ANSAN, Gyeonggi Province/JINDO, South Jeolla Province -- Time appears to stand still in a classroom in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. The classroom is one of several replica classrooms built in memory of the students and teachers of Danwon High School who lost their lives on a school trip to Jeju Island on April 16, 2014, aboard the Sewol ferry. It is filled with the desks, chairs, blackboards, windows and doors used by the teachers and students before the ferry sank off Jindo in South Jeolla Provinc

Social Affairs April 15, 2024

Unionized bus drivers in Seoul went on their first general strike in 12 years Thursday morning, but withdrew the protest later the same afternoon after reaching an agreement with the city over wages. At 3:20 p.m., the Seoul Metropolitan Government officially announced it had reached a new wage deal with the union and the Seoul Bus Transportation Business Association. According to the deal, the drivers will see a 4.48 percent wage increase and receive up to 650,000 won ($480) in holiday benefits.

Social Affairs March 28, 2024

Bereaved families and surviving victims of last year’s deadly crowd crush in the Itaewon neighborhood of Seoul say they have been left to deal with their pain on their own, as governmental resources were either unavailable or insufficient. Among the 159 people who died after overcrowding reached catastrophic levels in Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, was Choi Joung-joo’s daughter Yu-jin. “My wife wanted to get therapy after our daughter passed, so she made a call to our district offic

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023

On a Saturday night in October, dozens of people were lined up outside the Waikiki Beach Pub in the narrow alley behind the Hamilton Hotel, in Itaewon, Seoul. “We should have arrived before 8:30 p.m.," one said. "There are always lines around 8:30 p.m. these days during the weekend. I heard that we need to wait more than 30 minutes to enter." It was not the only packed bar on Itaewon World Food Street, the center of Itaewon nightlife. Most bars along the street were full of

Social Affairs Oct. 24, 2023