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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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Health

Forest therapy reduces suicide risk and depression, study finds

Engaging in structured forest therapy programs significantly reduces suicide risk, feelings of despair and depression, offering a scientifically backed tool for mental health recovery, according to a study released Wednesday by the National Institute of Forest Science. The findings arrive against the backdrop of an ongoing national mental health crisis in Korea, which has long recorded the highest suicide rate among developed nations. In response to persistent societal stress, hyper-competitive work and academic environments and social isolation, state health agencies have increasingly looked beyond traditional clinical interventions toward community-based and natural preventative measures to build long-term psychological resilience. To verify the objective efficacy of natural exposure, researchers introduced standardized psychological tests to evaluate numerical shifts before and after program participation. Timed with World Suicide Prevention Day on Thursday, the study analyzed key indicators across 231 participants, tracking changes in suicide risk, hopelessness and depression metri

Sep 10, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Forest therapy reduces suicide risk and depression, study finds
K-pop

Former NCT member Mark Lee starts solo era with independent label Upper Room

Mark Lee — the artist and rapper best known as a core member of the global supergroup NCT — released his new single “My Friend” Thursday, marking a pivotal departure from the glossy mechanics of mainstream pop and laying the cornerstone for a new independent chapter. The track serves as his inaugural release under Upper Room, a creative company founded by Lee. Rather than leaning on maximalist production, “My Friend” leans comfortably into restraint. Built over a nostalgic, lingering guitar loop, the mid-tempo pop track wrestles with a timeless late-summer question: What does the highest form of love actually look like? Mark took the reins across every stage of the track's creation, contributing to the songwriting, composition and arrangement. The result is less of a commercial product and more of a personal diary entry — a gentle reflection on closing one chapter of life to step quietly into the next. That ethos carries directly into the song's accompanying music video. Steering entirely clear of computer graphics or artificial staging, director Gus Black — known for his

Sep 10, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Former NCT member Mark Lee starts solo era with independent label Upper Room
Companies

LG Innotek shows next-gen chip substrate technology at KPCA show 2026

LG Innotek is showcasing its latest semiconductor substrate technology this week at KPCA show 2026, a three-day industry exhibition that opened Wednesday at Songdo Convensia in Incheon. Now in its 23rd year, the show — organized by the Korea PCB and Semiconductor Packaging Industry Association, known as KPCA — is Korea's largest trade exhibition dedicated to printed circuit boards and semiconductor packaging, drawing roughly 350 domestic and international companies. LG Innotek's exhibit centers on FC-BGA, or flip chip-ball grid array, a high-end substrate that links semiconductor chips to a device's mainboard. The company unveiled for the first time an FC-BGA built for artificial intelligence (AI) accelerators — chips such as graphics processing units and neural processing units that handle large volumes of data at high speed. The new substrate measures more than 100 millimeters per side and required denser circuitry than standard versions. LG Innotek said it aims to begin mass production of the substrate in 2027. Also on display were chip embedding technology, which places a chip

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
LG Innotek shows next-gen chip substrate technology at KPCA show 2026
South Korea

Gov't to impose partial traffic controls in Seoul for Korea-Central Asia summit

The Security and Safety Control Team, formed under the Presidential Security Service, said it will impose partial traffic controls in central Seoul on Sept. 16 to ensure the smooth running of the first Korea-Central Asia Summit and the safety of visiting heads of state. Sowol-ro, the road used most by the visiting leaders' motorcades, will see all lanes in both directions briefly and repeatedly closed roughly six to seven times between noon and 9 p.m. that day. Traffic in some lanes around Euljiro 1-ga, near the summit venue, will also be restricted before and after the meeting. Ahead of the event, the security team held a traffic coordination meeting with the foreign ministry's preparatory task force, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and the Korea Road Traffic Authority to work out measures aimed at minimizing disruption for residents and to coordinate how the public would be informed. Starting Thursday, the team plans to post traffic control notices on the KT Building's Gwanghwamun Square screen, the Seoul City Hall electronic display and the Pre

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Gov't to impose partial traffic controls in Seoul for Korea-Central Asia summit
Korean Heritage

Korea Heritage Service to hold 'Heritage Week' themed around Korean food culture

The Korea Heritage Service, together with the Korea Cultural Heritage Utilization Council, will run "2026 Korea Heritage Week" throughout October across 16 local governments in five regions nationwide. Now in its third year, Heritage Week is an annual program designed to let the public experience the value of heritage sites close to home through hands-on activities. This year continues last year's approach and centers Korean food culture. It links the history of heritage sites to regional cuisine through five special programs, along with 380 separate local heritage programs and a mobile stamp tour event running nationwide. In the Seoul-Gangwon region, a program at the Yanghwajin Ferry and Jamdubong Peak Historic Site — once a hub of Joseon-era commerce and shipping on the Han River — lets participants cook and taste dishes tied to the area's food history while listening to a heritage court music performance. In Gyeonggi and Incheon, a program at Incheon's former port district — home to Japanese colonial-era buildings including bank and shipping company buildings — has participant

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea Heritage Service to hold 'Heritage Week' themed around Korean food culture
Korean Heritage

Korea Heritage Service proposes Natural Monument status for Jinju's Chokseongnu Pavilion, Nam River area

