The Korea Times

Daejeon-South Chungcheong merger proposal raises concerns over sidelining residents, deepening urban‑rural divides

The Daejeon-South Chungcheong Province merger initiative is poised to become the starting point of the Lee Jae Myung administration’s response to Korea’s demographic decline and deepening regional imbalance. However, civic groups and experts warn that the rushed, top-down push risks sidelining residents and lacks sufficient social consensus and legal safeguards for integrating two very different regions — one largely urban, and the other more rural. Lee made the suggestion at a meeting with ruling Democratic Party of Korea lawmakers from Daejeon and South Chungcheong Province, Thursday. He said the merger "could open the way to solving overconcentration and achieving balanced growth." While acknowledging that it is not easy for local governments to merge, he suggested the merger take place before the June 2026 local elections so that voters in the region can choose the head of the integrated municipality. The push revives earlier "megacity" and "super-regional cooperation" plans floated by previous administrations, as population and infrastructure remain heavily concentrated in Seo

Dec 19, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Daejeon-South Chungcheong merger proposal raises concerns over sidelining residents, deepening urban‑rural divides

Environment & Animals

Cafe owners, customers skeptical of government’s new plastic cup policy

Public frustration is reemerging over Korea’s latest attempt to curb plastic waste by banning free disposable plastic cups at cafes. Coffee drinkers and cafe owners voiced skepticism toward the policy plan, saying it will only add to the financial burdens of small businesses and consumers who are already weary of inconsistent environmental measures. The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment announced during a presidential policy briefing on Wednesday that eateries and coffee shops will no longer be able to offer free single-use cups for takeout orders. Instead, customers who choose disposable cups must pay a separate fee, expected to range between 100 won ($0.07) and 200 won. The ministry plans to unveil the policy draft as part of a comprehensive "de-plasticization" strategy on Tuesday. Despite the policy’s environmental message, online and offline reactions have been negative. Small business owners, recalling the confusion and costs from previous plastic reduction measures, say they are bracing for a customer backlash once they start charging for cups at the counter. "Over t

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Cafe owners, customers skeptical of government’s new plastic cup policy

Travel & Food

Seoul glows with dazzling lights, K-culture at 2025 Winter Festa

A kaleidoscope of light, music and culture will transform the Korean capital into a winter wonderland this month, as the 2025 Seoul Winter Festa — one of the city’s signature seasonal celebrations — opened on Dec. 12 under the theme "Fantasia Seoul." Connecting six of Seoul’s most iconic downtown spots — Gwanghwamun Square, Cheonggye, Ui streams, Seoul Plaza, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), and Bosingak Pavilion — the festival weaves together light art, K-culture and interactive programs designed to enchant Seoulites and international visitors alike. The event runs through Jan. 4. City bathed in light The festival kicked off with a spectacular ceremony at Gwanghwamun Square, where hundreds of citizens counted down to the grand lighting of a media façade projected against the main gate to Gyeongbok Palace in mesmerizing color. Ahead of the illumination, the Fantasia Light Parade marched through the square, featuring LED performance crews, traditional Korean dancers and musical actors including Choi Jong-won, Lee Jin-hyuk and Joo Min-jin. More than 180 citizen performers joined

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Seoul glows with dazzling lights, K-culture at 2025 Winter Festa

Travel & Food

Korea kicks off 68-day K-culture shopping festival to attract winter tourists

Korea on Wednesday launched the 2026 Korea Grand Sale, a two-month nationwide shopping and cultural festival aimed at attracting more foreign tourists and stimulating domestic spending during the winter off-season. The event, organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Visit Korea Committee, will run until Feb. 22, featuring record participation from around 1,750 companies, including airlines, hotels, retailers and food and beauty brands. Officials said the annual promotional event, first held in 2011, has been extended from 45 to 68 days to give more visitors access to travel and shopping benefits. The opening ceremony took place in central Seoul’s shopping and tourism district of Myeong-dong, where officials, foreign tourists and business representatives gathered to celebrate under the festival’s theme, "A Thrilling Voyage Toward the Sea of Hallyu." The event featured a video presentation and lively K-pop performance by the dance group K-Tigers. Among the companies taking part are 10 domestic airlines, led by Korean Air, offering discounts of up to 96 percent o

Dec 18, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Korea kicks off 68-day K-culture shopping festival to attract winter tourists

Politics

EXPLAINER Who is Han Hak-ja, ‘True Mother’ at center of Unification Church scandals?

Han Hak-ja, the 82-year-old leader of the Unification Church and widow of its founder Moon Sun-myung, is back in the headlines. She faces a major bribery and lobbying scandal in Korea, while her movement confronts a historic court-ordered dissolution in Japan. The twin crises are forcing renewed scrutiny of her personal claims to messianic status, the church’s fundraising practices and its decades-long ties to politicians in both countries. Han entered the church’s historical record as a 17-year-old teenage bride in 1960, marrying Moon, who was 23 years her senior. Raised in a devout Christian family amid the upheaval of postwar Korea, she went on to consolidate her authority within the movement as Moon’s spiritual counterpart, elevating their marriage and 14 children as a “true family” and theological ideal at the core of the church’s belief system. Han has been a central figure in the mass “blessing” weddings that made the Unification Church globally famous, appearing alongside Moon on stage as they married thousands of couples from dozens of countries at a time. The c

Dec 16, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

[EXPLAINER] Who is Han Hak-ja, ‘True Mother’ at center of Unification Church scandals?

