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Why Jeju Air crash victims' families are taking Boeing to US courts

Families of those killed in the Dec. 29, 2024, Jeju Air crash are turning to U.S. courts to hold Boeing, the manufacturer of the 737-800 involved in the disaster, accountable. The number of victims whose families have joined the lawsuit has recently grown nearly fourfold. A key reason for pursuing the case in the United States is the prospect of obtaining records held by Boeing through the courts. While Korean investigations have focused largely on the embankment supporting the localizer antenna at Muan International Airport, the families want to establish what happened immediately after the bird strike, including how it affected the aircraft and how its safety systems responded. Lawsuit grows from families of 14 victims to 52 The families began pursuing a product liability lawsuit against Boeing in the United States last October through Herrmann Law Group and other lawyers, according to legal sources on Tuesday. Such lawsuits seek compensation for harm caused by defective products. Initially brought by the families of 14 victims, the case now includes families representing 53 victims. Th

Sep 9, 2026By Hankookilbo
Why Jeju Air crash victims' families are taking Boeing to US courts

Record 2.9% of students report experiencing school violence

Nearly 3 in 100 students in elementary through high school reported experiencing school violence, a government survey showed Wednesday, the highest rate since the study began in 2013. The education ministry and 16 regional education offices conducted this year's survey online for all 3.9 million students in the fourth to 12th grade from April 14 until May 13. Some 3.19 million students, or 81.9 percent of the total, participated. A total of 2.9 percent said they experienced school violence between the second semester last year and April-May this year, up 0.4 percentage point from the equivalent study last year. Elementary school students reported the highest rate at 5.7 percent, followed by middle school students at 2.3 percent and high school students at 0.8 percent, with all groups showing increases from last year. Verbal harassment accounted for the largest share of the reported school violence at 37.8 percent, followed by bullying at 17.1 percent and physical violence at 15.7 percent. The National Youth Policy Institute, which was responsible for conducting the study, attributed the i

Sep 9, 2026By Yonhap
Record 2.9% of students report experiencing school violence

Soaring dining costs, wellness culture are reshaping lunch in Korea

An office worker in Seoul surnamed Lee, 43, started packing her own lunches a month ago, as eating out for lunch had become an unsustainable financial burden. A basic lunch paired with an afternoon coffee routinely cost more than 20,000 won ($15), quietly eating into her monthly budget. “Tracking down quality, low-cost eateries every single day is not easy,” Lee said. “A standard bowl of pork and rice soup that once cost about 8,000 won now costs nearly 15,000 won. On top of the rising cost, I was also getting tired of the heavy, salty food at restaurants.” Many white-collar workers in Seoul are turning away from restaurants in favor of homemade and ready-made meals. The shift is being driven by two factors: rising restaurant prices and a growing focus on health and wellness. Growing demand for lunch boxes is reflected in online product searches. According to 29CM, a fashion platform operated by Musinsa, searches for "insulated cooler bags" surged 656 percent year-over-year in August. During the same period, searches for “lunchbox cutlery sets” and “thermal lunchboxes” inc

Sep 9, 2026By Jun Ji-hye
Soaring dining costs, wellness culture are reshaping lunch in Korea

Korean 15-year-olds' reading ability drops considerably over past 3 years: report

Korean 15-year-olds' reading ability dropped significantly over the last three years, an OECD report showed Tuesday, likely partly due to the increased use of digital and social media. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Programme for International Student Assessment 2025, the cohort's average reading score was 501, down 14 points from the previous assessment in 2022. The latest assessment was conducted over three years involving approximately 760,000 students in 91 countries, including 38 OECD member states. It aims to assess and compare 15-year-olds' skills in reading, mathematics and science across countries, and has been carried out every three years, though the next editions will be released every four years. In Korea, the latest assessment was conducted on 6,859 students at 196 schools. The reading score ranked the country third to 13th, compared with second to 12th in 2022. The report assigns ranking ranges to each country instead of a single rank in consideration of the margin of error. "It is difficult to identify a single cause for lower readi

Sep 8, 2026By Yonhap
Korean 15-year-olds' reading ability drops considerably over past 3 years: report

More than 100 int'l fugitives hiding in Korea, police data shows

More than 100 foreign nationals wanted for crimes committed overseas are believed to be hiding in Korea, prompting police to strengthen cooperation with foreign law enforcement agencies to track them down and repatriate them. According to data submitted by the National Police Agency (NPA) to Rep. Kim Joon-hwan's office on Tuesday, 110 foreign nationals wanted for crimes committed in their home countries or other countries had fled to Korea as of Aug. 12. By nationality, China accounted for the largest share with 40 Interpol requests, or 36 percent, followed by Uzbekistan with 19 requests, Mongolia with 17 and Vietnam with 13. Most other cases involved nearby Asian countries, including Kazakhstan, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand and Japan. By offense type, fraud was the most common charge with 47 cases, followed by an "other" category that included violations of child and youth protection laws, kidnapping, confinement and prostitution with 29 cases. Drug offenses accounted for seven cases, while theft, traffic law violations, injury and assault each accounted for five. When Interpol requests

