According to a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2020, there has been a notable shift in public opinion in South Korea regarding the acceptance of homosexuality. The survey revealed that the percentage of individuals who believed that homosexuality should be accepted by society increased from 25 percent in 2002 to 44 percent in 2019. This shift suggests growing openness and changing attitudes towards LGBTQ+ issues within South Korean society over the years. However, it's impo

Social Affairs Feb. 19, 2024

Lee Myung-shik, 63, is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of acute myelitis, a condition he developed after retiring from his public service job in 2019. Unable to perform basic bodily functions independently, he requires the constant use of a urinary catheter and the assistance of his daughter to manually remove stool from his rectum. “Usually, when a person’s lower body is paralyzed, they normally do not have any sensation from the affected parts, but it’s different in

Social Affairs Feb. 18, 2024

At Melting Of, a dessert cafe in Seoul’s vibrant Hongdae neighborhood, seven tables buzzed with youthful energy among the predominantly female patrons. "It's too cute to eat!" one woman at a table exclaimed in a high pitch as the order arrived, just a moment before beginning to devour the treats. At another table occupied by a young couple, the woman was absorbed in taking photos of a pandoro sweet bread with cream shaped into a rabbit. She meticulously reviewed each photo

Food Feb. 17, 2024

A free, unmanned monorail has opened in Jung-gu, Seoul, officials said on Friday. The Jung-gu Office said the 100-meter long monorail connecting Shindang Hyundai Apartment to Daehyeonsan Reservoir Park began operating from Thursday. This is the first time in Seoul that the monorail has been introduced as a means of transportation. The monorail has three platforms in total: the starting point, the middle point and the ending point. It takes about 3 to 4 minutes from the departure point to the f

Social Affairs Feb. 16, 2024

People of non-Korean origin are increasingly making their presence felt in South Korea, turning a society historically characterized by cultural and racial homogeneity into one that is increasingly diverse. In 2006, a mere 1.1 percent of people living in Korea were foreign nationals, naturalized Koreans or their children. As of Nov. 1, 2022, their share rose to a record-high 4.4 percent, with 226 million individuals residing in the country for more than 90 days at the point of the survey. This b

Hashtag Korea Feb. 15, 2024

South Korea ranked fourth in the world in terms of the number of Starbucks stores in the country, following the United States, China and Japan, with an increase of over 100 new stores in 2023. According to the Starbucks global website on Sunday, the number of stores in Korea at the end of last year stood at 1,893, marking an increase of 116 from the previous year. There are 38,587 Starbucks stores worldwide, with the US hosting the largest number at 16,466, followed by China with 6,975 stores. T

Industry Feb. 12, 2024

Lee Jung-ah, 36, recently ended her yearlong relationship with her boyfriend, mainly due to her parents’ opposition. They told her they disapproved of him because he did not match up to her professional and educational background. They worried that they would lose face in front of their relatives and acquaintances if she married him. Now, Lee is hoping to find someone who can uphold the "chemyeon" of her father, who is a university professor, although she believes the chances of

Social Affairs Feb. 11, 2024

The top 10 percent of content creators accounted for 76 percent of all creators’ total income in 2022, according to data released Thursday. The National Tax Service data, obtained and released by Rep. Yang Kyung-sook of the Democratic Party of Korea, put the number of people who reported income as individual media creators at 39,366 in 2022 and their total aggregated income at 1.14 trillion won ($859 million). The data showed that the majority of the income is concentrated among some highl

Technology Feb. 9, 2024

Find the answer at the bottom. Seollal, the Korean Lunar New Year, is a time when many families come together to celebrate various traditions and connect with their ancestral heritage. On this day, which falls on Feb. 10 this year, many families perform a ritual called "jesa" or "charye" to remember and honor their ancestors and share a variety of foods. One essential dish to have on Seollal is rice cake soup, called tteokguk. It is believed that eating a bowl of tteokg

Hashtag Korea Feb. 9, 2024

In Korea, the issue of workplace diversity rarely extends to sexual minorities, but some companies -- mostly big exporters with world-class brands and local units of global firms -- have adopted corporate policies that prevent discrimination based on sexual or gender identity. The first company to do so was IBM Korea. In 2011, the Korean unit of the US firm announced a job posting that expressed a preference for hiring individuals from sexual minority groups. Major Korean firms, including Samsun

Hashtag Korea Feb. 5, 2024

Around the world, people with disabilities are less likely to be employed than people without disabilities. In South Korea, the employment rate stands at 36.1 percent for people with disabilities, while the figure for those without a disability is 63 percent. The Korean government and public organizations are required by law to retain 3.4 percent of jobs for individuals with disabilities. In the private sector, companies with more than 50 employees are mandated to fill 3.1 percent of the payro

Social Affairs Feb. 4, 2024

Less than 60 percent of Korean women aged 15-64 work, some 18 percent less than their male counterparts. This, according to the OECD, is the seventh-largest gender disparity in labor force participation among its member nations. Female workers in Korea earned 31.1 percent less than their male counterparts on average as of last year. This gender pay gap is the highest in the club of 38 mostly developed countries and is about 20 percentage points higher than the OECD average of 12 percent. Turni

Hashtag Korea Feb. 1, 2024

In 2011, Cho was 12 years old when the first baby arrived. He recalled sensing the presence of a new family member in the house when he came home from school one day -- the air smelled different, with the scents of milk and of an infant. Entering the house, he stumbled over baby products. Then, there, in the center of the living room lying on a blanket neatly spread out, was a small baby. “The baby was so tiny and I constantly checked to see if he was breathing,” said Cho Ddol-bok,

Hashtag Korea Jan. 31, 2024

South Korea defaults to heterosexuality as the predominant sexual identity publicly represented by political leaders. Among national politicians and elected parliamentarians, there have not been any public disclosures of a politician's sexual orientation throughout Korea’s entire legislative history. This lack of openly acknowledged LGBTQ+ representation in the country's top political leadership underscores the degree of exclusion and discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ individuals in

Politics Jan. 25, 2024

As of 2022, individuals with disabilities make up 5.2 percent of South Korea's population. Using basic arithmetic, this percentage corresponds to approximately 15 seats in the country’s 300-member unicameral parliament. In reality, just four seats are currently occupied by individuals with disabilities, constituting only 1.3 percent. The first person with a disability to win a parliamentary seat as a constituency representative was Lee Chul-yong. In 1988, on the ticket of the libera

Politics Jan. 24, 2024