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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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Environment & Animals

Paws on pavement: Gangnam's pups turn daily walks into litter patrols

In Gangnam, a district better known for sleek skyscrapers and luxury shopping than street cleanup, local canines are stepping up to tackle litter — one walk at a time. The Gangnam District Office and the Gangnam Volunteer Center on Tuesday officially launched the Daeng-Daeng Plogging Volunteer Corps, a civic initiative pairing dog owners with their four-legged companions to clean up neighborhood streets. The concept behind “plogging” — a trend that combines jogging or walking with picking up trash — has been given a distinctly local twist. Gangnam boasts the highest number of registered pet dogs among all Seoul districts, with nearly 47,000 registered pups. Recognizing an untapped workforce, district officials decided to turn routine daily walks into community service. The inaugural cohort features 56 teams comprising 77 owners and 56 enthusiastic dogs. Through December, these human-canine duos will patrol their neighborhoods at least once a week, collecting stray litter along their routes. To track their impact, participants post before-and-after photos online, logging their

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Paws on pavement: Gangnam's pups turn daily walks into litter patrols
Society

Act of grace: Catholic nuns pool relief funds for neighbors in need

When government relief funds landed in the accounts of the Sisters of St. Paul of Chartres, the nuns living at the order's historic convent in central Seoul saw an opportunity not for themselves, but for their struggling neighbors. Instead of spending their individual relief stipends on daily expenses, more than 150 nuns quietly pooled their aid to purchase 8.21 million won ($6,000) worth of essential summer goods. On July 16, boxes filled with cooling bed pads, groceries and nutritional drinks were delivered directly to the Myeong-dong Community Service Center to help vulnerable families weather the dual burdens of rising inflation and scorching summer heat. The donation marks the second time the convent has turned public relief programs into acts of civic generosity. Last year, the sisters similarly pooled their government consumer recovery vouchers to buy food for local residents. The initiative grew out of a thoughtful partnership with the neighborhood's civil servants. Recognizing that many elderly nuns faced difficulties navigating bureaucracy, staff from the local community cente

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Act of grace: Catholic nuns pool relief funds for neighbors in need
Society

Seoul deploys chilled water fridges to protect heat-vulnerable residents

As summer temperatures climb across the capital, municipal authorities are turning to a straightforward strategy to keep vulnerable residents and outdoor workers safe from heat-related illness: free, chilled bottles of tap water served at 5 degrees Celsius. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that it launched 18 "Arisu Sharing Refrigerators" across nine key hubs citywide, distributing cold bottled municipal water — branded as Arisu — through Sept. 30. The program targets people facing prolonged exposure to extreme heat, including delivery workers, outdoor laborers, elderly residents and homeless people. The initiative arrives amid a sharp rise in extreme heat events across Korea. Heat illness cases nationwide surged to 4,460 last year, quadrupling over the past five years. In Seoul alone, health authorities logged 378 cases of heat-related illness last summer, with heat exhaustion accounting 48 percent. The vast majority of these incidents occurred outdoors along roads and in public parks. To address the threat where it is most acute, the city deployed six vending-machin

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul deploys chilled water fridges to protect heat-vulnerable residents
Business

SMEs ministry pushes beauty, cosmetics expansion into Brazil

The Ministry of SMEs and Startups said Tuesday its acting minister met with Brazilian cosmetics and e-commerce industry officials in Sao Paulo on Monday (local time) to explore ways to help Korean small and midsize beauty brands expand into the Brazilian market. First Vice Minister Roh Yong-seok, who is serving as acting minister, visited the Brazilian Association of the Cosmetic, Toiletry and Fragrance Industry, known as ABIHPEC, and the e-commerce platform Mercado Libre. While Brazil has one of the world's largest beauty markets, it has drawn relatively little investment from Korean firms due to its distance from Korea, the ministry said. Demand for K-beauty products has grown recently alongside the broader popularity of K-pop and K-dramas, while the Amazon region's natural plant-based ingredients, widely used in cosmetics, have also drawn interest from the industry, according to the ministry. With ABIHPEC, whose member companies account for more than 90 percent of Brazil's cosmetics sales, discussions covered building networks between companies in both countries, joint research and pr

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
SMEs ministry pushes beauty, cosmetics expansion into Brazil
Companies

Gaon Cable secures 1st power contract with major US tech firm

Gaon Cable, a Korean cable maker affiliated with LS Group, said Tuesday it will supply about 50 billion won ($33.8 million) worth of distribution cables for a U.S. technology company's power plant, marking the company's first such export deal with a major American tech firm. The project is part of a power plant that the unnamed U.S. company is building on its own to secure a stable electricity supply for its artificial intelligence (AI) data centers, Gaon Cable said. The company said the direct contract with the tech firm could lead to participation in additional power infrastructure projects down the line. As generative AI use expands, global technology companies have increasingly moved beyond data centers to build their own power plants to secure electricity, Gaon Cable said, adding that stable power supply has become central to competitiveness in AI and is driving faster investment in power sources. Gaon Cable has expanded its U.S. presence through its American subsidiary, LSCUS, which has signed contracts worth more than 5 trillion won to supply busbars — rigid metal conductors use

