The country’s highest court decided to strengthen sentencing guidelines for digital sex crimes Tuesday, enabling producers of child pornography to be punished by up to 29 years in prison. The decision from the Supreme Court’s sentencing commission came following public outcry over lenient punishments handed down to offenders involved in child pornography here, compared to those in other countries. The new guidelines recommend judges sentence people convicted of producing child

The Ministry of Education said Sunday it would provide an artificial intelligence-based mathematics program to elementary schools across the country, starting Monday. This marks the first time the country will incorporate AI technology in school curriculum. The AI-base program which is designed for the first and second grade students at elementary schools features a system that recommends educational content that matches the learning level of each student after analyzing their ability to perf

The number of people who deliberately harmed themselves surged nearly 36 percent in the first half of 2020 compared to a year ago, amid a growing concern that the COVID-19 pandemic is aggravating psychological distress here. The number of medical treatments conducted on patients involved with intentional self-harm stood at 1,076 cases in the first six months of this year, up 35.9 percent, from 792 in 2019, according to data the Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service submitted to Rep.

The controversy over allegations that Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae pulled strings to obtain special treatment for her son during his compulsory military service years ago intensified Thursday, leading prosecutors to expand their investigation and inviting demands for her resignation from opposition parties. The Defense Ministry on Thursday dismissed speculation that the minister’s son, 26, surnamed Seo, may have used his mother’s influence as a political bigwig and breached militar

The Health Ministry is giving the cold shoulder to medical students who boycotted the annual state licensing exam to protest the government’s medical reform plans, saying it would be unfair to give them another chance to take the test. “It is not an easy issue for the government to decide if consent from the public is not preceded,” Sohn Young-rae, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Welfare, said in a briefing. Out of some 3,172 medical students who were eligi

Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun lashed out at conservative groups for planning to hold rallies on National Foundation Day early next month, warning that anyone caught hindering virus containment efforts will face stern punishment. “We will exercise governmental authority given by the public without hesitation against activities that hamper antivirus measures and threaten the safety of communities,” Chung said Wednesday during a government COVID-19 response meeting. Calling the p

The government has repeatedly warned that it would take stern action against the “bad apples” that impede efforts to combat the virus, such as requesting reimbursement for all the medical treatment and quarantine costs it has incurred. But claiming damages from violators of anti-virus rules is far more complex and daunting than they thought, according to local government officials and experts. “The government will thoroughly strengthen crackdowns and inspections until the act

The government has expanded its flu vaccination program to help protect vulnerable people and preempt the chaos expected from the arrival of a flu season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Jung Eun-kyeong, director of South Korea’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the government will expand free vaccine eligibility to 19 million people, or 37 percent of the total population, from 13.8 million people ahead of flu season. The vaccination campaign will start Tuesday for

New daily cases of the novel coronavirus in South Korea have increased by 119, bringing the total caseload to 21,296, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday. It is the fifth day in a row that the daily tally remained below 200. The death toll rose by two to 336. The fatality rate stands at 1.58 percent. Health Minister Park Neung-hoo urged the public to comply with the government’s strengthened Level 2 social distancing system so that the measure,

A doctors’ association reached two separate agreements with the government and the ruling Democratic Party on Friday to restart their talks on a medical reform plan with more input from physicians when the COVID-19 pandemic settles down. Following an hours-long discussion that began Thursday, Rep. Han Jung-ae, chief policymaker of the Democratic Party and Choi Dae-zip, head of the Korean Medical Association singed a five-point agreement at 10 a.m. Under the agreement, they will br

The National Assembly was forced to shut down Thursday and scores of big wig politicans from both sides of the aisle went back home after an official from the main opposition party tested positive for COVID-19. The positive case involves a secretary of Rep. Lee Jong-bae of the People Power Party, who underwent testing on Wednesday after having symptoms while working at his office at the parliament building in Yeouido, Seoul. Rep. Lee is the party’s chief policymaker. The PPP cancel

The Supreme Court said Thursday the government’s 2013 decision that outlawed a left-leaning teachers union was illegitimate, overturning earlier lower court judgments in a move that could help the group to win back its status as a legal trade union. The ruling was a dramatic turn of events in a nearly seven-year feud between the Korean Teachers and Education Workers’ Union and the Labor Ministry, which has accused the group of infringing on the labor law by having nine dismissed t

As soon as he had recovered from COVID-19 on Wednesday, Jun Kwang-hoon, who leads the Seoul-based Presbyterian church that has emerged as the country’s second-biggest virus cluster, called the government’s antivirus measures a “fraud” designed to destroy his church. The far-right pastor repeated his claim that President Moon Jae-in and his administration were oppressing him for holding anti-government rallies, at a press conference held in front of his Sarang Jeil Chu

President Moon Jae-in sent a congratulatory message on Tuesday to boy band BTS for hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 songs chart with its new single “Dynamite,” in a first for any South Korean artist. Saying BTS had written a new chapter in K-pop history and increased the nation’s pride in K-pop, Moon offered the band his heartfelt congratulations. “This song ‘Dynamite,’ which topped the list, is all the more meaningful as it has been composed to giv

South Korea is facing a scarcity of medical professionals to treat COVID-19 patients in severe condition due to ongoing walkout of trainee doctors, according to a health authority on Tuesday. The number of patients in critical or serious condition has been growing at a fast clip over the past two weeks, from nine people on Aug. 18 to 104 people as of midnight Monday, in the wake of the second wave of infections that has hit the country’s capital and surrounding area. Concerns over a p

South Korea’s COVID-19 tally surpassed 20,000 on Tuesday amid a growing number of patients with severe conditions in the aftermath of the second wave of infections that hit the country’s capital and surrounding area, some seven months after the first case was reported. The new daily case number reached 235, raising the total caseload to 20,182 as of midnight Monday, according to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Of the new cases, just 13 were imported from over

The main opposition United Future Party filed an application with the National Election Commission on Monday, seeking to rename itself as part of a rebranding effort. The new name is “People’s Power.” The name change came just six months after the Liberty Korea Party merged with minor conservative parties in February to form the United Future Party. The new name won an endorsement at the party’s general meeting, held online earlier in the day. It was one of three na

The ruling Democratic Party’s approval rating has bounced back to the 40 percent-level for the first time in nine weeks, widening the gap with the main opposition United Future Party to over 10 percentage points, a survey showed Monday. According to the opinion poll conducted by Realmeter, the ruling party’s support increased 0.7 percentage points from a week ago to 40.4 percent, while that of the main opposition party dipped 5.0 percentage points to 30.1 percent. The survey w

A recent resurgence of coronavirus infections has kept people from chilling out with coffee at large franchise cafes, as the government tightened its social distancing measures for Greater Seoul starting Sunday. The Gwanghwamun area, located in the heart of Seoul and densely packed with coffeehouse chains like Starbucks, The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, A Twosome Place, Hollys Coffee, Ediya Coffee and Paul Bassett, had a quiet Sunday morning as businesses embraced a totally different way of w

Ventilation systems are unlikely to be the transmission route of eight coronavirus cases detected at an apartment complex in Guro-gu, western Seoul, health authorities said Thursday, while saying it was looking into all possibilities. 　 Eight people residing in the same building have been confirmed to have contracted the virus since the first case was detected there on Aug. 23. They are from five households living both above and below the first patient’s apartment. Twenty more cases l