Global Community

More affordable foreign nanny program launched in Seoul

Korea launched a more affordable foreign nanny program for residents in Seoul on Monday as part of its efforts to ease the child-rearing burden on parents and help address the nation's low birthrate. Under a trial scheme initiated by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, noncitizens holding one of four visas — D-2, D-10-1, F-3 and F-1-5 — can register their job-related information on a site managed by outsourcing service firm EasyTask. If selected, they will undergo weeks of required training before being permitted to work as domestic workers, babysitters or both. For service users, it will be a more affordable version of a similar state-run program, through which parents in the city could hire Filipino caregivers. But unlike the Filipinos, workers who participate in the new project will not be subject to the Labor Standards Act — and can therefore be paid less than the minimum wage — because they would work under private contracts, according to the city government. Article 11 of the law says, “This Act shall neither apply to any business or workplace in which only the employer

Zine offers 'Totally Biased Guide to Korean Indie Music'

Korea's indie music scene is perpetually left struggling for recognition. It takes people like Maeng Joo-hee and Kim Yeong-jin to spread the word and raise its profile. The couple operates SUPERSONIC STUDIO, through which they evangelize about Korea's music scene. This includes organizing live concerts and cultural exchange events, as well as zine-making events and publishing their own content to share personal stories about being part of this underrated creative community. They're holding release party on Thursday for their collaborative zine project, the "Totally Biased Guide to Korean Indie Music," created in partnership with Sojanggak, a Seoul-based design and publishing studio. "Unlike the mainstream music industry, Korea's indie scene has grown around small live venues, where musicians and audiences can interact up close," Maeng said. "Festivals throughout the year also serve as important meeting grounds for the community. One of the best ways to understand the scene is simply by connecting with people who are already part of it." The launch event for the 'Totally Biased Guide to

RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK So long, TGI Fridays

After 33 years of offering an American-inspired family dining experience, TGI Fridays is leaving Korea. The restaurant presents a fading slice of Americana, and its decline is painfully on the nose, considering what's happening to that country. I decided to break my boycott of U.S. products so I could have one final TGI meal — on a Friday, no less. "Get the potato skins," a coworker said as I was leaving, "they're the only good thing on the menu." Presently, only four locations remain open in Seoul; I chose the one in Lotte Mall at Gimpo International Airport, the TGI Fridays of Korean airports — both peaked in the early 2000s. What's left to say about TGI Fridays that wasn't already said in the 1990s? It just has not been relevant for a long time. There are Korean men doing their mandatory military service right now who are probably too young to remember the restaurant in its prime. In its heyday, TGI Fridays was where Koreans celebrated family milestones, where the workers would probably sing you happy birthday, and where foreigners used to go for burgers that were slightly better t

Indonesian artist Maryanto’s fight to remember vanishing and erased landscapes

Indonesian artist Maryanto doesn’t march in the streets or shout through a megaphone. Instead, he carves, etches and paints, using his work to both directly and indirectly expose environmental destruction, corruption and the erasure of landscapes with deep histories. Born in Jakarta in 1977, his artistic journey took shape when he enrolled at the Institut Seni Indonesia Yogyakarta (ISI Yogyakarta), where he studied printmaking. At the time, Indonesia was in crisis, grappling with massive inflation, rising unemployment and widespread discontent. Yogyakarta, long a hub of academia and a center of dissent, resistance and solidarity, felt the strain of economic turmoil as the Asian financial crisis exposed the failures and repression of the New Order regime under Suharto (in office 1967-98). Despite the constant presence of security forces with a history of intimidating, assaulting and disappearing young activists, local students led demonstrations and played a pivotal role in the nationwide movement that brought down Suharto’s 32-year autocratic rule. Amid the Reformasi, a period of s

Yeongyang County under mounting pressure to scrap plan to host Myanmar refugees

Yeongyang, a peaceful county with a population of just around 15,000 in North Gyeongsang Province, hardly ever draws attention from outsiders. But the county has recently been thrust into the spotlight after its announcement last week that it was in talks with the central government to invite 40 refugees from Myanmar to one of its villages and help them settle there permanently, as part of efforts to help address the issue of its shrinking population. In the days that followed the announcement, the online bulletin board run by the office has been filled with dozens of complaints calling for county head Oh Do-chang to ditch the plan. “The idea that depopulation can be solved by multicultural or refugee immigration policies is absurd. That’s wrong,” one petitioner wrote. “I hope you come up with a policy to help your own people.” Many petitioners appear worried that it could be the beginning of what will eventually lead to more immigrants and problems they could potentially bring into Korea such as public safety and religious issues. “The issue of hosting Myanmar refugees in our

New generation carries on spirit of RAS Korea

Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea, the world's oldest Korean studies organization, officially closed down late last year, but a younger generation has stepped up to carry on its scholarly mission and spirit.

MORNING CALM TALES Korea’s early taste of foreign flavors

A few months after I arrived in Korea in 1990, a colleague at the language institute where I taught rushed into the staff room one afternoon, waving a colorful flyer. “You’ll never guess what’s opening across the street,” she said breathlessly. “A Taco Bell!” Up to that point, I’d been happily eating Korean food — bibimbap, "kimchi jjigae," kimchi fried rice, bulgogi, "sundubu jjigae" — punctuated with the occasional burger or pizza. Yet the mere thought of a taco or burrito from Taco Bell felt both magical and a little decadent. The first chance I got, I walked over to the new Taco Bell, which was tucked away on a side street behind the New York Bakery near Gangnam Station. Its familiar red-and-yellow sign glowed against the drab concrete surroundings. Even from the entrance, I caught whiffs of warm tortillas and seasoned beef drifting through the open doors — a fast-food aroma that instantly brought back memories of home. Stepping inside, I felt like I’d been transported to any Taco Bell in the States: the same counter layout, buzzing fluorescent lights and colorf

Hechyeomoyeo's massive art exhibition returns to Seoul

The Hechyeomoyeo (HCMY) is back in Seoul after a trip down south over the last half-year that took it to Busan, as well as Thailand and Indonesia.

PHOTOS St. Patrick's Day festival in Seoul

American painter Aaron Johnson opens third exhibition at Gana Art Hannam in Seoul

Visiting Aaron Johnson’s paintings at Gana Art Hannam gallery feels like exploring outer space and meeting celestial beings radiating vivid colors. It challenges you to ask: Are we alone? Johnson's solo exhibition, "New Light," showcases new paintings by the California-based American artist. In his latest body of work, Johnson explores new territory, focusing on two-figure compositions that intensify the dynamic interplay between abstraction and figuration. The exhibition, his third with the gallery in central Seoul's Hannam-dong, opened Feb. 28 and runs until March 30.