What started as a playful attempt to turn a misunderstanding about the city's name into a tourism campaign is becoming a permanent fixture of Gimcheon. After drawing large crowds with its annual Gimbap Festival, the North Gyeongsang Province city is now dedicating a roughly 250-meter stretch across from Gimcheon Station to the Korean staple. Despite the name, the planned Gimbap Street will not be limited to gimbap restaurants. Snack stalls and cafes can participate, along with stores selling gim

For most people, getting from Seoul to Busan means roughly 2 1/2 hours seated on the KTX. Isaiah Addison, better known as Zay, went the long way: on foot. The long-distance runner, freelance model and content creator set out from Seoul on Aug. 8 and covered nearly 700 kilometers over 10 days before reaching Busan — the equivalent of more than 16 full marathons. Data from his high-endurance sports watch with built-in GPS shows 683.5 kilometers of recorded activity between Aug. 8 and 17 over the c

September is just around the corner, but South Korea's late-summer heat is showing little sign of letting up, with daytime temperatures forecast to reach as high as 34 degrees Celsius Thursday as rain hits parts of the country. Tropical-night conditions returned to Seoul after a one-day break, with temperatures at 25.2 degrees Thursday morning. The capital is expected to reach 32 degrees during the day. Highs are forecast at 33 degrees in Daejeon and Busan and 34 degrees in Daegu, Jeonju and Gwa

Joint military drills between South Korean and US troops ended Friday, nearly a week ahead of schedule. The annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise was cut short from 11 days to five after US President Donald Trump on Sunday criticized the drills as costly and hostile toward Pyongyang, citing his close relationship with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The conclusion of the drills comes a day after North Korea launched more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea. Due to the shor

An ongoing search for a man who sexually assaulted a Yonsei University student near the school's Sinchon campus in Seoul on Wednesday has raised questions about the university's student protection measures. Investigators are also looking into whether the man was involved in two similar incidents that have been reported in the same area since June. Seoul Seodaemun Police Station said Thursday it is tracking an unidentified man on suspicion of sexual assault following an incident near the universi

One of the year's most anticipated meteor showers will be lighting up Korea's night skies this week, with particularly favorable viewing conditions as its peak coincides with a new moon. The Perseid meteor shower will reach its calculated peak at around noon Thursday, according to the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute. While the peak itself will occur during daylight hours in Korea, stargazers will have two good opportunities to catch the display: from Wednesday night into early Thursd

After weeks of what felt like a nationwide sauna, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees Celsius in parts of Korea, the country is finally getting some relief from the heat, at least overnight. Busan broke a 23-day streak of tropical nights — when temperatures remain at or above 25 degrees from 6 p.m. until 9 a.m. the following day — while Seoul entered its third consecutive night without tropical-night conditions Tuesday. Seoul ended a 17-day run of tropical nights after its overnight low fell t

Incheon Airport has begun ordering people experiencing homelessness to leave the airport, in a move that has drawn criticism from homeless rights advocates. According to Homeless Action, a homeless rights advocacy group, Incheon International Airport Corp., the airport operator, on July 30, attached eviction notices to the belongings of people staying at the airport and ordered them to leave the passenger terminals. The notices instructed them to "immediately stop sleeping rough and leave the pa

“끄네끼, 한국말 아니야?” 영국 프리미어리그의 스타 공격수 엘링 홀란(25, 노르웨이)이 FIFA 월드컵에서 착용해 화제가 된 머리끈 ‘끄네끼(Kknekki)’. 세계적인 축구 스타가 사용하면서 이름을 알린 이 머리끈의 출발점은 뜻밖에도 한국이었다. 1980년대 강원도 춘천에서 만들어지기 시작했지만 한국에서는 크게 팔리지 않았던 머리끈이 어떻게 세계적인 브랜드로 성장했을까. 그 배경에는 약 8,000킬로미터 떨어진 두 회사의 만남이 있었다. 한국의 제조업체 두지는 생산에 집중했고, 노르웨이의 라이프스타일 기업 본뎁(Bon Dep)은 브랜드 개발과 마케팅, 유통을 맡았다. 서로 다른 강점을 가진 두 회사가 손잡으면서 끄네끼는 한국을 넘어 세계 시장으로 뻗어나갔다. “우리는 이 제품을 어떻게 마케팅하고 판매하고 유통해야 하는지에 대한 해답을 찾았다고 생각했습니다. 두지는 생산에 뛰어났고, 우리는 마케팅과 유통에 강했습니다.” 본뎁의 창업자이자 이사회 멤버인 라르스 그뢴세트(Lars G

A 3,000-won ($2.12) reusable shopping bag from Olive Young is emerging as an unlikely souvenir among foreign tourists, as the global K-beauty boom increasingly spills over into demand for everyday Korean products and retail experiences. The tarpaulin bag sold by CJ Olive Young has surpassed 1.78 million units in cumulative sales since its launch about a year and a half ago, according to CJ on Friday. It is currently sold at around 150 Olive Young stores, including locations in tourist-heavy area

As South Korea battles a record-breaking heat wave, Incheon International Airport is emerging as an informal cooling refuge for people with nowhere more convenient to escape the heat. Media reports over the past week have highlighted seniors spending hours inside the terminals playing games, sharing packed lunches and resting on benches. The appeal of the airports appears to be practical: the terminals offer air conditioning, seating, free wi-fi, charging facilities and restrooms, while South K

Three student activists were arrested Thursday after a court approved arrest warrants over their alleged trespassing at K-55 Osan Air Base, a US air base in Pyeongtaek, earlier this week. Eight members of the Korean Progressive University Student Union attempted to enter the base through its main gate on Tuesday. Six entered the installation, while two were stopped at the entrance, according to police. US Forces Korea personnel detained the activists at the scene before handing them over to the

South Korea's professional baseball league has extended its suspension of games through the weekend after adopting new measures aimed at protecting players and fans from the country's record-breaking heat wave. Following an emergency meeting Thursday involving the Korea Baseball Organization, general managers from all 10 clubs and representatives of the Korea Professional Baseball Players Association, the league announced that all remaining games this week have been canceled. The regular season

A total of 63 North Korean defectors arrived in South Korea for resettlement in the first half of 2026, down 34.4 percent from a year earlier, as Pyongyang's tightened border controls continued to make escapes increasingly difficult, the Unification Ministry said Thursday. The figure included 59 women and four men, bringing the cumulative number of North Korean defectors living in South Korea to 34,600. During the same period last year, 96 defectors arrived in the South. According to a ministry

South Korea’s first lunar orbiter, Danuri, captured rare before-and-after images of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage striking the moon this week, giving scientists one of their clearest opportunities yet to study how a human-made object alters the lunar surface. The Korea Aerospace Administration said Thursday that the rocket’s upper stage impacted the moon’s far side near Einstein Crater at 3:34 p.m. Wednesday (Korea time). Unlike most previous lunar impacts, which have typically been studied onl