Eight months after the deadly Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, none of the officials in charge of the situation at the time has faced legal punishment, with investigations and trials still ongoing. On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court dismissed impeachment of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, rejecting the National Assembly's request to remove him over the crowd crush that left 159 dead. Police investigating the incident had earlier decided not to seek criminal charges against him. The trial

Social Affairs July 26, 2023

It was a regular Friday morning on Oct. 21, 1994. The 1.2-kilometer Seongnsu Bridge over the Han River in Seoul was bustling with commuting cars as usual, amid light rain. At around 7:38 a.m., a 48-meter-long section of the bridge suddenly cracked and fell onto the river, bringing down several cars with it. A passenger bus came to a screeching halt but failed to escape its fate, as it too plunged to the water below. So did a few other cars. "Minutes after I entered the Seongsu Bridge as u

hashtag Koaea July 26, 2023

South Korean police have investigated some 2,000 suspicious international packages that have been found across the country for the past four days, with no evidence as of yet suggesting that they were sent as an act of terrorism. As of Monday morning, the National Police Agency has tallied up 2,141 reports of packages of an unidentified nature received by individuals in South Korea since the first case was reported around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. Officials have examined 587 of the parcels, which

Social Affairs July 23, 2023

A 2-year-old girl has died after falling into a pool at an unstaffed kids cafe in Incheon, which was absent of any safety personnel, local police said Sunday. According to the Incheon Seobu Police Station, the child was playing at the facility in Seo-gu, Incheon, Saturday morning, when she fell into the pool with a depth of 67 centimeters. The parent called 119 emergency services, which attempted to resuscitate the child while taking her to a nearby hospital, to no avail. The incident was report

Social Affairs July 23, 2023

At first glance, South Korea appears to have the right mix for an unmanned retail revolution. The country is known for its swift embrace of technology, widespread adoption of cashless payments, well-developed urban centers and relatively low crime rate. But owners of unmanned shops here say that running an automated store is not as glamorous as it may seem. While the cost and hassle of hiring and retaining human staff are eliminated, new issues arise, ranging from littering and shoplifting, to d

Consumer July 18, 2023

South Korean fire authorities recovered the body of one more person presumed to be one of the victims of the deadly flooding of an underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on late Monday. According to the officials, the body was found near the entrance of the Gungpyeong 2 underpass in Cheongju at 7:52 p.m. Once confirmed, this will be the last of the 12 people who were reported to have gone missing in the tunnel deluge. This will bring the total death toll from the tragedy to

Social Affairs July 17, 2023

CHEONGJU, North Chungcheong Province -- The bullet train slowed to a near-halt as it approached North Chungcheong Province, as if the locomotive was cautious not to bring any more jitters to a region where a record July downpour has taken at least 16 lives as of Monday. Most of the deaths occurred in the flooded underpass in Cheongju's Osong-eup, about 2 kilometers from Osong Station where the KTX train stopped. When this reporter arrived Monday morning, the floodwaters that had engulfed th

Social Affairs July 17, 2023

More deaths have been reported across the country as flooding from heavy rain claimed over 30 lives as of Sunday, including a 34-year-old man who tried to save his father from an open manhole on Saturday afternoon. Both father and son were found dead. The father, chief of a Gwangdeok-ri village in North Chungcheong Province, was trying to remove objects obstructing the town's drainage facilities when he was swept into the manhole. His son jumped in in an attempt to save him. Rescue personne

Social Affairs July 16, 2023

Most intercity train routes across South Korea, except those for the high-speed KTX trains, have been suspended Sunday due to torrential rains that have battered the country for days. All non-KTX trains -- including the Saemaeul and Mugunghwa -- have been grounded as of Sunday morning, according to state-run railway operator Korea Railroad Corp. Korail has closed all 12 train routes that pass through Suwon Station in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and 21 of 25 routes that stop at Seodaejeon Station.

Social Affairs July 16, 2023

The high school senior being questioned for killing a fellow student was found to have bullied the victim last year, staking a contrast from the suspect’s earlier testimony that the two had been friends. According to the metropolitan education office in Daejeon, the two 17-year-olds attended the same school and were classmates. But the suspect, whose identity has been withheld, was moved to another class as a disciplinary measure for bullying the victim. The victim’s family said th

Social Affairs July 14, 2023

South Korean police on Thursday requested an arrest warrant for a high school senior over the death of another high school senior in Daejeon. Officials at Dunsan Police Station, who are currently investigating the case, said the 17-year-old turned herself in, confessing to have killed her friend at the victim’s home on Wednesday afternoon. The suspect, whose identity has been withheld, told police that they got into an argument while talking, while refusing to elaborate on the details. The

Social Affairs July 13, 2023

Backing what many in South Korea already believe as a fact, a recent research found a correlation between university rankings and income levels of graduates. The study, conducted by a joint team of researchers from Seoul National University and the Korea Development Institute, analyzed the wage levels of 21,178 South Korean adults aged between 25 and 59, classifying them into five groups based on the rankings of their alma mater institutions. The researchers found that the average income increas

Social Affairs July 12, 2023

No matter what country you visit, restaurants and public bathrooms are probably among the places you visit the most. Here are some tips on things one might find handy when dining with South Koreans, or going to a bathroom here. Dining manners in Korea Conventional table manners suggest that one should make as little noise as possible and keep one’s mouth shut when eating. Over the years, however, a trend of making noise while eating has spread among young Koreans, influenced by “

hashtag Koaea July 11, 2023

At least four Korean men had been mistakenly conscripted into the nation's military service between 2016 and April 2022, despite having been exempt based on the results of a physical examination, local media reported Monday. All able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve in the military for around two years. Those deemed unfit for active duty serve in alternative posts for the equivalent period. According to the reports, physicians at the Military Manpower Administration's phys

Social Affairs July 10, 2023

  Kim Gyu-jin and Kim Se-yeon held their wedding ceremony during the 2023 Seoul Queer Culture Festival earlier this month in central Seoul. Hundreds at the festival congratulated the wife-wife couple on their union -- even though it is not legally recognized by South Korean law -- as well as on the baby they are expecting. The Kim couple revealed that their quest to have a child required a trip to a foreign country, Belgium, as accessing a sperm donor had not been possible for them in South

Social Affairs July 10, 2023