German Ambassador to Seoul Georg Schmidt highlighted the growing complexities and opportunities in a world in flux during a session of the Global Business Forum on Wednesday. Addressing the weekly forum of local CEOs and leaders from various fields, the diplomat touched upon a wide array of pressing issues — from Germany’s energy revolution and the rise of artificial intelligence to demographic shifts and global security, as he emphasized the need for innovation and international col

Social Affairs Oct. 3, 2024

The number of gig workers -- including platform workers, freelancers and independent contractors -- surged by over 2.3 million in the last five years, with the highest increases seen among younger and older people, a lawmaker said Tuesday. According to Rep. Choi Ki-sang of the Democratic Party of Korea, citing data from the National Tax Service, the number of gig workers increased from 6 million in 2018 to 8.3 million in 2022, marking a rise of 2.33 million -- a jump of 38.6 percent. Gig worker

Social Affairs Oct. 1, 2024

Seven out of ten Korean children are found to be short-sighted as myopia among children is rising at an alarming rate worldwide, according to a recent study cited by the BBC. In the study published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology, a research team from Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China, reviewed government data on over 5 million children and teenagers until June 2023 from 50 countries across Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa and Oceania. According to the researc

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2024

Park In-soon can never forget August 2009. That was the month her son ended his life at 23 years old. Her son had been struggling with depression, but he had told her that he was feeling better. But two months after he stopped taking his medication, he took his own life. For Park, the news of his death felt like receiving a life sentence. She could not sleep. All she wanted was to follow him in death. Several weeks later, she got into a car accident, while driving home from a sunrise service a

Hashtag Korea Sept. 26, 2024

In a country grappling with the world’s lowest fertility rate of 0.72, the arrival of quintuplets to a couple last week has become national news, generating a flurry of articles. On Tuesday, the focus shifted to the sum of all government grants that the babies will be receiving -- totalling at least 170 million won ($128,000). Whether this is enough is now being hotly debated online. Kim Joon-young and Sagong Hye-ran from Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, welcomed three boys and two girls

Social Affairs Sept. 24, 2024

Over three days of relentless downpours, 1,500 people across the nation were forced to evacuate as heavy rains wreaked havoc on homes, roads and infrastructure. Heavy rain from Thursday afternoon to Saturday began from Jeju Island and along the southern coast, before spreading across the nation. Along the southern and western coasts, heavy rain fell at a rate of about 100 millimeters per hour, while southern regions and the North and South Chungcheong provinces experienced 50-80 millimeters pe

Social Affairs Sept. 22, 2024

The number of foreign tourists visiting South Korea is nearing 90 percent of pre-pandemic levels, with around 9.1 million visitors from January to July this year, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. As travel recovers, more tourists are opting to explore the country by train or rental car. The number of foreign tourists using trains surged by 50.2 percent year-over-year, with 2.32 million travelers opting for the rail network. Popular destinations include Busan, Daegu and Gyeongju, wi

Social Affairs Sept. 13, 2024

A taxi driver who was stripped of his license for overcharging foreign national passengers three times in one year took his case to court, claiming it was "unfair," but the court rejected his appeal, according to local media outlets Sunday. A Seoul Administrative Court judge dismissed the lawsuit filed by a taxi driver, who had challenged the Seoul city government's decision to revoke his taxi license. Most recently, in February last year, the taxi driver dropped off a foreign c

Social Affairs Sept. 8, 2024

Police have arrested six people for attempting to steal oil from a public pipeline by digging an underground tunnel in the middle of an urban center in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province. According to Daejeon Metropolitan Police, the suspects, along with three accomplices, rented a two-story warehouse in Cheonan in February, from where they started digging the secret tunnel over the past four months. The discovered tunnel, located 4 meters underground, measures about 75 centimeters wide and 90

Social Affairs Sept. 5, 2024

Find the answer at the bottom. Portraits of people featured on a country’s banknotes are a reflection of the country's pride, identity and heritage. They often depict prominent figures from the past such as national leaders, scientists, artists or activists who have made significant contributions to the nation’s development. In South Korea, the banknotes come in four denominations: 1,000, 5,000, 10,000 and 50,000 won. Each features a different historical figure from the Jo

Hashtag Korea Sept. 5, 2024

As the household economy deteriorates, a growing number of Korean workers are either pursuing or contemplating side jobs, with the most popular options involving operating social media services like blogs and YouTube channels, according to a survey released Thursday. In the survey conducted by job research newspaper Flea Market, involving 1,328 workers, 81.5 percent of respondents reported that their household economy had worsened this year compared to the previous year. The primary factor cit

Social Affairs Aug. 30, 2024

As a child, Park Joo-yeon always loved animals. She enjoyed going to the zoo and constantly pestered her parents to have pets at home. In 2011, while undergoing training after passing the state bar exam, Park came across a horrendous photo that opened her eyes to aspects of animal life that she had not seen before. It was of a piglet being subjected to a gruesome death by protesters opposing an army base relocation plan in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province. The incident, which took place in 2007, involv

Social Affairs Aug. 29, 2024

South Korean authorities shut down Agitoon, a major piracy platform of Korean webtoons and web novels, and arrested its operator on charges of copyright infringement, officials announced Tuesday. According to the Daejeon District Public Prosecutors’ Office, which led the crackdown with the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Agitoon, at two different sites, shared unauthorized copies of over 2.5 million web fiction titles and 740,000 webtoon series. Based on the volume of pirated co

Social Affairs Aug. 28, 2024

Following Thursday’s hotel fire in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, which claimed seven lives and injured 12 people, concerns have been raised about the lack of fire safety measures in accommodations here. According to the National Fire Agency on Sunday, a total of 1,843 fires occurred at accommodation facilities between 2019 and 2023. These fires resulted in 32 deaths and 355 injuries. By type of lodging, motels had the most fires, with 645 incidents, accounting for 35 percent of the total.

Social Affairs Aug. 25, 2024

Gyeonggi Province is pushing forward with South Korea’s first pilot four-and-a-half-day workweek program aimed at improving people's work-life balance, quality of life, happiness and ideally, the falling birth rate. Korea's most populous province has allocated an initial budget 250 million won ($186,971) for the program, part of an annual investment of 10 billion won pledged for the initiative. In a press conference last Wednesday, Gyeonggi Province Governor Kim Dong-yeon unvei

Politics Aug. 22, 2024