Dec. 03

• ●'As long as parents know the basics, they can raise children more easily.' (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  Ha Jeong-hun, the author of the bestselling parenting book, "Beep-Boop, Beep-Boop 119 Pediatrics," focuses on parents rather than children regarding child rearing.
  
  

• ●Countryside doctors recount need for, merits of suburban health work (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  "Doctor, please stay at this hospital, at least until my dying days," an elderly patient in the countryside said.
  
  

• ●Schools brace for impact of record-low enrollment (The Korea Herald)
  South Korea is set t record the lowest number f first graders entering elementary school next year, signaling the consequences of an apparent demographic crisis driven by the world's lowest birth rate.
  
  

• ●Day laborers, low-income earners fear lonely death (The Korea Herald)
  Day laborers and low-income earners in South Korea feel that they have a high chance of dying alone and remaining unnoticed for days, compared to peers with regular jobs earning higher incomes, a survey showed Sunday.
  
  

• ●No. of elementary school freshmen expected to drop below 400,000 next year (The Korea Times)
  The number of elementary school freshmen nationwide is expected to drop below the 400,000 mark next year for the first time amid Korea's record low birth rates.
  
  

• ●'Lifeline for migrant workers in Korea' - Rev. Kim fights for foreign employees' rights (The Korea Times)
  "You see, that kind of corrupt behavior is not tolerated in Korea...."

Dec. 04

• ●Debate grows over broadening of state insurance coverage for drug rehabilitation (The Korea Times)
  The government's decision to extend health insurance coverage for rehabilitation expenses of individuals who have an addiction to illegal drugs has provoked a heated debate in online communities.
  
  

• ●Korea's Population Decline 'Worse Than Medieval Plague' (The Chosunilbo)
  Korea's population decline is happening faster than the ravages the Black Death wrought in Europe in the late middle ages, a New York Times columnist has suggested.
  
  

• ●Kim Jong-un sheds tears for mothers as North combats falling birthrate (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  North Korean leader Kim Jong-un highlighted the nation's dropping birthrate during a national meeting in Pyongyang on Sunday.
  
  

• ●Majority of seniors want work, as 1 in 5 engage in job search (The Korea Herald)
  As over half of Korean senior citizens expressed a desire to work, nearly 1 in 5 seniors are actively engaged in job seeking, reports showed Monday.
  
  

• ●Majority of Korean office workers sleep deprived (The Korea Herald)
  More than half of Korean company employees report for office duty on less than seven hours of sleep, a recent report showed.
  
  

• ●Calls grow for enhancing Assembly's control over state insurance amid low births, aging society (The Korea Times)
  The government-funded research institute raised the need to enhance the National Assembly's control over the finances of the national health insurance in preparation for a potential crisis that could be caused by the nation's low birth rates and aging society.

Dec. 05

• ●Aspiring Doctors Unstoppably Drawn to Seoul (The Chosunilbo)
  Almost half of all graduates of medical schools outside of the Seoul metropolitan region end up getting internship positions in the capital area, which exacerbates the shortage of doctors in the provinces.
  
  

• ●Gambling addiction on the rise as illegal gaming market flourishes (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  Mr. Park, a 27-year-old office worker, got addicted to gambling eight years ago at state-run casino Kangwon Land in Jeongseon, Gangwon.
  
  

• ●Korea to provide mental health counseling to 1 million by 2027 (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  As part of plans to overhaul its mental health policy, the Korean government announced Tuesday it will provide psychological counseling to 80,000 people, including those with suicidal thoughts, by next year.
  
  

• ●Korean students outperform OECD average amid pandemic havoc: data (The Korea Herald)
  South Korea outperformed in tests that compare educational attainment among 15-year-olds around the world, despite COVID-19 having wrought havoc on global education systems, according to a survey released Tuesday.
  
  

• ●South Korea unveils plan to tackle ailing mental health (The Korea Herald)
  South Korea on Tuesday rolled out a comprehensive plan to offer mental health checkups every two years for young Koreans aged 20 to 34 and other counseling services tailored to all age groups, in the first-ever detailed state policy aimed at tackling the country's consistently high suicide rates.
  
  

• ●Over 70,000 tens homeless, urgent support needed: professor (The Korea Herald)
  More than 70,000 children and teenagers are identified as "homeless" in South Korea, wandering the streets or living in poor conditions, signaling an urgent need to enhance support for them.
  
