Author: Web Desk

SEOUL, The government’s decision to lift the mask mandate on public transportation and pharmacies in open public spaces will go into effect this week amid a gradual COVID-19 virus downtrend.

 

The removal of the mask mandate on public transportation, including subways, buses, taxis and planes, Monday comes 2 1/2 years after the government adopted the mask rule in October 2020.

 

COVID-19 infections have been on the decline since the removal of most indoor mask mandates in late January. On Jan. 30, the government removed the mask requirement for most indoor places, except for public transportation, hospitals and a few other high-risk areas.

 

According to polls conducted in January, 7 out of 10 people said they will continue to wear masks due to health reasons even after the lifting of the indoor mask mandate.

 

The mask mandate will remain in place for medical facilities, pharmacies, nursing homes and other infection-prone places. But pharmacies in open public spaces, such as discount stores and train stations, will be exempt from the requirement.

 

The government said it will decide whether to lift the mask rule for those infection-prone facilities in late April or early May when the World Health Organization could vote to downgrade COVID-19 on a global level at its next meeting scheduled for the end of April.

 

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, The number of working South Koreans aged 60 and above has more than doubled in the past 10 years due to higher living costs amid a global economic slowdown, government data showed Sunday.

 

The number of working Koreans aged 60 and older jumped to 5.77 million in February from 2.73 million in the same month of 2013, according to Statistics Korea’s Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS).

 

The figure of 5.77 million was the highest for a February since KOSIS began to compile related data in 1996. The latest February figure is up 413,000 from a year earlier.

 

Most baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963 have turned 60, pushing up the number of the elderly seeking jobs. Some of them need to work due mainly to rising consumer prices, KOSIS said.

 

In the past 10 years, the employment rate among those aged 60 and older has continued to rise, reaching 42.8 percent in February from 32.8 percent a decade ago.

 

Source: Yonhap News Agency

 

SEOUL, North Korea fired an unspecified ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Sunday, Seoul’s military said, days after the leaders of South Korea and Japan agreed on stronger security cooperation against the regime’s growing threats during a summit.

 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced the launch. It did not immediately provide other details.

 

The latest launch came just three days after the North fired what it claimed to be a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile.

 

Pyongyang has been ratcheting up tensions recently as Seoul and Washington are conducting a regular combined military exercise, which it has decried as preparations for a “war of aggression” against it.

 

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile (SRBM) toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, in yet another provocation in apparent protest over an ongoing South Korea-U.S. military exercise.

 

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Tongchang-ri area on the country’s west coast at 11:05 a.m. The area is home to the North’s key long-range rocket launch site.

 

“While strengthening its monitoring and vigilance in preparation against the possibility of additional launches, our military is maintaining a full readiness posture in close cooperation with the United States,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

 

The North has been ratcheting up tensions as the allies are conducting their regular Freedom Shield exercise that it has decried as “preparations of a war of aggression against it.” The 11-day exercise is set to conclude Thursday.

 

Last week, the North fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It followed the launch of two short-range ballistic missiles on Tuesday and of what it claimed to be two “strategic cruise missiles” from a submarine two days earlier.

 

The ICBM launch came just hours before President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a summit in Tokyo and agreed on stronger security cooperation against the North’s growing nuclear and missile threats.

 

Concerns have persisted that the North could use the allies’ exercise as a pretext to launch major provocations, such as an ICBM launch and even a nuclear test.

 

Source: Yonhap News Agency