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Jhoo Dong-chan

Korea Times AI content 2 team Reporter

Do not go gentle into that good night, old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light, though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lightning they, do not go gentle into that good night.

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Travel & Food

Seoul adds map of 422 water play spots to help families beat summer heat

With the heavy heat of summer settling over the capital, finding a quick, budget-friendly escape for children has often meant navigating a frustrating patchwork of local district websites, social media channels and community blogs. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said it is streamlining this search with a centralized, interactive digital directory designed to help families stay cool without leaving the city. Starting Monday, the municipal Smart Seoul Map began offering a unified guide to 422 water facilities scattered across Seoul’s 25 districts, giving residents real-time access to operational hours, exact locations and nearby amenities on their smartphones. The database, which city officials say will be updated continuously by local district workers through August, maps out a diverse network of public urban oases. The list includes 103 traditional swimming pools, 97 playground water parks, 147 splash pads, and 66 decorative water features. Among the new highlights featured on the map is the newly opened water playground at Gwangnaru Hangang Park. "In the dead of summer, we wanted

Jul 17, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul adds map of 422 water play spots to help families beat summer heat
Environment & Animals

Korea starts building $2.5 bil. offshore wind farm funded entirely by local capital

Korea broke ground Thursday on a 3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) offshore wind farm, launching an ambitious effort to build a massive renewable energy sector funded entirely by domestic capital. The 390-megawatt Shinan UI project, located off the coast of Sinan County in the country's southwestern South Jeolla Province, represents a strategic shift for East Asia's green transition. While major maritime wind developments in the region have historically relied on foreign technology and international finance, Korea is attempting to build this project using a homegrown financial coalition and a domestic industrial supply chain. "This is the first large-scale offshore wind project driven entirely by domestic capital," Minister of Climate, Energy, and Environment Kim Sung-hwan said during the groundbreaking ceremony. "It is a critical step forward in securing the clean energy needed for our digital future, while simultaneously strengthening our domestic industrial ecosystem." To finance the massive upfront costs, the project was selected as the inaugural investment of the state-backed National

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea starts building $2.5 bil. offshore wind farm funded entirely by local capital
People & Events

Seoul opens 30-year archive of urban metamorphosis

In 1995, as the capital of Korea hurtled toward a high-tech future, municipal officials quietly launched a panoramic survey to document its rapidly changing face. Decades before high-resolution smartphones and digital mapping, the project aimed to preserve the memory of a metropolis in perpetual motion. Now, 30 years and over 40,000 photographs later, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is opening this vast visual archive to the public. Marking the completion of its seventh five-year recording cycle spanning from 1995 to 2025, the city has launched an extensive exhibition, “Seoul, a City Painted by Time,” running across both physical and digital spaces. The landmark project has served as an essential tool for urban planning and public policy. Every five years, photographers have returned to identical coordinates across the capital to capture the dramatic, often unrecognizable shifts in the landscape. The stark evolution of Seoul’s key districts highlights the sheer scale of this transformation: rural farmlands in Magok, a district on the city's western edge, have been entirely repla

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul opens 30-year archive of urban metamorphosis
Korean Heritage

Guardians of world's heritage convene in Busan to protect endangered sites

Ahead of a major United Nations summit on global heritage, preservationists from around the world convened in the southeastern port city of Busan Thursday to confront a shifting landscape of threats to historical sites, arguing that local communities must play a central role if modern conservation is to survive. The gathering of more than 80 international experts and site managers at the Bexco convention center marks the launch of the eighth World Heritage Site Managers’ Forum. The eight-day event serves as the official curtain-raiser for the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting, which is scheduled to begin in Busan on July 19. Against a backdrop of rapid urbanization, climate change and regional development, this year's forum focuses on "Connection and Communication." The core objective is to move away from top-down, state-centric preservation models and instead establish sustainable, community-driven frameworks. "Site managers are the first line of defense in preserving our shared human history," said Lim Jong-deock, director general of the National Research Institute of Cul

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Guardians of world's heritage convene in Busan to protect endangered sites
Travel & Food

Deaf K-pop group champions barrier-free travel in Korea

For most travelers, navigating a new city involves checking maps or booking tickets. But for those with physical or sensory disabilities, the barriers are often structural, written into the very design of streets, restaurants and cultural landmarks. To challenge these limits, the Korea Tourism Organization launched a two-day barrier-free travel initiative across the cities of Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Gangneung, Gangwon Province, this week. Partnering with Big Ocean, a rising K-pop trio and the world’s first deaf idol group, the national tourism agency sought to spotlight "Open Tourism" — a growing movement aimed at eliminating physical and communication hurdles for vulnerable travelers. The first leg of the journey began Wednesday in Suwon, an ancient walled city south of Seoul. A group of 20 deaf and hearing-impaired participants embarked on a sign-language walking tour along the towering stone ramparts of the UNESCO-listed Hwaseong Fortress. Assisted by specialized sign-language docents, the travelers tried their hand at traditional Korean archery and ceramic painting. Cruci

