Articles by Lee Jaeeun
Lee Jaeeun
jenn@heraldcorp.com-
Supreme Court acquits ex-coast guard leadership over Sewol ferry sinking
The country's top court on Thursday acquitted Kim Seok-kyun, former chief of the Korea Coast Guard, and nine other top officers, of involuntary manslaughter due to professional negligence in the 2014 sinking of the Sewol ferry, which left 304 passengers dead or missing, and 142 injured. The Supreme Court found Kim, who was head of the Coast Guard when the 6,825-ton Sewol ferry sank in waters off the country's southwestern coast on the morning of April 16, 2014, not guilty of involuntar
Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2023
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[Korea Unmasked] Decoding Korea's 'virtuous' drinking culture
The pressure to attend corporate evening gatherings has diminished in recent years, especially while social-distancing measures to contain COVID-19 were in place, but drinking remains a source of stress for many Korean workers. As the year-end holiday season approaches, Lee Ha-seong, a 31-year-old Seoul-based economic news reporter, has a worry on his mind, saying that he doesn't drink well. For Lee, the most challenging part of life as a journalist in Korea is not the reporting but the dri
Social Affairs Nov. 1, 2023
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S. Korea to reduce antibiotic usage, combat antimicrobial resistance
The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency announced on Tuesday that South Korea would participate in the World Health Organization-organized program to monitor antimicrobial use from this year. The WHO's Global Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System and the Global Antimicrobial Use Surveillance System aims to protect the public from bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics. Antibiotic overuse can lead to resistance in bacteria, causing the drugs to become less effective, as we
Social Affairs Oct. 31, 2023
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Most elite earners live in or near Seoul
Nearly 80 percent of the top earners in South Korea reside in the Seoul metropolitan area, data showed Monday, highlighting the concentration of good job opportunities in this region. According to tax agency data released by Rep. Kim Hoi-jae of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, the number of the top 1 percent of earners in the country was 199,591. Their average annual income was 317 million won ($234,500) in 2021. Among those, 77.1 percent of them, said they work in Greater Seoul, w
Social Affairs Oct. 30, 2023
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Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo named chair of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff
In a surprising move that underscores the growing importance of naval defense, Naval Operations Commander Vice Adm. Kim Myung-soo has been named the new chairperson of Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Ministry of National Defense announced Sunday. Kim was promoted to four-star general in the military personnel reshuffle to replace incumbent JCS Chairperson Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, according to the ministry. The appointment marks a significant shift from the traditionally Army-dominated role a
Politics Oct. 29, 2023
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Korean doctors see income surge amid intensifying physician shortage
Amid a shortage of physicians and the second-lowest doctor-to-population ratio among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, South Korean doctors have seen a substantial increase in their income, making them some of the highest earners in the medical field across surveyed OECD nations. The Korean government plans to address the country's doctor shortage by increasing medical school enrollment quotas, a move prompted primarily by a market structure that limits
Social Affairs Oct. 29, 2023
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Police to crack down on impersonating officers during Halloween
Halloween partygoers wearing police costumes could face criminal punishment, police warned Thursday, saying that it could be seen as impersonating an officer. The National Police Agency added that an intensive crackdown on individuals wearing or selling police costumes would occur from this weekend until Nov. 5. “We will monitor whether police uniforms are sold online and crack down on any transactions found. We will also regulate those selling equipment of police under the counter,”
Social Affairs Oct. 26, 2023
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Korean women live longer but suffer more diseases than men
Korean women live longer than men on average, but women suffer from more diseases in their lifetimes than men, data showed Wednesday. According to data released by the Korea National Institute of Health, Korean women had a life expectancy of 86.6 years, while men had a life expectancy of 80.6 years, as of last year. As long as records have been kept practically anywhere, women have lived longer than men. Also, for almost every major cause of death, men are more likely to die sooner than women, t
Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2023
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Retailers skip Halloween promotions this year
Halloween marketing has all but disappeared in South Korea after last year’s crowd crush disaster that occurred in a small alley in Itaewon, central Seoul. Most large retailers have canceled or minimized their Halloween events, and those that are continuing to sell Halloween goods face a mixed reaction. According to retail industry insiders, the industry is minimizing sales of Halloween-themed products this year, with the event still seen as associated with last year's tragedy that le
Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2023
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Crowd crush victims forced to cope alone
Bereaved families and surviving victims of last year’s deadly crowd crush in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul say they have been left to deal with their pain on their own, as governmental resources were either unavailable or insufficient. Among the 159 people who died after overcrowding reached catastrophic levels in Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, was Choi Joung-joo’s daughter Yu-jin. “My wife wanted to get therapy after our daughter passed, so she made a call to our district offic
Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023
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[From the Scene] Don't remember Itaewon alley as place of death, victims' families say
On a Saturday night in October, dozens of people were lined up outside the Waikiki Beach Pub in the narrow alley behind the Hamilton Hotel, in Itaewon, Seoul. “We should have arrived before 8:30 p.m.," one said. "There are always lines around 8:30 p.m. these days during the weekend. I heard that we need to wait more than 30 minutes to enter." It was not the only packed bar on Itaewon World Food Street, the center of Itaewon nightlife. Most bars along the street were full of
Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023
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Yoon, doctors set to clash over medical school quota
The South Korean government is bracing for potential backlash from doctors as it seeks to unveil a plan that would increase the medical school enrollment quota to address doctor shortages. The government has decided to expand the number of placements for medical school, and President Yoon Suk Yeol is set to announce details including the specific figure on Thursday, according to multiple government officials. The government initially reviewed a plan to increase the medical school enrollment quot
Social Affairs Oct. 15, 2023
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Suicide caused more deaths than COVID-19 during pandemic
Some 40,000 people took their own lives over the three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the suicide rate increasing among the younger generation, data showed Wednesday. A total of 39,453 people died from suicide from 2020 to 2022, according to data from the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, Rep. Baek Jong-hean of the ruling People Power Party said in a release. The release highlighted that the number of deaths by suicide was higher than the 3
Social Affairs Oct. 11, 2023
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Human rights commission urges Korea to abolish death penalty
South Korea’s human rights commission on Tuesday called for the Korean government to abolish the death penalty now that the Ministry of Justice has also raised the possibility of introducing life imprisonment without parole. Song Doo-hwan, chair of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, urged the Korean people and the government to formally repeal capital punishment, in a statement issued on Tuesday to mark the 21st annual World Day Against the Death Penalty. Korea is already among
Social Affairs Oct. 10, 2023
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Number of unmarried women freezing eggs surges
The number of unmarried women opting to freeze their eggs for future use has skyrocketed over the past seven years, as the median age for first marriages has continued to rise, data released Monday showed. The number of egg-freezing procedures for unmarried women has witnessed a huge increase in recent years, according to data from CHA Medical Group, a health care provider with a network of major medical facilities across the country. In 2022, there were 1,004 such procedures at CHA, a significa
Social Affairs Oct. 9, 2023
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