-
COMPARED TO the United States, Korea has been relatively free of irrational fear of vaccines—but that has been changing due to suspicions that the 2020-21 influenza vaccine is causing deaths. Although chances that the influenza vaccine might be lethal are very slim, irresponsible reporting and misco
Society
Kim Chae-yoon
2020.11.30 03:39
-
THERE ARE very few things that haven’t changed amidst the pandemic—one of them being the nine to five working hours. Although nationwide implementation of social distancing saw an increase of people working from home and longer childcare leaves to accommodate parents with young children, many still
Society
Lee Ju-won
2020.11.01 20:04
-
ADRIENNE (ALIAS) positioned the trash can carefully on her family store’s outdoor area, trying to remember where the puddle had formed during the last typhoon. The water had dripped through the floor to the fitness center below them, and the owner had called Adrienne’s in panic and fury, demanding t
Society
Kim Chae-yoon
2020.10.11 20:20
-
THE COVID-19 pandemic has revealed, more than ever, the indispensability of doctors and those working in the healthcare industry. In response to the anticipation of more infectious disease outbreaks as well as the rapidly aging Korean population, the government has pushed for an increase in the medi
Society
Park Joo-hyun
2020.08.31 10:05
-
BACK IN June 25, 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea during the Korean War, the United States helped South Korea by sending armed forces. South Korea and the United States have been tied with a military alliance ever since; however, this 67-year alliance appears to be facing a crisis as the two nations are failing to reach an agreement on how to divide the costs for military defense. The alliance Signed in October, 1953, the Mutual Defense Treaty is the military alliance that forms the backbone of the relationship between South Korea and the United States after the hostilities of the Kor
Society
Kwon Kyu-hee
2020.06.14 06:56
-
IN JUST a span of 5 months, 4 South Korean taxi drivers set themselves on fire. These taxi drivers were protesting against a single issue: ride-hailing services recently introduced to the South Korean transportation market. Tada—one ride-hailing service that operates with large 11-seat vans—has long been the center of controversy ever since its launch in October, 2018, causing intense anger and heightening tensions between the taxi industry and ride-hailing services. In response to such controversy, a revision to a law to ban Tada was officially passed on March 6, 2020; however, it
Society
Kwon Kyu-hee
2020.04.04 16:21
-
THE SOUTH Korean military has been infamous for forcing its members to follow strict gender and sexual regulations, but a transgender Staff Sergeant Byun Hee-su has challenged these norms and requested to serve after her gender reassignment surgery. Although the military has declared her condition a mental impairment and dismissed her, Byun and civil rights groups are suing to reinstate her to the army and to change how transgenders and sexual minorities are treated in the military. A Level-3 mental impairment Staff Sergeant Byun Hee-su was a well-trained soldier in the Korean military, receiv
Society
Kim Chae-yoon
2020.03.13 01:16
-
THE SILENCE in the office is shattered as a man brutally smacks an employee across his face. The violence continues as the perpetrator Yang Jin-ho, who was then CEO of the online storage service provider, WeDisk, forces the employee to kneel down and beg for an apology as he continues to hurl ruthless violence. This is an example of workplace harassment in South Korea where employees often experience various forms of abuse, ranging from physical to verbal, typically from someone of higher authority. To tackle such phenomenon, a law enforcing a ban on harassment in the workplace has officially
Society
Kwon Kyu-hee
2019.09.04 20:40
-
EVERY KOREAN male is familiar with Article 88 of the Military Service Act: “Any person who has received a notice of enlistment for active duty service or a notice of call and fails to enlist in the military or to comply with the call… shall be punished by imprisonment with labour for no more than three years.” The following article has accounted for the incarceration of more than 19,300 conscientious objectors who refused to enlist for reasons based on their personal beliefs and faiths. While failure to comply with the duty of conscription under any reason has been considered a criminal
Society
Jo Beom-su
2019.06.03 23:11
-
“DENIAL IS the eighth stage that always follows a genocide,” said Gregory H. Stanton, the founder of Genocide Watch. In denying that the crime ever happened and blaming the events on the victims, denial finalizes a tragedy. Among the most tragic moments in modern Korean history, the 5.18 Gwangju Uprising stands out for how its memory is still disputed and invalidated. Most recently, former president Chun Doo-hwan stood on trial for the first time for 23 years for defamation against a witness of the Uprising. The tragedy’s mastermind still refused to apologize to the massacre, influencing the n
Society
Cho Seung-wan
2019.05.07 13:30
-
“WARNING. YOU have been denied access to the site because it has been reported to provide illegal and harmful content.” You get home after a long day and go into Joovideo, your favorite free K-drama site, to watch an episode of your favorite drama that aired last night. However, this warning pops up when you try to access the site. Starting February 11, the Korean government has put restrictions on 895 websites that were seen to contain inappropriate or harmful content, including pornography, gambling and piracy sites. Korea Communications Commission (KCC) explained this restriction is simply