Travel & Food

Asiana’s move to Terminal 2 to ease congestion at Incheon Int'l Airport

Incheon International Airport expects passenger flows to ease next year after Asiana Airlines relocates from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, the airport’s operator said Tuesday. The shift is also expected to support steady growth in traffic as the hub approaches, and potentially surpasses, pre-pandemic levels. Asiana Airlines will begin operating out of Terminal 2 on Jan. 14, following its low-cost affiliates, Air Busan and Air Seoul, which moved there in July and September respectively. Currently, about 66 percent of air travelers use Terminal 1, but the share is projected to fall to around 51 percent after the move. The change is expected to ease chronic congestion at Terminal 1 check-in counters and parking lots, especially during peak holiday seasons. Travelers on international flights at the airport are estimated to reach 75.07 million next year, surpassing this year's estimated 74.04 million, which is up 4.1 percent from 2024. To prepare for the shift, the airport has added 119 security screeners, expanded self baggage drop units to 104 and increased parking capacity to about 250,000 v

Dec 16, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Asiana’s move to Terminal 2 to ease congestion at Incheon Int'l Airport

Law & Crime

Coupang data breach fuels calls to expand class action lawsuits

A massive customer data breach at Coupang has revived a long-running call to expand the country’s limited class action system beyond the brokerage industry — a reform that experts say is long overdue among developed nations. The call was renewed not only among citizens but also by President Lee Jae Myung, who on Friday urged the swift introduction of a broader class action system. "Every Korean has been affected. It makes no sense to ask each victim to file an individual lawsuit," Lee said. His comments came as public anger mounted over the leak of personal information belonging to 33.7 million Coupang users — roughly two-thirds of Korea’s population of 51.7 million. Under current Korean law, victims may bring joint civil lawsuits, but only those named as plaintiffs are eligible for compensation even if a case succeeds. That limitation has made legal redress difficult in cases involving widespread data breaches or consumer rights violations, where individual losses are often small. "Korea and Turkey are the only OECD members that do not operate a comprehensive class action system,

Dec 15, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Coupang data breach fuels calls to expand class action lawsuits

Society

Lotte Department Store apologizes for asking customer to remove union vest

Lotte Department Store issued a formal apology Saturday after one of its security staff asked a customer wearing a labor union vest to remove it at a food court, sparking backlash over discrimination against union members and labor activists. In a statement posted on its website, Lotte said it was "deeply sorry for the inconvenience caused" when a guest wearing a vest with labor-related lettering was told to remove it at the company’s Jamsil branch in southern Seoul on Wednesday. "This was an inappropriate action, and we sincerely apologize to the customer who may have felt discomfort," CEO Jung Hyun-seok said in the apology. "We will thoroughly review all processes related to our customer service and do our utmost to prevent any recurrence." The incident occurred around 7 p.m., when members of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union's (KMWU) Goeje-Tongyeong branch tried to enter the department store’s basement restaurant area wearing union vests. Security personnel stopped the group, saying the vests might make other customers uncomfortable. When the union members refused to remove them,

Dec 14, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Lotte Department Store apologizes for asking customer to remove union vest

Society

Lotte Dept. Store under fire for asking customer to remove union vest

A confrontation between a customer wearing a labor union vest and staff at Lotte Department Store’s Jamsil branch has ignited fierce criticism online, fueling debate over possible discrimination against union members and labor activists. A video posted late Wednesday on X, formerly Twitter, shows staff at the store’s food court approaching a man wearing a vest affiliated with the Korean Metal Workers’ Union (KMWU), which is part of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and represents about 185,000 members. The post, which garnered over 7,400 retweets as of Thursday, read, "It happened again … If you wear a message, you can’t come in. Slogans are not allowed because they reveal an ideology. So people wearing union vests are not even allowed to eat?" In the footage, an employee asks the customer to remove his vest, saying that "a certain level of etiquette is needed in public places." The customer replies, "We don’t deserve this kind of treatment just because we’re wearing the vests … We wear these even in front of the Cheong Wa Dae," referring to the former presidentia

Dec 11, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Lotte Dept. Store under fire for asking customer to remove union vest

Politics

Korea unveils $534 bil. plan to lead global chip race in AI era

Korea unveiled an ambitious plan Wednesday to invest 700 trillion won ($534 billion) to bolster its semiconductor sector and gain an edge in the global chip race shaped by artificial intelligence (AI), aiming to shift from a memory-dominated industry to a more balanced, innovation-driven ecosystem spanning the entire semiconductor value chain. At a policy briefing titled “Vision and Strategy for K-Semiconductors in the AI Era,” held at the presidential office in Yongsan, President Lee Jae Myung and ministers outlined the government’s mid- to long-term blueprint for securing chip supremacy. About 40 people attended, including senior officials from key ministries, executives from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, industry representatives and academics. To move beyond Korea’s dominance in memory chips, the government said it would accelerate research into next-generation semiconductors, pledging 21.6 billion won for future memory technologies by 2032, 126.8 billion won for AI chips by 2030, 26 billion won for compound semiconductors and 36 billion won for advanced packaging by 203

Dec 10, 2025By Lee Hae-rin

Lee Hae-rin

Read more

Daejeon-South Chungcheong merger proposal raises concerns over sidelining residents, deepening urban‑rural divides

Cafe owners, customers skeptical of government’s new plastic cup policy

Seoul glows with dazzling lights, K-culture at 2025 Winter Festa

Korea kicks off 68-day K-culture shopping festival to attract winter tourists

EXPLAINER Who is Han Hak-ja, ‘True Mother’ at center of Unification Church scandals?

Asiana’s move to Terminal 2 to ease congestion at Incheon Int'l Airport

Coupang data breach fuels calls to expand class action lawsuits

Lotte Department Store apologizes for asking customer to remove union vest

Lotte Dept. Store under fire for asking customer to remove union vest

Korea unveils $534 bil. plan to lead global chip race in AI era

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