Early this year, a 45-year-old former office worker became well known for enrolling at a provincial university’s medical college to learn with classmates less than half his age. He quit SK, his employer of 17 years, and took the annual college entrance exam called Suneung three times to become a medical student. A YouTube video of him sharing how he studied for the test garnered millions of hits. Appearing on a television show, the man surnamed Kwak said he started thinking about pursuing

Social Affairs May 8, 2023

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Korea Sami Alsadhan expressed hopes for greater cooperation between the two countries beyond construction and energy to smart infrastructure, hydrogen and other new industries at the Global Business Forum held in Seoul on April 26. Korea is a strategic partner in "Saudi Arabia Vision 2030," a reform blueprint to reduce the Middle Eastern country’s dependence on oil, diversify its economy and develop public service sectors such as health, education, i

Industry May 3, 2023

When talking about education, South Koreans often attribute their rising spending on children’s lessons outside school to an undemanding public education. My daughter, who went to a Singaporean public primary school for a year and half, and now goes to a Korean public elementary school, said the latter is less work and more fun. I did tell her once that I heard Korean kids do much of their studying at hagwon, or cram schools, and that I agree it is strange, but that’s how things are

Social Affairs April 18, 2023

Every night at 10 p.m., over soft music, a female voice actor on the radio would tell teenagers to go home as it had gotten late. After 11 p.m., people would rush to take the last buses and taxis. All stores and bars would close before 11:30 p.m. At the stroke of midnight, sirens would blare and steel barricades would be placed on the streets. Neighborhood patrollers would blow their whistles at anyone still out on the street and those spotted would do their best to run away. This was South Kore

Social Affairs April 12, 2023

  Lee Ki-nam learned Hangeul from her grandfather at age 4 or 5 in the late 1930s, but her knowledge of the Korean script was kept a secret outside her home for years. The country was a colony of Japan at that time, which banned the use of Korean and forced Koreans to adopt Japanese names. “To me, Hangeul was the same as patriotism,” said the 89-year-old woman behind the propagation of the Korean alphabet overseas, including the Cia Cia project in Indonesia. Korea’s libera

Hello Hangeul April 9, 2023

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s ubiquitous mobile messenger app, has finally let users decline unwanted group chat invites from people outside of their friend list, a much-anticipated move for those who have experienced stress or discomfort over exiting group chats. However, if the inviter is on a user's KakaoTalk friends list, the user will be automatically added into the group chat. The new feature, which was added as part of a KakaoTalk system update last week to version 10.1.5, requires

Social Affairs April 4, 2023

A revised bill to exempt foreign domestic workers from the minimum wage law has been submitted, prompting some to quietly support the move and others to criticize it as discriminatory. South Korea’s current minimum wage is 9,620 won ($7.31) per hour, which translates into about 2.1 million won a month. Many Korean full-time domestic workers, of which the pool is not big, get paid close to 3 million won monthly. In places like Singapore, Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates, live-in hel

Social Affairs April 4, 2023

In a small village called Bunyakiri in the eastern Congo’s rain forest, a community of Central African foragers learn to write their indigenous language with 가, 나, 다. The Chitembo Jeongeum Writing system, devised by four Korean linguists, is an adaptation of the Korean alphabet, Hangeul, to transcribe the sounds of the language spoken by this particular tribe of Twa hunter-gatherers, one of several groups of people known as Pygmies for their short stature. Chitembo is the language this gro

Hashtag Korea April 2, 2023

King Sejong the Great invented Hangeul in 1443 with the goal of increasing literacy among commoners who had few chances to learn the logographic hanja, or Chinese characters. Out of respect for the king's democratic intention and love for humanity, several projects were launched from the late 1990s onward to share the Korean alphabet with ethnic minorities in Asia, Africa and South America that did not have their own writing systems. Without a script, their languages were at the risk of disappea

Hashtag Korea April 2, 2023

Noryangjin Station, on Seoul Subway Lines No. 1 and 9, is best known as the home of the nation's largest fisheries wholesale market, a habitat for aspiring civil servants and the birthplace of "cup bap." What greeted this reporter upon stepping outside of the station was, however, a sprawling bright green soccer field set against the backdrop of Yeouido’s old landmark 63 Building and a few other high-rises. The soccer field, along with a baseball field and a running track, were b

Social Affairs April 1, 2023

Four Nigerian children were killed in a fire early Monday in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The two girls aged 11 and 4, and boys aged 7 and 6 were siblings. The fire broke out around 3:28 a.m., and was put out at 4:16 a.m. by firefighters at the second floor of the three-story residential building in Seonbu-dong of Danwon-gu in the city just southwest of Seoul. Three more Nigerians including the parents of the deceased children, two Uzbeks and a Russian sustained injuries, and 37 people were evacuat

Social Affairs March 27, 2023

Police said on Tuesday they have filed for the arrest warrant of a male US national in his 70s who allegedly carried two bullets onboard a Korean Air flight on March 10. The charges are for violating aviation security law. The suspect's current whereabouts are unknown. Under the aviation security law, anyone who carries prohibited items onto an aircraft, or has another person do so, are subject to between two and five years in jail, or between 20 and 50 million won ($15,200 - $38,100) in

Social Affairs March 21, 2023

Last week, a home shopping channel host blurted out an expletive on air. Upon mounting complaints from viewers, the nation’s broadcast media watchdog demanded an explanation from the channel before it decides on disciplinary action. The wealthy villains of the Korean revenge drama “The Glory,” which became one of Netflix’s most-viewed shows of all time less than a week after its season 2 release, hurl the most offensive swearwords almost every time they speak. Upon hearin

Social Affairs March 21, 2023

Korean used to be a language spoken only on the Korean Peninsula and by nearly 10 million Koreans overseas. But in recent years, it has become one of the fastest-growing choices for foreign language learners around the world, thanks to the sweeping, universal appeal of Korean dramas, shows and pop music. Behind the rapid increase of learners are committed teachers with the passion to help earnest young people pursue their dreams despite various predicaments. Their pay depends on the country or t

Hashtag Korea March 19, 2023

A grandson of the late former President Chun Doo-hwan alleged that his family was living on illicit funds, has committed crimes and called his grandfather a “slaughterer,” in a shocking Instagram disclosure Tuesday. Chun Woo-won, the second son of the ex-president’s son, Jae-yong, uploaded video clips and posts on his Instagram account, in which he introduced himself as such and confessed the purported wrongdoings of his family. The posts included photos of his family, the in

Social Affairs March 15, 2023