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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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K-pop

NCT 127 to release 7th album 'BLINGY' Aug. 24, marking 10th anniversary

A decade into a career defined by avant-garde production and muscular choreography, NCT 127 is stepping into its milestone 10th anniversary with a renewed declaration of unity. The Seoul-based group will release its seventh full-length album, "BLINGY," on Aug. 24, launching a compelling new chapter for one of K-pop’s most distinct musical identities. Set to drop at 6 p.m. across major streaming platforms, the nine-track project doubles as a reflective victory lap and a forward-looking manifesto. According to SM Entertainment, the record synthesizes the group's decade-long journey, grounding its narrative in collective pride and the steadfast bond of a one team commitment as they forge ahead. Since debuting in July 2016 with a mission to project Seoul’s vibrant sound onto the global stage, NCT 127 has built a legacy on uncompromising sonic experimentalism. Signature hits like "Cherry Bomb," "Kick It," "Sticker" and "Walk" established a template of heavy industrial beats, complex harmonies and theatrical performances that set the group apart in an increasingly crowded global market. T

Jul 27, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
NCT 127 to release 7th album 'BLINGY' Aug. 24, marking 10th anniversary
People & Events

From riverfronts to city squares, Seoul's splash parks offer cool refuge

As the summer heat settles heavily over the urban basin of Seoul, the capital is offering its residents a familiar, albeit revitalized, reprieve: turning its public riverfronts, neighborhood plazas and parks into sprawling aquatic sanctuaries. For millions of families navigating the humid stretch of school vacations, the Seoul Metropolitan Government and several district offices have unveiled an expanded network of outdoor pools and water play parks. Designed as low-cost, accessible escapes, these public facilities reflect a broader municipal effort to adapt the dense, high-rise metropolis into a more livable — and cooler — summer environment. At the heart of the city’s aquatic strategy is the Han River, the wide ribbon of water that bisects the city. On June 19, the city’s Han River Parks system launched six public swimming and splash facilities for a 73-day season running through Aug. 30. Full-scale outdoor pools have returned to the popular riverside parks at Ttukseom and Yeouido. Meanwhile, shallow water play areas — designed with younger children in mind and requiring min

Jul 26, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
From riverfronts to city squares, Seoul's splash parks offer cool refuge
Health

Seoul, convenience store CU launch line of low-sugar, high-protein meals

The Seoul city government has partnered with CU, Korea’s largest convenience store chain, to launch a line of low-sugar, high-protein packaged meals intended to make healthy eating cheaper and more accessible, municipal officials said earlier this week. The five-item lineup, branded “Seoul My Soul Healthy Convenience Foods,” includes a bento-style boxed lunch, a rolled gimbap — seaweed-wrapped rice rolls packed with vegetables and other fillings — two triangle-shaped rice balls, known as "samgak-gimbap," and a chicken sandwich. "This collaboration was designed to help residents easily and affordably embrace healthy living in their daily routines," said Kim Hyoung-rae, director-general of the city's public communications bureau. "We will continue working with private companies to introduce products and content that showcase the value and appeal of Seoul." The boxed lunch, rolled gimbap, tuna-mayonnaise rice ball and sandwich hit shelves Tuesday, with a bulgogi-flavored rice ball following on Wednesday. All five items will be available at CU locations across the greater Seoul me

Jul 25, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul, convenience store CU launch line of low-sugar, high-protein meals
Environment & Animals

Urban oasis: Seoul's historic heart expands community gardens across its alleyways

Amid the densely packed alleyways and high-rise corporate towers of central Seoul, a quiet green revolution is taking root. Jongno District, the historic core of the Korean capital, said Friday that it is rolling out "Jongno Gardener Village 2.0" — a major expansion of its public urban gardening initiative designed to transform municipal spaces and neighborhood lanes into vibrant, resident-tended micro-gardens. The initiative, launched last year as a public-private partnership, bridges civic engagement with corporate social responsibility. By teaming up with local nongovernmental organizations such as Forest for Life and corporate sponsors such as Kakao Makers, the district has cultivated a sustainable governance model that cuts municipal costs while delivering green welfare directly to residents. Under the initial phase of the project, volunteer gardener crews focused on four primary hubs: Bukchon, Seochon, Sajik-dong and the Cheongjin-Insa-dong corridor. Phase 2.0 shifts this strategy from isolated hub gardens to a district-wide web of green space, empowering local residents to cult

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Urban oasis: Seoul's historic heart expands community gardens across its alleyways
Environment & Animals

Korea expands high-precision weather data sharing to Southeast Asia, Oceania

When the Korean Meteorological Administration launched its proprietary weather forecasting framework in 2020, it placed Korea in an elite fraternity: one of just nine nations worldwide to build an independent, end-to-end global numerical prediction system. Now, Seoul is broadening its operational footprint into Southeast Asia and Oceania, crossing the equator to deliver real-time data to some of the most climate-vulnerable regions. The agency said Friday that it has officially broadened the operational reach of its signature system — the Korean Integrated Model, or KIM — to encompass 33 distinct meteorological data feeds across Southeast Asia and Oceania. The expansion brings granular, high-altitude wind and temperature intelligence to 117 cities across five island states: Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Brunei. The initiative aligns with the World Meteorological Organization’s Severe Weather Forecasting Program, a global effort designed to equip developing and archipelagic nations with advanced forecasting tools to anticipate extreme weather events before di

