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Visa rules on foreign scholars eased

Foreigners visiting South Korea to give lectures or provide consulting services will be able to enter the country without a short-term employment visa starting next month, the government said Sunday.Currently, a C-4 visa is required for foreign scholars invited for the short period of time to give lectures, leading some renowned scholars to decline invitations from local research institutes.According to the rule to be adopted on Aug. 1, foreign scholars invited to give lectures under a contract with the government, universities or nonprofit organizations will be able to enter the country without the C-4, said the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Ministry of Justice.The invited foreign lecturers can lecture at up to five institutions over a period of seven days, officials said.They will only require a valid passport and a tourism visa -- B-2 or C-3 -- or hold a B-1 visa that is issued to a citizen of a country that has signed a visa waiver agreement with South Korea. (Yonhap)

Jul 22, 2018
Visa rules on foreign scholars eased

Controversial refugee facility home to asylum seekers

The Immigration Reception Center on Yeongjongdo Island, Incheon. Photos courtesy of the Immigration Reception CenterBy Ko Dong-hwanBefore the Immigration Reception Center was completed on Yeongjongdo Island, next to Incheon International Airport in November 2013, it drew local protesters who did not want the facility near their homes. They were mostly concerned that asylum seekers there could threaten their security. But five years on, all that has changed. The hostility has subsided and the facility and community of Incheon's Unbuk-dong area are witnessing strong ties. The center has allowed residents to use its facilities, including playgrounds, and hires residents first whenever it requires seasonal workers. The center said this was designed to build a mutual relationship and maintain communication with residents. Teenage students from local schools have been visiting the facility for volunteer work. And foreigners living in the center have visited welfare service providers like seniors' community clubs and childcare centers to volunteer their services. “At the time when the

Jul 18, 2018
Controversial refugee facility home to asylum seekers

Asia Institute stresses global governance to solve world's problems

Asia Institute President Emanuel Pastreich, left, and Korea Peace Movement director Lakhvinder Singh, third from left, appear at a Peace March on May 14, 2017. / Courtesy of Asia Institute By Jon DunbarExperts agree, the world is in disarray. Three such experts are turning to the blueprint of global governance, that animated the global struggle against fascism, the United Nations Charter written on June 26, 1945. The Asia Institute is hosting a unique event Thursday morning, where attendees will read from the U.N. Charter and discuss its significance in today's political climate, as the world's top superpower is destabilized and a trade war looms with the world's second-largest power. “This is important, affirming the text, the significance through the spoken word like scriptures at church,” Emanuel Pastreich, president of the Asia Institute, said in an interview with The Korea Times. “But this is not religion, but rather a central text in our modern world, one peop

Jul 17, 2018

Royal Asiatic Society 52-hour week a positive step, but more support needed for working mothers

By Miliann KangI have heard many stories of women working hard to graduate from college and get good jobs, then being pushed out of those jobs by the competing demands of work and family. My research brought me last summer to Korea, where all workers struggle with work-life balance, but this hits particularly hard for working mothers. These issues are pressing in many countries, but are particularly challenging for Korean women. In response, this month Korea implemented a new law that limits the workweek to 52 hours, down from the previous 68.This marks a significant improvement but is still much longer than most other countries. Thus, it is only one piece of a much larger and challenging puzzle to create a better work-life balance for all workers _ but especially for working mothers.One mother who worked for an advertising company commented, “More than just cutting down the number of hours, it is important to have control and flexibility over work. I would rather be able to go home and have dinner with my family and complete my work in the evening, than just work fewer hours.&

Jul 17, 2018
[Royal Asiatic Society] 52-hour week a positive step, but more support needed for working mothers

'Wonderful' gets things done in Korea

Startup entrepreneur Maria Lee / Courtesy of WonderfulBy Hallie BradleyMaria Lee moved to Korea without any Korean language skills and quickly realized life would not be as easy as she and probably others might hope. Rather than wallow away the days thinking about how hard life is, she decided to start a service to make living in Korea easier for foreign residents. She named that service Ask Ajumma. Three years later, and a name change to Wonderful, her service is thriving. Aiming to help with everything from day-to-day troubles to event planning and more, Wonderful has gained a reputation in the foreign community as the personal assistant expats living in Korea and tourists coming to Korea can use for any number of needs.Lee spoke about the inconveniences of her early days in Korea, “Even though Gmarket was in English, many of the product descriptions were fully in Korean. And the most frustrating part was talking to the delivery guy when he called. Packages would get misplaced sometimes and it was impossible to call the company back without the help of Korean friends.”

