A densely populated city, but also individualistic. Huge skyscrapers and state-of-the-art facilities coexisting with old-fashioned street corners. If one asks residents living in Seoul to picture the city, these are a few of the most common answers. The old and new seem to fit harmoniously together in the city, but even greater value is hidden underneath the bustling city when an architect views the landscape. Architect Kim Young-soo is CEO of More Less Architects. Between carrying out projec

Culture March 23, 2021

The burning of leftover inventory to preserve brand value is still a common practice in the fashion industry. Other items end up in landfills. But brands are coming up with new ideas to minimize waste and hopefully save the environment. RE;CODE is a South Korean fashion brand launched in 2012 by Kolon Industries. Under the slogan “This is not just fashion,” the brand aims to encourage conscientious purchasing by upcycling deadstock. Choi Young-jin, a senior designer at RE;CODE, dis

Arts & Design March 16, 2021

진행자: 김혜연 Naomi Garyan 1. Boys no longer preferred 요약: 통계청의 작년 출생성비가 104.9명을 기록하면서, 43년 만에 남자 아이 비중이 최저 수준을 기록했다. [1] Statistics Korea’s data on Monday showed the male ratio at birth in South Korea fell to the lowest level last year, implicating the end of the country’s long-held tradition of boy preference. *long-held: 오랫동안 간직해 온 (생각 따위를) 지니다, 믿다 *preference: 선호(도), 애호 [2] The gender ratio at birth, or the number of baby boys per every 100 baby girls born, stood at 104.9 in 20

Podcast March 3, 2021

As the harsh winter season is gradually coming to an end, fresh spots are opening up on the street corners of Hongdae, Seoul, for those who can sing, dance and are ready to perform in front of crowds this coming spring. The Mapo-gu district office’s tourism department said Monday it will begin recruiting artists for the event, “2021 Hongdae Culture Tour - To Hongdae, to culture, and to tourism,” to be held at the Walking Street in the popular district. 　 The categories for th

Culture Feb. 17, 2021

Starting this year, award certificates presented by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will be on “hanji,” Korea’s traditional paper handmade from mulberry trees. The purpose is to support the nation’s hanji industry, which is suffering from a lack of demand despite its competitive quality, the ministry announced. The ministry stated on Tuesday that they had established a hanji consultative body in October 2020, with the participation of both central and local

Culture Feb. 16, 2021

The Ministry of Justice is accelerating its efforts to implement a birth registration system for non-Korean children born in South Korea, in a bid to provide legal status to newborns, regardless of their parents’ social and legal status. On Monday, the ministry held a policy committee meeting and deliberated on introducing a “foreign child birth registration system.” As the current system is riddled with problems, the ministry has been pushing for the enactment of a special l

Social Affairs Feb. 16, 2021

In a deep, dark underground tunnel, photos of a young man appear, alongside those of his favorite music albums, films, endearing messages exchanged with his parents and video clips of him fooling around cheerfully with his friends. As one walks through the tunnel, the young man’s access card for Taean power station appears. It reads, “Name: Kim Yong-kyun; Expiration date: 2018-12-31.” Those are scenes from the last episode of season 2 of MBC’s VR documentary series, &l

Television Feb. 12, 2021

South Korean car-sharing app operator SoCar is facing a public outcry over a sexual assault case involving one of its users. A local news report suggests that the company slowed down the police investigation when it failed to promptly turn over the suspect’s information. The accused man, who is in his 30s, reportedly rented a car from SoCar on Saturday and allegedly used it to pick up the teenage girl who later accused him of sexual assault. The two had met in an online chat room, the r

Social Affairs Feb. 10, 2021

The 2020 Tokyo Olympics has been facing various hurdles so far, the biggest one being the COVID-19 pandemic, but now internal problems have surfaced, threatening to further hamper the event’s progress. The Tokyo Olympics’ organizing committee chief Yoshiro Mori caused public outrage when he made derogatory remarks against women in a board meeting speech last week. He was quoted as saying that “a board meeting with many women will make it drag on,” while adding that women

Olympic Games Feb. 9, 2021

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Friday that it will implement the city’s comprehensive cleanup measures to help residents spend Lunar New Year‘s Day in a pleasant environment. To prevent inconvenience during the holiday period, the government plans to designate both discharging and collection dates of domestic waste, dividing the dates for different regions into three sections: before, during and after the Lunar New Year’s Day. Starting next week, from Monday to

Social Affairs Feb. 5, 2021

Artificial intelligence is on the way to help out police officers pinched for time, as they are overloaded with filing reports and handling disputes on the scene simultaneously. The National Police Agency said Thursday that it will invest some 7 billion won ($6.2 million) in government contributions to develop the AI-based 112 Emergency Decision Support System by 2024. Currently, the city and provincial police departments’ integrated situation rooms receive an average of 19 million 112 e

Social Affairs Feb. 5, 2021

Artists with less than two years of experience will be eligible to receive “art creation funds” from March, to help carry on their initial art productions with financial stability. Unfair practices that have lingered over the nation’s arts scene, such as overdue wages, are also to be addressed. The Korea Artists Welfare Foundation, under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced its 2021 business plan on Jan. 27. On the agenda are the establishment of the New Arti

Culture Feb. 5, 2021

For over a decade, preferences for foreign language classes have favored some languages over others, and by 2022, only one French teacher will be left in Seoul's public schools. To guarantee that students have a choice of subjects and maintain a diverse range of language education offerings, growing concerns have risen over the need to appoint new eligible teachers. According to the Korea Association of French Professors and Teachers (ACPF), on Wednesday, there are currently nine French teac

Social Affairs Feb. 2, 2021

A 64-year-old man, who ran a fried-chicken restaurant located in Jangsu, North Jeolla Province, passed away in a tryout for forest fire watchers, police said Monday. The man lost consciousness during the fitness test held at a gym in Jangsu in the afternoon on Jan. 29, then later died, according to the Jeonbuk Police Station. At the time of the accident, the man had been carrying a 15-kilogram backpack equipped with an oxygen pump while running along a 1.2-kilometer track. The man reportedly c

Social Affairs Feb. 2, 2021

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, South Korea’s leading science and tech university, will launch an online forum with three other renowned universities, exploring ways to gain a competitive edge in the industrial sector in the COVID-19 era. The online forum titled, “The Roles and Responsibilities of Universities in a Global Crisis,” will be livestreamed on Wednesday, featuring a range of issues that affect universities in the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Social Affairs Feb. 2, 2021