Last year South Korea pledged to invest more in clean energy and green infrastructure, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 -- ambitious climate goals for one of the world’s key emitters. It is time for Korea to turn its words into action by devising a concrete road map and bringing an end to financing for overseas coal plants, according to the top representative of the European Union here. “In less than a year, Korea politically committed to doing a lot of things for climate,

The embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in South Korea will co-host a webinar on Thursday to share their experiences of long-term public-private partnerships that can accelerate the decarbonization of industries for a more sustainable economy. Titled “Nordic Talks Korea: Innovation for a Green Transition,” the event will bring together experts from Korea and the Nordic region to discuss how the public sector, the private sector and the rest of society can collaborate t

A rise in the number of unregistered migrants who are stranded in South Korea, unable to return home amid the coronavirus pandemic, is prompting calls to allow them to live and work legally in the country. With international flights curtailed due to the pandemic, the government has granted extensions of stay for migrant workers whose visas have expired. But they are not allowed to work here during the extended stay. “We urge the government to extend work permits for migrant workers w

People living in Seoul spent more time sleeping and using media and less time working than usual during the coronavirus pandemic last year, a recent survey conducted by the Seoul city government showed.   　 According to the poll by the Seoul Metropolitan Government with 1,000 Seoul residents aged 18 to 69, those in Seoul worked five hours and 19 minutes on average a day in 2020, down 12 minutes from 2019.   　 As the nationwide social distancing campaign has kept people at home longe

South Korean civic groups on Wednesday filed a petition with the country’s human rights watchdog over a now-suspended artificial intelligence chatbot for its prejudiced and offensive language against women and minorities. An association of civic groups asked the National Human Rights Commission of Korea to look into human rights violations in connection with the chatbot Lee Luda, which was developed by local startup Scatter Lab. The groups, which include the People’s Solidarity

Public outrage is mounting after it was reported that Cho Doo-soon, one of Korea’s most notorious child rapists, and his wife are receiving basic livelihood grants and the pension for senior citizens. Cho, 68, who was released from prison on Dec. 12 after serving a reduced sentence of just over a decade for kidnapping, beating and grotesquely raping a young girl, now lives with his wife in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, and is unemployed. After news surfaced that Cho and his wife began to re

Nearly 8 out of 10 businesses in South Korea suffered the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic over the past year, a recent survey showed. Of those, 4 out of 10 were operating in emergency mode. According to a survey of 302 local firms by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 75.8 percent said they had taken a hit from the coronavirus crisis and some 8.3 percent said their survival was threatened. Only 14.6 percent of the companies responded that the coronavirus had helped their

Levels of stress and depression increased among South Koreans as the coronavirus pandemic dragged on, a survey showed Monday, with 7 in 10 Koreans saying they were stressed. According to a survey of 1,016 Koreans by a team led by professor Yoo Myung-soon of the Seoul National University Graduate School of Public Health, 72.8 percent of the surveyed said they were stressed, up 15.7 percentage points from the survey conducted last October. Only 4.5 percent of the respondents said they were no

Only 4 in 10 victims who experienced sexual harassment at work came  forward, a recent study showed. And of those who did, 9 out of 10 suffered retaliatory actions such as bullying or dismissal. Workplace Abuse 119 (Jikjang Gapjil 119), a nongovernmental organization, published an analysis on Sunday of the 364 sexual harassment reports it had received since November 2017. Among the sexual harassment victims who turned to the organization for help, 136 people, or 37.4 percent, filed forma

South Korea is pushing to publicize attempts to distort the history of the Japanese historical industrial sites, including Hashima Island, inscribed on the UNESCO’s world heritage list, the country’s cultural agency said Friday. As one such effort, the Cultural Heritage Administration published a report taking issue with Tokyo’s failure to deliver on its promise to address the full history of the island, also known as Battleship Island, including Koreans coerced into labor dur

Extreme weather events such as an unusually long monsoon season and frequent typhoons last year caused 1.2 trillion won of property in South Korea, according to a report by the country’s weather agency. The Korea Meteorological Administration published a report on Thursday on last year’s extreme weather events and their social and economic impact on society, jointly with 24 related ministries and agencies.  The annual report addresses the causes of abnormal weather patterns

Half of job seekers in South Korea were not confident landing a job in the first half of this year mostly due to a grim economic outlook amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey by job search engine Job Korea of 934 people preparing to enter labor force in the first half of this year, 49.3 percent of the respondents said they were not confident in landing a job. Those who majored in humanities were less confident (55.4 percent) than those who studied science-related subjects (46.5 pe

Traditional markets are the cheapest option for grocery shopping for the upcoming Lunar New Year’s holiday, recent data showed, with food prices skyrocketing due to unusual weather patterns and the spread of bird flu. An average four-member household in South Korea can expect to spend about 240,700 won ($215) on groceries for the “charye” table at a traditional market, up 16.4 percent from last year, according to data collected by Korea Price Information. At a big supermarke

Gyeonggi Provincial Government said Thursday that it will offer 100,000 won ($89) in emergency cash payouts to all registered residents, including foreigners, starting on Feb. 1, as part of efforts to help cope with the COVID-19 economic fallout. Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung said at an online press briefing that now is “the right time” to distribute relief funds given the devastating economic situation and the slowing infection rate.  Q. Who is eligible for the

Six out of ten office workers in South Korea said they will not visit their families in their hometowns during the Lunar New Year holiday due to the spread of the coronavirus, a survey showed Monday. According to a survey of 1,434 officer workers conducted by a job search engine Saramin, 63.4 percent of the respondents said they will not travel to their hometowns in what is normally the busiest time of the year for family get-togethers. This year’s Lunar New Year holiday falls on Feb.

Facilities for homeless people at Seoul Station were temporarily shut down Tuesday after coronavirus infections were traced there, according to the Seoul city government. Three homeless people and two employees linked to the homeless support center and emergency shelter at Seoul Station Plaza had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Tuesday, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Since the first case was reported Jan. 17, some 25 people had been hospitalized or gone into isolati

South Korean government pushes to reform family-related laws to accommodate various types of familial and household structures such as cohabiting couples who are not married. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family laid out a basic plan for family policy on Sunday to be effective from 2021-2025, though revisions to related laws must pass through the parliament before they take effect. The current civil law stipulates that a family involves direct family by blood, siblings, a spouse and t

Another court ruling came on Monday in favor of importing a life-size sex doll despite persistent controversy over the sex doll which many denounce as sexually objectifying women and prompting an increase in sex crimes. The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of a firm seeking to import one life-size sex doll into the country from China, ordering the head of Gimpo Airport’s customs agency to revoke its decision to block the import of the doll. The customs agency suspended the imp

South Korea reported nine more cases of COVID-19 variants over the past week, health authorities said Monday as they scrambled to block the influx of highly contagious new strains into the country. Nine people were infected with the mutated virus variants over the past week -- four from the United Kingdom, three from South Africa and two from Brazil, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. Seven of the patients were confirmed to be infected during the quarantine process

The labor income gap among wage earners in South Korea worsened last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a government report showed, despite narrower disparities in disposable income under the Moon Jae-in administration. The Gini coefficient -- a measure of income inequality within a population -- went up slightly to 0.306 last year when calculated on the basis of hourly labor income, according to a report from the Korea Employment Information Service. The report was based on employment data fr