In the hunt for a fugitive who escaped custody Saturday during an assisted hospital visit, South Korean authorities have raised the reward money for information leading to his capture to 10 million won ($7,700). According to the wanted poster released by the Justice Ministry, the man on the run is 36-year-old Kim Gil-soo, who is a suspect in the robbery of approximately 740 million won. He is described as a man of strong build, standing 175 centimeters tall and weighing around 83 kilograms. Kim,

Social Affairs Nov. 6, 2023

DAEJEON – A final-term essay that contained four sentences only, due to the writer’s social distancing-induced depression during the COVID-19 pandemic. An accidental discovery of an abnormal blood swelling in one’s own brain at a cancer research lab. These are two of the entries of the “Failed Tasks Showdown Contest,” held Wednesday evening at the Daejeon-based Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, better known as the KAIST. Ten students from the natio

Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2023

Kim Seul-ki, a manager at Lush Korea, has publicly declared her commitment to singledom by holding a solo wedding. “Now that everyone knows I’ve declared sologamy, questions about my marital status just naturally dissipated. It’s very satisfying and I can’t think of any negative sides to it,” Kim, 39, said, recalling her marriage to herself last year. “It made me feel like my perspective on life and my values could be accepted as they are,” she added. Ki

Social Affairs Oct. 28, 2023

An Argentinian vice presidential candidate’s old X post in which she said the name of boyband BTS sounded like “a sexually transmitted disease” has recently gone viral, angering the septet’s fans worldwide. Far-right politician Victoria Villarruel on Feb. 11, 2020, made the comment in response to another X (formerly Twitter) user who said the band's name sounds like the name of a health insurance company. The 48-year-old politician's comments at the time were me

Social Affairs Oct. 27, 2023

BERLIN -- Right before the winter semester was about to start in Germany, some 10 students gathered in a classroom in southwestern Berlin in September. The students, all top Korean Studies majors from across Europe, were selected by the Institute of Korean Studies at the Free University of Berlin to partake in the annual Korean Competence Week. The weeklong workshop was created to foster the region’s next generation of Korean experts, which is an area that lacks greatly in numbers, accord

Hashtag Korea Oct. 23, 2023

GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- It’s 6 p.m. on a regular Thursday in Sweden’s second-largest city of Gothenburg. Seventeen students of various ages gathered in classrooms at a high school to learn a language that is spoken in a distant land: Korean. They are the enrollees of a Korean language course offered at a branch of the King Sejong Institute, the Korean government-run language education center. The KSI Gothenburg is one of the center’s 248 branches worldwide and the only one in Swe

Hashtag Korea Oct. 21, 2023

One suspect from a Tajik duo, who allegedly robbed a money exchange store in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, in late August, was arrested in Tajikistan after nearly a month on the run, South Korean police revealed Tuesday. According to Pyeongtaek Police, the 34-year-old male suspect, whose name was withheld, was arrested in his home country by local authorities on Sept. 25. He was accused of stealing 85 million won ($62,800) in US and Korean bills from the exchange store at around noon on Aug. 30

Social Affairs Oct. 17, 2023

PARIS -- Pulling an all-nighter to make gimbap and kimchi pancakes was the highlight of the year for four members of “Bulkkot,” a club of students enrolled in the Korean Studies department of the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations, also known as Inalco in Paris. Meaning “flame” in Korea, the recently-established students’ association has just five members now, but its passion easily surpasses that of much bigger organizations. The group pull

Hashtag Korea Oct. 16, 2023

PARIS -- Professors speaking only Korean during lectures, notices on bulletin boards with the schedule of upcoming Korean language proficiency tests and celebrating the end of the academic term with rolls of gimbap. This is daily life for students majoring in Korean studies in Paris. The Korea Herald visited two universities in Paris reputed for offering credible and rounded Korean studies programs -- Paris Cite University and the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations, al

Hashtag Korea Oct. 16, 2023

South Korean breakdance competitors are eyeing the top stop for the Asian Games' first-ever breakdancing competitions, the preliminary round of which kicked off Friday. Two male and two female dancers Kim Heon-woo, Kim Hong-yul, Jeon Ji-ye and Kwon Seong-hui will represent Korea at the dance battle at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. They are stars in the breakdancing world, better known by their stage names -- Wing, Hong 10, Freshbella and Starry, respectively. Two golds are up for

Performance Oct. 6, 2023

Zena Chung, chair of the Indo-Korea Business Culture Center, participated in a tree planting event in India in line with the 154th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth earlier this week. Chung was invited to the event by India’s Gandhi Mandela Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the values and ideals of Gandhi and South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela. The event was held at Sri Venkateswara College within the Delhi University campus in New Delhi on Monda

People Oct. 6, 2023

Indo-Korea Business Culture Center Chairman Zena Chung participated in a tree planting event in India in line with the 154th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth earlier this week. Chung was invited to the event by India’s Gandhi Mandela Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes the values and ideals of Gandhi and South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela. The event was held at Sri Venkateswara College within the Delhi University campus in New Delhi on Monday. Chu

People Oct. 5, 2023

When the grip of summer loosens and the air turns cooler, Koreans pay particular attention to the price trends of two specific fruits -- apples and pears. At their freshest and most flavorful during this time, the two fruits are the quintessential autumn fruits in South Korea, but there are a few other reasons why people are particularly sensitive to their prices. A time-honored tradition during Chuseok, one of the two biggest traditional holidays here, is to prepare a table full of food offerin

Market Sept. 24, 2023

Find the answer at the bottom. Young Koreans are quick to recognize and respond to new trends. Although this trait has some merits, it also has downsides. Coupled with materialism, peer pressure and showy consumption, many feel they need to possess certain trendy items, like sneakers, backpacks or high-end puffer jackets made by expensive brands, in order to “blend in” with their friends. This phenomenon gave rise to the widely used slang term, “deunggol beureikeo (등골 브레이

Hashtag Korea Sept. 13, 2023

Pollalla Store, located on a quiet street in Seoul’s youthful and artsy neighborhood of Hongdae, is a hidden hunting ground for “Y2K” culture fans. The underground venue is filled with one-of-a-kind vintage items from the late 1990s and early 2000s, including first generation K-pop star merchandise. Hyun Tae-jun, the store’s 57-year-old owner, spoke of a distinct shift toward a younger demographic among his customers. A couple of years ago, his customer base used to consi

Culture Sept. 12, 2023