From now on, Seoul will become a cleaner city. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said on August 29 that smoking at all bus stops will be banned from September. Also, people won't be able to smoke in 10 parks in the city including Seoul Grand Park and Children's Grand Park. Seoul City decided to ban smoking in public places to protect people from dangerous second-hand smoking. "A non-smoking campaign could have positive effects, particularly in parks, where people go to have some quality time with their families. The campaign could also protect children from harmful smoke," said Cho Mi-
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According to a recent government report, the number of newborn babies in Korea increased for the first time in 6 years in 2006. The Korea National Statistical Office (NSO) said that the number of newborn babies grew by 13,452 to 451,514 last year, the first increase since 2000. Also, the number of newborn babies reached 238,817 in the first seven months of this year, up 5.1 percent from 2006. The average number of babies that a woman gives birth to during her lifetime increased to 1.13 in 2006 from a record low of 1.08 a year earlier. The NSO report said 51.1 percent of the babies born in 2006 were born in Seoul. This is very good news because Korea’s birth rate was on the decrease. If the birth rate keeps falling, Korea will be in
There are many smart people in the world. But Koreans are the smartest! Recently, a hundred Koreans won 10 awards at an international brain Olympiad! The brain Olympiad took place in New York from August 10 to 12. The third International Brain HSP (Health, Smile, and Peace) Olympiad was sponsored by the Korea Institute of Brain Science and the International Brain Education Association. The brain Olympiad included events highlighting the unlimited potential of
From now on, South Koreans are not allowed to visit dangerous countries. The government said Koreans can’t enter Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia from August 7. If Koreans visit those countries without government permission, they will face punishment. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade외교통상부, Koreans will be fined up to three million won or face imprisonment of up to one year if they visit those ＂off-limits＂without permission. Previously, it was ok to enter those countries freely. The government initially banned Koreans from traveling to Iraq and Somalia. But it included Afghanistan, following the Taliban’s kidnapping of 23 Koreans on July 19. The government also asked Koreans who are staying in those countries to leave as soon as possible. The decision was made by 11 experts from the Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, the Ministry of Justice법무부, and the
The weather is very hot these days. Sometimes it? very hard to walk around in the sun. When it? too hot, we can easily feel tired. In fact, strong summer heat wave can be dangerous for you. This is because you can fall ill or suffer from a terrible headache. To protect children from the heat wave, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development교육인적자원부 introduced a new law on August 1. It said that schools will either be closed or outdoor classes banned when the heat wave is too strong. The ministry will put the new law to the test this year, and will start practicing it from next year. ＂It is said there are more
As we all know, all healthy Korean men have to serve in the military for about two years. However, young men with special skills can replace their period of service by working at high-tech companies. Some famous singers, including Psy (Park Jae-sang), Lee Jae-jin and Kang Hyun-soo, worked at such companies instead of joining the army. But recently the Military Manpower Administration(MMA)병무청 ordered the three singers to join the army again. The office said they were found to have avoided their duty. However, the popular singers said it’s unfair to order them to serve in the military again because they worked hard at the companies. They said the MMA is responsible for making the wrong decision. Now they
Recently, more and more elementary school students are going abroad alone without any guardians. Over 4,500 children went overseas alone during the first half of this year. And as the summer vacation has already started, more children are expected to leave the country. On July 18, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines said that 4,503 children between the ages of five and 12 left Korea by themselves between January and June this year. The number was a 23.8 percent increase from 3,637 during the same period last year. Airline officials say most of the children go overseas to study English for either a short-term or long-term stay. Some of them go visit their relatives. ＂The main destinations elementary schoolchildren head for are the
According to a recent government report, South Korea will see one of the fastest population declines in the world. The report said our population will fall nearly one percent every year from 2045 onward. South Korea’s population stands at 48 million in 2007. But the Korea National Statistical Office통계청 said the figure is likely to decrease 0.96 percent every year from 2045 to 2050. The report said there would be 1,222 newborns and 712 people who die every day from 2005 to 2010. During the same period, another 106 people would move to another country every day. Currently, South Korea is ranked 26th in the world in population size. However, it would rank 44th in 2050. Year after year, birthrate is falling and aging population is increasing. This can cause serious problems in our society. If we don’
The Seoul government announced on July 4 that it would nearly double its aid to developing countries, increasing its monetary contributions to 1 billion dollars from last year’s 600 million dollars. Aside from increasing the amount of aid given overseas, the government also promised to reshape how the money was given. They promised to better use the funds so that more countries could get out of poverty. Critics have said Korea’s commitment to helping nations overseas was poor among the member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)경제협력개발기구. Over the last 20 years, Korea has extended only 2.8 billion dollars in total aid, much lower than other countries in the OECD. Most advanced nations give somewhere between 0.15 to 1.05 percent of their entire GNI (Gross National Income). Korea
Have you ever loved a sports team so much that nothing could stop you from learning more about them? Well, one American by the name of Dan Kurtz fell in love with the Doosan Bears so much that he decided to build a website about them. Kurtz, who is a Korean-adoptee, grew up in America and couldn’t speak Korean. But during an international program at Yonsei University, he got hooked on Korean baseball. The only problem was, everything about Korean baseball was written in Korean! So to help others and himself learn more about Korean baseball, he built a website to promote how much he loves the Doosan Bears. To his surprise, many major newspapers and magazines from America contacted him last year during the Baseball Classic because they couldn’t find enough information about Korean baseball players from Korean websites. Kurz says writing about Korean baseball
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