[Newsmaker] S. Korea’s working hours decrease 10% over decade

South Koreans' working hours may have decreased by 10 percent compared to a decade ago, but the country still works longer hours than most of its OECD peers, ranking fifth among them, data found Monday. According to the recent OECD's data, Koreans worked 1,915 hours last year, the fifth-longest among 38 OECD member countries. The hours marked a 10.3 percent decline from 10 years earlier, when the country topped the list with 2,136 hours in 2011. Despite the decrease in average annual hours worke

Nov. 14, 2022

[Newsmaker] Biden working on ties with Southeast Asia in shadow of China

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- President Joe Biden is formally kicking off his participation at a conference of southeast Asian nations on Saturday, looking to emphasize the United States' commitment in the region where a looming China is also working to expand its influence.   Biden's efforts at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit are meant to lay the groundwork ahead of his highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping _ the first face-to-face encounter of Biden's pr

Nov. 12, 2022

[Newsmaker] Trump urged to delay 2024 launch after GOP’s uneven election

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was supposed to be a red wave that former President Donald Trump could triumphantly ride to the Republican nomination as he prepares to launch another White House run. Instead, Tuesday night’s disappointing results for the GOP are raising new questions about Trump’s appeal and the future of a party that has fully embraced him, seemingly at its peril, while at the same time giving new momentum to his most potent potential rival. Indeed, some allies were call

Nov. 10, 2022

[Newsmaker] K-ETA draws complaints from travelers

Over a year after an online travel permit system called the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) for nationals of over 100 visa-waiver countries came into effect, international travelers’ experiences with the new system have been mixed, highlighting the need for consistency and transparency in the K-ETA’s application approval process. The system was meant to speed up the entry process for travelers upon arrival here, while saving those who would be denied entry unnecessary t

Nov. 8, 2022

[Newsmaker] French chef’s culinary tour to Itaewon ends in tragedy

Guenego Limamou, a 34-year-old French chef whose favorite Korean food was dak galbi (spicy stir-fried chicken), visited Itaewon on Oct. 29 to explore local eateries in the back alleys of Seoul's popular nightlife district. His anticipated trip to learn about the world of Korean cuisine, however, came to a tragic end when the neighborhood became the site of a disaster. He was among the 156 people who died in the fatal crowd crush in Itaewon. “He planned to create some French dishes ble

Nov. 7, 2022

[Newsmaker] Biden, Obama, Trump target key state in midterms countdown

PHILADELPHIA -- US President Joe Biden, Democratic superstar Barack Obama and Republican firebrand Donald Trump all converged in Pennsylvania on Saturday to push their parties to the finishing line in a race Biden said marks a "defining" moment for US democracy. The battle of the serving and two former presidents marked the start of a final crescendo before Tuesday when Americans will decide who controls Congress during the last two years of Biden's first term. Polls put Republica

Nov. 6, 2022

[Newsmaker] S. Korea, US flesh out plans to enhance extended deterrence against N. Korean threats

WASHINGTON -- South Korea and the United States on Thursday fleshed out their plans to enhance the viability of US extended deterrence against escalating North Korean threats after months of discussion. The US also publicly sent a strong warning against North Korea’s nuclear saber-rattling at the annual bilateral security talks. South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reached an agreement at the 54th Security Consultative Meeting on Thursday at the

Nov. 4, 2022

[Newsmaker] Grassroots campaigns emerge to help grieving families of foreign victims

Expat communities in South Korea are rallying behind grieving families of foreign victims of the Itaewon tragedy for whom bringing their loved one home is another ordeal fraught with administrative, financial and language barriers. As of Thursday, only four of the 26 foreign nationals who died in the Oct. 29 crowd crush in Itaewon had been repatriated. Three more are expected to return home Friday, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. South Korea has pledged to treat all 156 victims equ

Nov. 3, 2022

[Newsmaker] Why Itaewon disaster was more fatal for women than men

Of the 154 fatalities from last weekend’s Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, nearly two thirds were women. As of Monday, a total of 98 women are confirmed to have been killed in the deadly human stampede, compared to 56 men. The significant gender gap has led many to wonder why the accident proved to be much more fatal to women than men. The gender ratio of the crowd at the time of the deadly crush remains unclear, but some medical experts say those with smaller body frames and less physica

Oct. 31, 2022

[Newsmaker] Citizens volunteer to perform CPR during Itaewon accident

  In the aftermath of Saturday night’s crowd surge in Itaewon, citizens joined efforts to save the victims by performing cardio-pulmonary resuscitation and offering other assistance. Video clips that capture the chaotic scenes shortly after the incident happened show a number of volunteers performing CPR in the street, alongside paramedics and emergency rescuers. The videos show people calling out for help for medical experts or anyone who knew how to perform CPR. Lee Beom-suk, one of

