Colourful flowers adorning Seoul’s old palaces are just around corner as spring has officially arrived in Seoul in the middle of March. The Royal Palaces and Tombs Center of Cultural Heritage Administration on Tuesday announced that the spring blossoms in the royal palaces will peak from late March to early April, forecasting blossoms of cherry, apricot, plum and weeping cherry to kick off the season on Thursday. The palace authority chose three places for best flowers in Seoul’s Jos

Travel March 21, 2023

Police are investigating drug allegations stirred up after a series of disclosures by a grandson of the late former President Chun Doo-hwan, Chun Woo-won, through social media, as well as his own drug suspicions. The National Police Agency on Monday said it had partially verified claims made by Chun Woo-won, and that preparations were underway to open a formal investigation. Police acquired a warrant for search and confiscation of Instagram for a closer look into the accused. Chun Woo-won posted

Social Affairs March 21, 2023

Park Kyeong-seok, the leader of the disability rights group that has been staging rush-hour subway protests, was taken into custody on Friday after refusing to turn up for police questioning 18 times. The police took the chief of Solidarity Against Disability Discrimination into custody at 11:50 a.m. outside the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in central Seoul during his press conference. Park held the press conference from inside a cage, with chains around his body, and called out to the polic

Social Affairs March 17, 2023

A vision of the future where humanity has settled into a digital world of the metaverse was presented at the Global Business Forum on Wednesday, at the Ambassador Seoul hotel. At the forum, Philippines Ambassador to South Korea Maria Theresa B. Dizon-De Vega stressed the Philippines’ efforts to prosper in Industry 4.0, which includes virtual and augmented reality, in her welcome remarks. “It is important to embrace the unprecedented convergence of biological, physical and digital wor

People March 17, 2023

Spring has arrived across Korea in the middle of March, with flowers blooming in the warmer provinces along the southern and eastern coasts. Apricot and cornelian cherry flowers bloom the fastest among spring flowers, indicating the end of winter. Here are photos of colorful spring views with those flowers, taken this week across South Korea.

Travel March 15, 2023

Two middle school students were on Wednesday indicted for assault and sexual abuse of another middle school student in an incident that they livestreamed. Daegu District Prosecutors’ Office on Wednesday indicted a 16-year-old and a 15-year old, both of whom were in the ninth grade. The 16-year old boy, who is thought to have played the lead role in the incident, has been detained by authorities. The victim was reportedly sexually abused, with the suspects forcing him to undress and then sp

Social Affairs March 15, 2023

Main opposition Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Jae-myung on Sunday pointed to those practicing "black magic" as being responsible for the desecretion of his parents' grave site in Bonghwa-gun, North Gyeongsang Province. “According to (an expert’s) observation, it is a ritual of black magic to dig holes on all sides of a grave and bury evil objects in them. The practice is meant to block the energy of the grave and curse the descendants in order to annihilate them

Politics March 13, 2023

Prosecutors are seeking one year of imprisonment for a 24-year-old man accused of smashing an unacquainted man’s face with a rock in Jeju City on Jan. 31. The man was caught on security footage hitting the victim with a rock and then fleeing the scene. The victim was watching a street performance at the time. The victim and the assailant appeared to not be connected in any way. Police found that the suspect had been drinking before the assault and battery scene. The victim, in his 20s, suf

Social Affairs March 10, 2023

“The mesmerizing moment of turning a wheel and the soft feeling of the clay led me to seek a career here,” said Kim You-jin, a student studying pottery at the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage. “There wasn't anything special in how I decided on my major, it was just like any other college student,” she added. “It might be destiny that ties me with pottery,” Kim’s schoolmate Ki Jung chimed in, saying majoring in pottery was a natural cho

weekender March 10, 2023

The peak season for cherry blossoms is forecast to reach Seoul in the third week of April after starting in the southernmost province of Jeju on April 1. According to the Korean Forest Service, Mulhyanggi Arboretum and Mount Suri, 20-40 kilometers south from Seoul, will see the peak on April. 11, while the Korea National Arboretum in northern Gyeonggi Province will reach the peak on April 18. The forest authority issued the cherry blossom forecast on March 3, indicating the dates when more than

Travel March 9, 2023

Collecting fandom merchandise, a trend which began with giveaways to entice fans to buy albums, and was found to be one of the biggest reasons behind album purchases, has led to environmental concerns surrounding the disposal of plastic discs. The Korean Consumer Agency on Tuesday announced that 52.7 percent of K-pop fans answered that they had bought albums to “get fandom merchandise” in a survey of 500 citizens who purchased fandom-related goods over the latest two years. Fandom me

K-pop March 8, 2023

A 48-year old man with 24 prior charges of arson as well as an attempted rape charge is being investigated by the police over Saturday night's fire that devastated Incheon's Hyundai Market. According to Incheon Jungbu Police Station, the man is suspected of causing the fire that destroyed 55 shops in the market. The suspect initiated the fire by setting smaller fires at five locations inside and nearby the market at 11 p.m. on Saturday. No injuries have been reported as the market was

Social Affairs March 7, 2023

A group of cats relocated from the southernmost island of Marado are being temporarily housed at a provisional shelter at the Jeju World Natural Heritage Center in Jocheon-eup, northern Jeju Island on Monday. The 42 cats, caught on Wednesday and Thursday, were found to be healthy in a brief check-up by a medical team from Jeju National University's Wildlife Rescue Center following their move to Jeju Island on Friday. Jeju Special Self-Governing Province on Thursday announced that it would r

Social Affairs March 6, 2023

Primary patriots who committed themselves to Korea’s liberation greet people today in full-color photos at Gwanghwamun Plaza in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs on Tuesday began displaying the patriots’ portraits on a billboard outside the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, after bringing color to the original black-and-white, damaged photos with the Generative Facial Prior-Generative Adversarial Network based on artificial intelli

Social Affairs March 1, 2023

Police raided a large illegal gambling den on Wednesday, confiscating 38 million won ($28,700) at a location in Boeun, North Chungcheong Province. A total of 32 people, including the gambling den organizer in her 60s, were caught at the countryside vacation home, Boeun Police Station announced Monday. They were suspected of playing an alternative form of Go-Stop, also known as Hwatu, where a group of people play the Asian card game from both sides of a line and combine scores on each side to dec

Social Affairs Feb. 28, 2023