The Korea Times

Schools to begin new semester amid continuing concerns over infection

Teachers set up transparent screens on desks at a high school in Daegu, Feb. 23, ahead of the upcoming new school semester. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiKindergartens and elementary, middle and high schools will open Tuesday to provide in-person classes for the new school year, despite lingering concerns over COVID-19 infections.Although regular classes are permissible under the current social distancing level, the health authorities remain vigilant as the country's daily new coronavirus cases are still hovering over 300. In addition, vaccinations for teachers have yet to begin and children are not included in the government's vaccine program at all.According to the Ministry of Education, Monday, kindergarteners, first and second graders at elementary school, high school seniors and special education students across the country will have in-person classes every day.Students in other grades will go to school two or three times a week and take online classes for the other days, according to attendance caps in each region.Teachers and student will have to install a self-diagnosis app to record t

Mar 1, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Schools to begin new semester amid continuing concerns over infection

New virus cases stay below in 400 for 2nd day

Health

Gov't to provide 'COVID-19 vaccine certificate'

A nursing home worker in Daegu receives a COVID-19 inoculation at a public health center in the southeastern city, Friday, when the nation started its coronavirus vaccination program. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiPeople who have received COVID-19 vaccines can get a government-issued certificate confirming their vaccination status, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), Friday, the same day the nation started its vaccination program.The government will provide the certificate at its website gov.kr, or the state vaccination website nip.kdca.go.kr. As most of the vaccines ― AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna and Novavax ― require two shots, except for the Johnson & Johnson product requiring one, the issuance will be available after receiving the second shot.The certificate will show the person's name, birthdate, address and gender, as well as when and where the person received the shots and which product they were. The information will be written in both Korean and English.If a person received only the first shot and is waiting for the second one, they will get a &ldq

Feb 26, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Gov't to provide 'COVID-19 vaccine certificate'

Society

American journalist's house 'Dilkusha' to be opened to public

Jennifer Taylor, granddaughter of Albert Taylor, the first U.S. journalist to report on the March 1, 1919, independence movement by Koreans against Japan, looks at the restored home of her grandfather in Seoul, Thursday. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiThe Seoul Metropolitan Government said, Thursday, that it has restored a house of Albert W. Taylor, a journalist from the United States who first reported on the 1919 March 1 Independence Movement against Japan to the world, and would open it to the public as a historical exhibition hall starting Friday. The opening has come about 80 years after the Japanese authorities expelled Taylor and his family from Korea in 1942. Jennifer Linley Taylor, Taylor's granddaughter, was invited, Thursday, to a pre-opening event of the house, which the grandparents named “Dilkusha,” meaning “heart's delight” in Hindi. She donated her grandparents' belongings to the Seoul Museum of History in 2016. The restored home of Albert Taylor, the first U.S. journalist to report on the March 1, 1919, independence movement by Koreans against Japan, in

Feb 26, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

American journalist's house 'Dilkusha' to be opened to public

Law & Crime

Bill passed on heavier punishment for child abuse resulting in death

Civic activists hold a news conference in front of the Seoul Southern District Court, Feb. 17, before submitting a petition calling for heavy punishment for a couple who abused their adoptive child, named Jung-in, resulting in her death. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seokBy Bahk Eun-jiA revision bill calling for heavier punishment in child abuse cases resulting in death passed the committee stage, Thursday, after the National Assembly Legislation and Judiciary Committee forwarded it for a vote by lawmakers. The revision comes amid public anger over a series of cases of child abuse that resulted in death, including that of a 16-month-old baby girl killed by her adoptive parents. The bill will be enacted into law if voted on in a plenary session of the Assembly as a revision to the Special Act on the Punishment of Child Abuse CrimesUnder the revision, people who kill a child as a result of abuse will face the death penalty, life imprisonment, or a minimum jail term of seven years. The latter is heavier than the five-year minimum sentence for murder.The case followed the death of the ba

Feb 25, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Bill passed on heavier punishment for child abuse resulting in death

Society

4 in 10 children of low-income families still struggling in pandemic

A teacher prepares online classes in an empty classroom in Seoul, in this April. 9 photo. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiChildren from low-income families have experienced various problems such as educational gaps and reduced physical activity in the year since the COVID-19 outbreak, a survey showed Wednesday. According to a survey of 582 children supported by Child Fund Korea, which was conducted for three months from October last year, 72.1 percent of the respondents said they were alone at home or with siblings without parents during the daytime. The respondents ranged from fourth grade elementary school students to high school sophomores. Among them, 20.1 percent of the children spent less than three hours a day alone at home, while 18.6 percent said they were alone for more than 5 hours a day.More than 30 percent of respondents said they were having difficulties with online classes when school opening was delayed last year. When multiple answers were allowed, 39.3 percent said they had difficulty communicating with teachers during the online classes, 39.1 percent said the content of online

