More than 200,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the Korean government complain to China for increased levels of fine dust that have recently been impacting South Korea.As of 1 p.m. on Thursday, more than 200,000 people had signed a petition on the website of Cheong Wa Dae, five days since the petition began collecting signatures Saturday. (Screenshot of Cheong Wa Dae website-Yonhap)The petition claims “fine dust is coming (to Korea) considerably more often that it did 10 years

Working Koreans believe that the rich should have assets of at least 4 billion won ($3.73 million), while they estimate themselves able to accumulate an average of 800 million won in their own lifetimes.Job Korea, a job information provider, conducted a survey of 708 working Koreans and discovered that around 4.1 billion won is the standard qualification to be deemed “rich.” Respondents on average expected to save around 800 million won throughout their life. Those in their 20s expec

A conscripted policeman has been booked for trespassing into a girls’ middle school in Incheon, according to Incheon Namdong Police Station Tuesday.The policeman, who belongs to Incheon Seobu Police Station, is accused of going into a classroom of a girls’ middle school in Namdong-gu, Incheon at 4 a.m. on Saturday.He was found touching school uniforms and other items in the classroom by police that came to the site upon getting a report from the security company which had been serving the school

K-pop girl group Red Velvet has confirmed the set list for its performance in Pyongyang slated for next week as part of a South Korean art troupe. Organizers said Monday that “Red Flavor” and “Bad Boy” have been selected to be performed in Pyongyang from among a list of songs submitted by Red Velvet. Red Velvet is the only K-pop idol group to be included in the group of performers slated to put on shows in North Korea on April 1 and 3. Other musicians include Korean pop legend Cho Yong-pil, who

Police have asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for rapper Jeong Sang-su on suspicion of assault and drunken disorderly conduct at a police station, Geumcheon Police said Monday.Jeong, who made his name on the hip-hop survival audition program “Show Me the Money,” is accused of hitting a man and a passerby at Sillim-dong, Seoul, Thursday. Jeong allegedly punched the face and stomach of a man who arranged to meet Jeong after finding out that Jeong had sent a text message to his girlfriend,

A scream detection system has been installed in several subway stations in Seoul, along with other devices.Seoul Metro said Friday that it partnered with telecom company KT to provide services that use information and communication technology at its subway stations.Seoul Metro, which runs Subway Line Nos. 1 to 8 in Seoul, installed the scream detection system called “Safe Mate” in women’s bathrooms at 10 stations on Line No. 5 including Banghwa, Yeongdeungpo-gu Office and Gunja stations.  Gimpo

The official music video for Big Bang’s “Bang Bang Bang” surpassed 300 million views on YouTube as of Thursday afternoon.According to YG Entertainment, the video topped 300 million at around 6:30 p.m. The agency released a poster on its YG Life website celebrating the record number of views.The music video was released on June 1, 2015, along with the single which was released as part of the group’s album, “MADE” in December 2016. (YG Entertainment)This is the second music video by Big Bang to br

K-pop videos will soon be streamed on a billboard four times the size of a basketball court in Seoul.SMTown Media Facade, made of curved screens and installed on the outer walls of the SMTown Coex Artium, will start operation Sunday, according to the Korea International Trade Association.SMTown Coex Artium is part of the Coex Convention and Exhibition Center in Gangnam, southern Seoul. The building offers experiences related to S.M. Entertainment stars and the agency.  (Yonhap)The new billboard

(Shot and edited by Park Ju-young / The Korea Herald)With the 2018 fall-winter HERA Seoul Fashion Week having just opened, well-dressed visitors off the runway are another element to look forward to.Groups of fashionistas could be seen flaunting their outfits on their way to and from Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, the main venue, on the first day of shows.As a number of fashion bloggers, influencers on Instagram and photographers from newspapers and magazines gather at DDP during the week, vi

Lee Sung-nack, a board member at the Kansong Art and Culture Foundation, has released a new book that attempts to explain how portraits created in the Joseon era depicted their models in a realistic way. Lee, 80, worked as a dermatologist and professor before he got a Ph.D. in art history at Myongji University in 2014. Cover of "Joseon Dynasty Portraits: Expression of Scholar Spirits" (Yonhap)In his book “Joseon Dynasty Portraits: Expression of Scholar Spirits,” published on March 16 by Nulwa, L

