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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

Seoul's Tapgol Park sees end as Korea's iconic senior playground after janggi ban

Kim, 80, traveled every day from his residence in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province to come to Tapgol Park in central Seoul by subway to play janggi, a traditional Korean strategy game similar to chess, with his friends. Now he has "nowhere to go." "I feel completely lost. It’s absurd that playing janggi has been banned overnight," he said. Ahn, 75-year-old based in western Seoul, offers a similar perspective: "We elders have nowhere to go and we are not welcome anywhere anymore. Playing janggi and having lunch here was my only joy, and in an instant, that joy is gone," he said. Their voices mark the end of an era in Tapgol Park, the oldest modern park in Korea and an enduring symbol of both resistance and refuge. On July 31, Seoul’s Jongno District Office installed signs banning all entertainment activities within Tapgol Park, including janggi and baduk (go), as well as smoking, consuming alcohol, posting signs and vending. "Tapgol Park is a historic site in which the spirit of the March 1 Independence Movement lives on," the signs read, warning violators of potential jail time or fines un

Oct 11, 2025By Lee Hae-rin
Seoul's Tapgol Park sees end as Korea's iconic senior playground after janggi ban

Korea eases rules to let older city homes join guesthouse market as tourism surges

Korea is easing regulations on urban guesthouses for foreign tourists, allowing homeowners to register properties built more than 30 years ago, provided they meet safety standards, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday. The revision comes as a follow-up measure to a pledge made during the 10th National Tourism Strategy Meeting held on Sept. 25, aimed at accommodating the rise in inbound travel demand. Under current guidelines, homes that are 30 years or older cannot be registered as foreigner-friendly urban homestay businesses, regardless of their safety conditions. However, the new rules will allow registration of such properties if they comply with safety measures under the Building Act and Building Management Act. Local governments will check whether a property is labeled as "violation" and seek input from architects or safety experts to assess structural soundness, if needed. The government also overhauled evaluation standards for foreign-language services. Previously, operators were assessed mainly on fluency. Under the revised rules, they can be deemed to provide a

Oct 10, 2025By Lee Hae-rin
Korea eases rules to let older city homes join guesthouse market as tourism surges

Number of people taking Korean language proficiency test hits record high as interest surges

What began with the worldwide success of K-pop and TV dramas has evolved into something broader: Korean is now among the most widely studied languages around the world. More than half a million people took the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK) this year, highlighting how the global popularity of Korean culture is attracting a growing number of learners. According to data from the Ministry of Education and the National Institute for International Education, around 550,000 people had taken TOPIK as of September this year — the highest number since the exam was first introduced in 1997. The number of test-takers has steadily increased in recent years, rising from approximately 360,000 in 2022 to 420,000 in 2023 and 490,000 in 2024, before surpassing 500,000 for the first time this year. Internet-based testing (IBT) is currently available in 13 countries, including Korea, the United States, China and Indonesia. Four more countries — Nepal, Laos, Bahrain and India — will be added next year, bringing the total to 17. The ministry plans to increase the number of annual testing sessions

Oct 10, 2025By Bahk Eun-ji
Number of people taking Korean language proficiency test hits record high as interest surges

Recovery tops 30% after state data center fire

The restoration rate for the government's online services affected by a data center fire on Sept. 26 has exceeded 30 percent, authorities said Friday. As of noon on Friday, 217 out of 709 online administrative services hit by the fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in the central city of Daejeon had been brought back online, marking a restoration rate of 30.6 percent, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. Among the restored services are the Public Procurement Service's next-generation comprehensive shopping mall, the interior ministry's central permanent records management system, the finance ministry's National Assembly business support system and the land ministry's real estate administration intelligence system. During the weeklong extended Chuseok holiday that began last Friday, a total of 47 systems returned to normal. The fire began when a lithium-ion battery exploded in a server room of the NIRS on Sept. 26 and was completely extinguished the following day.

Oct 10, 2025By Yonhap
Recovery tops 30% after state data center fire

4 of 10 Korean athletes end up jobless after retiring in their 20s

Nearly four in 10 athletes in Korea find themselves jobless after retiring, with most ending their sports careers in their early 20s, recent government data revealed, underscoring the persistent challenges former athletes face in transitioning to new professions and the lack of adequate institutional support. According to Korean Sport & Olympic Committee data submitted to Rep. Cho Gye-won of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the average retirement age for Korean athletes is 23.6. As of last year, 7,521 registered as former athletes after retirement. Only 38.4 percent of them moved into jobs related to sports, while some 38.19 percent remain unemployed. Although the committee operates a career support center for retired athletes, uptake remains low, as survey data showed only 25.2 percent of retired athletes actually used the center. The most common reason cited for not using its services was simply not knowing how to access them, accounting for 64.4 percent of responses. “The reality that four out of 10 athletes who retire around the age of 23 remain unemployed is not just an indi

Oct 9, 2025By Lee Hae-rin
4 of 10 Korean athletes end up jobless after retiring in their 20s

