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Lee Hae-rin

Korea Times K-Culture Reporter

Lee Hae-rin is a City Desk reporter at The Korea Times, covering social issues, tourism and taekwondo. She is passionate about speaking up for the rights of minorities, including women, LGBTQ+, people with disabilities and animals as well as discovering the latest makgeolli trend in town. Feel free to reach her at lhr@koreatimes.co.kr.

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Society

100 foreign maids from Southeast Asia to work in Seoul this year

Young working parents, policy experts and industry insiders discuss introducing a foreign nanny system to Korea during the Ministry of Employment and Labor's public hearing on the policy at a hotel in Seoul, Monday. YonhapBy Lee Hae-rinAround 100 foreign housekeepers from Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, will be able to work in Korea during the second half of this year as part of the government's pilot program to tackle a shortage of maids here, the labor ministry said Monday.The plan, which comes amid a gradual population decline in Korea caused by a low birth rate, was unveiled during a public hearing on the proposal to import foreign maids, held by the Ministry of Employment and Labor at a hotel in Seoul, Monday. The hearing was attended by policy experts, industry insiders and young working parents.Under the pilot program, the ministry will allow 100 foreign housekeepers to enter Korea on E-9 visas and let them work for a minimum of six months in Seoul as full-time or part-time maids for working parents, single-parent families or households with expecting mothers. E-9 v

Jul 31, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
100 foreign maids from Southeast Asia to work in Seoul this year
Travel & Food

Incheon airport introduces Smart pass facial recognition system

An Incheon airport official demonstrates the use of the facial recognition Smart pass service at a departure gate of Terminal 2, Incheon International Airport, Friday. The paperless biometrics system allows passengers to go through departure and boarding gates without having to show their passports and boarding passes. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Lee Hae-rinA new biometric identification system using the facial features of travelers now substitutes for passports at Incheon International Airport, Korea's largest international air hub. The enhanced identification process started being used on July 27, the Incheon International Airport Corp. (IIAC) said, Friday.The new service, dubbed “Smart pass,” enables the quick and efficient identification of passengers at departure and boarding gates at the airport without having to present their passports or boarding passes, according to the IIAC.The service has been implemented across all departure gates and 16 boarding gates at the airport as of Friday. “We expect the timely introduction of the Smart pass service (fo

Jul 31, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Incheon airport introduces Smart pass facial recognition system
Society

Rise in teacher suicides highlights need for education reform

White floral wreaths are placed, Thursday, in memory of the 23-year-old teacher who recently took her own life in her classroom in Seoul Seo2 Elementary School in Seocho District, southern Seoul. NewsisOver 30,000 teachers hold rally for enhanced rights and legal overhaulBy Lee Hae-rinAmid condolences and calls for education reforms triggered by the recent death of an elementary school teacher, government-released statistics showed, Sunday, that a hundred teachers in the country have also taken their own lives in the last six years, highlighting a crisis in the education sector.According to the report requested and acquired by the ruling conservative People Power Party lawmaker Chung Kyung-hee from the Ministry of Education, Sunday, noted that 100 teachers from public schools nationwide took their own lives between 2018 and June of this year.The majority of these educators, amounting to 57, were elementary school teachers, followed by 28 high school teachers and 15 middle school teachers. Despite elementary school teachers constituting the largest percentage of the total 441,795 teac

Jul 30, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Rise in teacher suicides highlights need for education reform
Travel & Food

KTO brings tourism stakeholders back on Tourism Global Challenge Alumni Day

Participants in the Tourism Global Challenge Alumni Day 2023, hosted by the Korea Tourism Organization, exchange business ideas during a session at a hotel in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of Korea Tourism OrganizationBy Lee Hae-rinThe Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) held the Tourism Global Challenge Alumni Day 2023, Thursday.The inaugural event took place as part of its effort to create new tourism business opportunities and further promote cooperation among 150 Korean tourism stakeholders including companies, hotels, convention centers, tourism authorities of foreign countries active in Korea and investors who participated in the KTO's Tourism Global Challenge Program. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the KTO have been running the Tourism Global Challenge Program annually since 2020 to support tourism startups by providing them with the proven tools to develop marketability and business feasibility in Korea and overseas markets.During the first session on Thursday, 44 tourism companies from a variety of fields, including accommodation, food, transportation and medical t

Jul 27, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
KTO brings tourism stakeholders back on Tourism Global Challenge Alumni Day
Travel & Food

Korea to expand mobile customs declaration, duty payment nationwide in August

The arrival hall at Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport is crowded with passengers, June 9. NewsisBy Lee Hae-rin Travelers entering Korea from any airport or seaport across the country will be able to declare taxable items and pay taxes via a mobile application starting next month.The Korea Customs Service announced, Thursday, that the mobile customs declaration service, which had previously been available only at the Gimpo International Airport and Terminal 2 of Incheon International Airport, will be expanded to all of the country's airports and seaports in August.Starting Aug. 1, all travelers entering Korea via Terminal 1 of Incheon International Airport, six local international airports (Gimhae, Jeju, Cheongju, Daegu, Muan and Yangyang) and seven seaports (Incheon, Busan, Gunsan, Pyeongtaek, Sokcho, Donghae and Jeju) will also be able to declare taxable goods and pay taxes via Korea Customs Service's mobile app.Once a traveler declares a taxable item, the app generates a QR code to be scanned at a goods declaration section of a port upon arrival. Then, an electronic notic

