Last month, a college student on an e-scooter fell after her neck got caught on a thin rope from a political banner that was tied to a post, at a crossroad at around 9 p.m. in Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. The vocal music major suffered an abrasion on her neck. She said she didn’t see the rope as it was too dark. Anyone who has passed through an intersection in South Korea, especially in Seoul, would have noticed large political banners, as well as many other placards advertising various businesses

Politics March 14, 2023

Honorific titles can be tricky in many cultures, but can be particularly baffling in South Korea -- where various factors like social status, age, work experience and even social prejudice can be factored in. This series delves into the myriad of ways people address each other in the Korean language. -- Ed. President Yoon Suk Yeol scrapped Korea’s traditional way of counting age, in which a person is considered one at birth, and grows a year older on the first day of the new year. The re

Hashtag Korea March 14, 2023

In the 2009 movie “Avatar,” set in the year 2154, the Earth’s natural resources have been depleted, so people explore another star system to mine a valuable mineral. But before going to outer space, mankind can rely on Antarctica, a well-preserved continent twice the size of Australia, and the vast Southern Ocean -- also called the Antarctic Ocean -- around it, rich in water, food and mineral resources. The kilometers-thick ice and snow covering the continent hold in store th

Technology March 13, 2023

Imagine 2050. Two out of five people in South Korea will be aged 65 or above. You will see more older people on self-driving buses and trains, although they may look much younger than those of their age now. More young people will be engaged in businesses that serve the old, like health care, clubs and cruise ships. Yet, the government and media are tormented by the notion that there will be too few young people to support the old. In a country where so many social problems stem from cutthroat c

Hashtag Korea March 11, 2023

Over a thousand dead dogs were found on the grounds of a house in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, and police are investigating a man in his 60s on charges of violating animal protection law. The man said he collected abandoned dogs and starved them to death, but animal rights activists allege that he was paid by dog breeders to get rid of dogs who couldn’t get pregnant anymore or whose commercial value had dipped. A representative of animal rights group Care told cable news channel MBN that

Social Affairs March 6, 2023

In December last year, a sport utility vehicle driven by a 68-year-old woman suddenly raced about 600 meters forward for about 30 seconds before falling into an underpass in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. The driver’s 12-year-old grandson was killed, while the driver suffered severe injuries. Lee Sang-hoon, the driver’s son and the child’s father, filed an online petition with the National Assembly, attached to a revised bill written by a lawyer to make the carmaker responsible f

Social Affairs March 3, 2023

A staff of Korea Railroad is facing disciplinary action after looking up BTS member RM’s booking details and personal information such as his address and mobile phone number from the KORAIL system. RM responded to the news with an emoji of smiling eyes with a semicolon, denoting polite embarrassment. The railway operator said it conducted an internal inspection upon receiving a report that a worker in the IT department told a fellow employee that she or he had checked RM’s booking de

Social Affairs March 2, 2023

A 30-year-old incumbent local councilor began his alternative military service last week, portending a legal dispute over whether people should be allowed to hold public office while serving. Kim Min-seok, a councilor of Seoul’s Gangseo-gu, was elected to the office through the local elections on June 1 last year on the People Power Party’s ticket, with his mandatory military service still pending. All able-bodied men in South Korea are required to serve in the military for 18-22 mon

Politics Feb. 28, 2023

Kim Da-young, a contestant on the Netflix competition reality series “Physical 100,” said she was only verbally abusive to other students back in middle school, but did not physically hurt or extort things from anyone, denying any claims that she did. Kim posted an apology and denial on her Instagram on Friday following an accusation by a purported ex-schoolmate which went viral, saying that Kim extorted cash from her and her friends, and took them to a karaoke room and physically as

Social Affairs Feb. 26, 2023

San Francisco-based OpenAI’s ChatGPT may not be having quite the impact in South Korea as it is the English-speaking world so far, but it certainly has a demographic here pondering its ramifications -- English teachers, learners and others in the English education business. YouTube is teeming with videos on how ChatGPT can write emails, correct sentences, figure out the different nuances of words, use idioms and explain grammar – all of which can help people improve their English wit

Social Affairs Feb. 24, 2023

Vasectomies are often topics of conversation among couples who have already had enough children or for those who do not want any in the first place. Condoms or abstinence are the only other options for male contraception, while there are several available to women, including hormonal pills, IUD implants, vaginal rings and diaphragms. Recent research results suggest that an on-demand, non-hormonal male contraceptive pill might someday become a reality, as scientists have found a cell pathway, or

Industry Feb. 22, 2023

Even with AI doing, or “assisting,” more and more human jobs in the future, there’s one thing we will continue to do every day even a hundred years from now: eating. Yes, there may one day be capsules containing all the necessary nutrients that we can gulp down when we can’t be bothered to chew. But gastronomy and conversing (or arguing) at the dining table are integral parts of human life that differentiate us from other animals, or robots. And it takes at least an hou

Social Affairs Feb. 21, 2023

A two-kilogram brick thrown from the top of a five-story building by children smashed the outdoor condenser of an air-conditioner, and a second one fell right in front of a shopkeeper who came out to see what caused the crashing sound. The shopkeeper is getting medical treatment for the traumatic experience, but because the children are aged under 10, the police can’t do anything other than write down their personal details, a local broadcaster reported Thursday. The children were caught b

Social Affairs Feb. 17, 2023

"History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over the seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. It was one of the most daring infiltrations by North Koreans into South Korea after the war of 1950-53 -- 31 commandos on a mission to break into the presidential office in Seoul and assassinate then President Park Chung-hee. On the night of Jan. 21, 1968,

North Korea Feb. 16, 2023

  ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot taking the English-speaking world by storm, is being called by many as a mind-blowing “game changer.” For now, East Asian countries, which use their own search engines and platforms different from the rest of the world, are spared by the immediate impact, although it won’t be long before AI is trained to get information from them as well, according to Jieun Kiaer, a professor of Korean linguistics at the University of Oxford.

Social Affairs Feb. 13, 2023