South Korea - The Korea Times

YongsanCats saves hundreds of felines from disappearing streets in Hannam New Town redevelopment zone

Construction equipment smashes down old brick buildings and scrapes into the exposed earth underneath, making way for Hannam New Town, a massive redevelopment project located between central Seoul's multicultural Itaewon area and the Han River. As demolition is nearly complete in Zone 3, the first of five adjacent redevelopment zones in the area, residents of Zone 2 are being pushed out in the latest wave of evictions. Amid the destruction, Julie Choi, the operator of YongsanCats, an animal welfare community active in the area, warns that large-scale redevelopment of the neighborhood affects more than just its human residents. Choi, who lives in another part of Yongsan District, estimates she has rescued more than 200 cats from the path of demolition in the area since 2024. "I started because I could not ignore what I knew these cats were facing," she told The Korea Times. "I also wanted to help create an environment in which ordinary people feel they can take responsibility for even one life." Now the animal shelter, where her rescues live while awaiting a foster or forever home, faces

Apr 11, 2026By Jon Dunbar

YongsanCats saves hundreds of felines from disappearing streets in Hannam New Town redevelopment zone

Korean professor reelected as member of UN rights body

A Korean professor has been reelected as a member of a U.N. committee monitoring social and human rights compliance, the foreign ministry said Thursday. Lee Joo-young, a research professor at Seoul National University Human Rights Center, will serve another four-year term starting 2027 on the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the ministry said in a release. The CESCR, consisting of 18 human rights experts, is a U.N. body that monitors how countries implement the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Korea jointed the covenant in 1990. Lee was among nine members elected for the 2027–30 term, alongside an Indian expert representing the Asian region.

Apr 9, 2026By Yonhap

Korean professor reelected as member of UN rights body

Undocumented Thai worker to receive state support after air gun assault

A Thai worker who suffered internal injuries after his employer allegedly fired a jet of high-pressure air into his body at a factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, is expected to receive state protection and industrial accident compensation, in a case now testing Korea's treatment of undocumented laborers. According to government officials, the worker, in his 40s, was working bent over a table at a metal-plating factory on Feb. 20 when the employer approached him and allegedly pressed an air gun against his bottom area before pulling the trigger, causing his abdomen to swell rapidly and leaving him struggling to breathe. The man was first taken to a local hospital and then transferred to Ajou University Hospital in Suwon, before finally undergoing surgery at Osan Hankook Hospital the next day. During this period, the employer allegedly kept urging him to return to Thailand. He is still in recovery. The worker entered the country in 2011 under the Employment Permit System (E-9), but became undocumented after his visa expired in July 2020. The case triggered widespread public outrage ove

Apr 8, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Undocumented Thai worker to receive state support after air gun assault

Lee meets with ex-Japan PM Ishiba, thanks for support of mending ties

President Lee Jae Myung met with former Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday, highlighting the former prime minister's efforts in restoring "shuttle diplomacy" and mending frayed bilateral ties. Lee hosted the luncheon meeting at Cheong Wa Dae for Ishiba, who stepped down last September and was succeeded by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi amid a domestic political crisis. "I am grateful that the Korea-Japan relations became considerably more stable while you were in office and that bilateral cooperation between the two countries has since progressed well," Lee said. "With a broad interest in global issues, you played a significant role," he added. Ishiba expressed his appreciation to Lee for hosting the luncheon, saying he gave utmost priority in advancing the bilateral ties with Korea during his one-year term. "Although one year was a short term, I valued the development of the Japan-Korea relations the most in the context of diplomacy," Ishiba said. Lee and Ishiba first met at the Group of Seven summit in June last year shortly after Lee took office. The two leaders

Apr 8, 2026By Yonhap

Lee meets with ex-Japan PM Ishiba, thanks for support of mending ties

Punk bands from 5 Asian countries come together for World Wide Fam

When you're part of your city's local punk scene, you can go almost anywhere else in the world and find a similar community that will welcome you like family. That's the notion behind "World Wide Fam," a concert series started in 2024 by local label Victim Records. "No matter where we come from, this music connects us like family. Different countries, different cultures, but the same heart, the same noise, the same energy," said Razmy Mohamed, frontman of the Singaporean melodic pop punk band KrankyDoodle (KD), which is touring Korea for the second time. "That’s what music has always been about to us. Community, honesty and showing up for each other. So being part of something like this, it’s a family we get to grow with, even if we’re miles apart." Five bands from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan will come to Korea for the seventh World Wide Fam event, happening Friday to Sunday in three Korean cities. "It’s crazy when you think about it. Bands from five different places, all speaking different languages, but the moment we step on stage, it all translates through the mu

Apr 7, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Punk bands from 5 Asian countries come together for World Wide Fam