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea expands high-precision weather data sharing to Southeast Asia, Oceania
South Korea

Seoul launches playbook to help call centers deal with hostile callers

For millions of Seoul residents, dialing 120 connects them to a 24-hour lifeline for city transit schedules, social welfare inquiries and municipal services. But behind the scenes, answering the phone can also mean confronting severe verbal abuse, sexual harassment and hostile callers. To protect these frontline workers — and meet surging global demand for its call-center operation protocols — the city-run 120 Dasan Call Foundation said Friday that it published a tactical desktop response playbook alongside a dedicated English edition. The decision to launch an English version follows a steady stream of visits to the foundation from public sector officials representing Japan, Mongolia, Ukraine, Romania and Iran. By codifying its emotional-labor protections into a multilanguage resource, Seoul aims to pioneer a standardized international framework for protecting public service personnel against caller hostility. Public call center workers in Korea have long faced steep emotional labor demands, often expected to endure extreme rudeness under the traditional mantle of public service. T

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul launches playbook to help call centers deal with hostile callers
Companies

LG builds music studio for descendants of Ethiopian veterans of Korean War

During the darkest days of the 1950-53 Korean War, an elite contingent of Ethiopian soldiers traveled thousands of miles across oceans to defend a nation they had never known. The Kagnew Battalion — whose name translates to "destroyers of the enemy" — compiled a legendary record on the central front, engaging in 253 battles with no prisoners of war surrendered. Today, the blood shed by those 6,000 soldiers remains a fundamental bedrock of Korea's modern peace and prosperity. Seven decades later, that historical debt is being repaid through music. Korean electronics giant LG on Friday announced a comprehensive support program for the Kagnew Choir, a musical ensemble composed of third-generation descendants of the Ethiopian veterans. In collaboration with Korea's Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs and the nonprofit Warm Mind, LG will construct a state-of-the-art practice studio inside the Korean War Veterans Hall in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, equipped with soundproofing, audio systems and digital IT hardware. Since its founding in 2018, the choir had operated without

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
LG builds music studio for descendants of Ethiopian veterans of Korean War
South Korea

Yongsan District launches Seoul's 1st global education hub

Nestled in the center of Korea’s capital, Yongsan District has long played an important role in the nation’s international identity. Home to dozens of foreign embassies, leafy diplomatic enclaves and vibrant multicultural corridors, it serves as the country's default gateway to the world. Now, local policymakers are attempting to translate that distinct feature into a bold educational blueprint. Yongsan District officials on Friday formally accelerated their push to become Seoul’s first designated Special International Education Zone. The effort anchors on the newly established Yongsan Global Education Support Center, an ambitious hub designed to transform the district’s unique cosmopolitan fabric into an incubator for globally minded youth. The initiative represents a fundamental shift in how local governments approach public education. Rather than treating global engagement as an afterthought, Yongsan is embedding international governance, digital fluency and cultural literacy directly into the local curriculum. "Education is the most valuable investment we can make for future

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Yongsan District launches Seoul's 1st global education hub
Health

Preparing for next threat, Korea advances own mRNA vaccine

With the COVID-19 pandemic exposing the critical need for domestic vaccine production, Korea signaled Friday that it intends to be among the nations capable of addressing this necessity, advancing a homegrown messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine candidate into Phase II clinical trials. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) and the National Institute of Health said pharmaceutical giant GC Biopharma submitted its Phase II trial plan to regulatory authorities. The filing marks a critical bridge between preliminary safety checks and the rigorous, large-scale human testing required to validate efficacy. For a nation that navigated the COVID-19 era largely reliant on Western biopharmaceutical giants, KDCA said the milestone represents not just routine medical progress but a calculated leap toward national self-reliance. At the heart of Seoul’s ambitious push is the mRNA Vaccine Development Support Program for Pandemic Preparedness. The initiative is built around the government's bid to engineer a versatile, domestic mRNA platform capable of producing a targeted vaccine within 200 d

Jul 24, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Preparing for next threat, Korea advances own mRNA vaccine
South Korea

Korea prepares its multicultural diaspora for military draft

Growing up in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City with one Korean parent, military service in a distant homeland often feels like a foreign obligation. Korea’s Military Manpower Administration set out to change that Thursday, opening its doors to a group of multicultural Korean-Vietnamese youth for an immersive trial of the nation's draft system. South Korea enforces a mandatory military service system requiring all able-bodied adult men to serve for 18 to 21 months to maintain defense readiness against North Korea. The new initiative brought about 20 youths and chaperones to military facilities in Daejeon and North Chungcheong Province, marking an expansion of government efforts to integrate the diaspora into that national defense apparatus. Under the banner of the "Overseas Citizens Military Service Connection Project," the program targets young dual-nationals and overseas residents, helping them navigate a complex civic duty every South Korean male must eventually face. Three participants born in 2007 — who reached the official draft age this year — found that the experience went beyond s

Jul 23, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Korea prepares its multicultural diaspora for military draft
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