At Unhyeongung, where King Gojong and the future Empress Myeongseong held their wedding ceremony in 1866, visitors are gathering this fall for a quieter occasion: tea and conversation. The former residence of Gojong’s father, Heungseon Daewongun, invites visitors to make traditional Korean desserts, sip tea and share stories about their day, accompanied by live gayageum music. One dessert, gotgamdanji — dried persimmons stuffed with sweet fillings — was chosen to symbolize good fortune. “Every t

The government continues to expand support for children with disabilities, but there has not been a corresponding increase in the number of teachers needed to educate them, a lawmaker said Friday. According to Rep. Kang Kyung-sook of the Rebuilding Korea Party, the Ministry of Education provided disability screenings and assessments to 7,097 children aged 0 to 5 last year, under a pilot program to expand special education support to daycare centers. The ministry also provided care and support se

Thirteen years after his last concert in South Korea, Justin Bieber is back in the country — not as a pop star taking the stage, but as an entrepreneur promoting his own brand. Bieber and his wife Hailey arrived at Incheon International Airport early Friday morning, a day after his fashion and lifestyle brand Skylrk opened its first pop-up store in eastern Seoul's Seongsu-dong neighborhood, news reports said Friday. Videos of the couple circulating on social media showed Bieber wearing a hooded

Chilly autumn weather gripped South Korea on Friday morning, with frost and ice signaling the early arrival of winter in the country's northeast. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, temperatures fell below 10 degrees Celsius across most regions, with Seoul recording a low of 6.6 C. The mercury dipped below 5 C in parts of northern Gyeonggi Province and inland Gangwon Province. In Inje County, part of Gangwon Province, a thin layer of frost covered cabbage and chili pepper field

Seoul police said Friday 4,594 officers will be dispatched for crowd safety at areas expecting heavy foot traffic around Halloween, including the Itaewon area, where a crowd crush killed more than 150 people on Oct 29, 2022. Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency kicked off a special management period from Friday to Nov. 1, during which they will enforce crowd safety measures in five areas in the city: Itaewon, Hongdae, Seongsu-dong, Myeong-dong and Ikseon-dong. Strike teams, patrol teams, special ope

South Korean police said Friday they had requested a warrant for the formal arrest of a woman in her 40s, accused of murdering her mother the previous day. The suspect was placed under emergency arrest at around 8:40 a.m. on Thursday at her home in Gangseo-gu district, western Seoul. She is believed to have killed the victim, who was in her 60s, between 7 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. on Thursday, according to the Seoul Gangseo Police Station. She called the police at 8:15 a.m., and told them, "I did a bad

A middle school student in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, was assaulted by fellow students for creating and distributing sexually explicit deepfake images of female classmates, police said Thursday. According to Cheongju Cheongwon Police Station, the student allegedly created the deepfake content using photos of female students taken without their consent. His actions came to light on Oct. 16, when one of the victims discovered the images. Police also found indications that the student ha

A man recently shared a handwritten note he received while serving as a mandatory soldier back in 2015, from a fifth grader who was concerned about his safety in the aftermath of North Korea's military provocations. The letter was said to be from a student attending Yeongwol Elementary School in Gangwon Province, dated Sept. 17, 2025. "I was moved and thankful when I saw the news that (the soldiers) stayed vigilant when North Korea raised tensions with provocations," the letter shared via variou

The 1366 Women's Emergency Hotline received 293,407 calls in 2024, according to a government-affiliated agency against sexual and domestic violence, with more than half concerning domestic violence. The number of annual calls since 2022 has hovered around 290,000, according to the Women's Human Rights Institute of Korea. The number has been fairly consistent, with 289,848 in 2022 and 294,328 in 2023. Established in 1998, the hotline takes reports of violence that is sexual or domestic in nature,

An appeals court was set to rule Friday on Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon's trial in a high-stakes political funds case stemming from opinion polls he allegedly received ahead of the 2021 mayoral by-election. If the Seoul High Court upholds his conviction by a lower court and the ruling is finalized through appeal, Oh will lose his mayorship after being elected into office for a fifth term in June. Under the Political Funds Act, elected officials are stripped of their seats if they receive a finalized f

A court on Thursday found 34 student activists guilty of trespassing on the then presidential compound and a U.S. military base between 2022 and 2024. The Seoul Western District Court sentenced a senior leader of the Korean Progressive University Student Union (KPUSU) to a suspended four-month prison term and ordered 32 other members to pay fines ranging from 1 million won (US$756) to 6 million won. One other member received a deferred sentence of a 1 million-won fine. Two others were indicted b

A Seoul court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for a man in his 70s suspected of setting fires at two buildings in southern Seoul earlier this week, leaving 19 people injured. The Seoul Central District Court issued the warrant on charges of arson resulting in injuries, saying the man is a flight risk. The suspect was taken into custody hours after setting fires at two patent firms in separate buildings in Seoul's Gangnam district Tuesday. The fires left 19 people injured, including one who

Free subway rides for people aged 65 and older in Korea generated an estimated 650.6 billion won ($492 million) in social benefits in 2025, as the growing senior population adds financial pressure on metro operators, a study released Thursday found. The Korean Society of Transportation conducted the study beginning in July at the joint request of six metro operators, including Seoul Metro. The report estimated health benefits at 338.6 billion won, including suicide and depression prevention, few

Gyeonggi Province’s plan to abolish its dedicated Immigrant Society Bureau has alarmed experts and civic groups, who warn the move could set back migrant integration efforts as the number of residents with migrant backgrounds in the province approaches 1 million. Under a restructuring plan announced Wednesday, Gyeonggi Province would eliminate five bureaus, including its Immigrant Society Bureau, amid Gov. Choo Mi-ae’s drive to cut spending. Established in July 2024, the bureau was South Korea’s

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday reaffirmed his administration's tough stance against illegal fishing by Chinese vessels in South Korean waters. Lee declared that there would be no exceptions to law enforcement, as authorities imposed record-high financial bonds on several seized boats. “In the Republic of Korea, the law is the law. No exceptions, under any circumstances,” Lee wrote on X, sharing a news report on Chinese fishing vessels facing the maximum bond of 1.5 billion won ($1.13 millio