When it comes to English books, there are three types of readers in South Korea: expats, Korean elites and language learners. For retailers and distributors, the first is the most difficult consumer group to target as their tastes in books are just as diverse as their backgrounds. The most lucrative and competitive market, on the other hand, is that for young English learners, as Korean moms -- always willing to reach into their pocketbooks for their children’s education -- wake up to the power

Much of Itaewon’s future hinges on Korean landlords who expect their long wait for investment gains to finally pay off in the coming years. With a former US base to be turned into a huge public park, many expect the onset of the “Yongsan era,” with the area rising to match Gangnam’s status as an upscale residential and commercial district. But in that transformation, Itaewon’s unique features as a lively, culturally diverse and expat-friendly neighborhood could be lost. While the anticipation fo

Some say Itaewon has lost its soul and is now just another soulless hangout place for young Koreans. Others say the neighborhood has become safer and trendier -- suitable for a wider audience. And if you stand in the right place, you can still find the same expat-led culture thriving, they say. Whichever side one takes, the talk resembles the typical debate that erupts whenever a neighborhood gets gentrified. A less developed area with its unique characteristics and a vibrant local community get

With birthrates persistently low and the senior population growing, South Korea‘s working age population is projected to shrink from 2018 onward. Against this backdrop, a steady inflow of immigrants and foreign residents is a potent factor that could bring about major changes to the fabric of South Korean society, long considered culturally and ethnically homogeneous. Here’s a look at the multiculturalism’s growing hold here, although it may not be visible yet in the mainstream.Migrant workers A

The new year will usher in a slew of new rules and regulations. From public toilets to schools and churches, the changes will affect South Koreans’ daily life. Here is a look at some of the new rules to come into effect in 2018. 　Bye-bye toilet trash cansStarting from Jan. 1, all public bathrooms are required to do away with trash bins and provide rapid dissolving toilet paper, hopefully resolving one of the most common complaints of foreign visitors here.  YonhapThe move comes as part of change

Whether you’ve noticed it or not, long padded coats are all the rage in South Korea. PyeongChang Winter Olympics' official down jackets flew off the shelves, with people lining up overnight in front of stores to get hold of the limited item. School commute scenes nowadays can’t be described without mentioning a new quasi-uniform look, complete with black, hooded, knee-length padded jackets. Despite the striking uniformity, the coats are not a uniform. They are the season’s latest ‘it’ item among

Former President Park Geun-hye on Monday refused to attend a hearing in her trial, making good on an earlier pledge to boycott the process. The Korea Herald explains possible motives behind her boycott and what is likely to happen next. One of five public lawyers assigned by the court to former President Park Geun-hye takes questions Monday at Seoul Central District Court in Seoul. Yonhap1. Things to know about Park Geun-hye and her trialPark Geun-hye was South Korea’s conservative icon and firs

Shortly before Chuseok, the Korean thanksgiving, earlier this month, I had the opportunity to step back from the front line of daily news production and take a break. I stayed a wonderful five nights and six days in Riga, the capital of Latvia, as part of a South Korean media delegation. It was slightly off the “best season” for travel in the Baltic state -- spring and summer -- but luckily the weather was mostly favorable, almost like the weather in Seoul now. With its beautiful medieval city c

RIGA, Latvia – Latvia will participate in next year’s PyeongChang Winter Olympics despite security concerns over North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program, its president Raimonds Vejonis has confirmed. In an interview with Korean media, the leader also confirmed his official visit to South Korea in February, timed to coincide with the sports event. Latvian president Raimonds Vejonis (Yonhap)“I will be the first Latvian president to visit your country,” Vejonis told a group of Korean repo

South Korean President Moon Jae-in ended his four-day visit to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, where he had sought international support for efforts to contain the wayward North Korea. His talk of peace on the global diplomatic stage, however, appears to have made little impact, as the war rhetoric between the US and North Korea only became fiercer with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un threatening “highest-level” actions to make “deranged” US President Donald Trump “pay dearly” fo

