People can easily see electric scooter users on and off campus. As demand for electric scooter increased, accidents also occurred more frequently. According to the insurance company and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, the number of accidents involving personal mobility has increased fivefold in three years. The number increased from 40 in 2014 to 193 in 2017. There were 117 fatal accidents last year, four dead and 124 injured. Electric scooter requires a bicycle license or a driver’s license. People may obtain the license from age of 16 or older. However, it is difficult to

As economy developed and life standards improved for many, pleasure goods became prevalent. Tobacco, marijuana, alcohol, and even sugar are goods categorized as goods consumed as means of pleasure. However, many of such goods generate negative externalities as they cause poor health conditions and addiction. To prevent such outcomes and supply the state budget, a type of excise taxes called ‘sin tax’ was made and applied in several different countries.Sin Tax has its origin from French ‘Gabelle Tax’ or also known as Salt Tax. Gabelle was an excise tax on a particular good- salt. Starting from

People can easily see the benefits of drone usage from package delivery to firefighting. With such motivations, experts and even regular citizens have been updating drone’s hardware and software to enable drones to perform various tasks. However, little did they know about the dark side of the drone usage.On Nov. 14, 2017, the International Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons was held in Geneva of which more than 100 nations were part. The subject of the convention was the ban on killer robots. At the convention, a seven-minute film called “Slaughterbots,” created by computer scientists

Alternative military service to be available in Korea from 2020On July 28, Korea’s constitutional court ruled that the military service act article 5, which regulates the types of military service, is unconstitutional because it fails to offer alternative services. However, the court made sure that military service act article 88, which punishes any person who refuses to serve the military without justifiable grounds, is constitutional. The court demanded that article 5 should be revised until the end of 2019. Since South Korea has been technically in war with North Korea until now, the milita

The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission has reversed the conclusion of an initial investigation into excessive amounts of radon. An International Agency for Research on Cancer found Group 1 carcinogens that could cause lung cancer, emitted from seven mattresses by Daijin. At first, NSASC said that radon emissions from the mattress were below government-designated safety standard. However, 5 days later, it said all seven violated safety standards for commercial products set by the Act on Safety Control of Radioactive Rays around Living Environments. It admitted that the initial examination w

Over the past few years, North Korea has been striving to complete its nuclear weapons program while aggravating the international community. In 2017, it performed six nuclear tests and fired numerous missiles. The Hawsaong-15, tested on Nov. 29 was deemed capable of hitting any part of the United States, including Washington D.C.. Just a few months ago, the leaders of the United States and North Korea maintained a very strained relationship. However, the current situation is dramatically different. Since the New Year’s speech in 2018, the atmosphere has changed considerably, as North Korea’s

Sophomores used to sell food and alcoholic beverages during the Sunrise Festival. Every night of the festival in May, there used to be many pub booths in front of the 78 stairs all the way to Jigok center. However, just a week before the festival, students who were preparing for the night booths were notified that they cannot sell any alcohol without a license due to the liquor tax law. A few departments such as chemistry, physics and mathematics even decided to cancel their pubs. A Booth representative meeting was held on May 3. As a result, the POSTECH Food Services assumed charge of the dis

In 2012, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) wrote postings and comments that slandered the opposition candidate during the presidential election. It was said that the president of NIS instructed subordinates to work on the political side of the internet for a few years. Whether public opinion manipulation effected the result of the election or not, former president Park was elected. Those that were involved were recently penalized.This April, a similar affair took place. The culprit ‘Druking’ was a power blogger who had advocated for the Democratic party since the early 2000s. He establis

“All of the students are our own children who have become stars in the sky”, President Moon posted on his Facebook page on April 15. “They have changed South Korea. After the tragedy of the Sewol ferry, we have changed, changed to put lives first and to share in the burden and hurt of our neighbors.” Most of the victims aboard the fated Sewol ferry, which capsized on April 16, 2014, were high school students on a field trip to Jeju Island. Among the 304 people who died, 250 were sophomores at Danwon High School in Ansan. Crew members told them to stay put while the ship was sinking, but the ca

The PyeongChang 2018 Olympics and Paralympics (PyeongChang 2018) ended on March 18, with the closing ceremony of the Paralympics. Despite all the worries and incidents before the event, PyeongChang 2018 turned out to be very successful, receiving compliments from all over the world. However, after the feast, there is always the aftermath of it to take care of.For the Olympics, the central and local governments spent trillions of KRW for the event. With the money, arenas and other infrastructure were built. Now, with the event ended, the usage of them without neglecting or spoiling it is the pr