“The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down,” written by South Korean Buddhist monk Haemin, has been nominated for the 2018 British Book Awards.The final shortlist for the awards was announced Friday (local time) by The Bookseller, the organizer of the awards and a British journal specializing in the publishing industry. Haemin’s essay was nominated for lifestyle book of the year. The British edition of “The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down” (Suo Books)Books from seven categories h

A man in his 50s who smashed the car window of an acquaintance and set the car on fire had his jail sentence confirmed in an appeals court.The Seoul High Court said Monday it was upholding the lower court’s decision to sentence the accused to eight months in prison.The man, who suffers from schizophrenia, brought a weapon from home and broke the window of the car after seeing it parked on a road in April 2016. He then threw in an alight newspaper, eventually setting the car aflame.  (Yonhap)The

The Seoul Metropolitan Government is continuing its crackdown on taxi drivers who overcharge tourists, through May, it said Sunday. During the PyeongChang Olympics, Seoul uncovered 113 cases of local taxi drivers ripping off customers, who were mostly foreign visitors to the Olympics. The government will focus on the most common illegal practices including extra charges traveling to and from Incheon Airport, unreasonably high charges when traveling short distances between Seoul’s major tourist s

A man previously sentenced to seven years in jail for sexually assaulting his wife received a reduced term in an appellate court. He has since divorced his wife. The Gwangju High Court sentenced the man to four years in prison along with 80 hours of sexual abuse education, 10 years of wearing a tracking device and five years of disclosing his personal information to the public.The man in his 50s was indicted in June 2016 for hitting his ex-wife’s head during a meal and then committing rape. They

A slew of live performances will be taking place before the closing of the 2018 Winter Paralympics. K-pop performances featuring B1A4, BTOB, Samuel and others are to start Thursday at 5 p.m. at Gangneung-Wonju National University. On Saturday, the day before the closing of the Paralympic Games, an electronic dance music festival led by DJ Glory will be held at Yongpyong Resort for some 500 people. The festival will include chicken-and-beer parties. Poster of the Snow Festival in March (Photo cou

North Koreans expressed doubts about their country’s participants in the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics, according to Radio Free Asia, an international radio broadcasting station.A source from North Hamgyeong Province told the RFA that North Korean athletes at the 2018 Paralympic Games were likely to have been “arranged in a hurry by North Korean authorities to utilize the Winter Games for international propaganda.” North Korean skiers Ma Yu-chol (left) and Kim Jong-hyon practice at the Alpensia

A man in his 20s was booked without detention for installing cameras in and outside a woman’s home, Busan local police said Tuesday.The man is charged with entering the victim’s residence 12 times while it was empty and installing the hidden cameras inside the home.According to the police, the man spotted the victim in January around the Haeundae neighborhood in Busan and tracked her to home. The man installed a camera in the form of a black box outside the woman’s door to discern the code to th

South Korean state-run broadcaster KBS has decided to extend its broadcast duration of Paralympic programs to 34 hours.According to Joongang Ilbo on Monday, KBS added nine hours of Paralympic programs to its broadcast schedule in response to criticism of local TV networks’ lack of interest in the Paralympic Winter Games. Paralympic athletes compete in the Men`s 20km cross-country skiing event held at the Alpensia Biathlon Center on Monday. (Yonhap)KBS’ two channels, KBS 1TV and KBS 2TV, were pre

Despite being the host country of the 2018 Winter Games, South Korea is far behind other countries in its TV coverage of the Paralympic Games, which kicked off on Friday.Three major Korean broadcasting stations, KBS, MBC and SBS, are each expected to spend a total of around 18 to 30 hours on programs devoted to the Paralympic Winter Games.As the 2018 Paralympics will be held for ten days from March 9 to 18, this means that major TV networks in Korea are to air about two hours of Paralympic progr

A couple of years ago, college student Do Ji-eun unfollowed every single person she followed on Instagram. She started to follow people again, but choosing only those whom she really cared about. Painstaking though this process may seem, Do said that cutting off unnecessary ties had a positive impact. In Korean, an “inmaek diet” -- inmaek meaning relationships in Korean -- involves detaching oneself from numerous acquaintances or personal connections. It’s a common practice for Koreans suffering