It is time to harvest, but farmers are facing a labor shortage due to a sharp drop in foreign arrivals caused by the pandemic. Even prior to the pandemic, the Ministry of Justice has been implementing a foreign seasonal worker system since 2017 to combat the shortage. In the first year of implementation, 1,085 people came in, and the number of entrants increased to 3,487 in 2019, but there were none last year when COVID-19 began to spread. This year, 504 people entered the country, and 1,01

Gyeonggi Province Gov. Lee Jae-myung is leading the polls among the four major candidates for next year’s presidential election, a survey showed Friday. According to a poll conducted by Gallup Korea, Lee is in the lead, with 34 percent of survey respondents saying they have favorable sentiment toward the Gyeonggi governor. Lee was followed by former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl at 30 percent and Rep. Hong Joon-pyo at 28 percent. Both Yoon and Hong are vying to become the president

In a press briefing that marks 100 days in office, People Power Party leader Lee Jun-seok called on the opposition party and its supporters to be wary of false and misleading videos on YouTube. To win the presidential election, Lee said the party should focus on people thinking logically and rationally instead of people who see only what they want to see. “A new media called YouTube recommends videos that you might want to watch through algorithms,” Lee said. “The algori

The ruling Democratic Party is seeking to revise election laws to allow South Korean expatriates to vote by mail, upon growing calls from overseas Koreans who want that option. Overseas Koreans with voting rights include those with permanent residency in other countries, students studying abroad and workers dispatched by Korean companies. The total number of eligible voters living abroad is about 2.14 million, or 4.5 percent of all voters. Despite their significant numbers, overseas voters ha

Young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in South Korea experience isolation and mistreatment in schools, a report showed Tuesday. Human Rights Watch and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic at Yale Law School released a report titled “I thought of myself as defective: Neglecting the rights of LGBT youth in South Korean schools.” The two organizations interviewed students, teachers, parents, service providers and advocates in the nation. Many of th

The allegations surrounding conservative presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl are expanding, with Yoon accusing the head of the National Intelligence Service of meddling in a presidential election. On Monday, Yoon reported NIS chief Park Jie-won and informant Cho Sung-eun to the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials, in a countermove for coming under investigation for allegations raised by Cho. Yoon has accused Park and Cho of violating the National Intelligence Service Ac

North Korea’s Foreign Ministry called the US war in Afghanistan a “human rights crime” and said the US should pay the price for it. On Sunday, the ministry posted a message titled “Human rights crimes committed by the US must be calculated” on its website. “The crimes in which the US slandered innocent people from all over the world while wearing the veils of human rights judges must be calculated,” it said. North Korea has used the expression “c

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug returned Saturday after meeting with his counterparts at the fifth World Conference of Speakers of Parliament in Vienna. They agreed to cooperate on issues concerning economics, business, defense and North Korea, officials said Sunday. During the two-day conference, which began Tuesday, he met with 24 parliamentary leaders and with the secretary-general of the Inter-Parliamentary Union and expanded the horizons of South Korea’s parliamentary di

South Korea’s regulations on foreign performers are unfair and may violate freedom of expression, a lawmaker said Thursday. Rep. Lee Sang-hun of the ruling Democratic Party said Korea unfairly regulates performances by foreigners, citing ambiguity in the Korea Media Rating Board’s “Foreigners’ performance recommendation system.” Under the current law, foreigners must be recommended and reviewed by the board if they want to perform in Korea. If they perform wit

Presidential hopeful Yoon Seok-youl on Wednesday denied involvement in snowballing allegations that he had tried to meddle in politics. Speculation has swirled around him for a week after online news outlet Newsverse reported on Sept. 2 that Yoon ordered Rep. Kim Woong of the main opposition People Power Party to file a complaint with the prosecution against politicians and journalists linked to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea ahead of last year’s general elections. In a press bri

Three cases of the new coronavirus variant mu have been found in South Korea, officials said Friday. The mu variant was first identified in Colombia in January and has since been detected in about 40 countries, including Peru, Chile and the US. It was added to the World Health Organization’s watchlist last month. The confirmed patients in Korea were immigrants from Mexico, the US and Colombia who arrived in May, June and July, respectively. There are no locally transmitted cases yet.

