Ihwa-dong, located near Naksan Park in the northern part of central Seoul, is a quaint community which used to be a dull shantytown a decade ago. In 2006, with the help of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the community transformed itself through what they called the “Naksan Project.” A total of 68 artists gathered to paint walls and install sculptures. An ordinary village soon turned into a booming tourist spot. Despite its off-the-beaten-path location, the mural village has become overcrowd

Social Affairs March 14, 2016

Patients covered with masks wait to see doctor at a hospital in Seoul. (Yonhap)The Ministry of Environment on Friday refuted a report claiming a legislative flaw allowed the manufacturing and distribution of Oxy Reckitt Benckiser’s toxic air conditioner detergents.Oxy Reckitt Benckiser is the maker of one of the humidifier disinfectants blamed for the loss of 180 lives and lung damage to a thousand others. Its leading household brands include Oxy Ssak Ssak, Cherie and Powerclean.According to loc

Social Affairs March 11, 2016

President Park Geun-hye plants a tree at Cheong Wa Dae to celebrate Arbor Day in 2015. (Cheong Wa Dae)Due to constantly rising temperatures worldwide caused by global warming, South Korea’s local governments voiced concerns that National Arbor Day should be held earlier in a more suitable tree-planting season.Currently, Arbor Day falls on April 5, when nationwide tree-planting campaigns and events kick off.The Korea Forest Service, which has been hosting Arbor Day over the past 70 years, said ch

Social Affairs March 10, 2016

A mother is holding her newborn at a postnatal center in South Korea. (Yonhap)A two-week stay at a Seoul postnatal care center will cost an average of 3 million won ($2,500) for mothers, according to the city on Wednesday. A survey of 159 postpartum care centers in Seoul showed that the most expensive postnatal facility was located in Gangnam-gu, where mothers pay at least 600,000 won per night. The cheapest stay was available in Gangseo-gu, at 100,000 won per night.Postnatal care centers’ popul

Social Affairs March 9, 2016

A passenger tags his metro card at the subway station in Seoul on Tuesday. (Yonhap)For Kim Eun-ji, a 26-year-old woman living in a Seoul suburb, checking if anyone approaches her at subway turnstiles has become a habit. “I’m worried if someone will again ask to bypass the turnstiles together. An old lady once asked if she could walk through the turnstile when I tagged my metro card. It was ridiculous, but it happened so quickly,” Kim said. Despite Seoul City’s efforts to curb illegal subway ride

Social Affairs March 8, 2016

Seoul City Mayor Park Won-Soon visits Oksu Station on Monday in a move to check safaty at public subways. (Yonhap)The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday it will operate a revamped emergency alert system in subways, in a move to toughen safety during train breakdowns and cyber terror threats.Seoul Metro, which operates Subway Lines Nos. 1-4, will implement an on-air emergency alert announcement system that can still run during power failures. During blackouts, the center control system wil

Social Affairs March 7, 2016

Referring to the recent crisis on the Korean Peninsula, a Chinese newspaper compared Korea to pieces in a game of “baduk” (the board game also known as Go) between China and the United States. Reading the editorial, right-wing Koreans became furious, taking the remarks as an insolent affront to the dignity of Korea. On the contrary, left-wing Koreans took them as a cynical reminder that China and the States, not Korea, are the countries that can solve our problems. The Chinese editorial reminded

Viewpoints March 1, 2016

I landed in Seoul for the first time some years ago and spent a good portion of a year working with one of Korea’s largest industrial complexes, a chaebol.  I not only learned the business attributes of Korea, but I also experienced the culture of the country, its rich history, and the nation’s incredible people.I was astounded that Seoul had been rebuilt into one of the most prominent mega-cities in the world after it was turned to rubble just a couple of generations ago, beset by the Korean Wa

Viewpoints March 1, 2016

It is almost impossible to assess the progress of the United States economy over the past four decades without feeling disappointed. From the perspective of the typical American, nearly one-third of the country’s productive potential has been thrown away on spending that adds nothing to real wealth or destroyed by the 2008 financial crisis.Since the mid-1970s, the U.S. has ramped up spending on health care administration by about 4 percent of gross domestic product and increased expenditure on o

Viewpoints March 1, 2016

SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS, Mexico (AFP) -- Pope Francis reached out to Mexico’s long-marginalized indigenous population on Monday, asking for forgiveness over their exclusion as he celebrated an open-air mass in native languages in impoverished Chiapas state. Pope Francis waves upon his arrival for a meeting with families at the Victor Manuel Reyna stadium in Tuxtla Gutierrez, southern Mexico on Monday. (AFP-Yonhap)While Chiapas is the country’s least Catholic state, tens of thousands of people

World News Feb. 16, 2016

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks at the 'Supporting Syria and the Region' conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2016. Leaders and diplomats from 70 countries are meeting in London Thursday to pledge billions to help millions of Syrians displaced by war, and try to slow the chaotic exodus of refugees to Europe. (Dan Kitwood Pool via AP)World leaders pledged more than $10 billion Thursday to help fund schools, shelter and jobs for refugees from

World News Feb. 5, 2016

BEIJING (AP) --The United States and China sparred Wednesday on how to deal with North Korea's latest nuclear weapons test and ease rising tensions over territorial disputes in the South China Sea.After meeting for more than four hours in Beijing in what they both termed ``constructive'' and ``candid'' discussions, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi nonetheless presented sharply opposing positions on the two issues at a news conference.Kerry acknowledged that

World News Jan. 27, 2016

Rescue workers investigate at the crash site of the Russian passenger airplane which crashed at the Hassana area in Arish city, north Egypt, on November 1, 2015. Egyptian and international investigators on Sunday have begun probing the reasons of the Russian plane that crashed in Egypt`s Sinai peninsula on Saturday which killed all 224 on board. (Xinhua/Ahmed Gomaa)/YonhapST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) ― Mystery and confusion surrounded the final moments of a Russian jetliner that plummeted suddenl

World News Nov. 3, 2015