Oct. 30, 2022

[Newsmaker] Hanoi-Yangyang flights on hold after Vietnamese tourists go missing

Over 60 Vietnamese tourists who entered South Korea this month using the visa-free system have fallen out of contact with immigration authorities, raising suspicion that the individuals came here for illegal stay. Sixty-seven out of 1,600 Vietnamese tourists who came through Yangyang International Airport in Gangwon Province from Oct. 13-25 for packaged tours remain unaccounted for, as of Friday, according to the Korean Immigration Service. Earlier this week, Vietnamese media reported that its F

Oct. 28, 2022

[Newsmaker] Greenhouse gases reach new record in 2021

GENEVA -- The three main greenhouse gases hit record high levels in the atmosphere last year, the UN weather agency said Wednesday, calling it an “ominous” sign as war in Ukraine, rising costs of food and fuel, and other worries have elbowed in on longtime concerns about global warming in recent months. “More bad news for the planet,” the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement along with its latest annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. It’s one of several r

Oct. 27, 2022

[Newsmaker] Dashed dreams: Young Koreans' leveraged investments backfire

When stock and crypto markets were hot and borrowing costs were cheap, many younger South Koreans, who typically had strong risk appetite but little capital to invest, dabbled in leveraged investing, known as “bittoo” in Korean. Many of these young investors had dreamed of getting rich quick and retiring young to become a new member of “FIRE tribe” -- the acronym standing for financially independent, retire early. But many are now suffering, as markets have tanked and int

Oct. 25, 2022

[Newsmaker] Depression, panic disorder fester in Korea as social stigma persists

Two-hundred and fifty-six. That's the number of people between age 10 and 20 that took their lives due to mental health problems last year. Of a total 13,205 deaths by suicide in 2021, some 5,258 had histories of mental health treatment, according to police data provided by Rep. Oh Young-hwan of the main opposition Democratic Party. The same data shows that the number of suicides aged 10-29 age groups jumped each year from 2019, with the figure for the latter marking 888 as of 2021. The figures

Oct. 24, 2022

[Newsmaker] Another worker injured at SPC bread factory

A worker was injured at one of South Korean bakery giant SPC Group’s bread-making factories on Sunday, just two days after its chief extended a public apology in response to a deadly accident in another factory run by the bakery group. A factory worker in his 40s lost a finger when trying to sort out defective products from a conveyer belt at a Shany bread-making factory operated by SPC Group in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, at around 6:10 a.m., police said. Two more workers were reportedly

Oct. 23, 2022

[Newsmaker] Church finalizes punishment on pastor for blessing LGBT people

The Korean Methodist Church’s court on Thursday upheld its earlier decision to suspend a pastor from his duties for two years for blessing sexual minorities in 2019. “According to the creed of the Methodist Church, praying in front of sexual minorities can be seen as advocating or agreeing with their actions,” the court said, on why it decided to deny the appeal made by Rev. Lee Dong-hwan, the 42-year-old pastor of Glory Jeil Church in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The decision was

Oct. 21, 2022

[Newsmaker] Disability rights group continues subway protests despite leader's sentence

A disabled advocacy group continued its daily rush-hour subway protests on Wednesday, criticizing a Seoul court’s decision to hand down a suspended prison sentence to the leader of the group. Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination members on Wednesday began the protest at Seoul National University of Education Station on Subway Line No. 2. They were scheduled to later move to the National Assembly Station on Subway Line No. 9 and march to the People Power Party’s headquarters

Oct. 19, 2022

[Newsmaker] South Korean lawyers voice solidarity with women in Iran

Human rights lawyers gathered outside the Iranian embassy in Seoul on Tuesday in a show of support for women in Iran. “We stand with the women of Iran who are courageously fighting against appalling repression, and urge the Iranian government to stop the violent crackdown of protesters and respect the freedom of women and girls,” the lawyers said in a joint statement. “Today we join people around the world who have taken to the streets to support the women in Iran, who are r

Oct. 18, 2022

[Newsmaker] Kakao Outage: What happens when a country heavily relies on one super app?

Tech giant Kakao has said most of its services have been restored following an extended outage that began Saturday. But as the country suffered a digital blackout for many hours, the dominance of its "super app" has been called into question. Launched in 2010 as a messaging app, KakaoTalk grew in popularity exponentially over the years and branched out to other areas such as shopping and banking. Kakao also launched in-house apps that work in connection with KakaoTalk, such as ride-hai

Oct. 17, 2022

[Newsmaker] Netflix to charge W5,500 a month for new ad-supported plan

  Global streaming platform Netflix will introduce a new ad-supported plan in Korea, which will charge its users 5,500 won ($3.85) a month from Nov. 4. Users of the new and cheaper advertising-supported tier will have to watch 15-to-30 second advertisements before and during Netflix content. A total of around four to five minutes long advertisements will be streamed per hour to subscribers, according to Netflix. Some Netflix content will not be available for the new plan’s users

Oct. 14, 2022