High income has become the top reason elementary and middle school students choose becoming a medical doctor as their desired career path, a study by a state-run research institute showed Thursday. The scholars at the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training analyzed government surveys on students across the country and compared the responses of students who said they hoped to become a doctor in the 2018 and 2022 reports. The data was from the joint annual survey conducte

A 30-something man currently on trial for physical abuse against his girlfriend has been nabbed for allegedly attacking the victim again, this time with a weapon. Ulsan Dongbu Police said Thursday that the suspect has been arrested after attacking the victim at around 12:30 a.m. at an apartment in Ulsan. The suspect fled the scene in a car after calling the police to report that he knocked her unconscious. Officials arrived on the scene to find the victim bleeding from her abdomen. She was taken

A 60-something man in Busan in the early hours of Thursday fell out of the bed and injured himself, shaken not by the 4.0 magnitude earthquake that rocked nearby Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province but ironically by a state-issued emergency mobile alert about the tremor. The man, who lives in Haeundae-gu, Busan, received the notification, together with its loud warning alarm, on his phone at 5:39 a.m. and fell, injuring his face, resulting in him getting rushed to a nearby hospital for medical t

The photo capturing the moment when giant panda Fu Bao's twin sisters were born has been selected as one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Photos of 2023. The list, announced last week, includes the photo of the mother Ai Bao with her newly-born female twin pandas taken on July 7 after their birth. It marked the first time twin pandas were born in South Korea after their older sister Fu Bao became the first giant panda to be born in the country. Fu Bao and her giant panda family are among th

A coalition of civic groups in Paju, northern Gyeonggi Province, said Thursday that they oppose plans to bury the remains of Chun Doo-hwan, a former president who rose to power through a military coup, in the city. The family of the former military strongman is seeking to bury Chun's remains in Jangsan-ri, in accordance with his last wishes to be buried in a place with a view of North Korea. "Residents of Paju have been fiercely proud of the new era of reconciliation between South an

A waste disposal center in Yesan-gun, South Chungcheong Province has come under fire for refusing to hire a woman, local media reported Wednesday. During a meeting of Yesan-gun's Resident Support Council, a 69-year-old female member and resident of the district asked what the qualifications for the post of resident monitor were. But a high-ranking member of the group answered that they cannot hire women. Resident support councils are groups formed by regional governments to aid functions re

A dog shot and severely injured by an arrow has made full recovery and will head for his new home in New York at 8:35 p.m. tonight, a Jeju Island-based animal protection group said Wednesday. According to Hondidorang, the dog, who received the name Cheonji, has been adopted by an American woman in her 30s, who took in another stray dog in the past. The decision was made Nov. 22 after a monthlong deliberation, the group said. Cheonji, formerly a stray, made headlines in August 2022 when he was

A Buddhist monk has been arrested for driving into eight parked cars and causing damage, police said Wednesday. The monk was reported to have been acting out of frustration over a land compensation dispute between him and real estate developers. The unidentified monk in his 70s, from a temple located in Songha-dong, Gwangju, got into an argument with officials from the developer around 8:20 a.m., Tuesday. The development project involves land on which his temple is located. The monk got in his c

On the morning of May 23, 2009, the South Korean public received shocking news that altered the country’s political course for years to come: Former President Roh Moo-hyun died after throwing himself off a cliff near his retirement home in Bongha Village in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province. The deceased leader, then 62 years of age, had been under investigation concerning corruption allegations of his family members and those around him. While there was no conclusive evidence suggesting

South Korean police said Wednesday that it is investigating two doctors on suspicion of overprescribing anorexiant, abuse of which can be prosecuted as a drug crime. According to the Chungnam Provincial Police Agency, overseeing the police activities in South Chungcheong Province, a 50-year-old private practitioner and his 59-year-old partner is being questioned by police on possible violation of the Narcotics Control Act and the Medical Service Act. The suspects allegedly prescribed 10 female p

