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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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Global Community

Seoul launches final 2026 class to help foreign graduates land jobs and stay

In a push to retain global talent, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is selecting 75 international students for its "30 Days in Seoul" adaptation track, offering tailored career preparation and settlement support for post-graduation life. The program consists of two tracks: a beginner track for students in the early stages of studying abroad, and an adaptation track focused on employment and settlement. Applications for the fifth cohort opened Sept. 8 and run through Sept. 21, open to foreign students enrolled at universities, colleges or graduate schools in Seoul. Selected students will take part in roughly 50 hours of lectures and six cultural activities over about eight weeks, from Oct. 7 to Nov. 27. Prospective applicants can apply through the program's official Instagram account, @30daysinseoul, or via a QR code and link on promotional posters. Applicants go through a document screening followed by a video interview; first-round results will be announced Sept. 23, with final selections made Sept. 30. Selected students will begin the program with an orientation session on Oct. 2. Bu

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul launches final 2026 class to help foreign graduates land jobs and stay
Society

Heat-reflective 'cool roof' paint cuts summer power bills for vulnerable Seoul households

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said a pilot program applying heat-reflective "cool roof" paint to 152 buildings housing older adults, low-income families and other vulnerable residents produced clear results this summer, cutting August electricity bills by up to 40 percent compared with a year earlier and lowering rooftop surface temperatures by more than 10 degrees Celsius. "I was worried about how we'd get through the summer heat, but after the cool roof coating, the house is a lot cooler, and my electricity bill dropped by 50,000 won ($36) compared with last summer. It even stopped the leaks," one resident said. Another said the coating made the house "livable," adding that a leaking rooftop was also fixed and expressing hope the program would expand to reach more elderly residents and others in need. The city launched the program in April by designating "cool roof priority districts" — aging, low-rise residential areas with poor insulation and limited access to home repairs, where vulnerable groups such as older adults, children, people with disabilities and low-income househol

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Heat-reflective 'cool roof' paint cuts summer power bills for vulnerable Seoul households
South Korea

Travelers outside Seoul gain direct access to more overseas routes

Travelers living in Korea’s southern provinces have long endured a frustrating routine before most of their trips abroad: boarding a high-speed train or driving hours north just to catch a flight at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. That geographic imbalance is now shifting. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Wednesday announced the allocation of traffic rights for 25 international routes across 10 domestic carriers. The policy shift breaks up long-held megacarrier dominance and injects fresh competition into regional hubs across the peninsula. Under the new distribution, low-cost carriers and emerging airlines will spearhead an expansion into China and Central Europe. Regional airports in cities like Busan, Cheongju and Daegu will gain direct flights to major Chinese metropolitan areas including Chengdu, Harbin, Dalian and Xiamen. Yangyang International Airport, situated along the eastern coast, is set to revive its international operations after a four-year hiatus, securing direct links to Shanghai and Hangzhou. The move marks a strategic effort to dism

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Travelers outside Seoul gain direct access to more overseas routes
Health

Next-gen robots step in to assist Korea's elderly and disabled

In hospital rooms and private homes across Korea, a new generation of mechanical caregivers is quietly taking over the heavy lifting of health care. These are not the humanoid automata of science fiction, but hyperspecialized robotic systems designed for the gritty, intimate realities of eldercare and disability support. At a public showcase Wednesday at the Kim Koo Museum & Library in Seoul, developers and health officials unveiled machines capable of navigating steep thresholds, assisting with bathing and even monitoring urinary health — a technological shift aimed at easing the burden on human caregivers in a rapidly aging society. Among the innovations on display was a compact indoor mobility robot developed by Daegu Catholic University Medical Center, engineered to traverse indoor obstacles like 100-millimeter raised steps while offering postural support for patients moving to and from the bathroom. Nearby, a convertible capsule-style shower chair created by Daewon Inmul demonstrated how automation can preserve personal dignity, allowing bedridden patients to bathe safely withou

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Next-gen robots step in to assist Korea's elderly and disabled
Defense

Army chiefs of Korea, Poland discuss expanding military, defense industry cooperation

Seeking to cement Korea’s growing role as a vital defense supplier to NATO’s eastern flank, Gen. Kim Kyu-ha, chief of staff of the Republic of Korea Army, embarked on a three-day official visit to Poland aimed at deepening military ties and securing the operational future of billions of dollars in arms sales. The visit, which concluded Tuesday, highlights the deepening ties between Warsaw and Seoul following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As European nations scramble to modernize their arsenals, Poland has emerged as Korea’s most ambitious defense partner in Europe, placing multibillion-dollar orders for tanks, howitzers and light fighter jets. Kim’s trip, hosted by the Polish General Command, followed a visit to Korea’s Gyeryongdae military headquarters in March by Lt. Gen. Marek Sokolowski, the general commander of the Polish Armed Forces. After laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Warsaw on Monday, Kim held consecutive high-level meetings with Sokolowski and Gen. Wieslaw Kukula, chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces. The consultations yield

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Army chiefs of Korea, Poland discuss expanding military, defense industry cooperation
Films

