Fire breaks out at Korail headquarter; traffic controlled near Seoul Station

A fire broke out at 9:40 a.m. at the Korail's Seoul headquarter in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul on Saturday, and multiple firefighters have been dispatched to the scene. The fire has been extinguished as of Saturday morning, and no casualties have been reported. Parts of the road from the intersection above the Sookmyung Women's University Station to the intersection at the western part of the Seoul Station were temporarily blocked due to the accident.

July 6, 2024

Sejong University ranks 3rd among Korean college in world ranking

Sejong University ranked third in Korea in the US News 2024-2025 World University Rankings released by US News. Globally, it secured the 241st position. The university's domestic ranking has shown rapid improvement, moving from 15th in 2020 to third this year. Globally, Sejong climbed from 629th in 2021 to 241st in 2024, an impressive jump of 156 places from last year. This growth is largely due to the excellent research capabilities of Sejong University's faculty members, who are reco

July 5, 2024

Just 1 in 4 Korean teens 'content with life'

Among the 15-year-olds in South Korea, 26.1 percent said they were satisfied with their lives, 7.7 percentage points lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, a recent study showed. According to the report released by the National Center for the Rights of the Child (NCRC), 22.3 percent of children reported low life satisfaction, 4.4 percentage points higher than the OECD average of 17.9 percent. The OECD used a 10-point scale for life satisfaction and looked at the pr

July 5, 2024

Yoon to attend NATO summit in Washington, visit Indo-Pacific Command

President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Washington next week and visit the US Indo-Pacific Command in Hawaii, the presidential office announced Friday. Principal deputy national security adviser Kim Tae-hyo informed reporters that President Yoon would arrive in Washington on Wednesday to meet leaders of NATO member countries and the NATO leadership. The discussions will focus on the war in Ukraine and the cooperation between the transatlantic secu

July 5, 2024

Man turns self in over offensive comment about car crash victims

A man who left an insulting message about the victims of Monday night's car crash in central Seoul, which left nine dead or four injured, has turned himself in to the police. Seoul Namdaemun Police Station said Friday it was investigating a man in his 20s, who turned himself in for leaving a memo mocking the victims at the make-shift altar for the victims near the Seoul City Hall in Jung-gu, central Seoul. He told police at around 3:15 p.m. on Thursday that he wished to turn himself in, s

July 5, 2024

90% of Gen Z says they won't keep quiet over problems at work

An overwhelming majority of young job seekers in South Korea say they will pursue some type of action when they are discontent with the company, a survey showed Friday. A local job-search platform Catch revealed the results of the survey it conducted on 1,699 of the people belonging to Generation Z -- adults born after the mid-1990s. When asked what they would do if they are dissatisfied with the company they work for, only 10 percent of the respondents said that they would just hold it in. Ab

July 5, 2024

Opposition leader's attacker sentenced to 15 years in prison

A Busan court sentenced the 67-year-old man who attacked main opposition Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung with a knife in January to 15 years in prison Friday. The court found the defendant surnamed Kim guilty of attempted murder and violation of the Public Official Election Act, for his Jan. 2 attack against Lee during his visit to the city. Kim had posed as a supporter to approach Lee, but then stabbed him in the neck. He told investigators that the attack was to prevent Lee from becomi

July 5, 2024

Fire breaks out at Hwaseong ink factory; no casualties reported

A fire broke out Friday at an ink factory in the industrial district in Hwaseong, some 62 kilometers south of Seoul. No casualties have yet been reported. The fire broke out at around 7:15 a.m. at the 1,700-square-meter factory and forced the evacuation of three workers from the site, according to the Gyeonggi Fire and Disaster Headquarters. The authorities issued a level-one emergency response and dispatched 31 fire engines and 78 emergency personnel to the site. The flames were extinguished

July 5, 2024

Gold bars found at Seoul recycling center returned to owner

Gold bars found at a recycling site in Seoul have been safely returned to their owner, according to a local news report. The discovery gained attention through a post titled "The Prestige of Banpo Xi Recycling Center" on an online community forum on Wednesday. The post included an image of an apartment complex notice stating, "An employee found gold bars in a case for a CD player. The resident who discarded the CD player, please contact the resident support center to verify owners

July 5, 2024

Parents at academy of Son Heung-min's father claims no abuse; civic groups bash parents

The parents of the players attending a soccer academy run by Son Woong-jung, the father of soccer superstar Son Heung-min, released a joint statement Thursday dismissing the recent allegations that he and two coaches at the institute abused the children there. Despite the statement, civic groups said later in the day that the parents making such claims of no abuse can be in itself a form of secondary abuse against the victim. In the joint statement, the parents said, "after years at the a

