A father and son walk on a road on Mount Nam in Seoul, Thursday, as snow blanketed the central parts of the country, including the capital, in the morning. The temperature is expected to plummet, with Seoul's morning low on Friday dipping to minus 8 degrees Celsius. The cold snap will continue through Saturday and rain or snow is forecast for Sunday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Korea District Heating Corp. CEO Hwang Chang-hwa bows to apologize for the hot water pipe rupture accident at the Government Complex Sejong, Thursday, before a briefing on the results of an emergency check of pipelines across the country and the corporation’s repair plans for old and dangerous pipes. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunA total of 203 hot water pipes in the country were found to be fragile in cold weather during an emergency inspection, the Korea District Heating Corp. (KDHC) said, Thursday.Sixteen of them were in very poor condition and could burst at any time.The week-long inspection came after the rupture of a hot water pipe near Baekseok Station in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, on Dec. 5 that killed one and injured 55.The KDHC said it checked 686 kilometers of heating pipes that are over 20 years old, or 32 percent of the 2,164 kilometers of pipelines installed across the country, which the public corporation manages. In the inspection using thermal imaging cameras, 203 spots showed a temperature difference of more than 3 degrees Celsius between the pipe and the ground, whi
By Kim Jae-heunTeenage drinking has become a serious problem here with about 2,000 teens being treated for alcoholism last year, according to a study by the National Assembly Research Service. The study, published Wednesday, also showed that half the number of teenagers who drink often do so at dangerous levels, citing easy access to alcohol as the main reason for this.According to the research, the number of teenagers treated for alcoholism has increased annually more than doubled from 922 in 2010 to 1,968 in 2017.While the overall rate of drinking among teenagers has been decreasing, the rate of heavy drinking and its related problems among those who do has increased.Among drinkers, 55.4 percent of females and 48.5 percent of males were imbibing at dangerous levels; with girls drinking on average at least three glasses of soju, and boys at least five, per session over a 30 day period.Thirty-nine percent of girls and 37 percent of boys were drinking at a problematic level, meaning on at least two occasions they had drunk alone, drunk to relieve stress, been advised to stop drinking,
Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung speaks to the press in front of his office in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, after the prosecution announced it had indicted him for alleged violations of the Election Law during the local election campaign in June, and abuse of power. /YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunThe prosecution indicted Gyeonggi Province Governor Lee Jae-myung, Tuesday, on two charges of violating the Election Law, and one on abuse of power in committing his estranged brother to a psychiatric hospital. However, prosecutors didn't indict Lee's wife, Kim Hye-gyeong, on allegations she used a “controversial” Twitter account to illegally campaign for her husband due to a lack of evidence.The Suwon District Prosecutors' Office indicted Lee without detention two days before the statute of limitations on the alleged Election Law violations is reached.The office said the governor abused his power in forcibly hospitalizing his older brother in 2012 when he was Seongnam mayor. Lee is suspected of ordering local government civil servants to get his brother committed. While it
Former Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun answers questions from the press upon his arrival at the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office, Monday, before being questioned over his alleged influence peddling and violation of the Election Law. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunFormer Gwangju Mayor Yoon Jang-hyun was questioned by the prosecution Monday over an alleged violation of the Election Law and influence peddling. He appeared at Gwangju District Prosecutors' Office, a day after returning from Nepal where he was doing volunteer work.“I am sorry to have caused worries over my unwise decision. I apologize as a former mayor to the citizens of Gwangju,” Yoon said at a press conference before facing prosecutors. “I will commit myself to the investigation based on facts and tell no lies. If there is something I need to take responsibility for, I will do so.”Last December, Yoon was swindled out of 450 million won by a 49-year-old scammer surnamed Kim, who claimed to be the former first lady Kwon Yang-sook, the widow of President Roh Moo-hyun. Kim asked to borrow the money, an
Vice Chairwoman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy Kim Sang-hee, third from left, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Seoul, Friday. From left are Minister of Gender Equality and Family Jin Sun-mee, Minister of Health and Welfare Park Neung-hoo, Kim, and Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mee. / Yonhap By Kim Jae-heunThe government said Friday it was changing its policy approach to one that improves the quality of life for every generation and establishes gender equality in an effort to encourage people to have more babies.The Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy held a press conference to announce this new road map to tackle Korea's low birthrate, which fell to an average 1.05 per woman in 2017. “We have concluded that raising the birthrate through state-led promotion policies alone is not enough. We will shift to policies that naturally lead to young people wanting to have children,” said Kim Sang-hee, vice chairman of the committee.One prominent measure announced s
By Kim Jae-heunTraveling to Europe and the Middle East has become a lot faster and more convenient for Koreans as an additional airway crossing the Chinese territory opened for operation yesterday. This comes as the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport (MOLIT), reached an agreement with the Chinese government Wednesday, to double-track the airway over its territory from a single one.The discussion on the additional airway started in 2016, however, the decision was delayed due to the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) weapon system to Korea. Negotiations got back on track this May and the two countries finalized the deal to double-track the airway during a meeting held in Dalian.The single air passage has been used for the two countries' planes to fly in and out of Korea and towards the Middle East and Europe. The single track route used different altitudes, arrivals and departures, whereas the new double passage will operate one inbound track and one outbound track.For decades, the single air way was notorious for congestion, which caused many dela
Immigrant workers protest for their rights as laborers at Bosingak Pavilion in Jongno, Seoul, in 2018 file photo. The image above is unrelated to the article. / Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jinBy Kim Jae-heun Thirty Vietnamese students studying at Gyeongsang National University (GNU) in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, have left the school over the last year, GNU authorities said, Wednesday.According to GNU, 300 Vietnamese students signed up for its Korean language program, but 10 percent of them have become no-shows over the period of a year.Given that national universities have stricter rules than private schools regarding admitting foreign students, the case is unprecedented.“Some of our Vietnamese students for the language course have stopped attending the school but they did not leave as a group. We have lost contact with them and we still haven’t received any calls from them yet,” a school official said.The GNU said it cannot confirm whether the students left to work illegally but it admitted that such a scenario is highly likely as similar cases have oc
A member of he international environmental group Greenpeace holds a rally in Seoul on Nov. 28, to urge that state-run financial institutions stop investing in overseas coal-fired power plants. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Kim Jae-heunInternational environmental organizations including Greenpeace have urged the Korean government to stop funding coal thermal power generations in developing countries, local environmental groups said, Tuesday.Along with Greenpeace, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth sent letters to Cheong Wa Dae and other government organizations, including the finance ministry, the environment ministry and the foreign ministry.The NGOs said in the letter that local financial institutions such as the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), Korea Trade Insurance Corp. and Korea Development Bank (KDB) should stop their overseas coal investments. They also urged the government to halt operations of coal plants in Samcheok and Gangneung, both in Gangwon Province.Korea has invested 9.4 trillion won ($8.4 billion) into
Park Young-ran, right, the head of the Korea Kindergarten Association’s Seoul branch, talks during a discussion with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon at the latter’s office in Seoul, Friday. She announced Seoul kindergartens would not close down even though toughened regulations on their operations have been applied; however, some hard-line branch members are protesting her stance. / YonhapBy Kim Jae-heunAn association of private kindergarten owners is embroiled in an internal dispute over them shutting down their businesses if the National Assembly passes three revision bills strengthening regulations on their operations.Fifteen thousand members of the Korea Kindergarten Association (KKA) staged a rally at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, last Thursday, where they threatened to close their businesses if the Assembly ratifies a government move to force them to adopt the state-run Edufine accounting system.The next day, however, the head of KKA Seoul, Park Young-ran, met with Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) Superintendent