Slightly eased social distancing rules will take effect starting Monday to alleviate the difficulties of small-business owners and the self-employed hit hard by the prolonged pandemic. On Friday, Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said that business hours of restaurants and cafes in the Seoul metropolitan area will be extended by one hour to 10 p.m., starting next week and to last four weeks. The current social distancing rules -- Level 4 in Greater Seoul and Level 3 in most other areas -- will be e

The personal information of Kang Yoon-sung, 56, the suspect in the murder of two women, was disclosed by police on Thursday. Under the law, police can disclose a suspect’s face, name and age online when there is enough evidence to believe it is in the public interest, and for the prevention of repeat crimes. Police said Kang caused social unrest by killing two victims within days using the same method. “We decided to disclose the suspect’s personal information for the pub

Some 1 million doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine arrived Thursday. But concerns remain that if more shipments do not come in on schedule, the nation’s vaccination plan could face setbacks ahead of the Chuseok holiday. Just over 1 million doses of the Moderna vaccine arrived at Incheon International Airport on Thursday, out of the 7.01 million doses that Moderna promised to supply by this week. Of the promised doses, 1.01 million arrived Aug. 23 and the remaining 4.98 million are

Dogs living outside on a short leash are a common sight in Korea, but the majority of people here feel such practices should be banned by law, a survey shows. Private animal welfare research institute Aware recently published survey results on the public perception of animal welfare policies. It surveyed 2,000 adults in 17 cities nationwide on laws and awareness of animal protection. According to the survey, 82.5 percent of respondents agreed that raising animals tied to short ropes or locke

The Seoul court issued an arrest warrant for a 56-year-old sex offender surnamed Kang, who is suspected of murdering two women, saying he could flee. Kang with 14 prior criminal convictions, including sex crimes, is accused of murdering women in their 40s and 50s before and after damaging his electronic anklet on Friday. On Monday, police applied for an arrest warrant and the prosecution immediately filed it with the court. Kang attended the court for the arrest warrant hearing Tuesday m

  South Korea plans to provide 250,000 won ($214) for each individual in a disaster relief fund to help revive the sagging economy hit by the prolonged pandemic, officials said Monday. Subsidies worth a total of 11 trillion won are to be given to households in the bottom 80 percent income bracket. But, as special standards apply to single-person households and dual-income households, about 88 percent of the total population will receive them. As for single-person households, they are eli

An Afghan national evacuated to South Korea five days ago has told the Korea Herald that he feels “totally safe” after arriving here. “Outside the facility where I stay now, I see a flag in my language Farsi that ‘Don’t be disappointed. Korea supports you.’ When I see these kinds of flags, these kinds of messages from Korean people, I don’t know how to thank them,” he said by phone from his accommodation at a government facility in Jincheon, Nort

National Assembly Speaker Park Byeong-seug and his Singaporean counterpart Tan Chuan-Jin agreed on the need to mutually recognize COVID-19 vaccination certificates and to resume a reciprocal quarantine exemption arrangement at a virtual meeting held on Friday, officials said Sunday. They also shared views on the Korea-Singapore Digital Partnership Agreement and the Korean Peninsula. Park said, “We are keenly interested in the efforts of Singapore to strike the right balance between inf

South Korea on Thursday announced details of 87 youth policy measures that will affect housing, education, welfare and jobs. The highlights include plans to halve college tuition for the whole country and to subsidize rental payments for financially struggling young people. “In a situation where job opportunities for young people decrease due to digitalization, automation and robotization, the living conditions of young people are worsening due to COVID-19,” said Koo Yoon-cheol, he