Burkinabé choreographer and dancer aims to heal Korea through movement

Sanou Emmanuel arrived in Korea from Burkina Faso in 2012, carrying more than a suitcase but bringing an entire philosophy of life, shaped by the rhythms and movements of West African dance. Today, nearly 14 years later, he stands as one of the most distinctive and quietly influential African figures in Seoul's contemporary dance scene. He leads a group of four dancers and three musicians, under the performance brand Koule Kan Together, creating spaces where African traditional movement meets contemporary choreography, and where the stage becomes a forum for human connection. “In Africa, dance has always made us be together. When I came here, I could feel people becoming alone. And I could see many suicides. It made me sick. Korea has everything for living, everything to be comfortable," he told The Korea Times, his voice carrying a mix of admiration and concern. "Why do people commit suicide? In Burkina Faso, life is very difficult; it is not a rich country. But I never hear of somebody taking their life. Because the community is there." Originally established in Burkina Faso, Koule

Apr 6, 2026By Bereket Alemayehu

Burkinabé choreographer and dancer aims to heal Korea through movement

MORNING CALM TALES How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

In the spring of 1994, a crisis erupted when a North Korean official declared, during a meeting with his South Korean counterpart at Panmunjeom, “Seoul is not far from here. If there is a war, it will become a sea of fire.” Ah, diplomacy. Always so subtle. It was a chilling statement, especially for those of us living just 35 miles south of the DMZ, going about our daily lives with more concern for lesson plans and lunch menus than worrying about North Korea. For me, the remark barely registered at first. If ignorance is bliss, I must have been somewhere between blissfully unaware and just plain uninformed about the threat posed by North Korea. North Korea had, for the most part, been off my radar. Aside from the night I arrived in Seoul in 1990 and witnessed armed soldiers patrolling the airport, the North Korean threat only crossed my mind during military checkpoints for visits to Ganghwa Island and Mount Seorak and during the monthly civil defense drills. If I had been more informed about modern Korean history, I might have been surprised at the extent of the threat posed by Nort

Apr 4, 2026By Jeffrey Miller

[MORNING CALM TALES] How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb

‘We don’t do this hair’: The growing demand for Afro-textured hair care and salons in Korea

The first time Senegalese model Brigitte Ciss walked into a salon in central Seoul’s multicultural Itaewon neighborhood, she was told, “We don’t do this hair.” “It turned me off mainstream salons for good,” she told The Korea Times. Since then, she has built her own patchwork of stylists: a Korean-run Black hair salon in Itaewon for braids and silk presses, an African stylist for sew-ins and other protective styles and sometimes wigs sent by her sister. For day-to-day life, she toggles between what clients want on shoots and what feels comfortable in public. Similarly to Korea, she describes her home country, Senegal, as a place that took a very long time to accept natural hair, adding that her parents still make comments when she wears her natural curls out. “Living in France and the United States actually made it easier to wear my natural hair,” Brigitte said. As a model with five years of experience in Korea, Brigitte is happy to match whatever look a client wants. But, once the cameras are off, she wears her natural hair out because, as she puts it, “as a foreigner,

Apr 4, 2026By Stephanie Scott

‘We don’t do this hair’: The growing demand for Afro-textured hair care and salons in Korea

FRIENDS OF KOREA Reunited after more than 30 years

I was sluggishly adapting to my first winter in Onyang, a town in South Chungcheong Province. I arrived in Korea in summer 1974 as a Peace Corps Volunteer (PCV). After an intensive three-month training in Korean language, culture and English teaching methodology in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, I headed west to Onyang, where I would live for the next two years. For the first six months, I rented a room in a family’s house. The arrival of winter was a shock: I hadn’t experienced a Manchurian cold front before, and my room’s only heating sources were charcoal cylinders that burned in flues under the flooring. While teaching many English classes at a boys’ middle school, I organized a “special English class,” selecting four of the brightest students. Twice a week, at 6:30 a.m., I’d pile on layers of clothing to limit my exposure to the freezing temperatures, fold my mattress and spread out my blankets so my students and I could plunge our legs into the warm refuge. I could then welcome them to my room and begin our 60-minute lesson, which usually took the form of open

Apr 3, 2026By Christy Gavitt

[FRIENDS OF KOREA] Reunited after more than 30 years

Korea to host IAEA fusion energy conference in 2027

Korea plans to host a biennial International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) conference on fusion energy in Seoul next year, the science ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Science and ICT inked a Host Government Agreement with the IAEA virtually earlier in the day, naming Korea as the host of the Fusion Energy Conference (FEC) 2027 in Seoul. The 31st FEC, which will run from Oct. 4-9, will bring together government delegations and experts from around 40 countries. Around 1,500 participants are expected to exchange the latest trends in the nuclear fusion energy industry. The ministry said the event will serve as a venue for global exchanges amid the accelerating development of nuclear fusion energy technologies, including commercialization, international collaboration and standard-setting efforts. "The government, research institutions and businesses will thoroughly prepare for the event not only to ensure its successful hosting but to help Korea emerge as a key partner in the global supply chain for the nuclear energy industry," the ministry said in a release. Korea previously hosted the

Apr 2, 2026By Yonhap

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