For foreign residents in Korea who do not speak the local language, now may feel like the most dangerous time to live here since the pandemic began. Over the recent week, over 200,000 people a day in South Korea have been diagnosed with COVID-19. With no sign yet of the country pulling out of the omicron surge, the pressure on the medical system is increasing dangerously day by day. Yet, all patients are supposed to take responsibility for their own safe recovery at home, unless they belong

Social Affairs March 8, 2022

The following is part of Seoul Subway Stories, a newly launched Korea Herald series exploring the subway stations and surrounding areas across the city. – Ed.  For the past 40 years, Apgujeong, the Beverly Hills of Seoul, has seen the rise and fall of its commercial corridors that have been leading trends in high fashion, fine dining and even plastic surgery in the country. Changes in consumer behavior caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic is giving fresh impetus to the dist

Social Affairs March 3, 2022

A series of accidents involving trucks mounted with aerial ladders have prompted safety concerns in South Korea, where these ladders are widely used for moving in and out of tall apartment buildings. On Monday, a ladder of a moving truck collapsed in an apartment complex in Nowon-gu, Seoul, killing one resident and injuring another. Police suspect the ladder’s length at the time of the accident to have been around 40 meters, given that the accident took place after finishing moving hous

Social Affairs Feb. 23, 2022

In a country known for long working hours, short vacations, and a culture of competition and pressure, many Koreans experience lethargy and burnout syndrome. It’s so common that it is even regarded as a rite of passage at the workplace. Koreans worked 1,967 hours a year per employee in 2019, 241 hours more than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development average of 1,726 hours. It had the second-longest working hours among OECD member countries. A survey conducted on some

Social Affairs Feb. 22, 2022

  Retired Korean Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yuna on Monday voiced concerns about violations of anti-doping rules that undermine fairness in sport in an apparent criticism of the international sport body’s decision to allow a Russian skater to continue to compete at the Beijing Olympics despite failing a pre-game drug test. “Athlete who violates doping cannot compete in the game. This principle must be observed without exception. All players’ efforts and dre

Olympic Games Feb. 15, 2022

An empty residential property in Daegu, North Gyeongsang Province is drawing throngs of visitors in recent days following reports that it would soon be the home of the impeached President Park Geun-hye, who is currently in hospital. Park’s close aide and lawyer Yoo Young-ha reportedly signed a contract to purchase the property in Ssanggye-ri, Dalseong County, for around 2.5 billion won ($2.08 million). It consists of a main building with two stories and one basement level as well as thr

Social Affairs Feb. 14, 2022

Becoming a farmer carries a high risk, with volatile weather and soil conditions affecting farm crops in a blink. The risk, exacerbated by global warming, has been mitigated for Lee Kyung-ju, a former IT office worker-turned farmer who has been growing cucumbers with the help of a smart farm system since 2020. He kicks off his day by checking his smartphone application showing the farming weather forecast and agricultural commodity prices. He then arrives at his 6,000 square-meter farm in C

People Feb. 11, 2022

The South Korean government is mulling over whether to provide free self-testing kits for COVID-19 and who to give them to, amid growing supply shortage fears induced by recent changes in pandemic treatment measures. Demand for self-test kits has surged since the government began to prioritize high-risk groups on Feb. 3, including those aged 60 and over, for access to immediate polymerase chain reaction tests. Under the new system aimed at dealing with the omicron-fueled COVID-19 wave, the re

Social Affairs Feb. 10, 2022

An association of disability groups in South Korea is continuing their protest actions at subway stations, disrupting operations during the morning rush hour for the fourth weekday in a row. On Tuesday, some members of the Solidarity against Disability Discrimination staged a rally at Chungmuro Station at around 7:30 a.m., demanding the government do more to help disabled people. “The protest by the disability rights group, which was held on the morning of Feb. 8, ended at 10:18 a.m.,

Social Affairs Feb. 8, 2022

Transparent and unbiased data will help potential voters and politicians make rational choices, putting an end to the era of heavily skewed public polls and knee-jerk policy reactions. This is the guiding philosophy at Oxopolitics, where scores of data engineers are working to change political decision making with the power of data. “I wanted to build an open data platform that enables each user to have their say about politics and see the data on themselves, like-minded people and al

Politics Feb. 6, 2022

Old ramshackle mom-and-pop stores have provided a lasting subject for Lee Me-kyeoung, a 53-year-old painter, from the human life cycle to childhood nostalgia, when no one even showed the slightest interest in them. “When I started to draw small stores back in late 90s, people hated to see outdated and obsolete things,” Lee said during an interview with The Korea Herald. Lee has produced more than 450 pen drawings on mom-and-pop stores in small villages across the nation in the

Arts & Design Jan. 27, 2022

Self-assessment of one‘s attractive qualities is a critical step to becoming a successful influencer, according to Ryo Chu-hyeop, a 36-year old YouTuber and South Korea’s first professor of “influencer affairs.” In order to make other people follow you online, aspiring influencers need to ruminate on their own ideas and thoughts and what kind of attributes they have to attract others. “Attractiveness does not necessarily mean (physical) beauty. It can be somet

People Jan. 26, 2022

Heavy show fell in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces on Wednesday, prompting authorities to issue alerts over potential traffic disturbances and frozen roads. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Seoul received 3.5 centimeters of snow while Gangwon Province‘s Seoraksan and the southeastern Ulleung Island saw heavy snow of 18.5 centimeters and 19.5 centimeters, respectively, as of 2 p.m. The weather agency lifted a heavy snow alert, which indicates that snow of at le

Social Affairs Jan. 19, 2022

Nearly 400 empty school buildings, chiefly in rural areas, are sitting idle after closing their doors due to lack of students, government data showed Tuesday. The Ministry of Education has a thorny task of giving new life to abandoned classrooms. As of May last year, a total of 3,855 schools have closed across South Korea in nearly 40 years since 1982, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Education, as the number of students declined to just 60.3 percent of 1990 levels. The data on

Culture Jan. 18, 2022

KF94 masks, the Korean version of an N95 mask, are gaining popularity in the United States, with experts calling for upgraded protective options over cloth masks as the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly throughout the country. Michael Baym, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School shared his review of using KF94 masks produced by Korean firm Dr. Puri. “They’re very comfortable. I was also happy to see on the CDC/NIOSH testing page that they test at ove

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2022