South Korea - The Korea Times

Gov't probe finds 88 suspicious property deals involving foreigners

The government has uncovered 88 suspected cases of illegal property transactions involving foreign nationals in a special probe on non-housing real estate deals, officials said Tuesday. In the investigation carried out jointly by the land ministry and the Office for Government Policy Coordination from September through last week, the authorities found 126 suspected illegal acts tied to 88 transactions reported between July 2024 and July of this year. The cases mostly involved deals tied to "officetels," or multipurpose buildings with residential and commercial units, and land. Suspected violations include illegal inflows of overseas funds, unauthorized rental operations by foreigners who lack proper residency status and misuse of bank loans. Officials have referred the cases to multiple authorities, including the justice ministry, the Financial Services Commission and the National Tax Service, for follow-up measures. The latest findings follow an earlier probe into housing transactions involving foreigners, during which 210 suspected illegal deals were identified. The land ministry said it

Dec 30, 2025By Yonhap

Gov't probe finds 88 suspicious property deals involving foreigners

Adoptees demand answers from country that sold them overseas

A bill to extend the mandate of Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) passed the Legislation and Judiciary Committee of the National Assembly on Dec. 2, following weeks of intensified pressure on lawmakers by Korean adoptees. For many adoptees, the development marked a significant step. Only months earlier, amid other national crises demanding political attention, uncertainty over the commission’s future was acute. Members of the adoptee community have been holding conferences, meeting with officials and staging protests outside government buildings in recent weeks, urging the administration to extend the TRC's tenure and provide the facts behind their overseas adoptions, after irregularities have been detected in many cases. On Nov. 26, adoptees, both domestic and international, and advocacy groups gathered again at the National Assembly, calling not only for recognition of the TRC’s findings but for deeper action: corroborating evidence, expanding investigations and establishing a long-term framework for cooperation with the state. Many consider these steps essential f

Dec 29, 2025By Antonia Giordano

Adoptees demand answers from country that sold them overseas

Registered foreigners living in Korea hit 1.6 mil. in November: data

The number of foreigners staying in Korea for 90 days or longer for work or study has exceeded 1.6 million as of November, with about half of them living in the greater Seoul area, data showed Saturday. The figure, which came in at 1.1 million in 2021 and 1.3 million in 2023, has been on the rise, according to the monthly data compiled by the justice ministry. It marked an 8 percent increase from November last year. By area, 54 percent of registered foreigners were residing in the greater Seoul area, with 54,584 living in Hwaseong, 42,158 in Siheung and 38,398 in Ansan, which are all located in southern Gyeonggi Province. By nationality, 29.8 percent were Chinese, followed by 18.4 percent who were from Vietnam, 5.5 percent from Nepal, 4.3 percent from Uzbekistan and 4.1 percent from Cambodia. Registered foreigners refer to those who have applied to stay in Korea for 90 days or longer. They are eligible to receive foreign registration cards and have to report within 14 days should they change their area of residence.

Dec 27, 2025By Yonhap

Registered foreigners living in Korea hit 1.6 mil. in November: data

LAUGHING THROUGH HISTORY 22 ‘There’s No Dot in the Middle, So That Character Is 'Dae,' Not 'Tae'!’

The joke I’m translating today mixes a literary sensibility with an earthy and crude sense of humor. The setup is that three women are expected to celebrate their father-in-law’s upcoming birthday by miming the shapes of Chinese characters (also called sinographs, or “hanja” in Korean) with their bodies. Chinese characters were introduced to Korea by at least the second century B.C.E. and established as the writing system used for government, law and education during the Three Kingdoms Period (which lasted from the first century B.C.E. through the seventh century C.E.). Although the Korean writing system, Hangul, was developed and promulgated during the 15th century, it was limited in application and Chinese characters retained wider use and greater cultural cache until the 20th century. In this scene, each of the daughters-in-law has to choose a Chinese character to mime. The first makes the shape of the character “ho” (好), meaning “good” (an ideograph of a woman and child). The second makes the shape of the character “an” (安), meaning “peace,” by wearing a

Dec 26, 2025By G.S. Hand

[LAUGHING THROUGH HISTORY 22] ‘There’s No Dot in the Middle, So That Character Is 'Dae,' Not 'Tae'!’

Refugee forum urges Korea to embrace diversity as source of strength

Responsibility for refugee protection should not rest solely with the government, according to participants in the Korea Refugee Forum, held at Seoul National University of Education on Dec. 9. Instead, forum participants said, meaningful protection and integration requires collaboration across sectors, communities and institutions. This “whole-of-society” approach encourages long-term thinking about social inclusion, coexistence and access to services, rather than focusing only on short-term asylum procedures. As the first national-level forum dedicated exclusively to refugee issues, the event highlighted the intensification of forced displacement in recent years due to a combination of conflicts and wars, persecution, human rights violations and the global climate crisis. Organized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Mission to Korea, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Refugee Human Rights Network and Refugee Research Network, the forum was held in alignment with this month’s Global Refugee Forum Progress Review Meeting at UNHCR headquarters