Far-right groups hold protests across Seoul over Chuseok holiday

Far-right groups staged a series of protests across central Seoul throughout the Chuseok holiday, drawing thousands of participants and prompting heightened police presence as authorities reiterated their commitment to curbing hate speech and public disorder. The demonstrations, organized by multiple groups, included anti-China rallies, marches of support for disgraced former President Yoon Suk Yeol and gatherings challenging historical narratives around Japan’s wartime sex slavery. One of the largest events was organized by the ultra-conservative youth group Freedom Univ., a key actor in the ongoing anti-China movement. According to unofficial police estimates, around 1,500 people gathered in the Gwanghwamun area and marched through the capital on Oct. 3, waving giant national flags. Participants, mostly young people dressed in black, repeatedly blew vuvuzelas and shouted slogans such as "Communist Party Out," along with racial slurs and derogatory expressions, while waving leaflets with slogans including "We are Charlie Kirk," "No visa-free entry for 30 million Chinese tourists," "C

Oct 9, 2025By Lee Hae-rin
Far-right groups hold protests across Seoul over Chuseok holiday

Recovery reaches 27.2% after state data center fire

Two weeks after a fire broke out at a major state data center, 27.2 percent of the government's online services have been restored, authorities said Thursday. As of 6 a.m., 193 out of a total of 709 online administrative services affected by last month's fire at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) in the central city of Daejeon had been brought back online, according to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters. On Thursday, the government finalized the tally of affected services at 709, up from the previously estimated 647, after restoring its internal management system for online government services, known as nTOPS. Among the services restored during the extended Chuseok holiday this week is On-Nara Document 2.0, an electronic document management system that enables public officials to process tasks in real time, including drafting, approval, transmission and archiving of public documents. "The government will work to address the difficulties faced by those on duty and establish a sustainable recovery system through additional manpower support and other

Oct 9, 2025By Yonhap
Recovery reaches 27.2% after state data center fire

Highways jammed as people return home after Chuseok holiday

Major expressways nationwide were congested Thursday as people returned home on the final day of the extended Chuseok holiday. This year's weeklong extended holiday runs through Thursday, as Chuseok, which fell on Monday this year, connects with two national holidays — National Foundation Day on Oct. 3 and Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, which marks the creation of the Korean alphabet. As of 9 a.m., travel times to Seoul were estimated at 6 hours and 40 minutes from the southeastern city of Busan, 4 hours and 10 minutes from the southwestern city of Gwangju, and three hours from the eastern coastal city of Gangneung, Gangwon Province, according to the Korea Expressway Corp. (KEC). The KEC said inbound traffic will peak at around 4 to 5 p.m. and begin easing at 10 p.m. A total of 5.13 million vehicles were forecast to move across the country Thursday, including 400,000 leaving the Seoul metropolitan area for other provinces and 390,000 heading toward Seoul from other regions.

Oct 9, 2025By Yonhap
Highways jammed as people return home after Chuseok holiday

Koreans' per capita instant noodle consumption ranks 2nd after Vietnam

Korea ranked second after Vietnam in per capita consumption of instant noodles in 2024, a global industry association said Thursday. Korea's overall instant noodle consumption reached 4.1 billion units last year, ranking eighth worldwide, while its per person consumption stood at 79.2 in the country of 51.75 million people, according to the Osaka-based World Instant Noodles Association (WINA). The Korean figure followed Vietnam's 81. The Southeast Asian country, with a population of 100 million, ranked fourth in overall consumption at 8.14 billion units. Thailand ranked third in terms of per-person consumption at 57, followed by Nepal at 54, Indonesia 52, Japan and Malaysia 47 each, Taiwan 40, the Philippines 39, and China, including Hong Kong, at 31. Per capita instant noodle consumption tends to be high in Asian countries with traditional noodle-eating cultures. In contrast, the figure remains below 10 in many European countries. In recent years, Korea's instant noodle consumption has steadily risen — from 3.79 billion units in 2021 to 3.95 billion in 2022 and 4.04 billion in 2023. Las

Oct 9, 2025By Yonhap
Koreans' per capita instant noodle consumption ranks 2nd after Vietnam

Number of Chinese visitors to Korea jumps 16.4% in September

The number of Chinese visitors to Korea rose 16.4 percent in September from a year earlier, government data showed Thursday, with Seoul's visa-free program expected to attract more travelers from China. The number of Chinese visitors, including tourists, came to 525,396 last month, up from 451,496 a year earlier, according to the Ministry of Justice. However, the September figure was lower than the 613,177 recorded in August. One-third of foreign visitors in August were from China, data from the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) showed. The government temporarily allowed Chinese group tourists of three or more people, organized by designated domestic or overseas travel agencies, to enter Korea without a visa for up to 15 days from Sept. 29 through June 30 next year. On Jeju Island, visa-free entry of up to 30 days for both individual and group travelers remains unchanged. Seoul's temporary visa waiver program for Chinese tourists came ahead of China's weeklong National Day holiday from Oct. 1–7, one of the country's busiest travel periods. The move also followed Beijing's decision last No

Oct 9, 2025By Yonhap
Number of Chinese visitors to Korea jumps 16.4% in September
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