Bird watchers in Ulsan have reported sightings of two tundra swans, marking the first time the rare bird species has been found within the city, authorities said Monday. The birds were found looking for food in the fields of Onyang-eup and Onsan-eup in Ulju-gun, Ulsan, on Feb.7, according to the Ulsan Metropolitan Government. The swans were first caught on camera by Lee Jae-ho, a member of the local youth bird watchers' club, who later accompanied photographer Yun Gi-deuk to photograph the

South Korean government on Monday refused to give in to doctors' protests against its plan to increase the medical school enrollment quota, as the threat of the mass suspension of medical licenses for striking trainee doctors loomed over the country. Second Vice Health Minister Park Min-soo said the government is moving to take "irreversible" measures against trainee doctors who left work, warning of suspensions of their medical licenses for at least three months. "If (the li

An average South Korean spends about 40 hours a month using YouTube on smartphones, a local report showed Monday, as the video-sharing platform's popularity on its mobile platform proved to be higher than in any other country across the globe. Market analysis firm Wiseapp/Retail/Goods analyzed the apps used by South Koreans via Android and iOS mobile operating systems, which, combined account for roughly 98 percent of smartphones in the country. They found that the combined number of hours

Of all the South Korean employees who reported having received bonuses from their companies in 2022, individuals in the top 0.1 percent got an average of 685.26 million won ($513,000) each, a National Tax Service report showed Saturday. According to a report made public by Rep. Yang Gyeong-suk of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, 9.79 million South Korean workers reported receiving bonuses, with the median figure among them being 4.34 million won. While the median figure marked an i

Roughly four out of 10 South Korean female employees said they have received less in wages from their employer due to their gender, a survey showed Sunday. Local civic group Gabjil 119 surveyed 1,000 employees across the country about gender discrimination in work-related issues such as wages or promotions. It showed 40.6 percent of the female respondents said they have been unfairly penalized in wages because of their gender, which was nearly double the 21.8 percent of men who said the same. Th

YouTube videos carrying fake news about controversy-ridden soccer star Lee Kang-in are thought to have generated up to 700 million won ($523,000) in profit in the two weeks after his alleged altercation with Son Heung-min became public, a report by an advertising consulting firm claimed Sunday. Lee, a 23-year-old player for Paris Saint-Germain, was subject to nationwide criticism when it was reported that he had allegedly fought with the South Korean national men's soccer team captain Son H

A member of a South Korean gang who was under investigation for instigating an assault on a YouTuber has been found dead, a local media outlet reported Sunday. The body of the 30-something-year-old suspect was found inside a motel in Gyeonggi Province, according to a Channel A report. The man was being investigated by the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on suspicion of instigating an attack against a YouTuber who uploaded critical content about his organization. Police did not disclose d

Actor Lee Jae-wook, who recently confirmed rumors that he is in a romantic relationship with Karina of aespa, warned Thursday that he would take strong legal action against groundless rumors circulating online. Lee's agency CJes Studios said via a public statement that it was notified of "ill-intended, insulting online posts, which contain false claims and defame Lee." "It is a severe infringement of human rights, and our company will file criminal and civic charges against (

South Korean prosecutors on Wednesday requested a 30-year prison term for a 29-year-old woman indicted for beating her son to death, with the same punishment sought for her two acquaintances who took part in the abuse. Officials from Daejeon District Prosecutors' Office requested the court to sentence the mother, her 30-year-old male acquaintance and her 27-year-old female acquaintance for the charge of death resulting from child abuse. Such an offense is punishable with five years to life

The Korea Communications Standards Commission on Thursday decided to block two parody videos of President Yoon Seuk Yeol, a week after it blocked a viral fake compilation video of the South Korean leader. The KCSC convened a meeting earlier in the day and passed the decision to block two doctored videos of Yoon from a 2022 speech which made it appear as if he was confessing to corruption and incompetence. The decision was based on the Regulations for the Review of Information and Communications,