Feb 25, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

4 in 10 children of low-income families still struggling in pandemic

Society

More students seek to become doctors, nurses amid pandemic

Graduates from the Korea Armed Forces Nursing Academy receive education on the new coronavirus at the institution in the central city of Daejeon in this March 2, 2020 photo. Korea Times fileBy Bahk Eun-jiEight-year-old Lee Sae-ron, a second grader at Eulji Elementary School in Seoul, used to say she wanted to become a famous YouTuber with millions of subscribers, but recently changed her mind. “I saw many doctors and nurses on TV and on the internet helping coronavirus patients. For me, they are superheroes fighting the virus, so I want to be like them,” Lee said“I am like many people who change their minds these days. A couple of my friends at the same private English academy said they want to be a volleyball player and a school teacher, even though we all used to dream about being YouTubers.”Kim Eun-jae, a middle school student living in Namyangju, Gyeonnggi Province who will become a high school freshman next month, said she wants to become a nurse after watching so many medical workers fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. “I saw pictures and video cl

Feb 24, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

More students seek to become doctors, nurses amid pandemic

Society

Seoul City seeks to support older pet sitters

The lobby of the Seoul 50 Plus Foundation's Mapo campus in Seoul, Feb. 13, 2019 / Korea Times fileBy Bahk Eun-jiThe Seoul 50 Plus Foundation is providing middle-aged and elderly people with a chance to work as pet sitters, as a part of its project to offer job opportunities for senior citizens.The foundation, under the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is aiming to offer education or job opportunities for people who are “planning a new life after the age of 50.” This project is jointly carried out with Pet People, which operates a platform called Pet Planet that links pet care workers with pet owners. “The project is aimed at discovering a new business model where middle-aged people can find gainful employment through their experience raising pets,” the foundation said in a press release.Applicants must be aged between 40 and 67 living in Seoul with the experience of raising a pet. Preference is given to those who have raised pets for more than five years, have experience as a pet sitter or possess a pet-related license.Those selected through document screening a

Feb 24, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Seoul City seeks to support older pet sitters

Society

Universities failing to meet student quotas as society ages

A high school senior receives a score card for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) at Hyesung Girls' High School in Seoul, Dec. 23, 2020. Korea Times file.By Bahk Eun-jiUniversities here are suffering from falling enrollments as the number of people at the age to enter higher education has been declining in line with the nose-diving birthrate in the country.While the decrease in new enrollments started at colleges in remote areas about a decade ago, now schools in Seoul and the surrounding metropolitan area ― relatively prestigious ones with higher competition for admissions ― are facing the same dilemma.According to the Korea Council for University Education, Tuesday, 162 universities nationwide failed to meet their student enrollment quotas for the upcoming 2021 school year that will start in March. Usually a student applies for multiple schools, and if more than one accept the student, the student must choose between them, leaving the other schools needing to fill the vacancy.Hence, the 162 schools are trying to select 26,129 students additionally to fill the vacancies, amo

Feb 23, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Society

Space Sallim, hub supporting women's businesses and childcare, opens in Seoul

Acting Seoul Mayor Seo Jung-hyeop, second from right, looks around Space Sallim in Dongjak District, Seoul, in this Feb. 18 photo. YonhapBy Bahk Eun-jiGrowing Mom, a startup providing childcare-related information, recently moved into “Space Sallim” in Dongjak District, Seoul, a place for women entrepreneurs. Since the move, its CEO, Lee Da-rang, doesn't have to struggle to find someone to take care of her son attending elementary school, as her office has a section with play mats and small chairs for the children of workers.“I feel relieved that I can work while taking care of my child, when he is not going to school during vacation,” Lee told reporters during an open-house day last week.The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it has launched the pilot project of Space Sallim, a center supporting business and childcare for women entrepreneurs, so that they can maintain work-life balance. The center was built on the former site of Camp Grey, a U.S. military base that used to sit in front of Daebang Station on Subway Line 1. Space Sallim has shared offices and o

Feb 23, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Space Sallim, hub supporting women's businesses and childcare, opens in Seoul

Society

Former teacher writes books aimed at children

By Bahk Eun-jiHan Se-kyung is a children's book writer who started her literary career in 2003 when she was teaching at an elementary school.After working as a teacher for 31 years, Han retired in February 2019 to write books and opened a one-woman publishing house, Story-I.Han Se-kyung /YonhapRecently, she finally published a book aimed at young children, “Imaginary Mom, Please Buy This” and a short story aimed at middle school students, “Operation Little One Returns!” The book, “Imaginary Mom, Please Buy This” is said to be short but touching, teaching children how to take care of one's belongings through the “secondhand mom,” a main character in the story. “Three of my children's books have been released since I debuted. It took nine years since I authored a short story in 2011,” Han was quoted as saying by Yonhap.Han said she could not completely concentrate on writing when she was a teacher, because she wanted to put her all efforts into helping her students. “But thanks to my life as a teacher for such a long tim

Feb 22, 2021By Bahk Eun-ji

Bahk Eun-ji

Read more

Schools to begin new semester amid continuing concerns over infection

Gov't to provide 'COVID-19 vaccine certificate'

American journalist's house 'Dilkusha' to be opened to public

Bill passed on heavier punishment for child abuse resulting in death

4 in 10 children of low-income families still struggling in pandemic

More students seek to become doctors, nurses amid pandemic

Seoul City seeks to support older pet sitters

Universities failing to meet student quotas as society ages

Space Sallim, hub supporting women's businesses and childcare, opens in Seoul

Former teacher writes books aimed at children

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