The Korea Heritage Service announced plans to designate the Chokseongnu Pavilion and Nam River area in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province, as a Scenic Site, one of Korea's Natural Monument designations for landscapes of outstanding beauty or historical significance. The area combines Nam River's waters, sheer rock cliffs and the pavilion itself into what the agency called one of Jinju's signature scenic spots. From Chokseongnu Pavilion, visitors get an open view over the river; from the riverbank, the water, natural rock formations, pavilion and old fortress walls line up to form a layered landscape. The site has long drawn writers and scholars who traveled there to view the scenery and exchange poetry, the agency said, citing works by Joseon-era literary figures including Ha Ryun, Yi Gok, Yi Saek and Kim Il-son. The pavilion also served for centuries as a venue for receiving envoys and guests, and for banquets and cultural gatherings. The river and cliffs also served as a natural defensive barrier during the 1593 Battle of Jinju Fortress, one of the major battles of Korea's resistance agai

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea Heritage Service proposes Natural Monument status for Jinju's Chokseongnu Pavilion, Nam River area
Korean Heritage

Korea Heritage Service designates 16th-century temple hall in Geumsan as Treasure

The Korea Heritage Service has designated the Daegwangjeon Hall of Sinansa Temple in Geumsan County, South Chungcheong Province, as a Treasure, one of the country's state heritage designations just below National Treasure. No written record establishes exactly when the hall, the temple's main worship building, was first built. But a ridge-beam inscription discovered during dismantling repairs in 2007 recorded a 1638 reconstruction and an 1840 renovation. Later, in 2023, tree-ring dating of key wooden members found several dated to 1583, scientifically confirming the hall was originally built in the 16th century. The hall features a "dapo" bracket style — in which bracket sets supporting the roof's weight are placed both atop the columns and between them, rather than only atop the columns — combined with a gable roof, a design in which the roof slopes only at the front and back. The agency said placing bracket sets on the building's sides and corners despite its gable-roof design is a distinctive feature reflecting 16th-century construction techniques. Other elements considered signs

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea Heritage Service designates 16th-century temple hall in Geumsan as Treasure
Korean Heritage

Korea Heritage Service receives wearable robots from Hyundai to protect heritage site workers

The Korea Heritage Service held a donation ceremony on Tuesday to receive 10 wearable robotic devices from Hyundai Motor, intended to improve safety and efficiency for workers at regional heritage-care centers across the country. The ceremony, held at the Haenggung-dong administrative welfare center and Hwaryeongjeon Shrine in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, marked the handover of X-ble Shoulder devices — unpowered, wearable exoskeletons developed by the Hyundai Motor and Kia robotics lab to support shoulder muscles during repetitive overhead tasks. The devices will go to four regional heritage-care centers, in Gyeonggi Province, northern North Gyeongsang Province, western Jeonnam-Gwanju Special Metropolitan City and North Chungcheong Province. The agency said the equipment is expected to ease musculoskeletal strain and reduce the risk of workplace accidents for staff who often raise their arms repeatedly while inspecting and maintaining heritage sites. The regional heritage-care program is a routine, preventive maintenance initiative funded by Korea's lottery fund. Field workers regularly m

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea Heritage Service receives wearable robots from Hyundai to protect heritage site workers
Korean Heritage

Twin-lion stone lantern to return to Yeoju temple site after decades in museum

The Korea Heritage Service said it is moving forward with plans to relocate a Goryeo-era stone lantern from the National Museum of Korea back to a temple site in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, where it originally stood. The agency is working with the National Museum of Korea and the city of Yeoju to move the Twin-Lion Stone Lantern from Godalsa Temple Site — a Treasure, one of Korea's state heritage designations just below National Treasure — back to the Godalsa Temple Site, a state-designated Historic Site. The lantern is believed to date back to the 10th century, early in the Goryeo Dynasty. Unlike most twin-lion stone lanterns in Korea, whose lion figures typically stand upright, the lions on this lantern crouch — a feature regarded as evidence of Goryeo's creative approach to stone carving. It was designated as a Treasure in 1963. According to the agency, the lantern was found toppled over at the Godalsa site and moved several times before eventually reaching the museum: kept by village residents, then relocated to the rear garden of a wedding hall in Seoul's Jongno District in 195

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Twin-lion stone lantern to return to Yeoju temple site after decades in museum
Travel & Food

Seoul's Jung District to host fall festivals across 3 traditional markets

Seoul's Jung District will roll out three consecutive street festivals from Sept. 17-19, spotlighting the food and character of its traditional markets and alleyway shopping districts as the weather cools. The district said each of the three events — held at Inhyeon Market, Sinjungang Market and Yaksu Market alley shopping district — will highlight what makes that market distinct. The festivities open Sept. 17, from 5 to 8 p.m., with the Inhyeon Market Festival at Inhyeon Market. Long-running shops will set up camping tables outside their storefronts in what the district calls the Inhyeon Old-Timers' Zone, serving their signature dishes alongside busking performances and free servings of makgeolli, a milky Korean rice-based alcohol. On Sept. 18, from 2 to 9 p.m., Sinjungang Market — known locally as a hotspot for the MZ generation, Korea's term for Millennials and Gen Z — hosts the Hip:Dorak Festival. The event pairs traditional market fare with dishes from younger merchants and opens outdoor night market stalls meant to boost evening foot traffic, with live music and beer coupon

Sep 9, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul's Jung District to host fall festivals across 3 traditional markets
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