President Park Geun-hye released major reforms on August 6th 2015 of which she introduced major changes to the labor sector which has become a key issue this month. The Tripartite Commission had a conference relating to labor reform specifically dealing with the Salary Peak System and employment fle

Since last year, the price of cigarettes, which is the center of controversy, started to increase from January 1, 2015. Not only smokers, but also nonsmokers have many opinions about this issue. Listen to their opinions to get an idea of what happens to our society.Korean cigarette priceIn 2004, the

For quite a few years, personal media also known as Social Networking Services (SNS) has been growing steadily in cyber space with websites like Facebook, AfreecaTV and Wordpress (blog) as they become very popular. Also, personal media takes a leading place in our lives more and more.

European Parliament elections were conducted last June, electing European Union (EU) lawmakers for a five year term. Manuel Valls, France’s prime minister, called this a huge political earthquake due to the large number of unwelcomed guests invading without warning. The name of these unwelcom

When you become a freshman, you want to have a part-time job at least once. Some students have the job to make money, but most university students think it is a social experience and challenge without

Recently, people said that the press and broadcasters are losing their qualities and reporting unfairly. Moreover, some news broadcasted so bizarre things that the public couldn’t anticipate. Reflecti

To choose China or America, that is the question. Needless to say, Korea attaches great importance on trade; Korea has few natural resources. China and America are the top two countries in this matter. There are so many kinds of agreements between each country. However, if Korea had to take sides wi

President Park Geun-hye has promoted a creative economy by succeeding Saemaul Movement which laid great stress on volunteership. Saemaul Movement is a hot potato on the budget debate of the national a

Prof. Kim Nan-do author of ‘Painful is the growing pains’ said that 2014’s first main trend is “swag.” Nowadays, swag is becoming relevant to the fashion industry and Korean society due to the liberal

All university students are able to derive the benefit of tuition assistance from the government. The government is serious about its commitment to reduce the financial burden on the family budget due

Recently, many shameful things have occurred with regards to information leakage and security problems. The biggest example is the KCB Credit Rating Agency employee who leaked personal information of

Two million Syrian refugees have been forced to flee their homes due to the civil war that is raging in that country. They are in constant danger and very poor although they left to get away from the war and to find food and clean water. International NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations), like Good Neighbors, and Save the Children, are preparing emergency aid packages for the flood of refugees. Whereas, the human rights group, “Amnesty International” pledges to international community in order to let human rights organizations and groups have free access to civilians who need aid packages urgently. Let us look at “poverty” from human rights’ point of view and look for how Amnesty International solves the problem related to poverty as improvement of human rights.

On July 7th, 2011 the movie “Winter Butterfly,” which is based on the hard reality of North Korea and maternal betrayal from hunger, was released. What does the movie director, Kyu-Min Kim, who is a d

These days, it is not uncommon to find men who wear make-up. Men in their 20’s and 30’s who have grown up in a digital environment are the main characters in this issue. Sociocultural gender images ar

The singer PSY’s “Gangnam Style” was downloaded 3,600,000 times in Korea which generated65,000,000 won. However in foreign countries, it was downloaded just 2,900,000 times, but it generated2,810,000,

As of July 1st 2012, the government has allowed all medical facilities to conduct the “DRG (Diagnosis Related Group) payment system” by expanding coverage in regard to the seven conditions group which refers to cataract operations, tonsillectomies, appendectomies, hernia operations, hemorrhoid removal, caesarean operations, and uterus operations. DRG is a flat sum system of medical billing and it will eventually be used by all hospitals. From the patients’ standpoint this system is supposed to reduce the financial burden of medical bills, but some people claim the quality of medical services has suffered as a result. The real issue is that many people do not know about DRG. We decided to look into why DRG has become a hot debate.

Several prominent cases of school violence have recently been publicized. As a result, school violence and bullying have become social issues. The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KOCSC) and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family (MOGEF), correlate school violence with violent cultural content. As a result, cultural content shared by teenagers is regulated. The Observer investigated webtoons that have recently switched to self-regulation due to these controversies as well as newly introduced game regulatory systems.

Married career women have to worry about quitting their jobs in order to have children. In Korea, the policy for childbirth and infant care is often not observed. Women workers who work in companies hesitate to use policies for childbirth and infant care. Leave for childbirth and infant care is legally guaranteed but career women often have difficulty getting leave in reality. The Observer investigated the reality of this situation which is controversial in our society.

In 2011, the number of foreigners residing in Korea surpassed 1.3 million. As the number of foreigners has increased, the number of multicultural families has also increased. Many people know about multicultural families, but they do not know the realities these families face. The Observer would like to report on the status of multicultural families and general attitudes of Korean citizens about multicultural families in Korea. The Observer looks into the issues that these families face specifically regarding their children's education, and possible solutions the Korean government might implement to deal with their conditions in general.

Victims of the Japanese army’s “comfort women” policy held their 1000th consecutive Wednesday Demonstration on December 14th, 2011. President Lee Myung Bak called for the Japanese government to take responsibility for this ongoing tragedy. However, the only response the Japanese government gave was to demand that the comfort women statue be torn down. The Japanese government has not given an adequate response after 80 yearsof dealing with this issue. The heartless behavior of the Japanese government is continuing to victimize the survivors. The Observer has decided to report on the case and studied what students can do about the issue. We also hope university students can gain a greater understanding of everything that has happened already.