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Lee Kyung-min

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South Korea

Seoul braces for hotter summer with expanded water safety, heat protection measures

As forecasters warn of a hotter and wetter summer, Seoul is moving to fortify its drinking water system and shield vulnerable residents from the season's expected extremes. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it will implement a comprehensive summer response plan centered on Arisu, the city's tap water brand, with measures ranging from intensified water quality monitoring to emergency support for people at heightened risk from heat waves. Officials said higher temperatures and increased rainfall expected this summer could heighten concerns over changes in water quality and heat-related health risks. To address those concerns, the city said it will strengthen monitoring across the entire water treatment process, from raw water intake to reservoirs, with year-round surveillance and enhanced inspections aimed at preventing the appearance of microscopic organisms in tap water. The city said it will maintain residual chlorine levels in sedimentation basins and increase treatment measures, including more frequent backwashing of filtration systems and expanded ozone treatment, to blo

Jun 9, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul braces for hotter summer with expanded water safety, heat protection measures
Others

Seoul Learn offers students free access to ChatGPT, other premium AI tools

For students eager to experiment with the latest artificial intelligence (AI) tools but wary of monthly subscription fees, Seoul has a new offer: free access to some of the world's most popular AI models. Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday it will launch Seoul Learn AI, a new service that will provide 1,000 Seoul Learn members with free access to nine paid generative AI models, including ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. The program, open to high school students and older learners enrolled in Seoul Learn, will provide up to 10,000 credits per month — equivalent to about $14 (21,000 won) in usage value — for as long as nine months. City officials said the initiative is designed not only to broaden access to advanced AI tools but also to help students develop the skills needed to use them responsibly and effectively. The integrated platform will allow users to access ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Llama, Mistral, Qwen, Grok and Upstage from a single interface without requiring separate subscriptions or registrations. Participants will also complete AI ethics training and undergo

Jun 9, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul Learn offers students free access to ChatGPT, other premium AI tools
Health

Korea to roll out free public menstrual products in 12 regions from July

The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family will launch a pilot program in July to provide free public menstrual products through more than 700 dispensers installed across 12 local governments nationwide, the ministry said Tuesday. The initiative, branded “Pads for Everyone,” aims to expand access to menstrual products beyond the government's existing voucher program for vulnerable adolescents and make the products more readily available in public spaces. The pilot areas include Seoul’s Gwangjin and Eunpyeong districts, Gwangmyeong and Suwon in Gyeonggi Province, Seocheon County in South Chungcheong Province, Jung District in Daejeon, Jeongeup in North Jeolla Province, Mokpo in South Jeolla Province, Buk District in Gwangju, Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province, Geochang County in South Gyeongsang Province and Jeju City. The ministry said the products were selected based on factors including price, quality and supply stability. Each package will contain two medium-sized sanitary pads and will be distributed hygienically through dedicated dispensers. Beginning in July, dispensers will be

Jun 9, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Korea to roll out free public menstrual products in 12 regions from July
Travel & Food

Lost in translation no more: Jeju polishes its signs for foreign visitors

A mistranslated sign can turn a simple vacation into a labyrinth of confusing detours. Now, Jeju Island is taking aim at the linguistic errors that officials say have long frustrated international visitors to Korea’s premier resort destination. Jeju Special Self-Governing Province said Friday that it will launch a comprehensive audit of its multilingual information systems. The initiative follows an analysis of overseas social media channels last year, which identified garbled foreign language signage as a recurring grievance among travelers. To ensure the review reflects the actual perspective of outsiders, the province and the Jeju Tourism Organization are partnering with Jeju National University’s Smart Tourism Research Support Center. Together, they are recruiting a specialized monitoring team of foreign students representing English, Japanese and Chinese-speaking communities. Beginning this month, the seven-member task force will conduct sweeping on-site inspections across the island’s tourism infrastructure. Their itinerary spans both public and private attractions, includin

Jun 7, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Lost in translation no more: Jeju polishes its signs for foreign visitors
South Korea

Korean lacquerware masters showcased in Japan exhibition

For more than a century, the defining characteristic of "najeonchilgi" — Korea’s traditional mother-of-pearl lacquerware — has been its ability to capture light. Thinly sliced, iridescent shells are inlaid into dark lacquer, creating intricate landscapes and geometric patterns that shimmer with a quiet, fractured glow. Now, this meticulously demanding craft is stepping into the spotlight in Japan, a neighbor with its own deeply rooted lacquer traditions, in a major exhibition exploring the shared history and modern evolution of the art form. The Seoul Museum of Craft Art said Friday that its traveling exhibition, “The Design Room of Master Najeon Artisans,” opened Thursday at the Korean Cultural Center in Tokyo. Running through Aug. 8 before moving to Osaka, the showcase features 110 objects, including finished masterpieces and, crucially, the rare design blueprints that guided the artisans' hands. By pairing original ink drawings with the completed lacquerware, the exhibition offers a rare glimpse into the intellectual labor behind the craft. It features seminal 20th-century

Jun 5, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Korean lacquerware masters showcased in Japan exhibition
Companies