Jul 17, 2018
'Wonderful' gets things done in Korea

Iranian teen under deportation order touches hearts of Korean classmates

This Iranian teen, who has been in Korea for more than nine years, attends a Seoul middle school. Screen captures from SBS NewsBy Ko Dong-hwanThe Korean classmates of an Iranian teenager under a deportation order have asked President Moon Jae-in to repeal the decision.A classmate posted a petition on the Cheong Wa Dae's petition website on July 11.The Iranian, 16, came to Korea with his father nine years ago.Under the title “Please let my friend have a just screening so he can earn refugee status,” the petition said the student's refugee status application was “unjustly dismissed by the Supreme Court.” The petitioner said she and her friends were infuriated at the Korean justice system because it ignored their Iranian friend's predicament only because the system was inundated with cases to check.“My friend had his identification document confiscated and now awaits the date to be deported,” the petitioner said. “Tears roll down and my heart shakes as I think about him. If he leaves like this, 27 of us in our class, and 600 students of our scho

Jul 17, 2018
Iranian teen under deportation order touches hearts of Korean classmates

Yongsan Legacy The hands that re-connected postwar Korea

Ira Wheeler points toward Mount Nam where he installed an antenna station in the 1980s and 1990s. / Courtesy of Yongsan LegacyAs the U.S. military relocates out of Yongsan Garrison, Yongsan Legacy aims to archive the living memories of those who served, worked and lived there. This is one of them. ― ED.By Kyung LeeThere's no denying South Korea's leading position as a telecommunications giant.The nation accomplished the feat over more than half a century, with tentacles of fiber-optic cables and microwave signals stretching to all geographical corners. A large portion of its successful origins are credited to the services of Ira Wheeler and his team that continue to this day.“Anywhere you look in Korea that has anything to do with telecommunications and IT, it has an Irish fingerprint somewhere,” Wheeler said.Wheeler came to Korea in 1964, first assigned to the Eighth U.S. Army 304th Expeditionary Signal Battalion at Camp Coiner and later as an Army civilian contractor. “There was not one mile of fiber-optic communications in Korea,” he said of his first days

Jul 16, 2018
[Yongsan Legacy] The hands that re-connected postwar Korea

PHOTOS African protesters speak up for refugees at Gwanghwamun

Migrants from Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Liberia, Congo and the Philippines make their voices heard as refugees in Korea in front of the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul's Gwanghwamun Square on July 8. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwanBy Ko Dong-hwanSome 30 men and women gathered at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul on July 8 to express the “voices of refugees.”Migrants from Nigeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Liberia, Congo and the Philippines from across Korea formed the group under the banner “Do You Hear the Refugees' Voice?” Representatives from the Ansan Migrant Center, which organized the event, and Osan Migrant Center accompanied the group.A Burundi refugee was the first to speak among the gathered asylum seekers and refugees. He covered his face with a mask to protect his identity as family members are still in the African country. Korea Times photo by Ko Dong-hwanThe Sunday gathering was the second pro-refugee street demonstration, following one on July 1 in Ansan by the Ansan center.Sunday's protesters took to the streets to highlight anti-

Jul 12, 2018
African protesters speak up for refugees at Gwanghwamun [PHOTOS]

19th Seoul Queer Culture Festival kicks off this Friday

People parade through downtown celebrating the LGBTQ community. / Image by Jon DunbarBy Celeste KrielExpat, foreign and Korean members of the LGBTQ community and their allies will come together for the biggest queer event of the year in Seoul, the 19th Seoul Queer Culture Festival, which kicks off this Friday with an art exhibition followed by the main Seoul Queer Parade (SQP) at Seoul Plaza on Saturday. The event is an opportunity to participate in a positive demonstration of visibility in a country where homosexuality is not illegal but heavily socially sanctioned. The theme for this year's festival is “Queeround,” which has a two-fold meaning, highlighting the growing visibility of queer people in society and the importance of representation, as well as celebrating this time as the “queer round.”An art exhibition titled “Prism of Art: Bloom in human rights, culture and art” will start at 7 p.m. Friday at the Human Rights Center in downtown Seoul. The SQP event celebrations begin the following day at 11 a.m. with about 100 LGBTQ-themed booths and

Jul 10, 2018

Expat punk band When the Feverish Fail release debut CD at farewell show

Courtesy of When the Feverish Fail By Jon DunbarOne of the hardest parts of expat life in Korea is the constant farewells. It's especially compounded for expat bands, as losing one member incapacitates the whole band. It's the same old story for When the Feverish Fail (WTFF), a pop-punk band with members from Canada, the U.S. the U.K. and Ireland, which finally decided to call it quits now that their last remaining founding member is leaving the country. The band name is a play on a Korean proverb about working feverishly. “Maybe we were implying we are failures from the beginning,” laughed Danny Bragg, who co-founded WTFF in 2015 and left it last year, moving to Vietnam for family reasons.The WTFF's members look back on their time together as anything but a failure. And they're not leaving before releasing their debut mini-album on local punk label World Domination, Inc. They started recording the album last August at Thunderhorse Studios.“I think our departure tri

Jul 10, 2018
Expat punk band When the Feverish Fail release debut CD at farewell show
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