South Korean table tennis player Lim Jong-hoon (2nd from left) briefly shakes hands with North Korean player Ri Jong-sik during the awarding ceremony for the mixed doubles table tennis event at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday. In the games, where a female and a male player form a team, Lim (27) and Shin Yu-bin (20) captured bronze medals, and the North Korean team, which consisted of Ri (24) and Kim Kum-yong (23), won silver medals. There had been some concerns over the South and North Koreans i

More Sports July 31, 2024

Jangma, the rainy season, finishes in South Korea around Saturday and scorching hot days will last for, the Korea Meteorological Administration announced its analysis Tuesday. South Korea came under the influence of a strong subtropical high and the rainy front moved to North Korea, and it can be interpreted as the end of jangma, the forecast agency said. This year’s jangma lasted over a month -- 31.5 days in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi and Gangwon Province, 31.4 days in southern provinces

Social Affairs July 30, 2024

Seoul City’s signature summer festival “Seoul Summer Beach” has returned to Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul, with a larger swimming zone than last year and new facilities to help beat the heat. The second edition of the festival began its 17-day operation Friday afternoon with an opening ceremony, according to its operator the Seoul Tourism Organization. Seoul Summer Beach consists of a water zone, Gwanghwa Waterpark, and a zone in front of the Statue of King Sejong the Grea

Travel July 26, 2024

A 5-year-old child hospitalized due to alleged abuse by a taekwondo instructor in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, died Tuesday. The child had been in intensive care in Seoul since July 12, after he suffered cardiac arrest at the taekwondo studio. The boy was reportedly squeezed into a rolled matt upside down for around 20 minutes by a 30-something male instructor of the studio before he was rescued. The instructor is alleged to have ignored the victim's calls for help, and to have tried to delet

Social Affairs July 24, 2024

A man wanted on suspicion of rape has been apprehended after 18 years on the run after a nurse recognized him from a wanted poster. The police in Mokpo, South Jeolla Province said Friday that the suspect - 54-year-old Kim Yang-min - was apprehended after a nurse at a clinic in Seoul reported the man to the police, having recognized his face from a police poster of criminal suspects on the run. Kim is suspected of breaking into a home in Mokpo in 2006 and sexually assaulting the resident. The inv

Social Affairs July 20, 2024

A Filipino child with congenital heart disease successfully underwent surgery in Korea with support from JYP Entertainment. The 7-year-old child named Kim Abibg Rosello recovered from surgery and treatment at Severance Hospital in Seoul, the hospital announced Tuesday. He was born with Tetralogy of Fallot, a congenital heart condition characterized by severe heart defects that can cause cyanoderma and brain damage in the most serious cases. The child had not been treated properly because of fina

Social Affairs July 16, 2024

The Foreign Language Newspapers Association of Korea, a group of four Korean media outlets publishing newspapers in foreign languages in South Korea, celebrated its ninth anniversary in Seoul on Tuesday. The association comprises three English-language newspapers – The Korea Herald, The Korea Times and The JoongAng Daily – and the Chinese-language The Aju Daily. Delivering a congratulatory speech, Culture Minister Yu In-chon said the newspapers have fulfilled their mission over the d

People July 9, 2024

Busan’s Saha-gu is preparing a meeting event and support program to provide direct cash subsidies to local residents and workers in the district to start dating and get married. The Saha-gu district council passed a revised supplementary budget to fund the meeting day for local singles, a pilot project for which will take place in October, according to local media reports on Wednesday. The pilot project will select eligible singles born between 1981 and 2001 who either live or work in the

Social Affairs June 27, 2024

The sense of community embedded in Korean culture is the power behind the popularity of Korean cultural content worldwide, sociologist Sam Richards emphasized during a lecture at Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul on Tuesday. The award-winning Pennsylvania State University professor discussed the foundations of Korean content penetrating the world under the theme of “Korea’s Characteristics and Values,” which was held as a program of Sungkyun-Asian Humanities Academy at Sungkyunk

People June 26, 2024

The international student who was caught Wednesday riding a bicycle without wearing clothes in public has been found dead, according to local media reports on Friday. The body of the deceased, only identified as a 23-year-old student of Chonnam National University, was found near a dormitory building of the Gwangju-based university at around 5:45 p.m. on Thursday, news outlets reported, citing police officials. The student had been under investigation for public indecency after biking while na

Social Affairs May 24, 2024

A panel of industry insiders and observers sat down for a reality check on where the world stand in the renewable energy transition, during the H.eco Forum 2024 held in Seoul on Wednesday. Under the title “Blue, Clean and Green Energy,” the panel discussion centered around some notable industrial developments in the field, ranging from offshore wind, solar radiation and small modular nuclear reactors, sharing their insights with attentive participants in the audience. The four paneli

Social Affairs May 22, 2024

The European Union’s envoy in South Korea on Wednesday praised the country’s increased commitment to boosting renewable energy, while still urging more speed and international cooperation on the global front against climate change. Speaking at H.eco Forum 2024 in Seoul, EU Ambassador to South Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez noted the Asian country’s pledge to join the global efforts to collectively triple renewables and double energy efficiency by 2030, made at the United Nation

Social Affairs May 22, 2024

Subway cars without seats have been added to Line No. 7 from Thursday. Seoul Metro announced that it removed the seats of a car on one of its Line No.7 trains on a trial basis in an attempt to alleviate congestion inside its trains during peak hours. The move comes four months after such a car was first added to Seoul Metro’s Line No. 4 in January. On Line No.7, the seatless subway car is deployed around 8 a.m. on weekdays, when the lane sees the highest density on the train running throug

Social Affairs May 16, 2024

A display in an illustration fair has stirred up controversy over a possible link to child pornography, triggering a police investigation. Police were dispatched Sunday to Kintex in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, where the Illusta Fes subculture illustration fair was taking place, following a report that one of the fair’s booths had illustrations of naked children on display, according to Ilsan Seobu Police Station. The “Children Lunch Set” booth sold sexual illustration products a

Social Affairs May 6, 2024

The manager of a K-pop boy band was dismissed on suspicion of installing a hidden camera in a theater dressing room, the band’s label WM Entertainment announced Wednesday. The camera was reportedly spotted by an actor who was starring in the musical “Next to Normal,” in a dressing room located on the sixth floor of the Kwanglim Art Center in southern Seoul on April 9. The actor immediately reported the camera to the police. According to local media reports, the dismissed employ

Social Affairs April 17, 2024