South Korean President Moon Jae-in called for a greater United Nations role in resolving the North Korea crisis, in his debut speech to the UN General Assembly on Thursday, urging fellow leaders to together confront the “Cold War’s last stand” in the Far East. “The Korean Peninsula is where the guiding spirit of the UN -- world peace through multiculturalism -- is most desperately needed right now,” Moon said at the UN headquarters in New York. (Yonhap)Introducing the two Koreas’ history of war,

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Saturday declared the intermediate-range Hwasong-12 missile operationally ready, a day after test-firing it at a normal angle over Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido. This is the missile with which the communist regime had earlier threatened to contain the Pacific island of Guam, a key US military outpost about 3,400 kilometers from Pyongyang. The Korea Herald looks into what an “operational Hwasong-12” means in the North’s missile capacities, as well as for S

North Korea fired yet another missile over Japan into the northern Pacific Ocean, South Korean and Japanese officials confirmed Friday, in a clear show of defiance against international sanctions and pressure. The launch, which came days after the United Nations adopted its toughest-ever sanctions against the North, put millions in Japan into a “duck and cover,” escalating a sense of crisis in the region over the wayward regime’s relentless pursuit of missile and nuclear capabilities. According

The National Assembly on Monday rejected President Moon Jae-in’s nominee for the Constitutional Court president, in spite of a prolonged void in the top judiciary’s leadership. In a floor vote that took place more than two months after Kim Yi-su’s confirmation hearing, 145 out of 293 lawmakers present voted for the nominee, while another 145 voted against him. One abstained. Two votes were listed as invalid. It was the first time a court chief designate was rejected by the legislature.  Rep. Cho

In light of recent brutal crimes involving minors, calls are growing in South Korea that it is time to end leniency toward juvenile offenders. Politicians appear to concur. Rep. Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the ruling Democratic Party, highlighted the need to revise the Juvenile Act, which covers criminal offenders aged 10 to 18 and allows them to receive more lenient treatment. Minors under 14 do not face criminal trials at all, while those under 18 are punishable by a maximum of 20 years in jail.

An unidentified number of US intelligence agents are now in South Korea, collecting North Korea-related information, Yonhap News reported Wednesday, citing unnamed sources at the Seoul government. Their mission also includes a review, and possibly an update, of emergency evacuation plans for over 200,000 Americans residing here, it said. Some of the agents – belonging to either the Central Intelligence Agency or the Department of Homeland Security -- were dispatched early last month after the No

North Korea's threat against Guam, a key US military outpost, is based on the Hwasong-12, a new intermediate range missile the country successfully flight-tested for the first time in May.　The liquid-fuel missile is designed to be fired from road mobile launchers and has been previously described by North Korea as built for attacking Alaska and Hawaii. The North followed the May launch with two flight tests of its Hwasong-14 ICBM last month. Analysts said that a wide swath of the continental Uni

Last summer was memorable. Memorable in a bad way. I love summer, but last year’s was unbearable, with day highs hovering over 35 degrees Celsius for weeks. My long-awaited summer holiday was ruined because the wet, sauna-like conditions outside made me not want to leave the comfort of an air-conditioned room. I was then served with electricity bill “bombs” for resorting to air conditioning day and night. I thought it was an exceptional summer.And here we are, in the middle of another scorcher.

The conservative Liberty Korea Party on Monday narrowed down its presidential contenders to four in the second round of its in-house competition to pick its single nominee for the May 9 presidential election.The four contenders, who were picked through an opinion poll, were South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Hong Joon-pyo, former six-term lawmaker Rhee In-je, Rep. Kim Jin-tae. and North Gyeongsang Gov.Kim Kwan-yong.  The logo of the Liberty Korea Party (Yonhap)Hong, a tough-talking former prosecutor

TOKYO (AP) --  A Japanese author of a book about Kim Jong-nam, the North Korean leader's half brother who was killed this week at a Malaysian airport, says Kim opposed his family's hereditary rule and wanted economic reforms. Tokyo-based journalist Yoji Gomi's book "My Father, Kim Jong-il, and Me,'' provides a rare view into North Korea's ruling family, including Kim Jong-nam, who was apparently assassinated on Monday.   Gomi said Kim Jong-nam, the son of late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il a