A 20-month-old baby girl in Daejeon was murdered in June after months of physical and sexual abuse, apparently from her stepfather, and neglect by her biological mother. The toddler’s body was found in a cooler at the stepfather’s house with severe bruises and scars apparently from the abuse. Her stepfather was reported to have beaten her for more than an hour on the day of her death just becaus...

The 59th Venice Biennale 2022 will be held from April 23 to Nov. 27 with the theme “The Milk of Dreams.” The Korean Pavilion will showcase works directed by Lee Young-chul, an art professor at Kaywon University, and those by installation artist Kim Yun-chul who is also an electroacoustic music composer and has explored magnetohydrodynamics, the study of the dynamics of electrically conducting flu...

“This year, I bought a beam projector to watch Christmas movies with my friends at home. Not only that, I found that it’s a thing to put up nice scenery with the beam projector to make it feel like we are having fun somewhere else,” said Lee Ji-won, 28. People are also looking for other ways to give Christmas presents to loved ones via mobile apps’ gift and shopping features. “I bought a ticket...

The state-run Korea Tourism Organization, on Tuesday, held a webinar together with Gangwon Tourism Organization to discuss the workcation trend and its potential as a new avenue for invigorating the pandemic-battered tourism. Kim Eun-hee, a senior official at the KTO’s tourism consulting team, shared how Japan embraced the concept early in 2017. “It was led by the government to address the nati...

Younger campaigners in election camp In an effort to attract young people, the candidates have started recruiting young campaign workers and popular figures in their election committees. The Democratic Party has so far recruited four “youth” campaigners, including a 20-year-old AI developer into its election committee, and revealed a plan to establish a government entity solely for youth. In a...

Looking back on what we have consumed over the year could be one way to wrap up the year 2021, while preparing to make better choices in the new year. Whether an impulsive purchase or a considered decision, consumption patterns show what we desire and what cultural codes and trends are leading the society today. The pandemic challenges the once taken-for-granted in-person connections and communi...

In the Netflix smash hit “Squid Game,” there is a line that resonates with most South Koreans: While boasting that she is street-smart and capable, the self-proclaimed silver-tongued Mi-nyeo says, “I’m totally smart. I just never studied.” The line stems from the widespread belief -- not just here but in many other parts of the world -- that being brainy and doing well on school exams are not ne...

Lee Young-ae, a professor at the Department of Consumer Science at Incheon National University, said “price competitiveness,” “curiosity about something new” as well as “being able to shop quickly” have made unmanned stores appealing to consumers. But for staff-free stores to last long-term, they will have to tackle issues such as security, the professor said. “It could look like a lot of peopl...

Wish School’s other hope is that the children can grow up free of prejudice. To that end, the organization has worked to create a positive perception of third-country-born children so that society can recognize their potential to become global leaders. “I hope that we can raise the children into people who can live confidently anywhere in the world, unlike us,” Cho said.

Lim Veens, 29, who first encountered natural wine at a local bar two years ago, said he was attracted by the sense of “freedom” natural wine has over its conventional counterpart. “It has been sort of burdensome drinking conventional wine because I feel like I need to have knowledge about wine to enjoy them. Compared to conventional wine, natural wine was easier to start,” Lim said. “I also foun...

Kim Keun-nam, who runs a small restaurant specializing in crab in the county’s Anmyeondo Island Fish Market, said youngsters often visit to try gegukji since several television programs and foodie YouTube channels have introduced the dish in recent years. “The taste cannot be bad because we use fresh crabs delivered by wholesalers every day. It’s a comfort food that warms you up especially in fa...

Innisfree, a cosmetic brand under Amorepacific, was forced to alter its eco-friendly “paper bottle” packaging earlier this year after a customer’s complaint about plastic usage and the “misleading” label went viral online. Though the label covering the bottle reads, “Hello, I’m Paper Bottle,” the product in question is a plastic bottle wrapped in paper. Following the backlash, the brand has hur...

Plastic waste and disposable packaging are overflowing as coronavirus concerns prompt more South Koreans to shop online and order delivery food or takeout coffee. According to the Ministry of Environment, the amount of plastic waste generated last year increased by 20 percent compared with the previous year. Paper waste increased by 25 percent on-year. Korea introduced a garbage volume-rate sys...

But Kim Ria, another defector-turned-startup CEO, wanted to do something new. She started a business making preserved flowers -- something that doesn’t exist in North Korea. “Preserved flowers are popular in Japan and in the US but North Korean people are not familiar with them,” she said. “It is a little pricy because of the costly raw materials, but I thought this is something that you want to...

Earlier this month, Coca-Cola Korea also opened “Coca-Cola Wonderful Island” on metaverse platform Gather Town -- a virtual space where users can experience the company’s latest plastic recycling campaign. When users visit a place known as “Coca-Cola Factory,” they can see the process of how plastic bottles are turned into cooler bags. “We came up with the Wonderful Campaign to raise awareness ...