Jul 27, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Korea to expand mobile customs declaration, duty payment nationwide in August
People & Events

Maestro Chung Myung-whun tapped as ambassador for Busan's Expo bid

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, left, poses with Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon during Chung's appointment ceremony as the sixth ambassador for the port city's bid to host the World Expo 2030 at City Hall, Tuesday. YonhapBy Lee Hae-rinKorea's award-winning conductor Chung Myung-whun has joined efforts to promote Busan's bid to host the World Expo 2030 after being named as the southern port city's sixth official ambassador.Busan Metropolitan City and the public-private committee promoting the city's Expo bid held Chung's appointment ceremony at Busan City Hall, Tuesday.“I was born in Busan and I came back here with much pleasure after experiencing world stages,” Chung said during the appointment ceremony, expressing his determination to support the bid campaign.Born in Busan in 1953, Chung inherited and grew his passion for music from his mother, who carried a small piano with her when she evacuated to Busan at the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War, he said during a press conference after the ceremony. The southeastern port city became a haven for war refugees from across the coun

Jul 27, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Maestro Chung Myung-whun tapped as ambassador for Busan's Expo bid
Law & Crime

Justice ministry to create new bureau to handle international investment disputes

Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon speaks during a press conference at the government complex in Seoul, June 18. YonhapBy Lee Hae-rinThe Ministry of Justice said, Wednesday, that it will create a new bureau dedicated to handling investment disputes, or investor-state dispute settlements (ISDS), with foreign investment firms. The ministry unveiled its plan to establish the tentatively titled International Legal Affairs Bureau as part of an upcoming organizational change to strengthen the government's capability to respond to international legal disputes. The bureau will be comprised of eight members, including a prosecutor or a senior government official who will head the body.The decision came about a month after Korea was ordered by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in the Netherlands to pay nearly $108 million (136 billion won) to U.S.-based hedge fund Elliott Investment Management in an ISDS dispute stemming from the controversial 2015 merger of two Samsung Group affiliates. In response, the government filed a suit to reverse the international tribunal's order, last week, claim

Jul 26, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Justice ministry to create new bureau to handle international investment disputes
Health

Korea ranks 2nd-lowest in number of doctors among OECD nations

GettyimagesbankBy Lee Hae-rinKorea has the second-lowest number of doctors after Mexico among OCED member nations, the government announced, Tuesday.On the other hand, Korea ranked top among the OECD countries regarding the number of hospital beds and outpatient services per capita, according to the Ministry of Health and Welfare's analysis of the OECD Health Statistics 2023, which is a comparative analysis of health systems.The study came as the government is pushing to tackle the medical void in the country by increasing the number of doctors, which has remained static for years.According to the study, Korea had 2.6 clinicians, including traditional medicinal practitioners, for every 1,000 people, which is higher than only Mexico's 2.5 clinicians per 1,000 people among the OECD nations and significantly lower than the OECD average of 3.7 clinicians per 1,000 as of 2021. Austria, Norway and Germany topped the list with 5.4, 5.2 and 4.5 clinicians per 1,000, respectively. The country also ranked low in the number of medical school graduates ― 7.3 in every 100,000 people, which is thi

Jul 25, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
Korea ranks 2nd-lowest in number of doctors among OECD nations
Society

School teacher's death sparks calls for improved educator protections, education reforms

A student and his guardian pass by messages and flowers of condolences over the walls of Seoul Se02 Elementary School in Seoul's Seocho District, Friday. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Lee Hae-rinThe recent death of an elementary school teacher in Seoul has ignited debates on the need for legislative reforms to protect educators.On Tuesday, the teacher, who was in her 20s, took her own life early in the morning within her classroom at the elementary school in Seoul's affluent Seocho District. Her death has sparked online speculation that she was struggling with school violence committed by her students and subsequent complaints from parents.The Seoul branch of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union released reports received from teachers employed at the school between 2020 and 2023, Friday, to help provide context to the situation the young teacher had faced. The reports said the workload and parental complaints concerning school violence at Seoul Seo2 Elementary School, where the deceased teacher worked, were at "an incomprehensibly immense level" and the environment

Jul 21, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
School teacher's death sparks calls for improved educator protections, education reforms
  • Teachers exposed to abuse and assault at schools due to lack of protection
Environment & Animals

INTERVIEW Former dog meat farmer finds new life after freeing 200 dogs

A former dog meat farmer surnamed Yang speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at his farm in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, June 27. Korea Times photo by Lee Hae-rin Animal advocacy program paves way for ending Korea's dog meat tradeBy Lee Hae-rinASAN, South Chungcheong Province ― “Here, look at my farm. We have everything,” said a former dog meat farm owner, who asked to be identified only by his surname Yang, pointing to his lush field filled with a variety of crops in Asan, South Chungcheong Province. “My life has never been better!”Until March, the 496-square-meter compound was the dismal dwelling for some 200 dogs in rusted and filthy cages. The space once filled with barks and stench of food waste and feces has been transformed into a serene farm, now flourishing with sweet potatoes, peppers, cabbage, beans and more.Yang, 73, said he feels like a “celebrity enjoying country life on a reality TV show” now that he has given up his 30-year profession

Jul 21, 2023By Lee Hae-rin
[INTERVIEW] Former dog meat farmer finds new life after freeing 200 dogs
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