Latest news with #IndependenceMovementDay
Straits Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
South Korea to have 118 days off in 2026
The longest holiday will be the five-day Lunar New Year set from Feb 14 to 18. PHOTO: AFP South Korea to have 118 days off in 2026 SEOUL - South Koreans will have a total of 118 days off, including weekends and holidays, in 2026, one day fewer than this year, the Korean Aerospace Administration's calendar guideline showed on July 7. The longest holiday will be the five-day Lunar New Year set from Feb 14 to 18. South Korea will see 52 Sundays and 20 additional public holidays, including substitute ones, amounting to 72 days off for employees on a standard five-day work week. But the actual number of days off for holidays would be 70, with the March 1 Independence Movement Day and Buddha's Birthday falling on Sundays. It remains unclear whether substitute holidays will be designated for either day. Public holidays combined with weekends would result in 122 days off. However, with some holidays falling on Saturdays, the number effectively stands at 118. There will be eight holidays that span three days or more. This includes the Lunar New Year and the Chuseok holiday from Sept 24 to 27. There will be five three-day weekends in 2026, including National Foundation Day and Christmas. Details of the calendar guideline can be found on the KASA website ( THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Korea Herald
30-06-2025
- Business
- Korea Herald
South Korea to have 118 days off next year
More holidays may be added if substitute days are designated South Koreans will have a total of 118 days off, including weekends and holidays, in 2026, a day fewer compared to this year, the Korean Aerospace Administration's calendar guideline showed Monday. The longest holiday will be the five-day Lunar New Year set from Feb. 14 to 18. Korea will see 52 Sundays and 20 additional public holidays, including substitute ones, amounting to a total of 72 days off work for a regular employee who works five days a week. But the actual number of days off for holidays would be 70, with the March 1 Independence Movement Day and Buddha's Birthday falling on Sundays. It remains unclear whether substitute holidays will be designated for either day. Public holidays combined with weekends would result in 122 days off. However, with some holidays falling on Saturdays, the number effectively stands at 118. There will be eight holidays that span three days or more. This includes Lunar New Year and the Chuseok holidays from Sept. 24 to 27. There will be five cases of three-day 'long' weekends next year, such as National Foundation Day and Christmas. Details of the calendar guideline can be found on the KASA website (
Korea Herald
12-03-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
How Constitutional Court reaches verdict, according to memoirs of ex-justice
As the Constitutional Court nears the conclusion of President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial, the nation is intently eyeing what has already become the lengthiest deliberation process in the history of South Korean presidential impeachments. The justices on the current eight-member bench are reportedly reviewing the case every day except for most weekends, even doing so during the March 1 Independence Movement Day holiday. According to the memoir of the top court's former chief justice Kim Yong-jun, "Looking Into the Oral History of the Constitutional Court," justices deliberate in a closed-off area that no one else — not even judicial researchers — can enter. Wiretap detection devices are installed in the room where the judges sit at the round table and debate the matter, which Kim says is without a strict format. This debate can sometimes become heated, but, according to former justice Hwang Do-yun, it never becomes a source of conflict among the justices. Judicial researchers are not given access to discussions, but they play a crucial role in providing information related to the matter at hand and legal precedents set, sometimes in other countries. The researchers are usually appointed among judges, but outstanding public officials can also be appointed to serve for a fixed term of up to three years. A task force of 10 judicial researchers is aiding the Yoon impeachment case. They will help draft the provisional verdict, which is amended multiple times in the deliberation process. Final statements are conducted in the reverse order of the judges' tenures at the Constitutional Court, with the most recently appointed justice speaking first, according to ex-justice Chung Kyung-sik. A final vote determines the verdict if a unanimous agreement is not reached. An impeachment ruling can be confirmed with the approval of six or more Constitutional Court justices, and dissenting judges can include their rationale in the ruling as a minority opinion. Even in the case of a unanimous decision, a justice can state their opinion through supplementary comments. Although the current court has eight justices with one seat vacant, the six-vote threshold remains to confirm Yoon's removal from office. As the deliberation process wraps up, the court publicly announces the date of the verdict in advance. The announcement is made after the defendant is confirmed to have received and checked the date. In the case of past presidential impeachment cases of former leaders Roh Moo-hyun and Park Geun-hye, the dates of their rulings were announced three and two days before, respectively.
Korea Herald
04-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
'Mickey 17' dominates Korea's holiday box office, topping 1 m admissions
Director Bong Joon-ho's "Mickey 17" dominated the South Korean box office over the extended March 1 Independence Movement Day holiday, drawing over 1 million viewers nationwide, according to data released Tuesday. The computerized box-office tally from the Korean Film Council showed that the Hollywood sci-fi black comedy attracted 1.04 million moviegoers from Friday to Monday. South Koreans enjoyed a three-day break, as Monday was designated an alternative holiday for the March 1 Independence Movement Day, which fell on Saturday this year. "Mickey 17" is Bong's adaptation of Edward Ashton's novel "Mickey7," starring Robert Pattinson as a young, heavily indebted man who joins an intergalactic expedition as an "expendable" -- a worker doomed to labor until death, only to be revived through "reprinting" technology. "Marvel's Captain America: Brave New World" trailed far behind in second place with just 119,000 admissions. It was followed by the Korean animated film "Exorcism Chronicles: The Beginning" with 98,000 admissions and the indie drama "It's Okay," directed by Kim Hye-young, with 33,000. (Yonhap)
Korea Herald
25-02-2025
- Climate
- Korea Herald
Spring around the corner
With March just around the corner, what forecasters say will be the final cold spell of the season is finally letting up. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, temperatures returned to the seasonal average on Tuesday, with daytime highs ranging from 6 to 11 degrees Celsius across the country. Seoul saw a high of 7 C. The weather from Wednesday is forecast to be warmer, with dry and crisp air. On Wednesday, the morning low is forecast to be between minus 6 C and 3 C, with daytime highs between 4 C and 12 C. On Thursday, daytime temperatures in Seoul are expected to exceed 10 C. The mild spring weather, resembling late March conditions, is expected to last through the upcoming March 1 Independence Movement Day holiday.
