The Korea Times

What’s new in Korea in 2nd half of 2026: 1-week parental leave, unified rail app and more

Korea will introduce short-term parental leave, expand spousal leave around pregnancy and miscarriage and toughen penalties for wage theft as part of a broad package of social policy changes coming into force in the second half of this year. Government ministries on Tuesday announced a six-month policy package spanning family-friendly workplace rules, rail services, weather forecasting and disaster alerts. From Aug. 20, workers who have children aged eight or younger will be able to take one- to two-week blocks of child care leave once a year. The new option is designed for short-term care needs during school holidays or temporary closures of child care facilities, and allow parents to split their child care leave into shorter segments instead of only using it in lengthy stretches. Officials hope this flexibility will encourage more male employees at small firms to actually use parental leave rather than forgoing it due to workplace pressures. Spousal leave rules will also be relaxed. From Sept. 18, men will be allowed to take spousal maternity leave starting up to 50 days before their p

Jul 1, 2026By Jung Min-ho

What’s new in Korea in 2nd half of 2026: 1-week parental leave, unified rail app and more

Society

Korea's 'fake news' law set to redraw online speech rules

A viral YouTube video, a one-star review on a delivery app, a heated post on a parenting community — all of these will fall under the same legal standard starting July 7. Korea's revised Information and Communications Network Act, widely known as the "fake news" law, introduces punitive damages for YouTubers with more than 100,000 subscribers and high-traffic TikTok accounts if they display what authorities define as "unlawful" content, while platforms such as Naver, Kakao, Google and Meta stand to face steep penalties if they fail to police such content. High-traffic influencers targeted The enforcement decree spells out who can be sued for punitive damages over illegal and fabricated information. Individuals on online platforms like YouTube or TikTok who have posted at least three pieces of content over the past three months and either have more than 100,000 subscribers or average more than 100,000 monthly views in that period will fall under the definition of major online information producers. If they are found to have deliberately spread false information that causes harm in order

Jul 1, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Korea's 'fake news' law set to redraw online speech rules

People & Events

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wins Miwon Peace Prize

The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists was named this year's winner of the Miwon Peace Prize. The nonprofit organization was founded in 1945 by Manhattan Project scientists including Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer and is best known for its Doomsday Clock. Organizers announced the winner on Monday, citing the group's decades-long efforts to raise awareness of existential threats and reshape how the world understands risk. The Doomsday Clock, created as a symbolic measure of how close humans are to causing their own catastrophic disruption, stands at 85 seconds to midnight as of 2026 — the closest it has ever been to the symbolic destruction represented by the end of the countdown. The Bulletin integrates threats including nuclear weapons, climate change and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence into that single global signal. The award, established by the Kyung Hee University system and its affiliated organizations, honors individuals or institutions whose work advances peace and the future of humanity. It commemorates the legacy of Kyung Hee’s late founder

Jun 29, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists wins Miwon Peace Prize

Law & Crime

Digital sex crimes by intimate partners increase share of total, report finds

Offenses involving digital sex crimes by current or former partners are making up a growing portion of sexual violence in Korea, a new government report showed Tuesday, although the country is experiencing an overall decline in several forms of sexual violence. It also said victim-blaming and secondary victimization remain high. The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released the results of its comprehensive 2025 survey on sexual violence based on a nationwide study conducted every three years under the Sexual Violence Prevention and Victims Protection Act. The 2025 survey was conducted with 10,151 men and women aged 19 to 64. Findings showed that lifetime victimization rates for several major offenses have fallen compared to the results of the 2022 survey. The lifetime prevalence of sexual violence involving means of communication — such as phones and online platforms — decreased from 9.8 percent to 7.6 percent, while sexual harassment fell from 3.9 percent to 2.4 percent and rape, including attempted rape, from 0.2 percent to 0.1 percent. Behind the overall decline, however, th

Jun 23, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Digital sex crimes by intimate partners increase share of total, report finds

Society

Activist calls for school police as alternative to ‘Teach You a Lesson’ agents

An education activist is calling for the introduction of a U.S.-style school police system in Korea, arguing that a recent proposal to create a real-life version of a fictional teacher protection squad from the Netflix series "Teach You a Lesson" is legally infeasible and that only police officers with investigative powers can realistically safeguard teachers and students. Lee Keon-joo, representative of the Citizens' Coalition for the Future of School Education, a Seoul-based nonegovernmental organization, said the proposal by Gyeonggi education superintendent-elect Ahn Min-seok — inspired by the Korean Educational Rights Protection Bureau, a fictional squad in the drama that deploys discipline agents, sometimes through vigilante violence, to rescue classrooms from unruly students and difficult parents — fails to address the legal realities teachers face daily. “What’s depicted in the drama is a kind of fantasy, because in reality teachers would face serious legal consequences for human rights violations or child abuse if they did the same,” Lee said during a recent intervie

Jun 22, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Activist calls for school police as alternative to ‘Teach You a Lesson’ agents

