Educational Broadcasting System recently announced that its “Ding Dong Dang Kindergarten” will welcome its first autistic character in its upcoming episode, marking the first time a local children’s show will feature a character with autistic spectrum disorder. The new character “Byeori” will make her debut on the Friday episode of the show, aired every weekday at 8 a.m. The show describes the child character as perceiving sound, smell and color more strongly than o

Television Aug. 17, 2023

South Korea in recent years has seen a significant rise in both the number of days with midday temperatures of 33 degrees Celsius and above, and the number of "tropical nights," where temperatures remain at or above 25 C throughout the night. To avoid any confusion, the climate of the Korean Peninsula is categorized as temperate, not tropical. Nevertheless, meteorological authorities and people in South Korea and Japan tend to label their sweltering summer nights as "tropical.

Hashtag Korea Aug. 15, 2023

Marking its 70 years, The Korea Herald has played a unique role of being a window between South Korea and the outside world. The Herald was established in 1953, when South Korea’s first President Syngman Rhee commissioned the creation of an English newspaper that would function as the voice of the new-born republic for an international audience. It led the government-funded Korean Information Service to found a four-page tabloid called The Korean Republic. The name was suggested by the KIS

70th anniversary Aug. 13, 2023

A local colonial-era newspaper showing that Japan had commandeered teenage Korean girls for wartime labor during World War II has been discovered, a lawmaker of the main opposition party said Sunday. Rep. Heo Jong-sik of the Democratic Party of Korea revealed the pages of the July 4, 1944 edition of the now-defunct Maeil Shinbo, which showed that 13 girls who had just graduated from an elementary school in Incheon had been dispatched as members of the wartime labor force. Following imperial Japa

Social Affairs Aug. 13, 2023

Korea is known for its harsh summers, with high humidity and daily temperatures often exceeding 30 degrees Celsius. This year's summer, however, may be among the hottest so far, with preliminary data for July showing record high temperatures. As locals scatter in search of the best spots to survive the summer heat, here are some of the country's hottest and coolest regions. Daegu, also known as ‘Dae-frica’ The city of Daegu, located in between North and South Gyeongsang

Hashtag Korea Aug. 8, 2023

Last week, a controversy broke out when a female illustrator for South Korean mobile game called Limbus Company was fired over her alleged allegiance to a radical feminist website. It was found that she had retweeted tweets using derogatory terms for men -- typically used by the said website -- on her social media page before she joined the company. Youth groups and workers’ unions across the country fired complaints, including the Korean Women’s Trade Union, which urged the governme

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2023

The South Korean government said Friday that it will take steps to introduce life sentence without parole as punishment for violent crimes, in response to a series of deadly and seemingly random attacks that have occurred in the past weeks. The announcement came a day after a 22-year-old man injured 14 in what appeared to be a random attack against pedestrians at Seohyeon Station in Bundang, Gyeonggi Province. The culprit -- who showed signs of paranoia -- gave no clear motive to police, fueling

Newsmaker Aug. 4, 2023

Images and messages displayed on a KakaoTalk user's profile can be perceived as a threat, a Seoul court said recently, acknowledging the popular messenger app’s potential use in illegal activities such as making threats or stalking. In a case filed with the Seoul Central District Court, three parents accused the chief of a hagwon, or private education academy, of online threats by posting intimidating photos on his KakaoTalk profile that only they could see. Users of the mobile messen

Social Affairs July 31, 2023

The newest snack craze in South Korea is Meoktaekkang. Convenience stores nationwide are selling out of the fish-flavored snack from local food company Nongshim. For those who may find it hard to understand what the name means, meoktae is one of the many names that Koreans use to refer to Alaska pollack, which is among the most consumed fish here. The "kkang" derives from Nongshim’s signature snack, the shrimp-flavored Saewookkang. The fish, whose most widely recognized Korean na

Hashtag Korea July 29, 2023

Eight months after the deadly Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, none of the officials in charge of the situation at the time has faced legal punishment, with investigations and trials still ongoing. On Tuesday, the Constitutional Court dismissed impeachment of Interior Minister Lee Sang-min, rejecting the National Assembly's request to remove him over the crowd crush that left 159 dead. Police investigating the incident had earlier decided not to seek criminal charges against him. The trial

Social Affairs July 26, 2023

It was a regular Friday morning on Oct. 21, 1994. The 1.2-kilometer Seongnsu Bridge over the Han River in Seoul was bustling with commuting cars as usual, amid light rain. At around 7:38 a.m., a 48-meter-long section of the bridge suddenly cracked and fell onto the river, bringing down several cars with it. A passenger bus came to a screeching halt but failed to escape its fate, as it too plunged to the water below. So did a few other cars. "Minutes after I entered the Seongsu Bridge as u

Hashtag Korea July 26, 2023

South Korean police have investigated some 2,000 suspicious international packages that have been found across the country for the past four days, with no evidence as of yet suggesting that they were sent as an act of terrorism. As of Monday morning, the National Police Agency has tallied up 2,141 reports of packages of an unidentified nature received by individuals in South Korea since the first case was reported around 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. Officials have examined 587 of the parcels, which

Social Affairs July 23, 2023

A 2-year-old girl has died after falling into a pool at an unstaffed kids cafe in Incheon, which was absent of any safety personnel, local police said Sunday. According to the Incheon Seobu Police Station, the child was playing at the facility in Seo-gu, Incheon, Saturday morning, when she fell into the pool with a depth of 67 centimeters. The parent called 119 emergency services, which attempted to resuscitate the child while taking her to a nearby hospital, to no avail. The incident was report

Social Affairs July 23, 2023

At first glance, South Korea appears to have the right mix for an unmanned retail revolution. The country is known for its swift embrace of technology, widespread adoption of cashless payments, well-developed urban centers and relatively low crime rate. But owners of unmanned shops here say that running an automated store is not as glamorous as it may seem. While the cost and hassle of hiring and retaining human staff are eliminated, new issues arise, ranging from littering and shoplifting, to d

Consumer July 18, 2023

South Korean fire authorities recovered the body of one more person presumed to be one of the victims of the deadly flooding of an underpass in Osong-eup, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province on late Monday. According to the officials, the body was found near the entrance of the Gungpyeong 2 underpass in Cheongju at 7:52 p.m. Once confirmed, this will be the last of the 12 people who were reported to have gone missing in the tunnel deluge. This will bring the total death toll from the tragedy to

Social Affairs July 17, 2023