  

• ●Korea outlines countermeasures to curb high suicide rates (The Korea Times)
  Korea on Tuesday outlined a set of countermeasures to help curb the country's high suicide rates, the highest among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.
  
  

• ●Yoon vows not to leave mental health issues to individuals alone (The Korea Times)
  President Yoon Suk Yeol vowed Tuesday to not leave mental health issues to individuals alone but to invest state resources in tackling the problem.
  
  

• ●Korean Army to shut down combat boot camps (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  The Korean Army will disband some of its training battalions beginning next year as the number of new conscripts continues to dwindle, military authorities said Tuesday.

Dec. 06

• ●Elderly Boost Household Productivity by Caring for Kids (The Chosunilbo)
  Elderly Koreans increasingly take care of their grandchildren while the kids' parents both earn a living, data shows.
  
  

• ●New immigration agency needed to addrss population woes, justice minister tells lawmakers (Korea JoongAng Daily)
  Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon on Wednesday called on lawmakers from the conservative People Power Party (PPP) to approve the establishment of a new government agency to manage rising immigration to Korea, which he touted as a partial solution to the country's gradual population decline.
  
  

• ●'Korea could go extinct without proper immigration policy': minister (The Korea Herald)
  South Korea has reached a point where accepting more immigrants undr a solid policy is no longer a choice, but a necessity because the country could face extinction without it, the justice minister said Wednesday.
  
  

• ●Half of young peole struggling financially: Seoul (The Korea Herald)
  Nearly half of the youth population residing in Seoul now lives in poverty, with many seeking financial support from their parents, according to a new study released by the Seoul Metropolitan Government and Seoul Institute on Wednesday.
  
  

• ●Drug demand rises over surge in 'walking pneumonia,' flu (The Korea Herald)
  South Korean drugmakers are in a rush to mass-produce antipyretics and antibiotics to keep pace with demand for medicines amid the rise in cases of mycoplasma pneumonia--a bacterium that causes respiratory infections--and flue viruses during the winter.
  
  

• ●South Korea says it's overhauling its mental health care policies--but is it going far enough? (Hankyoreh)
  The South Korean government announced Tuesday that it is going to invest 780 billion won over the next five years in overhauling and expanding the scope of its mental health policies, citing the increasing severity of societal issues caused by mental issues such as depression and schizophrenia.
  
  

• ●Senior citizens take up half of new job posts in 2022: data (The Korea Times)
  More than half of new job positions in 2022 were taken by senior citizens, while young people took up about 1.15 percent of the year's newly added posts, data showed Wednesday.

Dec. 07

• ●Koreans Live Longer, But Men Still Die Sooner Than Women (The Chosunilbo)
  Koreans live longer these days, but women consistently outlive men.
  
  

• ●Teens' excessive smartphone use linked tomental health risk: study (The Korea Herald)
  Adolescents using smartphones for more than four hours a day are at a higher risk of suffering from mental health issues, a South Korean study found Thursday.
  
  

• ●Investigators, not teachers, to handle school violence from next year (The Korea Herald)
  Cases regarding school violence will now be in the purview of specialized investigators employed by education offices around South Korea, along with an increase in the number of police officers deployed at schools, starting from March 2024.
  
  

• ●[Graphic News] Over 1.3 million S. Korean women quit jobs after marriage: data (The Korea Herald)
  One out of every 6 South Korean married women suffers from career interruption due mainly to child-rearing, marriage and pregnancy, data showed.
  
  

• ●[Reporter's notebook] Korea's immigration plan is to have no plan at all (Hankyoreh)
  "You may have come to Korea because you were fascinated by Korean television series and K-pop, but the reality isn't that glamorous.

Dec. 08

• ●Major hospitals struggle to recruit pediatricians (The Korea Times)
  Major hospitals in Seoul are having difficulty recruiting pediatricians, failing to meet the recruitment quota for pediatric departments in th first half of the upcoming year amid the growing unpopularity of essential medical care roles among young doctors.
  
  

• ●Most Indebted Households Can't Repay Principal (The Chosunilbo)
  Two out of three indebted households can only afford to service the interest on their loans but not repay any part of the principal.
  
  

• ●Personality traits linked to risk of dementia (The Korea Herald)
  Whether you have a pessimistic or optimistic attitutde in life might afect your risk of dementia, new research shows.
  
  

• ●South Korea's birth rate again hits historic low (The Korea Herald)
  South Korea's birth rate reached an all-time low in the January to October period this year, setting off further alarm about the nation's demographic trends.