Donning red bandanas, launching hunger strikes, raising banners and posters in chants by the crowd in the streets or holding candlelight vigils have long been go-to options for those advocating for change. But South Korea has noticed a slight change in how protests work: they now use funeral wreaths wrapped with sharp words to draw attention to their cause. The term "funeral wreath protest" first appeared in news reports in 2006, when residents who opposed the development of a lake p

Son Joo-eun, CEO of Korea's top online private education company, Megastudy, is facing a backlash for inappropriate remarks during a recent lecture to high school students in Daegu. Speaking to approximately 500 first- and second-year students from a high school in the southern city on Nov. 22, Son called for affirmative action for teenage mothers in college admissions. He called it a “special admissions policy allowing adolescent girls who gave birth to have strong advantages in th

Over half of South Koreans think it is better for couples to live together before getting married, but men and women have differing opinions about living together without agreeing to get married eventually. Local dating app Noondate conducted the survey of 15,000 unmarried adults across the country, showing that 57 percent of male respondents and 52 percent of female respondents said it is better for couples to live together if they have agreed to get married. But when asked about living togethe

South Korea's artificial intelligence safety institute officially opened Wednesday to address various risks associated with the rapidly evolving technology, the science ministry said. The new AI Safety Institute follows the AI Seoul Summit held in May, where leaders from South Korea, Britain, and eight other nations adopted a joint declaration on promoting safe, innovative, and inclusive AI, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT. Located in Pangyo, just south of Seoul, the institute

A court has rejected an arrest warrant for Sohn Tae-seung, former chairperson of Woori Financial Group, over suspicions of extending inappropriate loans to his relatives, judicial officials said Wednesday. The Seoul Southern District Court made the decision Tuesday night, citing the need to guarantee Sohn's right to defense over alleged complicity. The court stated that it is difficult to conclude there is a risk of evidence destruction or flight simply because some of Sohn's statement

More than 20 centimeters of snow blanketed parts of the capital city overnight, prompting heavy snow alerts in the greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province, the state weather agency said Wednesday. A heavy snow warning was issued in parts of northeastern Seoul, including Nowon, Seongbuk, and Dobong districts, shortly after the city experienced its first snow of the season, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration and the Seoul metropolitan government. An advisory is issued when snowfa

With most parts of South Korea expected to experience the season's first snowfall on Wednesday, the weather agency announced Tuesday that the snowfall could trigger heavy snow warnings in some areas. The Korea Meteorological Administration said snow will fall intermittently Wednesday morning, with heavy snowfall of 1 to 3 centimeters per hour when it intensifies. Intense bursts of snow could occur during the morning rush hour in Seoul and central regions, it added. Heavy snow warnings hav

Prosecutors have requested seven-year prison sentences for a bar hostess and a former actress accused of extorting a total of 350 million won ($250,000) from the late actor Lee Sun-kyun. At a hearing on Monday at the Incheon District Court, prosecutors argued that the defendants -- a 30-year-old hostess surnamed Kim and a 29-year-old former actress surnamed Park -- committed the crime with malicious intent, exploiting Lee’s celebrity status. Kim was arrested and indicted in January for a

Police awarded a man who rescued a student on a bridge over the Han River, Seoul’s Seongdong Police Station announced on Tuesday. While crossing the bridge, the man found the student standing on the opposite side of the guardrail of the Dongho Bridge in eastern Seoul around 5 a.m. on Friday. He immediately grabbed the student’s hands and pulled him back over the rail. After trying to calm the student down, he took the student to the Oksu patrol box in Seongdong-gu, Seoul, which was n

South Korea’s fertility rate is projected to reach 0.74 this year, which would mark the first increase in nine years, according to a government body addressing the country’s declining birth rate and aging society. Joo Hyung-hwan, vice chairman of the Presidential Committee on Aging Society and Population Policy, announced the estimate during a keynote address at the Global Symposium on Low Fertility and Aging organized by Statistics Korea and UNFPA on Tuesday in central Seoul. &ldquo

