Lotte World Aquarium recently filed charges against a local marine animal rights advocates' group for holding a protest within its premises, the latest development in their ongoing battle over the release of a beluga whale. Songpa Police Station in southern Seoul last week said it is pressing charges of destruction of property and interference with business against eight activists from the group Hot Pink Dolphins, a marine conservation activist group. Last year, they held a protest at the L

Social Affairs Oct. 23, 2023

A fad of watching fireplace videos to relax has sparked a fire scare in Seoul, prompting 119 emergency calls from apartment residents and evacuation just after midnight. At around 12:03 a.m. on Thursday, Seoul Yeongdeungpo Fire Department received a call that a fire seemed to have broken out at an apartment in Dangsan-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. The building was evacuated, but when the 61 firefighters dispatched to the scene arrived at the supposed site of the blaze, they found a video of a ca

Social Affairs Oct. 20, 2023

“South Korea has had the most lively movie industry in the world for the past decade,” remarked French filmmaker Luc Besson during this year’s Busan International Film Festival that closed last week. Although it may appear as though Korean cinema’s meteoric rise to prominence occurred just over a decade ago or even more recently, its foundation runs deeper. For many, 2003 stands out as a pivotal year when Korean cinema made its mark on the global stage, with films from di

Hashtag Korea Oct. 19, 2023

Issuing and sharing one’s old school transcripts is a new social media fad in South Korea, as the retro craze continues among younger generations. According to the Ministry of Education, 2.85 million school transcripts were issued between July and September of this year, marking a 6.1-fold increase compared to the same period last year. While requests for transcripts are typically made for practical purposes such as job or college applications, this sudden surge is primarily attributed to

Social Affairs Oct. 17, 2023

Last year's deadly crowd crush at Itaewon, Seoul claimed more than lives. Recent data showed 1,316 firemen dispatched at the scene are still suffering from the psychological impact of the incident. According to the National Fire Agency data revealed by Rep. Oh Young-hwan of the main opposition Democratic Party, the rescue workers are receiving treatment for various side effects with relation to the tragedy. The deadly incident occurred Oct. 29, 2022 when the crowd became concentrated in a small

Social Affairs Oct. 15, 2023

Two Russians and three Uzbeks are currently under investigation for allegedly fighting at a campsite last month, Ansan police said Thursday. According to Ansan Danwon Police Station, the five campers are accused of beating each other using fists and baseball bats at a campsite near Daebudo Island in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The incident took place at around 6 a.m. on Sept. 28. The accused parties, with the Russian nationals on one side and the Uzbekistan nationals on the other, were not previ

Social Affairs Oct. 12, 2023

Passengers traveling on the South Korean subway system may have encountered seats lacking fabric covering, resulting in a more slippery experience than expected. Keen-eyed riders might have also noticed the presence of manual door handles, gas masks and flashlights inside the train or on the platforms. These are part of the safety features of Korean metro system, introduced after a hard and painful lesson: the 2003 arson attack on a subway train in the southern city of Daegu. “Subway arson

Hashtag Korea Oct. 11, 2023

A hospital in Gangwon Province has reported to authorities to pursue criminal charges against a patient's companion, alleging she was the cause of a disruption at the emergency room when doctors treated a cardiac arrest patient at a higher priority. According to local reports, the hospital accused a woman of unspecified identity of disrupting emergency room duties for over an hour by shouting profanities and insults at the medical staff. She complained that the patient she had brought in --

Social Affairs Oct. 10, 2023

Online non-fungible token art trading platform Art Token on Monday released NFT works based on Hangeul calligraphy, in commemoration of Hangeul Day that celebrates the invention of the Korean alphabet. “Shoot Shoot Shoot Goal Goal Goal” and other works were created by calligrapher Park Byung-chul and converted into 3D digital art. NFT art is entirely digital artwork that is tokenized to be stored on the blockchain. Park's NFT works were released on 2R2, an online global art trad

Arts & Design Oct. 9, 2023

A number of victims of violent crime across the country have formed a support group to help other victims struggling with similar experiences. The group, provisionally named “Crime Victims’ Solidarity,” was launched in August, local media outlets reported Sunday. Founding members of the organization include the bereaved sibling of a victim of stalking and murder in Incheon, a woman who had been abused by her former boyfriend, and another woman who was assaulted by a man in Busa

Social Affairs Oct. 8, 2023

South Korean women's archery team continued its dominance in the recurve archery of the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, winning gold medal in the team event on Friday while two South Koreans cometed in the finals of the individual event on Saturday. Lim Si-hyeon beat her compatriot An San 6-0 in the finals held in Fuyang Yinhu Sports Centre, winning her third gold medal in the Asian Game. The two archers and their teammate Choi Mi-sun had won the gold medal in the women's recurve team

More Sports Oct. 7, 2023

The dawn of the 21st century was not the brightest of days for South Korea, still hampered by the 1997 Asian financial crisis, which cost thousands their jobs and bankrupted companies across the country. But in 2002, Koreans received an unexpected boost in morale when their national soccer team beat the odds to make an improbable run to the semifinals of the 2002 World Cup hosted jointly by South Korea and Japan. The surge of the Taegeuk Warriors on the world's biggest soccer stage brough

Hashtag Korea Oct. 4, 2023

Expressways across the country remain Sunday, as people across the country head back home on the fourth day of the extended Chuseok holidays. The state-run Korea Expressway Corporation projected the congestion to peak around 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., with the traffic expected to ease between 11 p.m. and midnight. As of 4 p.m., the estimated travel time from the southeastern port city of Busan to Seoul ranged between 5 hours and 19 minutes to 6 hours and 24 minutes, when travelling by non-busses. It is e

Social Affairs Oct. 1, 2023

South Korean women's badminton team on Sunday defeated China to win the gold medal at the 19th Asian Game, ending nearly three decades of title drought that persisted since 1994. In the team competition finals held at the Binjiang Gymnasium in Hangzhou, China, the Koreans shut out their finals opponents 3-0. The champion of the Asian Games is determined in the best of five games series that involves three single matches and two doubles. An Se-young, the No.1 singles player in the Badminton

More Sports Oct. 1, 2023

Ninety-three years old and still chasing his dreams, Kwon No-gab, the chairman of the Kim Dae-jung Foundation and adviser to the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, recently attended his first class as an English Literature doctoral student. He said he aims to complete his dissertation by the time he turns 95 in two years' time, an ambitious goal for any doctorate pursuant. The record for the oldest Korean to earn a Ph.D. is held by Lee Sang-suk, who obtained the degree at the age of

People Sept. 27, 2023