Society
Lee So-jung
2019.04.03 18:05
-
ARTICLE 4 OF the Seoul Ordinance of Student Rights states that “the student shall have the right to realize his or her personality in appearance such as dress and hair” and that “the head of the school and the school staff shall not regulate appearance, hair, and more, against the will of the student, however, clothing may be limited by school rules.” This ordinance was established in 2012, and since then, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) has endeavored to promulgate this article, most recently through pushing forward on South Korean students’ hairstyle liberalization and unif
Society
Hong Jee-seung
2018.12.02 20:37
-
KOREA IS experiencing one of the hottest summers ever, with a record-breaking temperature of 41 degrees in Hongcheon and 39.6 degrees in Seoul on Aug. 1. The scorching heat has been severely detrimental. According to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40 people have died from heat-related causes, such as heatstroke, heat exhaustion and heat cramps. In addition, there have been around 4,000 cases of patients who have suffered from heat-related illnesses. Although the heat affects everyone, laborers who work outdoors are at a greater risk. According to The Hankyoreh,
Society
Lee So-jung
2018.09.02 12:15
-
THE KOREAN music industry is a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that has taken the world by storm with its trendy artists and glamorous idols. Yet within this industry, only the popular, well-known artists are the ones who “make it,” able to make a living out of their music. Non-mainstream artists are often unable to survive within the brutal industry. Last year, indie artist Lee Lang went viral for auctioning off her trophy during her acceptance speech at the Korean Music Awards, saying that she needed the money to pay her rent. This is due to the fact that in Korea, fair compensation for arti
Society
Kim Bo-dam
2018.06.04 14:21
-
ON JAN. 21, 2018, the President of Sungshin Women’s University announced reform plans to transform the university into a co-ed school. However, the plans failed due to the overwhelming opposition of the enrolled students. This case has not been an isolated incident. Other women’s universities in Korea have announced plans to unisexualize their institutions recently. Women’s universities on the brink of extinction? In times when women were expected to remain at home and had little opportunity to study, women’s universities were once regarded as guardians of women’s education rights. Considering
Society
Kim Bo-dam
2018.03.14 18:33
-
CHEAP, DURABLE, and disposable─these qualities have made plastic an indispensable component of modern day products. Yet the very durability of this wonder-material that makes it so attractive is causing enormous damage to our environment. To combat this, The Seoul Metropolitan Government has proposed a new battle plan against plastic waste─but will it be effective? The landfill crisis: domestic politics of plastic wasteThe issue of plastic waste disposal has provoked heated political controversy in South Korea, especially at the metropolitan level. There are currently three ways to dispose of
Society
Roh Hyo-jung
2017.11.14 21:26
-
SOUTHEAST ASIAN cuisine generally consists of rice, noodles, cooked vegetables, and meat seasoned with punchy and addictive spices and sauces. Recently, the cuisine has grown increasingly popular in the Korean market. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Korea Agro-Fisheries & Food Trade Corporation, Southeast Asian restaurants achieved the highest revenue among all other international restaurants in the second quarter of 2017 in Korea. They even surpassed Japanese and Chinese restaurants, which reached just over 70 business index points* compared to 83.22 p
Society
Hwang Gyu-chan
2017.11.14 14:23
-
EVER SINCE he ran as a presidential candidate, President Moon Jae-in has pledged that he will reduce the military system period. His statement has received many applauds among Korean males in their twenties. Finally, now as a president, he kept his words when he recently renewed his call on cutting military service period from 21 months to 18 months. This new policy certainly delivers as a delightful announcement for soon-to-be enlisted Korean males. In a macroeconomic point of view, a reduction in military service signifies increase in males who will advance early into society. Hence, the adv
Society
Hwang Gyu-chan
2017.10.16 11:30
-
“THEY SIT through sex education during the day, and drool over pornography magazines at night,” reported a South Korean ex-convict who was released from prison earlier this year. During his interview with SBS, a South Korean television network, the ex-convict readily described the perverted culture in prison cells wherein inmates including convicted child rapists enjoy all kinds of sexually explicit materials. This corrupt reality of South Korean prisons signifies the failure on part of the Ministry of Justice to implement its own regulations that prohibit pornography for sex offenders. Not on
Society
Roh Hyo-jung
2017.10.16 11:22
-
PRESIDENT MOON Jae-in has renewed his call to the National Assembly to raise the minimum wage from ₩ 6,470 to ₩ 7,530 by 2018 and eventually up to 10,000 by 2020 as part of his agenda to pursue income-led growth. Increasing the minimum wage was a key campaign pledge by Moon to the lower-middle income households, who are hoping to escape the stagnant wages of the past decade. In addition, college students are probably one of the biggest constituencies to be benefited by such an increase. According to the Korea Labor and Society Institute, 8 to 10 part-time job applicants prefer to h
Society
Hwang Gyu-chan
2017.09.04 11:12