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Only about half of Korean adults wash their hands with soap after using the restroom, a survey showed, while the average time spent washing hands fell far short of the recommended 30 seconds. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on Thursday announced the findings of its survey on infection prevention practices for the first half of 2026, conducted jointly with the National Medical Center. The survey observed the hand-washing behavior of 4,560 adults at 120 public restrooms nationwide from May 28 to June 30. Exit interviews were also conducted with 1,800 of the participants. The survey found that 86 percent of people washed their hands after using the restroom, up 1.9 percentage points from 84.1 percent last year. The proportion who washed their hands with soap rose 1.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 46.7 percent. Another 39.3 percent washed their hands with water only, while the remaining 14 percent did not wash their hands at all after using the restroom. The amount of time people spent washing their hands was also notably short. The average total hand-washing

Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyong on Friday called for abolishing a legal provision that bars punishing perpetrators of domestic violence if the victims do not wish punishment. Under the current law, authorities cannot punish domestic violence offenders if victims express opposition to punishment. Critics have said the provision has led offenders to pressure victims to settle cases. "Since the policy briefing in December last year, I have consistently called for abolishing the clause on domestic violence as a crime not punishable against the victim's will," Won said in a YouTube interview. She added that President Lee Jae Myung shares her view. Stalking crimes had previously not been punishable against the victim's will but a legal revision abolished the provision in June 2023.

President Lee Jae Myung on Friday appointed a new vice industry minister and a new deputy chief of the Financial Services Commission (FSC). Park Dong-il, a senior official at the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources, was named vice minister, while Shin Ji-chang, a senior FSC official, was appointed the commission's vice chairman, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said. Kang described Park as an industry policy expert with extensive experience in planning and coordinating industrial policies, expressing hope that he would play a role in spearheading the country's push to achieve unrivaled leadership in future strategic industries. The presidential spokesperson portrayed Shin as a career official well versed in the financial and industrial sectors, with expertise in financial programs for low-income people and small merchants, as well as the housing market.

Eighteen professors at Kwangwoon University have been named among the World’s Top 2% Scientists, highlighting the research excellence and international academic influence of the university’s faculty. The World’s Top 2% Scientists list for 2026 was recently released by Stanford University and Elsevier, a global provider of academic information. It evaluates researchers’ scientific impact using data from Elsevier’s Scopus database. The list comprises two categories: Career-long citation impact, which measures a researcher’s cumulative impact throughout their career, and single-year scientific impact, which reflects citation impact in 2025. The 2026 edition uses citation data through the end of last year. Ten Kwangwoon University professors were named in the career-long category. They include Kim Young-hun (chemical engineering), Kim Tae-kyun (mathematics), Park Myun-joo (electronics convergence engineering), Park Jae-yeong (electronic engineering), Park Chul-hwan (chemical engineering), Lee Sang-shin (electronic engineering) and Jang Min (environmental engineering). Fourteen pro

A man accused of injuring eight people in a knife attack at a commercial complex in Incheon earlier this week attended an arrest warrant hearing on Friday. The hearing began at 2 p.m. at the Incheon District Court after prosecutors requested an arrest warrant for the suspect on charges of attempted murder and carrying weapons in public spaces. The 59-year-old man is suspected of attempting to kill 10 people with knives attached to both of his hands at the shopping complex in Incheon, just west of Seoul, on Tuesday. The attack left eight people injured, including one who remains unconscious after suffering cardiac arrest. The two others escaped unharmed. The suspect reportedly has 10 prior convictions, two of them attempted murder. "I am sorry," the suspect said while walking toward the court for his hearing, noting he has made a serious mistake. According to police, the man has cited his frustration over his medical treatment at a local hospital as the motive for the attack. He had staged a one-man protest in front of the hospital for 2 1/2 months since August. During those protests, the

Sungkyunkwan University said it has recruited world-renowned scholars in key fields, including medicine, biotechnology, energy and semiconductors, as distinguished professors to lead international collaborative research with its faculty. The scholars include Peter J. Park of Harvard Medical School, Gerbrand Ceder of the University of California, Berkeley, and Konstantin Novoselov, who shared the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. Harvard University physicist Philip Kim will also participate in the initiative as an international research collaborator. The initiative goes beyond nominal affiliations, enabling researchers and students to work directly with leading scholars on joint research projects. Sungkyunkwan University plans to establish a framework that integrates research collaboration with talent development through joint projects, researcher exchanges, campus visits by the scholars and joint supervision and mentoring of students. “Close collaboration with world-renowned scholars will help Sungkyunkwan University establish itself as a global research hub in cutting-edge fields of science