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Gaon Cable secures 1st power contract with major US tech firm
Companies

CJ ENM, Prime Video India expand content partnership

CJ ENM said Tuesday it has expanded its content partnership with Amazon Prime Video India, agreeing to bring more than 100 titles to the streaming platform over the next two years as demand for Korean entertainment grows in India. The multiyear deal, signed in Mumbai on Monday, builds on an existing agreement between the two companies. It includes 26 new series alongside a broad slate of CJ ENM's library titles, the company said. All new titles will carry English subtitles as well as Hindi, Tamil and Telugu dubbing. The lineup opens with the third season of "Yumi's Cells," a franchise CJ ENM said topped streaming charts in 81 countries, including the United States, Brazil, France and the United Arab Emirates. Other titles set for release include "Filing for Love," which the company said ranked No. 1 in 105 countries, "The Legend of Kitchen Soldier" and "My Bias, My Boss." The library also includes past hits such as "Legend of the Blue Sea," "Prison Playbook," "Mother" and "A Practical Guide to Love." Shilangi Mukherji, director and head of Prime Video India's subscription video-on-demand b

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
CJ ENM, Prime Video India expand content partnership
Health

American academics study Korea's fight against isolation

Deep inside a quiet, light-filled neighborhood sanctuary in Seongdong District, a bold experiment in urban mental health is taking shape — and drawing international notice. As governments around the world struggle to confront a rising tide of social reclusion and disconnection, municipal leaders in Seoul are shifting away from purely clinical fixes, turning physical neighborhoods into living remedies for human loneliness. A delegation of 23 faculty members and students from Northeastern University in Boston visited the Seoul Center for Isolation Prevention earlier this month to study the capital’s public policies and community care models addressing loneliness, social isolation and severe reclusion. Led by professors specializing in aging, public health and social relationships, the visiting group gathered at Seoul Itda Place, a tailored municipal space designed to foster emotional healing and civic connection. Slated for its official grand opening in August, the facility serves as an open-access hub where residents experiencing isolation can seek psychological counseling, particip

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
American academics study Korea's fight against isolation
South Korea

McDonald's and local farmers: Fast food helps fight rural shrinkage in Korea

In the quiet agricultural expanse of Chungju, local farmers have long cultivated waxy sweet corn — a regional treasure prized for its delicate texture and subtle sweetness. Now, that homegrown staple is making an unlikely leap from roadside market stalls directly into the fast-food mainstream across Korea. Under a public-private pact signed Monday between the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, McDonald’s Korea and four regional municipalities, global fast food is being harnessed as an engine for rural economic revival. Announced at Government Complex Seoul, the agreement connects corporate product design with local produce to inject vitality into shrinking agricultural communities, spanning Chungju in North Chungcheong Province, Hongcheon in Gangwon Province, and Jinju and Changnyeong in South Gyeongsang Province. At the core of the initiative is McDonald’s long-running “Taste of Korea” campaign, which has sourced domestic crops since 2021. Under the expanded partnership, nationwide McDonald’s locations will launch a featured hamburger highlighting Chungju waxy corn, along

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
McDonald's and local farmers: Fast food helps fight rural shrinkage in Korea
Education

Korea rethinks higher education as regional labor shortages mount

Facing a shrinking domestic population and mounting labor shortages, Korea is pivoting its international education strategy. Instead of simply recruiting foreign students for university tuition revenues, the government is building pipelines to convert international graduates into permanent local workers. The Ministry of Education on Tuesday unveiled the winners of its inaugural competition recognizing universities that successfully help international students secure jobs, launch startups and settle in regional communities. Kyung Hee University and Jeonju Vision College took top honors in the general and vocational university categories, respectively, while Kangwon National University, Kyungsung University, Chungnam National University and Kyungbok University earned runner-up awards. The initiative comes as Korea seeks to address a glaring gap in its higher education landscape: Despite rising international enrollment, the post-graduation employment rate for foreign students stands at just 33.4 percent, compared to the overall graduate average of 69.5 percent. "We must expand support so th

Jul 28, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea rethinks higher education as regional labor shortages mount
Education

Seoul AI Foundation, MIT lab launch joint AI talent program for Korean students

In a bid to position itself as a global leader in artificial intelligence (AI), Seoul is turning its urban landscape into a living laboratory for the next generation of data scientists and urban planners. The Seoul AI Foundation said Monday that it has partnered with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Senseable City Lab — one of the world’s foremost research groups studying data-driven urban design — to launch a series of joint global AI education programs for university students in Korea. The initiative blends academic seminars, immersive summer courses, and hands-on capstone internships, giving local students direct access to top-tier researchers from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Earlier this year, the MIT Senseable City Lab established the "Seoul Global AI Lab," its fourth international outpost and its first in Asia. The new joint educational programs build on that research anchor, aligning with Mayor Oh Se-hoon’s strategic push to turn Seoul into an international hub for AI talent. "This is a valuable opportunity for Seoul’s future talent to build global capabilities

Jul 27, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul AI Foundation, MIT lab launch joint AI talent program for Korean students
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