“How Come When It’s Us, It’s an Abortion, and When It’s a Chicken, It’s an Omelet?”
~George Carlin

The Constitutional Court overturned Korea’s decades-old ban on abortion on April 11, which had stated that it was unconstitutional to bar women from terminating a pregnancy as it violates women’s rights to make their own choices about their body.

Two articles in the Criminal Act that punish both a mother and doctor for an abortion procedure must be revised by Dec. 21, 2020, remarked The Constitutional Court. If no revision is made by the deadline, this 66-year law will automatically lose its legal effect starting Jan. 1, 2021.

The abortion ban was first introduced in 1953, with the establishment of the country’s Criminal Act. Since it bans abortions at all stages of pregnancy, with few exceptions, the ban has been criticized for its drawbacks.
“Pregnancy doesn’t come about by women alone, but the fact that only women are to blame makes the law very biased,” said a 50-year-old woman requested upon anonymity.

 

“It Takes Two to Tango.”
~English idiom

One of the worst blazes in recent years, the wildfire that broke out in northern Gangwon Province on April 5, destroyed 250 hectares of forest and left many residents to cope with the aftermath of the disaster.
The fire started on April 4 in Gosung County, Gangwon Province, and spread to neighboring cities and counties of the city of Sokcho. Thousands of residents were forced to evacuate to emergency shelters that had been hastily set up nearby. The fire was put out, and relief goods and donations were sent to the area to recover the parched land. 


“The Bad News Is Nothing Lasts Forever, the Good News Is Nothing Lasts Forever.”
~J. Cole


Kumho Asiana Group’s board of directors decided on April 15 to sell off its core unit, Asiana Airlines, for the sake of regaining trust in the group. The country’s second-largest airline was put up for sale under a mountain of debt and pressure from creditors.


“Pain Is the Most Private Experience, but Its Causes, Whether Natural or Man-made, Demand Public Accounting.”
~Nancy Gibbs

On April 16, the fifth anniversary to commemorate the victims of Sewol Ferry disaster was held at 3 p.m. in Hwarang Public Garden in the city of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.

Five years ago, the 6,800-ton ferry sank in waters off the southern coast on April 16, 2014, claiming more than 300 lives - most of whom were high school students on a field trip. A candlelight vigil was held at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on April 13 to demand that the truth about the disaster be fully revealed and that those who were in charge be punished.  


“People Demand Freedom of Speech as a Compensation For the Freedom of Thought Which They Seldom Use.”
~Søren Kierkegaard

Since March, former members of some boy bands, including singer Lee Seung-hyun, also known as Seungri of Big Bang, have been booked by the police for distributing illegal content through a group chat with fellow celebrities.
Investigations are underway to fully unfold the hidden truth regarding the group chat.


“It’s Coexistence or No Existence.”
~Bertrand Russell

In January, lawmaker Hwang Ju-hong tabled a bill aimed at requiring the government to put citizens’ international age in official documents and encouraging citizens to use their international age in everyday life, which is the first legislative attempt to abolish “Korean age.”

According to one of the world’s most unusual age-calculating systems, South Korean babies become one on the day of their birth and then get an additional year tacked on when the calendar hits Jan. 1.

This bill is an attempt to resolve confusion and inefficiency caused by the mixed use of this centuries-old age counting system. A parliamentary committee discussion and a public hearing on the issue are expected in coming months.


“History Is Who We Are and Why We Are the Way We Are.”
~David McCullough

Rwanda began a week of solemn ceremonies on April 7 to honor the lives of 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutus murdered during the Rwandan genocide, a three-month killing spree that took place 25 years ago.

The 100 days of slaughter began on April 6, 1994 after President Juvenal Habyarimana and his counterpart Cyprien Ntaryamira of Burundi, both Hutus, were killed when their plane was shot down over the Rwandan capital. The attackers have never been identified.


“Our Food Should Be Our Medicine and Our Medicine Should Be Our Food.”
~Hippocrates

One in five deaths globally is linked to poor diet, experts said, warning that overconsumption of sugar, salt and meat is killing millions of people every year due to malnourishment.
The latest study on global diet trends, published in The Lancet, showed that in nearly every one of the 195 countries surveyed, people were also eating too much of the wrong types of food.

 

By Moon Chae-un
Editor-in-chief



저작권자 © The Argus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지