Books

LTI Korea chief bets on human translators despite rapid AI development

As generative artificial intelligence (AI) transforms the global translation landscape, the head of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea (LTI Korea) is making a counterintuitive bet: The future of literary translation will rely not less on humans, but more. “In literature, AI alone cannot meet the level expected by international publishers, without human intervention,” LTI Korea President Chon Soo-young said in a recent interview. “Even if more (advanced) AI models emerge, human post-editors would still be needed to review the work.” Chon cited an anecdote shared by Kim Un-su, a novelist famous for “The Plotters (2010).” At LTI Korea’s 30th anniversary event on May 21, an editor at an English-language publishing house initially showed little interest after reading a translation of his work, but later decided to publish it after reviewing a version translated by Sora Kim, a prominent literary translator. “After that, the editor even discussed his next book,” Chon said. “What mattered was not so much to the publisher what the novel was about, but whether Sora

Jun 20, 2026By Jung Min-ho

LTI Korea chief bets on human translators despite rapid AI development

Law & Crime

National Assembly launches probe into ballot shortages as NEC scandals mount

The National Assembly approved a sweeping parliamentary investigation into the June 3 local election ballot paper shortage, paving the way for a broader probe into irregularities at the National Election Commission (NEC), an institution long insulated by constitutional guarantees of its independence. The special committee on the Ninth Nationwide Local Elections Ballot Paper Shortage and Election Management Reform was officially launched on Thursday after legislators adopted the investigation motion and its 45-day plan in a plenary session, with 250 of 251 lawmakers present voting in favor. The probe will run in parallel with a separate criminal investigation that has already begun calling in election workers. The 18-member committee is made up of nine lawmakers from the ruling liberal Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), seven from the People Power Party (PPP) and two from minor parties, with PPP lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun as chair. “The committee pledges before the people that it will do its utmost to uncover the full truth and to pursue sweeping reforms of election management, so that the

Jun 18, 2026By Jung Min-ho

National Assembly launches probe into ballot shortages as NEC scandals mount

Politics

Ballot shortage issue fuels PPP infighting

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) is descending into open infighting over how far to push its challenge on the local elections after ballot shortages in several key electorates caused disruptions to voting, with PPP Chairman Jang Dong-hyeok facing mounting calls to step down and accusations that he is using the controversy to prolong his own political career. At the center of the dispute is the leadership’s decision to lodge election complaints seeking partial revotes in seven constituencies where ballot papers ran out during the June 3 elections, followed by Jang’s move to escalate demands for a nationwide rerun. Senior party members such as Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon and floor leader Rep. Jeong Jeom-sig have dismissed Jang’s remarks, saying they are his own personal stance rather than a party position. Jang made a social media post Tuesday, writing, “The goal is clear. A nationwide rerun. The petitions are only the beginning.” Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Oh — who himself scraped through to win the Seoul mayoral race by a narrow margin — said Jang’s leade

Jun 17, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Ballot shortage issue fuels PPP infighting

Health

New suicide prevention chief puts responsibility on state

Korea must treat suicide not as an individual failing but as a government responsibility, said Jung Yoon-soon, chairman of the state-run Korea Life Respect and Hope Foundation. In a recent interview with The Korea Times, Jung, who took office last month, pointed to the persistently high number of Korean people who take their own lives. The rate has consistently been higher than other OECD member countries since 2003, and Jung said that blaming individuals’ “personal problems” is not tenable. “This is not about a few people making bad choices,” Jung said. “It is a structural failure, and the government must take primary responsibility for fixing it.” According to official data, the 2024 suicide rate was 29.1 per 100,000 people, with 14,872 deaths — an average of 41 lives lost every day. Although preliminary figures for 2025 suggest a modest decline of around 6.5 percent, Jung cautioned against premature optimism. Fixing it requires a whole-of-government response, he noted. The suicide rate should be read not just as a mental health statistic but as a key indicator of how K

Jun 17, 2026By Jung Min-ho

New suicide prevention chief puts responsibility on state

Travel & Food

Tourists in Seoul trade World Cup fever for taekwondo

While much of the world had its eyes glued to the 2026 World Cup, a small plaza in central Seoul filled up on Sunday instead with the sound of “kihap” as visitors lined up to kick, punch and bow their way through a hands-on taekwondo class. Under a summer sky at Namsangol Hanok Village, tourists from different parts of the world followed an instructor’s count — “One and two, easy, good!” — as they practiced basic stretches and front kicks on a mat laid out in front of a traditional Korean pavilion. Some in sneakers and shorts tried to mirror the black belt teacher leading the session, while others laughed as they struggled to keep their balance. This class came after a 30-minute taekwondo showcase featuring wooden board-breaking, traditional dance and K-pop-style choreography, before the performers waved visitors onto the mat to try the moves themselves. All participants, especially the children, appear to have enjoyed it. Vince Ward, an American from Kansas City whose parents were in town visiting, said he signed up as soon as he spotted the program being advertised. “We

Jun 16, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Jung Min-ho

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