Hyundai Motor's football robot learns year of skills in 1 day

A humanoid robot weaving through football drills and flawlessly executing one of the sport’s most difficult trick kicks has demonstrated a profound leap in machine learning, according to technical details released Friday by Hyundai Motor and its subsidiary, Boston Dynamics. The bipedal machine, known as Atlas, managed to master the "Ghost Rabona" — a high-stakes strike where the kicking leg crosses behind the standing leg after a deceptive feint — by effectively teaching itself to play in a digital simulator before ever touching a physical ball. The display, part of a campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, underscores how rapidly the line between human athletic coordination and robotic precision is blurring. Beneath the slick corporate marketing lies a profound advancement in how machines learn to navigate the physical world. According to engineering briefs published on Boston Dynamics’ official blog, football was specifically selected as a training environment because it demands a simultaneous cocktail of balance, split-second timing, and real-time physical adaptation. To bridge

Jun 5, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Hyundai Motor's football robot learns year of skills in 1 day
South Korea

Colombia introduces Korean language classes at public schools for 1st time

In a milestone for Korea’s quiet but expanding cultural diplomacy in Latin America, the Korean language is set to enter Colombian classrooms as an official subject for the first time this summer. Beginning in August, three prominent secondary schools in Colombia will integrate Korean language classes into their regular curricula, Korea's Ministry of Education said Monday. The rollout follows an agreement signed on Friday between the Korean Embassy in Bogota and the participating institutions: the Institute for Pedagogical Research and Action — which is affiliated with the National University of Colombia — alongside Colegio Nueva Granada and the Fundación Hogar Nueva Granada. The initiative makes Colombia the seventh country in Latin America to introduce Korean into its formal primary or secondary school system, joining Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Paraguay. For years, the global surge of interest in Korean culture has driven a demand for language learning in Colombia. But until now, that education was largely confined to King Sejong Institutes, weekend diaspo

Jun 1, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Colombia introduces Korean language classes at public schools for 1st time
South Korea

Seoul maps out tricky market alleys with 3D address overhaul

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it is expanding its high-tech "3D spatial addressing" initiative to six major traditional markets across the capital, mapping out thousands stalls to improve navigation, logistics and emergency responses. The ambitious project will convert a combined 200,000 square meters of notoriously complex market layouts into high-precision 3D digital data using cutting-edge technologies, including the Global Navigation Satellite System and LiDAR. Roughly 2,500 individual stalls across six key commercial hubs — including Donghwa Market, Guro Market, Mapo Agriculture & Marine Products Market and the Garak Mall sales building — will receive precise, institutionalized 3D addresses. The digital upgrade aims to eliminate chronic navigation challenges in traditional shopping districts, which have historically relied on unofficial storefront numbers or vague, landmark-based directions. By integrating this newly generated spatial data directly into Korea’s premier navigation platforms — including TMAP, Naver Maps and Kakao Maps — visitors and de

Jun 1, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul maps out tricky market alleys with 3D address overhaul
South Korea

Seoul unveils plans for nation’s 1st hybrid timber eco-stadium along Han River

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday that it will construct Korea’s first hybrid timber-structured multipurpose arena on the Han River waterfront. Designed to host elite international combat sports competitions and double as a sprawling public park, the 199.9 billion won ($145 million) project is expected to revitalize a prime riverside site left largely underused for nearly five decades. A joint design submission by Kawa Architects, Architectural Studio Isae, and DD Architects won the international design competition, beating out 27 other entries. The winning proposal features an innovative, circular stadium built with a hybrid timber framework — a structural rarity for large-scale public facilities in Korea. The evaluation committee highly praised the design for its sleek aesthetic harmony with the Han River landscape, its sophisticated interior spatial planning and its technical feasibility despite complex underground conditions, which include a subway line and waste treatment infrastructure. Situated on a 50,916-square-meter plot in Gwangjang-dong near Gwangnaru Station

Jun 1, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Seoul unveils plans for nation’s 1st hybrid timber eco-stadium along Han River
Health

Korea increases hotline staff for suicide prevention calls, boosts multilingual support

Korea is sharply augmenting the staffing of its national suicide prevention hotline to address a severe bottleneck in crisis call management, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said Monday. Driven by a presidential directive to eliminate connection delays and reinforce the existing public safety net, the ministry will immediately expand the workforce of the crisis hotline, nearly doubling personnel from 103 counselors to 200 by October. Since the "109 hotline" was launched in January 2024, public awareness has sent inbound call volumes skyrocketing by 46 percent, jumping from roughly 219,000 in 2023 to over 352,000 in 2025. This explosive demand has outpaced current capacity, with an average of 1,118 daily calls but staff levels currently only able to handle approximately 532 calls each day. To bridge this critical operational gap, the government is introducing targeted personnel adjustments and logistical support. Over 60 percent of the hotline's traffic arrives between 4 p.m. and 3 a.m. To ease this pressure, the ministry is partnering with the specialized civilian NGO Lifeline Korea

Jun 1, 2026By Lee Kyung-min
Korea increases hotline staff for suicide prevention calls, boosts multilingual support
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