South Korea - The Korea Times

Korean, US punk bands team up for split album

The members of Seoul punk band WinningShot / Courtesy of WinningShotBy Jon DunbarLive music venues are closed these days, some until the pandemic ends and some permanently, but punk bands here and in other countries are still making good use of their time.The members of Korean pop-punk band WinningShot haven't let the cancellations get them down. “It's a tough situation, but we are overcoming it in our own way,” WinningShot guitarist/vocalist Kwon Ki-hwan told The Korea Times.They were set to tour Japan last year, where they would have crossed paths with Kids On Fire, a melodic street pop-punk band from Seattle. The two bands would have played the same show on March 19, but the pandemic got in the way.When the tour fell through, Jeff Moses at WinningShot's Seoul-based label, World Domination, Inc. (WDI), reached out to Kids On Fire and proposed putting together a split album with WinningShot.“Actually this is one of the few positives that came out of the pandemic,” said Kevin LaBarre, drummer of Kids On Fire, which is named after a religious group from the 200

Mar 9, 2021By Jon Dunbar

Korean, US punk bands team up for split album

All 85,000 foreign workers in Gyeonggi ordered to take virus test before March 22

The shopping street at Dongducheon in Gyeonggi Province is almost empty, March 2. All foreigners in the province have been ordered to take the COVID-19 test before March 22. YonhapAll foreign workers in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, were ordered Monday to take the coronavirus test before March 22, as part of authorities' efforts to cope with a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in foreigner-dense areas and workplaces.The latest administrative order from the provincial government of Gyeonggi was delivered to about 85,000 foreign workers in the nation's most populous province via their employers, officials said.Under the order, the migrant workers hired by some 25,000 workplaces with at least one foreign employee are obliged to take the virus test between Monday and March 22, they said."The administrative order is intended to keep coronavirus clusters tied to foreigner-dense workplaces from spreading to the concerned communities," said Gyeonggi Province Vice Gov. Lee Yong-chul in an online briefing.Besides the some 85,000 migrant workers, all other foreigners staying illegally

Mar 8, 2021

All 85,000 foreign workers in Gyeonggi ordered to take virus test before March 22

GIs in the Land of the Morning Calm

U.S. and Korean soldiers working together, published in The Korea Times Jan. 1, 1978. / Korea Times Archive By Martin LimonI think of myself as the Forrest Gump of Korea. During five tours, starting in 1968 and ending in 1986, I stumbled into such a vast array of experiences that it provided me, I believe, with a unique view of not only the secretive and insular life of the 8th United States Army but more importantly an insight into how we lowly enlisted G.I.s interacted ― and often clashed ― with the broader Korean culture. Author Martin Limon in 1975, left, and in the 21st century / Courtesy of Martin Limon Over the years, my military duties were unusually varied. I worked in the 8th Army Public Affairs Office, wrote bylined articles for the Stars and Stripes, routed top-secret messages at the Yongsan Compound communications center, edited a small

Mar 2, 2021By Jon Dunbar

Foreigners employed by farms and fisheries receive immediate access to health insurance

GettyimagesbankForeign nationals employed by farms and fisheries will be eligible for health insurance upon arrival in the country, the labor ministry said Tuesday.The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a set of measures aimed at improving working conditions of foreigners, jointly with the ministries of health, agriculture, and oceans and fisheries.The measures come after a foreign national was found dead inside a greenhouse used as makeshift housing in December.The revision allows foreign nationals to apply for health insurance as soon as they arrive, whereas under current rules, they have to wait six months before applying as a district subscriber, not a job-based subscriber, the ministry said.The workers do not qualify for job-based insurance because their employers, who are in the fishing and fishing industries, are not registered as businesses.The revision also gives foreign nationals some of the same benefits as local farmers and fishermen, including up to 50 percent coverage of health insurance premiums, according to the ministry.Moreover, foreign nationals can now swi

Mar 2, 2021

Foreigners employed by farms and fisheries receive immediate access to health insurance

Century-old mansion Dilkusha turned into museum

An old photograph of Dilkusha from the Seoul History Museum exhibit in 2019. / Courtesy of Seoul History MuseumBy Robert Neff Seoul's newest museum is perched up on the hillside above Sajik Tunnel and flanked by a massive ginkgo tree in a two-story brick building known as Dilkusha. Built in 1923 by the American goldminer, businessman and journalist Albert Taylor for his wife Mary, the couple lived in the house until 1942 when they ― along with most of the Westerners living in Korea ― were deported from Korea by the Japanese. Many people are probably unaware of the role the Taylors played in Korea's fight for independence from the 1910-45 Japanese occupation. In her book, “Chain of Amber,” Mary recalled that on March 1, 1919, she had just given birth to her son Bruce at Severance Hospital and woke up to discover a Korean nurse hiding a bundle of papers beneath her baby. When Albert visited her and their infant son, he discovered the papers ― copies of the Korean Declaration of Independence ― which were then smuggled out of Korea in his brother's shoe and broadcast around t

