SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – In a cramped 33-square-meter apartment in Seoul, 14 cats huddle among stacked metal kennels and cardboard boxes. This makeshift animal shelter, one of many across South Korea, exemplifies the growing crisis of pet abandonment in a country where pet ownership has soared to over 10 million households. Despite the rise [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – A surge in the misuse of growth hormone injections, often mischaracterized as “height-increasing shots,” has led to a sharp increase in adverse effects, prompting calls for urgent measures to curb their overuse, according to a report released by a South Korean lawmaker on October 10. Representative Jeon Jin-sook of the [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 11 (Korea Bizwire) – A new convenience in South Korea’s bustling alcohol market is raising concerns about underage drinking. ‘Smart order’ services, which allow customers to order alcohol online and pick it up at offline stores, are under fire for potentially lax age verification procedures, a consumer watchdog group reported on October 10. The [...]
YEONCHEON, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent fatal shooting in Yeoncheon County has shed light on the growing risks associated with South Korea’s expanding wild boar hunting program, as the number of licensed hunters has more than doubled since 2019. On October 6, a hunter in his 40s was accidentally shot and killed by a [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) – Seven months after the South Korean government launched a pilot program to clarify nurses’ responsibilities, about 30% of nurses still report feeling anxious due to ambiguous job scopes, according to a recent survey. Representative Kang Sun-woo of the Democratic Party of Korea revealed these findings on October 9, based on [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — The Cabinet meeting on Thursday approved a new bill calling for tougher punishment for digital sex crimes using deepfake technologies. The revision of the sexual crimes punishment law calls for punishing people caught possessing, purchasing, storing or viewing deepfake sexual materials and other fabricated videos with up to three [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — Qoo10 CEO Ku Young-bae attended a court hearing held on Thursday to determine whether to issue an arrest warrant on fraud and embezzlement charges related to his e-commerce group’s large-scale payment delays to vendors. Ku appeared at the Seoul Central District Court for his hearing, which will be shortly [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – In South Korea, over 270,000 people have been diagnosed with long Covid, the lingering effects of coronavirus infection, according to data released by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The figures, obtained by Baek Jong-heon, a lawmaker from the People Power Party, show that from 2020 through July of this [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s peak electricity demand hit a new record in September, as the scorching summer heat extended into the autumn season, data showed Wednesday. The country’s peak power demand last month averaged 78 gigawatts, a 6 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the Korea Power Exchange, marking [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 9 (Korea Bizwire) – As South Korea grapples with a plummeting birth rate, a growing number of childcare facilities are finding new purpose as long-term care centers for the elderly, highlighting the country’s dramatic demographic shift. According to data obtained by Representative Jeon Jin-suk of the Democratic Party from 17 provincial and metropolitan governments, [...]