The Korea Times

Korea to relax requirements for E-7-4 skilled worker visa in bid to tackle labor shortage

Entrance to the Ministry of Justice at the Government Complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province / Korea Times photo by Lee Han-hoBy Jun Ji-hyeThe Ministry of Justice will relax requirements for the E-7-4 skilled worker visa that guarantees long-term employment, officials said Sunday, noting that its quota will also be increased.The move comes as industries and local governments have called for the need to ease visa requirements for foreign technicians amid deepening labor shortages.Under the current rules, foreign employees who have worked legally in Korea for five years could apply for the E-7-4 visa. The ministry said this requirement will now be reduced to four years. The quota will increase as well. While this year's quota was already set at 5,000, the ministry said it will expedite the granting of the visa to these 5,000 to July instead of the end of the year, and push for expanding the number of visa recipients within the latter half of the year. The number of E-7-4 visa recipients has been increasing consistently from 1,000 in 2020 to 1,250 in 2021 to 2,000 in 2022 and to 5,000 t

Jun 26, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Korea to relax requirements for E-7-4 skilled worker visa in bid to tackle labor shortage

Politics

Mom's murder of 2 newborns reignites debate over anonymous childbirth

gettyimagesbankVarious values clash including rights to life, rights to know about rootsBy Jun Ji-hyeThe recent arrest of a mother accused of killing her two newborns and keeping their bodies in a freezer at home is reigniting a years-long debate over the need to enact a law allowing women to give birth anonymously in cases of unwanted pregnancy.According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Sunday, several related bills are currently pending at the National Assembly, including one submitted in December 2020 by Rep. Kim Mi-ae of the ruling People Power Party. Kim's bill is aimed at allowing pregnant women facing economic or social hardship to give birth without exposing their personal information and to hand their babies over to a local government.Supporters say such a law would prevent women who have unwanted pregnancies from abandoning or even killing their babies, while objectors claim the law would take away children's right to be protected and to know their roots.On Friday, the Suwon District Court issued a warrant to formally arrest the woman in her 30s, charged with strangli

Jun 25, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Mom's murder of 2 newborns reignites debate over anonymous childbirth

Politics

Discovery of dead babies exposes loopholes in state management of newborns

gettyimagesbankArrest warrant sought for mother accused of killing 2 newborn babiesBy Jun Ji-hyeThe discovery of two infants who were apparently murdered by their mother and stored in a refrigerator has once again exposed serious loopholes in the country's system of managing newborn babies that relies only on parents to register childbirths.This has left 2,236 out of some 2.6 million babies who were born from 2015 until last year without any record of registration, while it remains unclear whether they are alive or dead, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI), Thursday.The state auditor singled out 23 unregistered babies among the 2,236 and instructed local governments to check if they are alive. This led to the confirmations of at least three babies that have died, and among them, the two dead newborns were discovered at a home in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, apparently murdered by their mother. In a bid to prevent newborns from being left unregistered and becoming “ghost babies,” the government has pushed for a new system obligating medical institutions to no

Jun 22, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Discovery of dead babies exposes loopholes in state management of newborns

Politics

Remembering 1st Korean War battle

Elementary school students visit the U.N. Forces First Battle Memorial at the Osan Jukmiryeong Peace Park in Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, four days before the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War. The park was set up in 2020 in memory of the Battle of Osan on July 5, 1950 ― the first ground battle of the U.N. Forces, known as Task Force Smith, against North Korea during the war. Yonhap

Jun 21, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Health

Paik Hospital's shutdown raises concerns over medical services vacuum in Seoul

Employees of Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital hold pickets to urge the hospital to retract its decision to shut down in front of the hospital in downtown Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Jun Ji-hyeThe decision to shut down Inje University Seoul Paik Hospital is raising concerns over a possible medical service vacuum in central Seoul, as the 82-year-old facility, the only general hospital in Seoul's Jung District, has also played a significant role as a medical institute dedicated to infectious diseases. On Tuesday, the hospital's board of directors finalized the decision on the closure of the hospital due to mounting losses. The hospital, located near Myeongdong Cathedral, has accumulated a deficit of 174.5 billion won ($135 million) over the last two decades despite its desperate efforts to normalize its business, according to hospital officials.They say the hospital will support the transfer of patients currently hospitalized there and the reemployment of its nearly 400 employees at affiliated hospitals, including one in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. If due procedures are carried out as pl

Jun 21, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Paik Hospital's shutdown raises concerns over medical services vacuum in Seoul

Society

High-earning lecturers slamming Yoon's mention of CSAT face chilly reaction

gettyimagesbankCritics say lecturers benefit from abnormally high private education expenses By Jun Ji-hyeSeveral “star lecturers” offering private education to students preparing for the state-administered College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) have criticized President Yoon Suk Yeol's order to exclude extremely difficult “killer” questions from the annual college entrance exam. They said students who have already established their study plans ahead of the exam in November will be disadvantaged by the president's sudden order that could influence the difficulty level of the CSAT.But many have called into question the appropriateness of the high-earning lecturers' criticism against the president's instruction aimed at reducing abnormally high private education expenses.The lecturers facing stern reactions have been the main beneficiaries of these “killer” questions that refer to extremely difficult questions not covered by public education, such as nonliterary questions at the college level, which are out of the reach of students not privately tuto