On April 27, the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit was held in Panmunjom, the Peace House. It was a delightful surprise for the Korean Peninsula, being only the third summit ever held. Previously, in 2000 and 2007, Kim Dae-jung, the 15th president of South Korea (S. Korea), and Roh Moo-hyun, the 16th president of S. Korea participated in the Inter-Korean Summit. In 2000, the first Inter-Korean Summit was held in Pyeongyang from June 13 to 15. Kim Dae-jung, the 15th president of S. Korea and Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s (N. Korea) Chairman of the National Defense Commission participated, adopting the

On April 16, 2014, Motor Vessel (MV) Sewol heading from Incheon to Jeju Island sank near Jindo, incurring heavy casualties, especially young students from Danwon High School. Many associations, media and people grieved over the loss and went for the ascertainment of truth behind the disaster. With much details exempted, it was revealed that the crisis was insufficiently handled by the captain and crews on the board, and the government’s response was late and clumsy. The MV Sewol disaster became a symbolic event to be constantly remembered and reflected on. This year, South Korea greets 4th ann

Korea’s birth rate in 2017 has scored the lowest ever, that rate being 1.05 people. This means that one person gave birth to 1.05 people last year. This decline has been an issue for quite a few years, but there seems to be no clear solution to the problem. Many politicians are coming up with pledges regarding this problem, and President Moon Jae-in was also concerned about this issue. Recently, he made a pledge about this, and formed the ‘Presidential Committee on Aging in Society and Population Policy’, with himself being the head of the committee. This illustrates how serious a problem the

Internet live steaming refers to the real-time delivery of various contents on live steaming platforms such as YouTube, Twitch, and Afreeca TV. Managed by individuals or groups, live streaming has constantly expanded its market since early 2000’s. In 2016, the domestic market size of internet live streaming reached 300 billion KRW. There are a significant number of Broadcasting Jackies (BJ), the individual runner of their own live streaming, who already have over a million fixed viewers. According to Korea Press Foundation’s 2016 statistics, about 25% of teenagers in their age of 10’s watch li

In March, Facebook, the major Social Network Service (SNS), was confronted with a ‘data scandal’. Christopher Wylie, the former director of research at Cambridge Analytica (CA), exposed that the personal information of more than 87 million users was collected illegally and used in electioneering. It started in 2014. Dr. Aleksandr Kogan from the University of Cambridge, England, developed and distributed a psychological test application called ‘This is your digital life’. It is known that if a Facebook user logs into the application through social log-in, the app developer can access friends li

The Ministry of Health and Welfare announced a policy promising better treatment and working environment of nurses to solve chronic shortage of manpower. However, the practicality of the policy is left controversial. In case of medical personnel, the manpower is supplied through medical university entrance, so it is difficult to drastically raise manpower supply at once.According to the The Ministry of Health and Welfare, the entrance quota of College of Nursing has increased by 68.4% since 2008 and additional entrance by transfer from other colleges, but it is not sufficient to catch up the d

“I survived accidently.” On May 17, 2016, a 23-year-old woman was brutally murdered by a man whom she never met before. The point is that she was killed just because she was ‘FEMALE’. This offence sparked a rallying call against misogyny across the nation. Hundreds of people voluntarily left Post-it condolence notes and white chrysanthemums near Exit 10 of Gangnam Station to mourn the victim’s death. This case is not anything new. It could be seen as a regular event in Korea, where gender inequality and hatred of women is prevalent. Women were afraid to say sexual assault; however, the Gangnam

Last January, the Seoul Metropolitan Government enforced the ‘Free Public Transportation’ policy during commuting times to reduce the level of fine dust in the air. This policy became a hot potato, and people argued whether it was an efficient policy or not. Some criticized that it was a waste of budget, and had inadequate results. Nevertheless, one thing is for sure. People are now aware of this problem, which is inspiring.What is fine dust? The official term for fine dust is ‘Fine Particulate Matter’, and it is abbreviated as PM. Fine dust is classified into two groups: PM10 and PM2.5. PM10

Recently concluded, a TV program broadcasted on EBS had been an issue. The purpose of this show was to introduce and raise awareness regarding sexual stereotypes and conflicts caused by gender roles. On Dec. 25 and Jan. 1, guests were LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender)individuals, which led to a shower of protest and demonstrations by some parent associations. Hatred towards the minorities covered the internet board, saying ‘Education broadcaster encourages homosexuality in the name of gender sensitivity.’ They alleged that homosexuality is ‘contagious’ and asserted that this progr

In spite of the success of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics, several incidents occurred even before the opening ceremony. They were related with the Korea Skating Union (KSU), which is infamous for their unfair practices. Regarding Kim Yeon-ah, former figure skater, the KSU did not provide proper support and kept silent concerning extremely biased judgment during the 2014 Sochi Olympics. In addition, other talented athletes have left the KSU, such as Ahn Hyun-soo, a short track skater, is now a Russian citizen and Victor Ahn is a citizen through naturalization. A severe factional dispute w