Choi Won-suk is a photojournalist at The Korea Times. Before joining the newspaper, he also worked as a photojournalist with AFP and St. Joseph News-Press in Missouri. He spent 13 years in the United States, graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism degree (Cum Laude) from the University of Missouri - Columbia and a Master of Arts in Photography from Ohio University - Athens. Over the past 11 years, Choi covered various news events such as presidential elections, the 2019 North Korea-United States Hanoi Summit and 2022 Qatar World Cup. But above all, Choi believes in local journalism and finds a lot of joy telling life stories of ordinary citizens in small neighborhoods.
Puppy kindergarten gaining popularity among full-time workers
A puppy kindergarten is gaining popularity among full-time workers who are too busy to take care of their pets in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.
The kindergarten named Puppy's Spring, provides daily care services and training programs for dogs above 12 weeks old and already been vaccinated. Every morning, pet owners bring their puppies to the kindergarten and hand them to professional trainers who are responsible for designing courses based on puppies' characteristics and needs. In classes, dogs are trained to distinguish different smells and this can help them become more obedient. Games are their favorite, through which sociability is developed.
"According to our rules, the kindergarten can only accommodate 25 puppies each day. The reason some pet owners take their puppies here is that they do not have much time taking care of these little ones, so dogs have to be at home alone for a long time. But here, they can play with other dog friends," said An Bo-ra, a trainer at the kindergarten.
Besides physical exercises, puppies have a nap time to relax with light music in the background.
"I can know how well my puppy is doing at the kindergarten by the daily notes provided by trainers, which I think is really good. The kindergarten's website also updates pictures of my puppy, which is quite considerate too," said a pet owner.
The monthly fee at the puppy kindergarten is around 210 to 670 U.S. dollars and it may vary based on the age and the times of attending classes. Apart from pet kindergartens, pet finance, pet medical treatment, pet food and other pet related industries are blooming rapidly. It has been predicted that this year the market size of the South Korea's pet industries will reach 3.86 million U.S. dollars. (Reuters)