A high-risk pregnant woman whose water broke was airlifted about 240 kilometers from Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, to a university hospital in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, after emergency responders were unable to find a nearby hospital capable of treating her and her baby. Paramedics in Gyeonggi Province contacted about 18 hospitals in surrounding areas, including South Chungcheong Province, but were unable to secure a facility capable of providing neonatal intensive care. According to the South Chungcheong Fire Headquarters on Thursday, its emergency responders were dispatched after receiving a request for assistance from Gyeonggi paramedics at around 4 a.m. on Oct. 8. The woman, who was at an obstetrics and gynecology clinic in Pyeongtaek, was transported by a firefighting helicopter to a university hospital in Changwon. The woman had gestational diabetes and was less than 35 weeks pregnant when her water broke. The fetus was also in a breech position, requiring urgent medical care. A fire official said the baby was expected to require treatment in a neonatal intensive care u

Construction has begun on about 99,000 homes in greater Seoul so far this year, less than 40 percent of the annual target, with the figure expected to reach only around 80 percent of the goal by year-end, the government said Friday. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Office for Government Policy Coordination released an updated housing supply outlook amid growing concerns over rising home prices, and a tightening rental market in Seoul and surrounding areas. The government earlier announced a broader housing supply plan to begin construction on more than 1.5 million homes in the 2026-30 period to address supply shortages and ease upward pressure on property prices. For this year, the government has set a target of starting construction on 268,000 homes, including 62,000 public housing units. As of the second week of October, construction had begun on approximately 99,000 homes, accounting for just 37 percent of the annual target, according to the ministry. Despite the sluggish pace, the government projected that between 218,000 and 235,000 units would break ground

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Kyu-ha has called for the deployment of robots and drones for dangerous missions in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), saying he raised the idea with the top U.S. commander in Korea, following a land mine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers last month. Kim said Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, agreed that unmanned systems could help keep troops out of harm’s way, although both commanders recognized the risks of operating them near the inter-Korean border. “After the incident, I told Gen. Brunson that sending our personnel into the DMZ involves dangers and difficulties, and that robots and drones should go in instead,” Kim said at an Army policy briefing at the Yangpyeong General Training Ground in Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. “He agreed,” Kim said, adding that they also shared the view that the systems must be thoroughly tested before deployment. On Sept. 21, three South Korean service members were injured when a North Korean anti-personnel land mine exploded during an operation near the Military Demarcation Line (MDL)

Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul said Friday he will seek to transform the Marine Corps into an operations command capable of conducting modern maneuver warfare amid the military's push to restore operational control of the Marines. Kang made the remarks during a visit to the Marine Corps headquarters and the Northwest Islands Defense Command, both located in Hwaseong, 45 kilometers south of Seoul, according to the defense ministry. "The Marine Corps is at a historic turning point as it seeks to reinvent itself," Kang said. "We will strengthen the status and capabilities of the Marine Corps and transform it into a force capable of conducting modern maneuver warfare." Under the plan, the military seeks to restore the operational control of two Marine divisions, currently held by the Army, as part of a broader effort to restructure the three-pronged military structure. The move is designed to ensure the independence of the Marine Corps by fully restoring its operational control over its units. The defense chief also stressed the strategic value of the Marine Corps as a national strategic tas

A special counsel team on Friday demanded a 30-year prison term for former President Yoon Suk Yeol in his appeals trial over allegations that he ordered drone incursions into North Korea to provoke Pyongyang in an attempt to use potential North Korean provocations to justify his declaration of martial law. Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team also sought a 30-year prison term for former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun on charges of benefiting the enemy and abuse of power in the same appeals trial at the Seoul High Court. The team additionally requested a 20-year prison term for Yeo In-hyung, former commander of the Defense Counterintelligence Command, and a five-year term for Kim Yong-dae, former head of the Drone Operations Command, on the same charges. Yoon was convicted by a lower court in June and sentenced to 30 years in prison for ordering the Drone Operations Command in October 2024 to send drones to Pyongyang in an attempt to provoke a military clash that could provide a pretext for his declaration of martial law in December that year. Former Defense Minister Kim was also given a 30

Korea’s overseas military deployments have evolved over six decades, from combat operations during the Vietnam War to a broader range of missions focused on peacekeeping, reconstruction and maritime security. The country's history of overseas military deployments dates back to 1964, when it first dispatched medical personnel and taekwondo instructors to Vietnam, followed by combat troops in 1965. The deployment was one of the largest in the country's history, with approximately 310,000 military personnel having served in Vietnam over a decade. The lasting repercussions of the Vietnam War led to a prolonged decline in overseas military deployments until 1991 during the Gulf War, which broke out following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. As a multinational coalition was formed under U.N. resolutions, Korea's National Assembly approved the dispatch of noncombat personnel: 154 medical personnel and 150-member Air Force transport unit equipped with five transport aircraft. Following its accession to the U.N. in 1991, Korea began participating in U.N. peacekeeping operations, starting with the de