Boiling and filtering tap water can drastically reduce the level of plastic particles in it, a study by China-based research team published Wednesday said. Scientists from the Guangzhou Medical University and Jinan University conducted a study in which they observed the effect of boiling mineral-rich water, to see if it could lead to reduced human intake of nano/microplastics (NMPs). The researchers took multiple samples of tap water from the Guangzhou region, contaminated with varying levels of

A survey by a US-based think tank on Thursday showed growing criticism of how democracy is working across 24 nations, with a median of 59 percent expressing dissatisfaction with how their democracy is functioning and a small minority even being open to a form of military rule. Between Feb. 20 and May 22, 2023, the Pew Research Center surveyed 30,861 adults in 24 countries including South Korea, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Poland, Sweden,

A man who abandoned a car he was driving after it caught fire was apprehended Thursday by Incheon police, who found him in the sauna of a local bathhouse. According to Incheon Seobu Police Station, the suspect in his 20s was found at the bathhouse around 2:15 a.m. in the city's Seo-gu district. The suspect is believed to have fled the scene after his car caught fire at around 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday. Police found several canisters of butane fuel in the car, which was still burning when offic

With a growing number of industries becoming digitalized to cut costs and boost efficiency, the potential of cyber security measures and software-defined vehicles has been a hot topic for carmakers across the world. Fescaro, a leading cybersecurity specialist, seeks to spearhead the change with its all-in-one cybersecurity solutions customized to meet the needs of its clients, in accordance with changing international standards. The European Union in 2022 introduced cybersecurity regulations, ma

Graduates of universities with higher admission requirements make as much as 50 percent more than the graduates of lower-ranked universities, a study by a state-run think-tank showed Tuesday. In the study released by the Korea Development Institute, researchers sorted South Korean universities into five groups based on the grades they required in the state-run college entrance exam Suneung. Schools in group one required the lowest Suneung grades while group five schools required the highest gr

Recent government statistics showed that in 2023, 2.07 million South Koreans aged 60 or above ran small businesses in the country, marking the first time the figure surpassed the 2-million mark. The number of older self-employed people in the country has nearly doubled since 2003, when the figure stood at 1.09 million. The older self-employed population accounted for 36.4 percent of all 5.68 million self-employed people in South Korea, also the highest-ever level. In comparison, 17 percent of a

South Korean police on Tuesday said it was investigating a 50-something man for assaulting and insulting the emergency medical staff of a hospital, which the suspect said was because the staff spoke to him "in a commanding tone." According to Daejeon Dongbu Police Station, the suspect was taken to an emergency room of a hospital in Dong-gu, Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of Seoul, to be treated for an injury to his face. He was drunk at the time. He punched the medical staff and cu

South Korean police confirmed Tuesday they are investigating a man who was caught secretly filming women inside a bathroom, after a video of the incident went viral online. According to police, the male suspect in his 20s is believed to have snuck into the women’s bathroom room at a "jimjilbang" -- a Korean-style bathhouse with saunas, massage tables and unisex areas with heated floors -- in Gwangjin-gu, eastern Seoul last Monday with the intent to film women's bodies. He wa

A total of 157 elementary schools across South Korea do not have any first graders set to enroll in March, the Ministry of Education said Monday, as a record-low number of new students is expected for the upcoming school year. According to the ministry, nearly every provincial and metropolitan area across South Korea had at least one elementary school that was not expecting new students, except Seoul, Gwangju, Daejeon, Ulsan and Sejong. North Jeolla Province led all regions with 34 schools with

Admission delays at emergency rooms were reported across South Korea amid a walkout by trainee doctors, while a cardiac arrest patient in her 80s died in an ambulance in Daejeon while emergency workers tried to find an ER that would admit her. According to local media reports on Monday, the patient suffered heart failure on Friday and was taken away by an ambulance. The emergency workers were turned away by seven hospitals, who told them that they did not have medical staff or hospital beds to t