Seoul Western District Court on Wednesday handed down a fine of 8 million won ($6,200) to the chief of the Hamilton Hotel, holding him responsible for an illegal structure next to the hotel is thought to have exacerbated last year's deadly crowd crush in Itaewon, Seoul. The owner, identified by his surname Lee, has been charged with violating South Korea's Building Act by adding a structure to the hotel building without a proper permit. The structure resulted in the alley adjacent to

A 66-year-old taxi driver whose passenger jumped out of his moving taxi and was then killed after being hit by another car has been cleared of traffic accident charges, according to media reports on Tuesday. The Daegu District Court also cleared the 43-year-old driver of an SUV that hit the woman and killed her, saying it was impossible for the driver to evade the victim. The incident occurred in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on March 4, 2022, when the 20-year-old victim got on the taxi in

Seoul police said Tuesday that it is investigating a YouTuber suspected of livestreaming after taking sleep-inducing medication zolpidem, unprescribed use of which can be punished by South Korean law. The woman in her 20s, whose identity was withheld by authorities, is believed to have taken the unprescribed drugs on Monday while broadcasting from a motel in Sinchon, western Seoul, according to Seoul Seodaemun Station. Police raided the scene after one of her viewers reported that she seemed to

A man working at Incheon International Airport has been indicted on charges of stealing 366 million won ($280,000) worth of items from passenger luggage, local prosecutors said Tuesday. Incheon District Prosecutors' Office said it has indicted a 41-year-old man on 208 accounts of larceny from November 2021 to Oct. 6 this year. He is accused of having taken high-end bags, jewelry and other expensive items from passenger luggage while working as a baggage handler in the airport's termina

An umbrella group for those in the dog meat industry in South Korea has vowed to hold a protest Thursday against the government's move to ban dog meat consumption, while allegedly threatening to release 2 million dogs around the presidential office in Yongsan-gu, Seoul. Daehan Yukgyeon Hyephoi (Dog Meat Federation), a group consisting of dog meat farm operators and dog meat restaurant owners across the country, has recently decided to hold a protest in front of the War Memorial of Korea in

South Korea's Transport Ministry said Tuesday it plans to revise its current ordinance on the operation of air transport, mandating an in-flight announcement reminding passengers not to open plane doors while in flight. The revision aims to prevent reoccurrence of incidents like the one in May in which a man in his 30s opened the emergency exit of a plane operated by Asiana Airlines just minutes before it landed at Daegu International Airport. The incident was dubbed "two minutes of

A commenter claiming to be a female employee of local game publisher Nexon, which has been embroiled in controversy over the use of a "misandrist hand gesture," recently criticized the animator for reflecting personal views in a team project. "A game isn't made by one person, but is a product of several people's collaboration over a long period of time. Why are you sneaking in your own personal views and hoping for other people to take care of it?" the person wrote

The state-run organ donation agency on Monday revealed the story of a 15-year-old middle school student, whose post-mortem donation of her vital organs gave five people a new lease on life. Lee Ye-won, who passed away last year on May 11 after extensive damage to her brain from a cerebral hemorrhage, had her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys donated to five individuals, said the Korea Organ Donation Agency, an affiliate of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. The child collapsed on April 26 of

Despite being on the opposite sides of the continent, South Korea and Turkey have maintained a positive relationship throughout their histories. Turkey sent the fourth-highest number of troops during the 1950-53 Korean War, and it was among the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with Korea in 1957. During the 2002 FIFA World Cup, Korean fans celebrated the Turkish team’s accomplishments as well as their own as the two nations beat the odds to reach the semifinals. With the grow

Gwangju Police said Monday it has apprehended 12 foreigners, including illegal immigrants, on suspicion of using narcotic substances at a local foreigner-only karaoke, known locally as "noraebang." The suspects, whose identities were withheld, are suspected of taking ketamine inside a noraebang in Usan-dong, Gwangju, according to the Gwangju Metropolitan Police Agency's drug investigations unit. The majority of the suspects were Vietnamese nationals who had gathered for a birthday