Sep 8, 2026By Park Ung
More than 100 int'l fugitives hiding in Korea, police data shows

New labor rules cloud Korea's chip project, draw fire from both sides

Korea’s new labor guidance, intended to draw a line between corporate management rights and workers’ collective bargaining rights, is instead drawing criticism from both sides, with its ambiguity casting doubt over major government-backed chip investment projects. This comes after the Ministry of Employment and Labor issued implementation guidance last week for what is known as the pro-labor “yellow envelope law.” According to the guidance, management decisions themselves — such as building or relocating plants, making overseas investments and adopting artificial intelligence — do not fall under mandatory collective bargaining or lawful industrial action. However, the guidance also says that bargaining and labor disputes may be possible when such decisions lead to concrete changes in employment conditions, including relocations of workers, changes in work arrangements or restructuring. The seemingly contradictory guidance has created confusion among both businesses and workers, who have voiced competing concerns over its potential impact on management decisions, job security

Sep 8, 2026By Jung Min-ho
New labor rules cloud Korea's chip project, draw fire from both sides

Public sector gender pay gap falls below 20% for 1st time

The gender pay gap at Korea's public institutions fell below 20 percent for the first time on record, part of a broader trend seen across the private sector as well. Women at public institutions earned an average of 60.56 million won ($45,300) in 2025, 19 percent less than men's 74.79 million won, according to a gender wage statistics survey released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family on Monday. The survey covered 3,146 companies subject to disclosure requirements and 355 public institutions. The gap narrowed 1 percentage point from a year earlier, the first time it has fallen below 20 percent since the ministry began compiling the statistics in 2020. Women's wages at public institutions rose 4.1 percent from a year earlier, outpacing a 2.9 percent gain for men. Average tenure stood at 10.6 years for men and 8.7 years for women, narrowing the tenure gap 1.8 percentage points to 18.1 percent. "Public institutions have wage systems that strictly limit gender discrimination, while private companies are less affected by those systems," said Kim Sung-hee, a professor at Korea Univ

Sep 7, 2026By Park Ung
Public sector gender pay gap falls below 20% for 1st time

Civic groups call for UNESCO listing of comfort women documents

A coalition of civic groups on Sunday urged UNESCO to swiftly move forward with a long-stalled bid to list documents related to Japan's wartime sex slavery of women on its Memory of the World Register. In May 2016, civic groups from 8 countries, including South Korea and China, made an official request for the UNESCO listing of documents related to women, mostly Koreans, forced into sex slavery for Japanese troops during World War II. The documents, submitted under the title "Voices of the Comfort Women," include victims' testimonies and other materials related to the wartime sex slavery. The number of known surviving victims has continued to decline, with only five left in South Korea, six in China, five in the Philippines, about 20 in Indonesia and one in Timor-Leste, according to the civic groups. The listing process has been stalled since UNESCO's International Advisory Committee decided in 2017 to facilitate dialogue between the coalition and four other groups from Japan and the United States that had separately submitted records on the same issue. The first talks, initially planned

Sep 6, 2026By Yonhap
Civic groups call for UNESCO listing of comfort women documents

Mother's surname at birth? Bill aims to shift Korea's family-name deadline

A group of legislators of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) introduced a bill that would permit married couples to decide whether their child takes the mother’s surname at the time of birth registration, instead of when the marriage is registered. The amendment to Article 781 of the Civil Act, proposed last week by Rep. Park Ju-min and 14 other DPK lawmakers, would expand the time during which parents may agree to give a child the mother’s surname. Under the current law, in principle, children receive their father’s surname automatically. Parents are allowed to use the mother’s surname for their children only if they declare their intention to do so when registering their marriage. This means that couples are asked to make a decision about the surname of a future child before they may know if or when they will have any children. The bill would retain the assumption of paternal surname if otherwise unspecified, but allow parents to decide to use the maternal family name either when registering their marriage or when reporting the child’s birth. “There can be a conside

Sep 6, 2026By Jung Min-ho
Mother's surname at birth? Bill aims to shift Korea's family-name deadline

Nicotine-like products expose blind spot in e-cigarette rules

A new regulatory blind spot is emerging around nicotine-free and nicotine-imitation products, following a law revision that brought liquid e-cigarettes under government oversight for the first time. Nicotine-imitation substances have not been fully verified for safety, and actual nicotine has turned up even in products marketed as "nicotine-free," prompting calls for a comprehensive system to regulate such products. In April, a revision to the Tobacco Business Act took effect extending the legal definition of tobacco from traditional leaf-based products to cover natural and synthetic nicotine. Under the revised law, use of e-cigarettes is banned in facilities such as schools, hospitals and government offices, as well as in designated outdoor no-smoking zones. Online sales of e-cigarettes are banned, and health warnings including nicotine content and ingredient disclosures must appear on packaging. Sales to minors are prohibited, along with any promotional activities targeting them. But the Tobacco Business Act defines tobacco only as products made from tobacco leaf or nicotine, leaving n

Sep 6, 2026By Park Ung
Nicotine-like products expose blind spot in e-cigarette rules
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