Busan film fest, Netflix expand Creative Asia workshop to record scale

The Busan International Film Festival and Netflix are set to host the third consecutive edition of Creative Asia, a workshop program for Asia's next-generation filmmakers, in Busan this year. The event is expanding to its largest scale to date through a new collaboration with the Asian Film Commissions Network and the Motion Picture Association, an organization representing major U.S. studios. Creative Asia, now an official program of the festival, is an industry-support initiative through which Netflix helps emerging Asian creators develop their ideas into finished screen projects. This year's edition will take place Oct. 10 at Dongseo University's Centum Campus in Busan, with an expanded lineup designed to address the varied needs of newer filmmakers. The program will feature masterclasses on cinematography, storytelling and location scouting, along with industry conversations on filmmaking across different budget levels and the growing role of artificial intelligence in the creative process. For the first time, Creative Asia will also include workshop sessions, giving aspiring filmma

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Busan film fest, Netflix expand Creative Asia workshop to record scale
K-pop

Stray Kids becomes 1st K-pop act to headline Rock in Rio

Boy group Stray Kids made history as the first K-pop act to headline Rock in Rio, one of the world's largest music festivals, earning widespread praise from international media for the milestone performance. The eight-member group took the stage Friday at Palco Mundo, the festival's main stage, before a crowd of roughly 100,000 people at Olympic Park in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rock in Rio, first held in 1985, has hosted acts such as Queen and Guns N' Roses over the decades but had never before featured a K-pop headliner. In a report published Saturday, U.S. entertainment outlet Billboard hailed the show as an especially strong debut, saying the group's performance met the high expectations of South American fans and marked the opening of a new chapter for K-pop at the festival. The group, dressed in outfits inspired by traditional Korean styling, performed a string of hit songs while interacting with the audience throughout the set, backed by fireworks and a light display. During "Chk Chk Boom," the members incorporated samba steps as a tribute to Brazilian culture, and at another point s

2d agoBy Jhoo Dong-chan
Stray Kids becomes 1st K-pop act to headline Rock in Rio
Korean Heritage

Korean royal folding screen to join Paris exhibit on Joseon bookshelf paintings

The Korea Heritage Service's National Palace Museum of Korea will lend a folding screen from the royal court of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) to a special exhibition opening Wednesday at the Guimet Museum in Paris, the museum said. The screen, known in Korean as a "chaekgado byeongpung," will appear in "Trompe-l'oeil Knowledge, Korea (18th-20th Century)" exhibition, running through Jan. 4, 2027, at the Guimet Museum, a French national museum devoted to Asian art. The show is part of the Guimet's yearlong Une annee K-arrement Coree! program marking 2026 as its Year of Korea. Chaekgado, meaning bookshelf painting, is a genre that emerged in the late 18th century under King Jeongjo, blending Western-style perspective techniques with Joseon painting traditions to depict bookshelves stacked with volumes and scholarly objects. The genre reflected the Joseon royal court's reverence for learning. The National Palace Museum's screen will appear in the exhibition's first of four sections, which explores 18th-century Joseon's culture of knowledge and how Jeongjo, in 1791, installed a chaekgado s

Sep 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korean royal folding screen to join Paris exhibit on Joseon bookshelf paintings
People & Events

Sejong center to host prelude concert ahead of Beethoven, Brahms anniversary year

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts will host conductor Chung Myung-whun, pianist Kim Sun-wook and the KBS Symphony Orchestra early next month in a program of Beethoven and Brahms, billed as a preview of a wave of tribute concerts expected worldwide next year. The concert, to be held on Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. and is part of the venue's Sejong Orchestra Series, comes as Chung prepares to become music director of Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 2027 — the first Asian to lead the 247-year-old Italian opera house — following his appointment as the 10th music director of the KBS Symphony Orchestra, a post he took up in January. Kim will join as soloist for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3, before Chung leads the orchestra in Brahms' Symphony No. 2 in the second half. The two Korean musicians have collaborated for nearly two decades, including a 2013 Deutsche Grammophon recording of Beethoven's "Emperor" concerto with the Seoul Philharmonic under Chung — Kim's label debut, released after his breakout win at the Leeds International Piano Competition in 2006, when he became the competition'

Sep 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Sejong center to host prelude concert ahead of Beethoven, Brahms anniversary year
People & Events

UNESCO Korea holds workshop for 9 countries under education aid program

The Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU) is holding a three-day workshop through Thursday at UNESCO House in Myeong-dong, central Seoul, bringing together field workers from nine countries under its long-running BRIDGE Programme, an international education development cooperation project. Participants from Timor-Leste, Laos, Malawi, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Pakistan, Tanzania, Ivory Coast and Zambia are attending the "2026 BRIDGE Workshop," organized by KNCU with support from the Ministry of Education. The BRIDGE Programme, launched in 2010, provides literacy, basic education and vocational training to out-of-school children, youth and illiterate adults in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, in line with U.N. Sustainable Development Goals for quality education. Rather than following a conventional lecture format, the workshop takes an "action over theory" approach, organizers said, with peer-to-peer sessions on real-world issues field workers face, including project governance, communicating with stakeholders, data management and conflict resolution. Jeong Il-seon, who heads the Tanzan

Sep 15, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
UNESCO Korea holds workshop for 9 countries under education aid program
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