Jun 20, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

High-earning lecturers slamming Yoon's mention of CSAT face chilly reaction

Health

Medical colleges in Hungary become popular among aspiring Korean doctors

gettyimagesbankBy Jun Ji-hyeAn increasing number of aspiring doctors in Korea have moved to Hungary to study and then returned home to acquire medical licenses here for the last 20 years, according to Rep. Shin Hyun-young of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, Friday.She said medical colleges in the Philippines were popular among aspiring doctors in Korea until the early 2000s, but the preference has shifted to schools in Hungary. According to documents the Korea Health Personnel Licensing Examination Institute submitted to Rep. Shin, 409 people have taken national examinations for doctors in Korea after graduating from medical colleges overseas from 2001 to 2023. Among them, 247 passed the exams. Among the exam takers, the number of graduates of medical schools in Hungary was the highest at 119, followed by 106 from colleges in the Philippines, 38 from colleges in Uzbekistan, 23 from British colleges, 22 from German colleges, 18 from Australian colleges, 15 from U.S. colleges, 12 from Paraguayan colleges, 11 from Russian colleges, six from Japanese colleges and five from

Jun 16, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Medical colleges in Hungary become popular among aspiring Korean doctors

Politics

Yoon's remarks on college entrance exam cause confusion among students, parents

gettyimagesbankYoon's office says he was not talking about difficulty level of examBy Jun Ji-hyePresident Yoon Suk Yeol's comments regarding the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which were construed as instructing the education ministry to make the test easier, are causing confusion among students and parents, just five months before the state-administered college entrance exam is to be held. The remarks in question were made on Thursday, when Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said during a media briefing that he was instructed by the president to exclude what is not taught at schools from the annual exam, as part of educational reforms.One of the top three reforms being pursued by the Yoon administration, along with labor and pensions, is overhauling Korea's education system.Students and parents say the president has aggravated their worries by making the controversial remarks, which could exert an influence on the difficulty level of the CSAT, which is regarded as one of the most important academic events in a Korean person's life.Education Minister Lee Ju-ho speaks during a medi

Jun 16, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Yoon's remarks on college entrance exam cause confusion among students, parents

Politics

INTERVIEW Korea passes on personnel management knowhow to other nations

Personnel Management Minister Kim Seung-ho / Courtesy of Ministry of Personnel ManagementBy Jun Ji-hyeKorea is passing on its knowhow in bringing innovation to public personnel management to other nations, based on the high praise it has received from various groups around the world, according to Minister of Personnel Management Kim Seung-ho.During an interview with The Korea Times, the minister said Korea ranked third in the areas of recruitment of civil servants and management of high-level officials in the OECD's Government at a Glance report published in 2021. In addition, the country's digital-based public personnel management system ranked first in the International Civil Service Effectiveness (InCiSE) Index that was published in 2019 by the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford and the Institute for Government in London. “Since the personnel management ministry was launched in 2014 in Korea, many countries have shown interest in our systems,” Kim said. “In particular, various countries in Central and South America and Asia have expressed

Jun 15, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

[INTERVIEW] Korea passes on personnel management knowhow to other nations

Health

Jindo County's 1st-ever pediatric clinic opens

Pediatrician Kim Hyun-tae sees a child patient at his clinic that opened on June 1 in Jindo County, South Jeolla Province. Courtesy of Jindo County office By Jun Ji-hyeThe first-ever pediatric clinic in Jindo County, South Jeolla Province, opened earlier this month, providing convenience to residents who had to drive at least an hour to take their sick children to a hospital.According to the county office, Thursday, pediatrician Kim Hyun-tae's clinic began offering medical services to patients under the age of 18 on June 1.The opening of the pediatric clinic in Jindo is drawing attention at a time when a deepening shortage of medical facilities for children and pediatric physicians in the country has become a major concern. The shortage is mainly attributed to a falling birthrate and a growing reluctance among medical students to specialize in pediatrics due to a heavy workload and low pay compared to other popular fields such as plastic surgery.The shortage of pedi

Jun 15, 2023By Jun Ji-hye

Jun Ji-hye

Read more

Korea to relax requirements for E-7-4 skilled worker visa in bid to tackle labor shortage

Mom's murder of 2 newborns reignites debate over anonymous childbirth

Discovery of dead babies exposes loopholes in state management of newborns

Remembering 1st Korean War battle

Paik Hospital's shutdown raises concerns over medical services vacuum in Seoul

High-earning lecturers slamming Yoon's mention of CSAT face chilly reaction

Medical colleges in Hungary become popular among aspiring Korean doctors

Yoon's remarks on college entrance exam cause confusion among students, parents

INTERVIEW Korea passes on personnel management knowhow to other nations

Jindo County's 1st-ever pediatric clinic opens

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