Mar 2, 2021By Jon Dunbar

KADA:KUDU offers virtual custom shoe fitting for women

Jo Lam, left, and Somang Yang sit together at their office. / Courtesy of KADA:KUDUBy Hallie Bradley“Shoes have one of the highest return rates across all categories in e-commerce,” KADA:KUDU co-founder Jo Lam began as she explained their new virtual fitting concept, which not only seeks to make fitting easier, but also specific to each foot individually. Along with co-founder Somang Yang, the two, who first met while colleagues for a consultancy in Singapore in 2013, are changing the way women shop for heels. KADA:KUDU is a brand that specializes in heels that can take women from the workplace to the dancefloor. Working with artisans in Seoul's Seongsu-dong neighborhood, an area known for shoe production, the designs are classic and are in line with KADA:KUDU's goal to promote purchasing less and buying better. The first line of shoes that Lam and Yang have introduced is the “Perfect Pump,” a seven-centimeter heel that features a contoured memory foam insole lined with 360 Degree Air Cushion. The cushion provides all-day support and the soles are anti-slip ru

Feb 23, 2021

Korea Encounters Korea enters 'highway age' 50 years ago

Cars drive on the Gyeongin Expressway connecting Seoul and Incheon, published in The Korea Times April 9, 1970. / Korea Times Archive By Matt VanVolkenburgIn 1968, Korea entered a new era by building something that both reflected and would contribute to its growing economy: expressways.Construction on a freeway connecting Incheon to Seoul began in March 1967, but the great goal of President Park Chung-hee was to build an expressway connecting Seoul and Busan. Once completed, it would shorten what was then a 12-hour drive to a mere four and a half hours.The plan was to build it in sections, first connecting Seoul and Osan and then moving south to Cheonan and Daejeon, while sections between Busan and Daegu and finally the difficult, mountainous stretch from Daegu to Daejeon would follow. Tolls collected from the first sections to open would help to finance further construction.

Feb 23, 2021By Jon Dunbar

[Korea Encounters] Korea enters 'highway age' 50 years ago

Better support needed for skilled foreigners in domestic job market

Foreigners attend a job fair for foreign residents at COEX, Seoul, in this September 2019 photo. YonhapBy Lee Hyo-jin Carolina Bahamondes, 31, a foreign resident from Chile, has been searching for a job in Korea since she obtained her master's degree from a university in Seoul in February 2020. But so far, it's not going very well. “Last year, I submitted applications to at least 30 companies and received contact from three of them. But we couldn't proceed due to visa issues because I was then in Chile. Since I came back to Korea this January, I have applied to around 10 companies, but I haven't heard from them yet,” she told The Korea TimesWith an intermediate to advanced level of proficiency in the Korean language, it is not easy to find a job in a relevant field as her major, environmental energy engineering. “The companies I'm interested in are mostly small or medium-sized enterprises, and they demand fluency in Korean. It is hard to compete with native speakers,” she said. A Ph.D. student from Malaysia surnamed Ahmad Basri has similar concerns. Currently

Feb 18, 2021By Lee Hyo-jin

Better support needed for skilled foreigners in domestic job market

Foreigners with advanced degrees from Korea struggle to find jobs

Holiday in North Korea Touring both sides of Korea's DMZ

Tourists from the North side enter one of the conference rooms straddling the Demarcation Line in the Joint Security Area in August 2010. / Courtesy of Jon DunbarBy Jon Dunbar“What's it like visiting the DMZ from the other side?” she asked me.I felt a little uncomfortable talking to my Korean DMZ guide about my travels in the other Korea, a place she can probably never hope to visit. But it was a fair question, so I answered honestly, having visited the DMZ from both sides. It is stressful. On your way in, they brief you on all sorts of safety procedures, and prep you literally for the outbreak of war if you are so unlucky to be there when it happens. There is a strict dress code, and your behavior is heavily controlled at all times. They basically march you right up to the line separating you from the enemy, and then they quietly withdraw you. It is not to be taken lightly. I couldn't gauge my North Korean guide's reaction, but it certainly differed from her own experience, bringing foreign groups down from Pyongyang to peer south across the truce village at the building

Feb 16, 2021By Jon Dunbar

Kenektid X Bookstore hosts independent publishing book fair

Images from the first Kenektid Book Fair held in 2019 / Courtesy of Kenektid X Bookstore By Jon DunbarLiterature has had an interesting ride over the last year. More people seem to be turning to books amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but these new reading habits have yet to make a significant economic impact on the publishing industry.Kenektid X Bookstore, a small shop located on the outdoor third-floor terrace of the Sewoon Shopping Center complex, is going ahead with its annual book fair later this month. The shop specializes in independent publishing, art books and zines of all kinds, as well as other related merchandise like book clips, bags, hoodies and notebooks. The publications available dive deep into various subjects, from art and travel to street art and even cats, which are the theme of several publications. Many of the books are photo zines and art zines, easy for anybody to understand despite language differences. This year, 80 independent publishers will g