated World Bank President Jim Kim for a second term," said US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew in a statement."President Kim has used his first term to focus the World Bank on effectively addressing today's most pressing global development challenges in innovative ways, from ending extr

Foreign and local experts, as well as government officials addressed Thursday human rights abuses faced by migrant workers in South Korea’s fishing industry and exchanged suggestions to improve the situation. Hosted by the National Assembly Human Rights Forum, Advocates for Public Interest Law and International Organization for Migration’s Korea office, scores of human rights lawyers, activists and government officials came together for a regional conference in Seoul on ethical recruitment and p

A government’s investigation found Tuesday that poor management of school food ingredients and corrupt practices have marred the quality of school meals in South Korea. 　Led by Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, the government taskforce aimed at combating corruption, released a report on the condition of school meals and a set of measures to improve the situation at a ministerial meeting. 　During the inspection from April to July, the taskforce uncovered a total of 677 cases in which the School Meals

The number of drug offenders in South Korea hit a record high last year on the back of the rising use of social networking sites and the internet, the prosecution said in a report Monday. According to the report released by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office on drug use, the number of people arrested for drug-related crimes stood at 11,916 in 2015, up 19.4 percent from the previous year. The figure has been rising gradually. It was 9,174 in 2011, 9,255 in 2012, 9,764 in 2013 and 9,984 in 2014. From

Police said Sunday that the National Police Agency chief nominee Lee Chul-sung was pardoned in a presidential amnesty in 1995 for a drunk driving offense, responding to growing allegations about his ethical standards. The agency’s deputy chief Lee has been grilled over his drunk driving history and attempt to hide his identity as a police officer at the time of the accident. He is to succeed retiring NPA chief Kang Sin-myeong, who steps down Monday. Lee Chul-sung, nominee for the National Police

The proportion of those who sat for South Korea’s college entrance exam for the second time has increased among the total number of test takers over the past three years, a report said Sunday. According to a report submitted by the Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation at the request of Rep. Ahn Min-suk of The Minjoo Party of Korea, 136,900 high school graduates last year sat the College Scholastic Ability Test, also known as Suneung. The figure accounted for 21.56 percent of the total te

Family members of the victims of the Sewol ferry sinking started Thursday a hunger strike to last for an indefinite period in protest against the government’s decision to dissolve the Sewol Special Committee tasked with investigating the 2014 maritime disaster. Yoo Kyeong-geun, the father of the deceased student Ye-eun and the spokesperson for the families of Sewol victims, began the strike at 4 p.m. at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, calling for the extension of the Sewol Special Committee

South Korea’s migrant workers called for the abolishment of the Employment Permit System and an end to human rights abuse at workplaces Wednesday, the 12th anniversary of the foreign worker policy. Depicting the EPS as a “modern-day slavery” system, an association of more than 100 lawyers, foreigners and labor rights groups urged the government to amend the labor policy to protect migrant workers’ labor rights and human dignity. “The government promotes the Employment Permit System as an advance

Nearly seven in 10 students in Korea benefit from a free school meal program led by municipal education offices, the Education Ministry said Monday, adding that the scheme may be leading to the “worsening quality” of student lunches. According to a report by the ministry, 67.6 percent of elementary, middle and high schools in the nation provide free meals to all students regardless of their families’ income, as of 2016. The proportion was 46.8 percent in 2011. The free lunches cost the schools a

Anti-terror police detained three people for questioning following raids overnight in the Belgian capital Brussels, prosecutors said Friday.The arrests took place as Belgium remains on high alert following deadly jihadist bombings in March and a machete attack against police officers a week ago."Three persons were arrested and taken for questioning," the federal prosecutor's office said in a statement, adding a judge would decide later Friday if there is enough evidence to keep them in custody.T

Donald Trump backtracked Friday from his assertion that President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton founded the Islamic State group, saying he was just being sarcastic.As he often does, the Republican presidential nominee accused the news media of misconstruing something he said.In this case he targeted CNN, although his comments on the jihadist group and the president were picked up across the news spectrum."Ratings challenged @CNN reports so seriously that I call President Obama (and Clinton) "

China tightened its rules on tourist visa issuance for South Koreans, the foreign ministry here said Friday, the second revision to its regulations in less than two weeks that comes amid a diplomatic row over Seoul's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense shield on its soil.China notified its four visa centers in South Korea earlier in the day of a new rule requiring group tourist visa seekers to present original passports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a brief note to the

North Korea will hold a youth congress in Pyongyang on Aug. 26, its official news agency said Friday, as the country continues to rally support behind leader Kim Jong-un and solidify his one-man rule.The Central Committee of the Kim Il-sung Socialist Youth League decided to convene its 9th congress in Pyongyang later this month, the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. The report did not specify the details of the event's schedule and venue.It will be the country's first congress for

Japan's foreign minister pledged Friday to "swiftly" transfer funds to assist South Korean victims of the country's colonial-era sexual enslavement, the foreign ministry here said, as the two neighbors ironed out the final details of a deal aimed at ending the decades-old feud over this painful issue.Seoul's top diplomat Yun Byung-se and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida held telephone talks earlier in the day before the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the Japanese decision."Foreign M

South Korea's electricity use set a new record two days in a row on Friday as the country is being hit hard by a sweltering heat wave, the government said.The maximum electricity load soared to 85.18 million kilowatts as of 5 p.m., passing the previous record of 84.97 million kilowatts set on Thursday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy.The electric power reserve ratio went down to 8.5 percent, or 7.22 million kilowatts, marking the fifth single-digit ratio throughout the ye

The government said Friday that it will offer financial subsidies for young people looking for jobs, in partnership with the state-run Youth Hope Fund, overturning its initial stance that handing out “cash” could create “moral hazards.”The Ministry of Employment and Labor will offer funds of up to 600,000 won ($544) over three months to help job seekers cover expenses when attending job interviews under the program called “Successful Job-landing Package,” minister Lee Ki-kwon said at a news brie