July 5, 2024

Govt. weighing measures to deal with trainee doctors who refuse to return to hospitals

The government has been weighing measures on how to deal with trainee doctors who refuse to return to hospitals in protest of medical reform, according to officials Friday. With most trainee doctors still remaining unresponsive to the government's appeasement measures to help them return to hospitals, officials said the government will soon come up with measures on how to respond to the junior doctors who have left their worksites since late February. Health Minister Cho Kyoo-hong earlier p

July 5, 2024

Driver in deadly Seoul car crash argues sudden acceleration in police questioning

The driver involved in a recent car crash that killed nine pedestrians in central Seoul argued a sudden unintended acceleration caused the accident in the first police interrogation. The questioning comes three days after the 68-year-old man's Genesis G80 sedan plowed through a sidewalk guardrail and hit pedestrians while traveling against traffic on a one-way road near Seoul City Hall on Monday night. A total of nine people were killed, including six who died at the scene, most of them off

July 4, 2024

Civic group files complaint with anti-corruption agency again over luxury bag scandal

A civic group filed a complaint with the state anti-corruption agency Thursday for the second time over a luxury bag scandal involving first lady Kim Keon Hee after the case was dropped last month. The People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy filed the complaint, which included additional evidence of the first lady receiving high-end perfumes and expensive liquors from a Korean American pastor, with the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. "Since the complaint last year,

July 4, 2024

Seoul city to reinforce traffic signs on one-way roads following deadly car crash

The Seoul city government said Thursday it will reinforce traffic signs and road markings on one-way roads as part of safety measures following a deadly car crash that left nine people dead earlier this week. "Although a no-entry traffic sign and a road marking are put up (at the accident site), we plan to reinforce them and install more to make them more noticeable to drivers throughout the day and night," a city official said. On Monday night, a sedan driven by a 68-year-old darted i

July 4, 2024

No. of elementary school students per class could fall to single-digit levels in decade: teachers' group

The average number of students per elementary school class could fall to single-digit levels in 10 years due to ultralow birth rates, a teachers' group said Thursday. The Good Teachers Movement announced the estimate during a forum held to discuss low birth rates and education reforms, saying the forecast is based on school-age population data that Statistics Korea released in June last year. According to the worst-case scenario, the average number of elementary school students per class co

July 4, 2024

Parents reject abuse allegations against Son Heung-min's father at football academy

Parents of players training at the football academy run by the father of South Korean football star Son Heung-min on Thursday dismissed child abuse allegations against him. Son Woong-jung, a former player and director of Son Football Academy, and two of his coaches are under investigation over charges that they had physically and verbally abused a young player. In a joint statement issued Thursday, parents of other players said they had never once heard of or seen any corporal punishment at the

July 4, 2024

Weather agency plans to forecast further into future

South Korea's national weather agency said Thursday it plans to forecast the weather further into the future, starting with expanding its mid-term forecast from the current 10-day outlook to 14 within this year. The Korea Meteorological Administration said it will review its numerical weather prediction to see if it can provide specific weather data for up to 14 days. The KMA currently has a three-level weather forecast system: the short-term forecast of up to three days predicts the specif

July 4, 2024

Seoul's safety income initiative paves way for future Korean welfare: mayor

The Seoul Safety Income Project, initiated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, will set an example for South Korea's welfare policy in the future, Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon said Thursday, marking the project's second anniversary. The initiative launched as a pilot project by the city government in 2022, is an income guarantee model that partially compensates the household income gap for families earning less than 85 percent of the median income. A key feature of this initiative is that

July 4, 2024

Ex-vice finance minister to lead environment ministry

Kim Wan-sup, the Environment Minister nominee, is a bureaucrat who served as the second vice minister of the Finance Ministry last year. On nominating Kim, Presidential Chief of Staff Chung Jin-suk said that Kim has a “better understanding of the Yoon administration’s state philosophy than anyone else.” “The current administration expects Kim will be able to carry out balanced policies, especially given the growing impact of environmental issues on the economy, such as co

July 4, 2024

Court rejects arrest warrant for driver of fatal crash

A district court on Thursday turned down police's request for an arrest warrant against the driver of the deadly car accident in central Seoul late Monday that killed nine people and left seven injured. Namdaemun Police Station investigating the car crash said Thursday that the Seoul Central District Court dismissed the request to arrest the 68-year-old driver surnamed Cha, citing the low risk for the man not appearing for police questioning. It was also difficult to assert the necessity of

July 4, 2024