Seoul’s iconic yet aging Apgujeong Hyundai Apartments, located in the heart of Gangnam, look likely to be replaced by a towering residential complex, rising up to 70 floors, under an urban planning plan approved by the city government. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, the city’s Urban Planning Committee approved an eased maximum floor ratio of 300 percent for residential complexes aged over 50 years in the southern Seoul districts, including Apgujeong Hyun

Eighteen people were injured Monday after a motel caught fire in Bongdam-eup, Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, according to local media. One person was found on the second floor in a state of cardiac arrest, but recovered. The fire reportedly began on the first floor of the four-story building at 10 p.m., but the smoke quickly spread to the entire building. At the time, 22 people were staying in the motel and many of them were foreign workers at a nearby employer who was using the motel to accommoda

A 44-year-old man, who had asked soccer superstar Son Heung-min's father Son Woong-jung for a settlement related to the elder Son's child abuse accusation, recently received a suspended jail term for false accusation and stalking in a separate case. The appellate division of the Incheon District Court on Nov. 15 upheld an earlier court ruling that sentenced the defendant, surnamed Kim, to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, for stalking and false accusation against multip

Singer Psy recently had his luxury home in Seoul temporarily seized by authorities after he failed to pay an administrative penalty imposed by the district office, local media outlets reported Monday. According to a report by Biz Hankook, the 46-year-old's home located in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, was recently reported to the district office for an illegal modification. The home is a unit in a luxury apartment complex in the affluent Hannam-dong district, in which the star's family has live

Actor Jung Woo-sung’s recent admission that he fathered a child with model Moon Ga-bi has reignited conversations in South Korea about societal attitudes toward children born out of wedlock. While Jung pledged to fulfill his responsibilities as a father without pursuing marriage, the public response has been largely critical, highlighting the nation’s deeply conservative stance on non-traditional family structures. Many online users criticized Jung for his decision not to marry Moo

South Korean firefighters managed to install an air mattress just in time to help a young man who jumped from the roof of an 18-story building, rescue authorities in South Chungcheong Province said Tuesday. Officials at the Nonsan Fire Station received a report at around 2 p.m. Sunday that a man was attempting to jump from an apartment building. Firefighters arrived to find the man in his 20s sitting on the building's roof. One of the rescue workers approached the man to persuade him not

Seoul’s iconic yet aging Apgujeong Hyundai Apartments, located in the heart of Gangnam, look likely to be replaced by a towering residential complex, rising up to 70 floors, under an urban planning plan approved by the city government. According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Tuesday, the city’s Urban Planning Committee approved an eased maximum floor ratio of 300 percent for residential complexes aged over 50 years in the southern Seoul districts, including Apgujeong Hyun

A man in his 50s has been fined for assaulting a woman who was smoking in the street. Judge Jang Min-ju, presiding over Daejeon District Court’s 11th criminal chamber, fined the man of 700,000 ($498), local media reports on Monday. The man hit the 22-year-old woman on her back at midnight on April 29 while she was smoking in front of a shop in Daeduk-gu, Daejeon. During the police investigation, he reportedly said “How could a girl smoke?” and that he was angry about smoking ne

Cancer was a journey Kang Min-ji never thought she would take during her early 30s. She was physically active, a non-smoker and didn't drink that often. But her world shattered in July 2022 after she was found to have thyroid cancer and a brain tumor when she underwent a health checkup. "Little did I know that I would have cancer because I was young and had a relatively healthy lifestyle, although I did have an exhausting work pattern where I stayed up until late at night and early mor

In 2023, one in ten newlyweds in Korea was part of an international couple, with international marriages making up 10.6 percent (20,431) of all unions. This marks an increase of 9.1 percent (17,428) in 2022. Of these, 69.8 percent were between foreign national wives and Korean national husbands, 17.9 percent between foreign husbands and Korean wives, and 12.3 percent were comprised of two or at least one naturalized Korean citizen. Married couples where both partners are of foreign nationality