South Korea's capital city, Seoul, was named the world’s ninth most expensive city for expatriates in terms of living expenses, an international survey showed. According to a global consulting firm ECA International in March this year, the cost of living in Seoul was the ninth-highest, up one notch from a year earlier. Tokyo was next, down five notches on-year. The survey compared the costs of living in 207 cities with high numbers of foreign national residents across 120 countrie

Social Affairs June 8, 2023

Seoul Metro, the public corporation that operates the subway system in Seoul, is putting the names of 30 subway stations up for sale. The upcoming auction will involve 18 subway stations, the naming contracts of which have expired, along with 12 additional stations in downtown and commercial hub areas. They include Gangnam Station on Line 2, one of the busiest stations, as well as Seongsu and Sinsa Stations, in hip Seongsu-dong and Sinsa-dong, respectively. The new names will be displayed in bra

Social Affairs June 8, 2023

Police booked a male college student in his 20s who exposed his genitals to elementary school children who then chased him last week in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, according to news reports on Monday. In video footage taken on May 31 and shown on the cable news channel YTN, the flasher -- wearing a mask, black t-shirt and grey sweatpants -- ran away as soon as he pulled his pants down in front of four elementary school students to display his genitals. The children immediately chas

Social Affairs June 5, 2023

Three out of 10 Korean students attending four-year universities across the nation have witnessed their peers falling victim to bullying, a report said Sunday. The National Youth Policy Institute published a report titled "Research on Bullying Among University Students and a Study on Preventive Measures for Improvement," which included the results of an online survey of 467 undergraduates from four-year colleges nationwide. Among the respondents, 135 students, or 28.9 percent, said t

Social Affairs June 4, 2023

In one up-and-coming neighborhood in Seoul, the prevalence of English letters on cafe and restaurant signboards adds to its exotic ambiance, complementing the diverse range of foreign cuisines found there. Approximately 7 out of 10 signboards in this area, known as Yongridan-gil and situated between Samgakji and Sinyongsan subway stations in central Seoul, are exclusively written in foreign languages. English is the most commonly used, followed by Chinese and Japanese. As one strolls through t

Hashtag Korea June 4, 2023

Whenever her succulents show signs of disease like wilting or yellowing leaves, Joo Young-hyun immediately heads to a "plant hospital." Recently, her potted rosemary and lavender plants required the care of a plant doctor when they began to droop and shed. The doctor’s diagnosis was overwatering. Her herbs’ roots were found to be partially rotten due to a drainage problem. The ailing plants were admitted to the plant hospital for treatment, which included repotting, repla

Hashtag Korea June 3, 2023

The frugal type: Lunch at convenience store, bike rides and thrift shops For every penny he spends that could have been saved, Kang Won-jin (not his real name) gets scolded online. When he confessed to a spontaneous purchase of a 10,000 won ($7) umbrella from a convenience store because of an unforeseen rain, he was told “No Starbucks for a week.” Some remarked half-jokingly, “You should have used flyers or newspapers to cover your head.” He willingly shares his daily exp

Hashtag Korea June 3, 2023

Seven out of 10 South Koreans residing in the greater Seoul area expressed their opposition to Japan's move to discharge radioactive wastewater from the now-defunct Fukushima nuclear power plant into the ocean, local broadcaster CBS reported on Thursday, citing a survey. In the poll of 1,000 people aged 18 or above conducted by polling organization Jowon C&I May 27-29, 70.8 percent of respondents said they are against Tokyo's plan to release the destroyed nuclear plant's w

Social Affairs June 1, 2023

Four out of 10 South Koreans aged 10-29 have spent money on goods related to celebrities such as music albums or character dolls featuring K-pop stars, a survey showed Friday. According to the survey of 1,142 adolescents, teens and young adults conducted by Hyungji Elite, a school uniform brand, from May 8-19, 40 percent of the respondents said they have purchased celebrity-related products before, followed by 25 percent who said they have bought goods related to movies including animated films.

Social Affairs May 26, 2023

Massive flight delays at Gimpo Airport on Wednesday which caused more than 100 domestic airplanes to be grounded were largely due to the airport’s tightened passenger luggage check, after several prohibited items were found inside the luggage of student groups, officials said Thursday. A total of 142 domestic outbound flights, including 109 en route for the southern island of Jeju, suffered delays from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. that day. The delays affected nearly 29,000 passengers, according to Ko

Social Affairs May 25, 2023

South Korea’s human rights commission has voiced the need for multilingual translations for the laws and regulations that pertain to the detention of foreign nationals in the country. In a recommendation issued Monday to the Ministry of Justice, the National Human Rights Commission said the availability of translations of what are called in Korean the “Foreigner Detention Regulations” is a matter that concerns foreign detainees' right to know and beyond that, their human

Social Affairs May 23, 2023

In February 2020, an African man landed at Incheon Airport in South Korea, seeking asylum. He had fled his homeland, where a civil war had killed many of his family members and relatives. The South Korean immigration office, however, refused to accept his application for refugee status, on the grounds that he was a transfer passenger. His eligibility as a refugee was not even reviewed. For months that followed, the man lived in the transit zone. He slept on chairs near the terminal gates, ate fr

Hashtag Korea May 15, 2023

HAI PHONG, Vietnam -- In this coastal city in northern Vietnam, it's said that having English skills can double your salary, while having Korean skills can triple it. Although the saying may be somewhat exaggerated, it certainly captures the high value placed on proficiency in the Korean language. Korean companies and institutions are prominent employers in the city, running immense factories, leading a variety of business projects, and they attract top-quality manpower with solid compe

Hashtag Korea May 13, 2023

A Korean proficiency exam for Vietnamese job seekers saw the highest number of test takers in 10 years, data showed Wednesday. This year, a total of 23,412 Vietnamese applied for the “EPS-TOPIK (Employment Permit System’s Test of Proficiency in Korean),” more than doubling from 11,600 applicants a year earlier. The 2023 figure was also the highest in a decade, according to the Department of Overseas Labor under Vietnam’s Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. The

Social Affairs May 10, 2023

Of all colleges and universities in South Korea, Hanyang University had the highest number of international students last year, with a total of 6,999 enrolled -- 4,816 at its main campus in Seoul and 2,183 at its branch campus in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province -- according to data on Monday. Kyung Hee University came next with 6,912 students, followed by Sungkyunkwan University with 6,676, according to the data compiled by the Korean Educational Development Institute. These colleges were followed by Y

Social Affairs May 8, 2023