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Deaf K-pop group champions barrier-free travel in Korea
Tech & Science

Korea's molten salt nuclear-powered container ship design wins US approval

The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) said Thursday that a conceptual design for a 15,000-TEU container ship powered by a molten salt reactor (MSR) has received Approval in Principle (AIP) from the American Bureau of Shipping, a U.S.-based ship classification society. The design was jointly developed with the Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering (KRISO) and Samsung Heavy Industries. AIP is a process in which a classification society reviews the technical feasibility and safety of a new technology or design at the concept stage, based on relevant regulations and safety standards — a significant step for a field still in its early stages of international development, such as nuclear-powered ships. An MSR is a type of small modular reactor that uses molten salt mixed with nuclear fuel as a liquid fuel, prized for its high safety and energy efficiency as a next-generation ship engine. The container ship design uses two MSR units, with optimized power systems and hull layout meant to improve both safety and operational efficiency. Key features include a dual-rea

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea's molten salt nuclear-powered container ship design wins US approval
People & Events

Culture ministry brings global art, literaterary figures to Korea

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in collaboration with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, officially launched this year's K-Fellowship, a prestigious international exchange program designed to connect global cultural leaders with the country’s rapidly growing domestic art and literary scenes. Marking its 18th anniversary, the annual initiative targets a strategic shift in cultural diplomacy. Following last year's focus on the performing arts, this year’s program zeroes in on visual arts, literature and publishing, bringing 10 influential global experts to Korea for highly tailored, site-specific itineraries. The initiative is built around high-impact, practical networking. Rather than standard sightseeing, invitees engage in custom-tailored programs — including direct museum and institutional visits, participation in major national exhibitions and one-on-one executive consultations — aimed at laying down the infrastructure for future institutional partnerships. The fellowship began its 2026 run by hosting Ezequiel Martinez, the director genera

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Culture ministry brings global art, literaterary figures to Korea
South Korea

Korea's premium fruits find sweet spot abroad

Korea’s premium agricultural sector is witnessing an unprecedented export boom, with fruit shipments hitting a record-breaking $95.7 million in the first half of 2026. This represents a stellar 19.7 percent surge compared to the same period last year. According to newly released trade data, the mid-year milestone follows last year’s historic annual peak of $240.5 million. Because Korean agricultural patterns typically see harvests heavily skewed toward the autumn and winter seasons, government economists and trade analysts fully expect total exports for 2026 to comfortably shatter annual records for the second consecutive year. The driving force behind this agricultural gold rush is a deliberate shift from mass-market volume to uncompromising luxury. Industry watchers point to a three-pronged catalyst: a strict high-sweetness premium strategy, rapid technological improvements in global cold-chain logistics and the widespread popularity of Korean cultural content, which has organically elevated the profile of Korean food among international consumers. "Local distributors and global co

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea's premium fruits find sweet spot abroad
K-pop

BTS shows they're anything but 'Normal' with new music video teaser

K-pop supergroup BTS will release the music video for its song "Normal" exclusively on Spotify at 1 p.m. Friday, alongside three new versions of the track — including Korean-language and instrumental versions — the group's label, BigHit Music, said Thursday. A teaser for the video was uploaded at midnight Thursday on the Youtube channel of HYBE Labels, BigHit Music's parent company. The clip is set in a restroom, showing the members standing in a row with their backs to the camera before BTS leader RM squeezes past them — an unguarded, comedic moment the label said offers a glimpse of the band's private, everyday side beyond the stage. The teaser also solved a mystery that had circulated online for days. Attention-grabbing advertisements styled like sensational news stories ran in the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Post in mid-July, showing a photo with a headline suggesting members had been caught in an odd, ambiguous situation. Fans speculated widely about the image's origin; BigHit Music confirmed the picture was in fact a still from the "Normal" music video, part of t

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
BTS shows they're anything but 'Normal' with new music video teaser
Sports

World Taekwondo sends federation flag into orbit ahead of 2027 world championships

World Taekwondo, the Seoul-based governing body for the Olympic sport and traditional martial art, said Wednesday it became one of the first international sports federations to send its official flag into space, as part of a one-year countdown to the 2027 World Taekwondo Championships in Astana, Kazakhstan. The flag launched aboard the Soyuz MS-29 spacecraft, which lifted off at 7:47 p.m. local time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, the world's first and largest active space launch facility and the site from which Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961. The launch was organized with the Kazakhstan Taekwondo Federation, led by its president, Kudrat Shamiyev. World Taekwondo said the International Olympic Committee's flag had previously flown to space during the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and FIFA had sent match balls to the International Space Station, but that this marked the first time its own flag joined an active crewed mission. The Soyuz crew includes Russian space agency Roscosmos cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anna Kikina and NASA astronaut Anil Me

Jul 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
World Taekwondo sends federation flag into orbit ahead of 2027 world championships
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