Posted : 2021-05-15 15:19 Yonhap Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum said Saturday that South Korea will aim to fully normalize in-person classes at local schools later this year amid government efforts to speed up its inoculation program. The administration has been operating a mixture of offline and online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. "Due to the prolonged pandemic, I am concerned about the academic gap among students and their lack of social and emotional connection," Kim wrote in a message on Facebook marking Teachers' Day. "If we focused on preventing the spread of the virus through online classes and disinfection efforts last year, we will now spare no effort to have students fully return to school in the new semester," he added.