Dec 25, 2025By Bereket Alemayehu

Refugee forum urges Korea to embrace diversity as source of strength

MORNING CALM TALES A Christmas story in Korea 1990

I arrived in Korea in 1990, just two weeks shy of Christmas. When my recruiter called in early October to offer me a teaching position at ELS (YBM Sisa) starting in December, she framed the offer as if she were handing me a gift with a tiny catch: Yes, you’ll be far from home for the holidays … but you probably won’t feel homesick. Having spent several Christmases away during my military days, I wasn’t worried. I figured homesickness was like the flu — inevitable now and then, but survivable. What I didn’t expect was that my first Christmas in Korea would become one of the best Christmases of my life. Back in 1990, celebrating Christmas in Seoul was an entirely different experience from the Seoul of December today. There were no Daiso stores displaying shelves of ornaments, no Costco warehouses selling Christmas trees the size of small redwoods, no Starbucks cafes piping out carols as early as November and certainly no holiday plazas, winter festivals or synchronized light shows blanketing the city the way they do now. Hotels didn’t advertise Christmas buffets the size of

Dec 24, 2025By Jeffrey Miller

[MORNING CALM TALES] A Christmas story in Korea 1990

Media framing fuels misconceptions about refugees in Korea

The Korean media’s persistent tendency to frame refugees as security risks continues to fuel public fear and distort policy debates, overshadowing the far less visible human stories of people fleeing conflict. That was the conclusion at a special lecture, titled "Portrayal of Refugees in Korean Media," organized by the Human Rights Society (HRS) at Korea University's Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) in collaboration with the refugee-led initiative Hanokers at Seoul Startup Hub on Nov. 10. The event explored how different media outlets strategically frame news about refugees and how it impacts policies and public perception in Korea, providing a rare opportunity for Korean and international students to gain insight into the lived experience and perspective of migrants living here with a refugee background. The portrayal of refugees in Korean media plays a major role in shaping public perception and political debate. It offers a mix of fear and sympathy, while historically leaning toward risk-focused political narratives, especially conservative ones, that frame refugees

Dec 24, 2025By Bereket Alemayehu

Media framing fuels misconceptions about refugees in Korea

Casa Amigo to host 2nd foreign pansori showcase

A diverse group of foreign pansori singers will perform their second showcase of Korea's traditional narrative music genre at Casa Amigo in central Seoul's Gyeongnidan neighborhood on Saturday. Last time these international practitioners of traditional Korean music gathered there, the room filled with both Koreans and other foreign residents curious to see them perform and learn more about pansori. "The reaction from people who came to the last event was very positive, with many asking us to organize another one," Erin Hughes, the main event organizer, told The Korea Times. "That's why we decided to do a second show." Due to the explosive interest in their free concert, the organizers decided this time to charge 15,000 won for entry, which also comes with one free drink. Registered on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, pansori is a genre of musical storytelling tracing its history back centuries. Generally performed by solo singers, called sorikkun, who perform all the roles in a set repertoire of orally transmitted plays, known as madang. Only

Dec 22, 2025By Jon Dunbar

Casa Amigo to host 2nd foreign pansori showcase

Court upholds denial of naturalization to foreign national over criminal record

A Seoul court has upheld an earlier decision by the justice ministry to deny naturalization to a foreign national over his past criminal record. According to legal sources Sunday, the Seoul Administrative Court dismissed a lawsuit filed by the foreigner, who had sought to overturn the ministry's rejection of his naturalization application. The applicant, whose nationality was not disclosed, had applied for a South Korean passport after marrying a South Korean citizen. After the couple divorced, the legal basis for his application changed, and the ministry rejected the request, citing his criminal record. The ministry ruled that the person failed to meet the "good conduct" requirement under the Nationality Act. The foreigner was once referred to juvenile protection proceedings for aggravated theft and was also fined for driving without a license. The person argued that despite his record, the justice ministry was too harsh in denying his naturalization application. However, the administrative court said he was a repeat offender over an extended period and his offenses could not be conside

Dec 21, 2025By Yonhap

Court upholds denial of naturalization to foreign national over criminal record

Vietnamese lead surge as Korea’s foreign resident population hits record-high 1.69 mil.

Korea’s foreign resident population has climbed to an all-time high, driven by a sharp rise in young migrants and a particularly strong influx from Vietnam, according to new data. The 2025 Immigrant Residence and Employment Survey, published Thursday, shows that as of May, the number of foreign residents aged 15 or older exceeded 1.69 million, up from 1.56 million a year earlier, an increase of approximately 8.3 percent. The figure accounts for about 3.3 percent of Korea’s total population of roughly 51.8 million. It is the second-fastest annual increase since 2017. The growth is mainly concentrated among younger age groups. The population of foreigners aged 15 to 29 expanded by 12.8 percent (59,000 people), while those in their 30s grew by 7.8 percent (34,000). In contrast, the number of foreign residents in their 50s fell slightly, by 0.4 percent (1,000). By nationality, ethnic Korean Chinese nationals remain the largest foreign resident group, with 506,000 residents. Vietnamese rank second at 270,000, but they are growing far faster than any other major ethnic group. The survey sho

Dec 19, 2025By Jung Min-ho

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