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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.

Election protesters agree to allow sports officials to enter ballot-counting center

Election protesters agreed Tuesday to allow sports officials inside a gymnasium used as a ballot-counting center for the June 3 local elections, potentially ending a 12-day standoff between the sides, the leader of the main opposition party said. Rep. Jang Dong-hyeok of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) announced the deal after meeting with the protesters in front of the Olympic Park Handball Gymnasium in southern Seoul, where they have been demanding a rerun of the elections tainted by unprecedented ballot shortages at 26 voting stations across the nation. Officials from sports organizations under the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee have been unable to access their offices inside the gymnasium since June 5, when the protesters began the blockade to prevent the removal of ballot boxes that were brought there for vote counting. The vote count for the local elections has already been completed. Under the agreement with the organizations and the police, two members per organization will be able to enter the gym at a time to retrieve items they need for their work, Jang said. The

Jun 16, 2026By Yonhap
Election protesters agree to allow sports officials to enter ballot-counting center

Seoul Donghaeng Store reopens after monthlong renovation

Seoul Donghaeng Store, a farmers' cooperative store run by the city near Anguk Station, reopens Tuesday following a month of renovations aimed at improving visitors' shopping experience and expanding programming. The permanent store — located on the first floor of the Anguk Building annex in Jongno District — sells agricultural and regional specialty products sourced from small farms and producers across Korea, offering city residents competitively priced goods while providing producers with a reliable sales channel. For the reopening, the city has reorganized product displays, added category signage to help shoppers navigate the space faster and installed new digital signboards visible from outside the store. A companion Naver Smart Store will reopen June 29 with updated product listings. To mark the reopening, the store will hold events from Tuesday through June 19, including free rice cake giveaways for all visitors, a prize draw for purchases of 30,000 won ($20) or more and tastings of local fruit ade beverages. Apple, white peach and blueberry farmers will visit the store in per

Jun 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan
Seoul Donghaeng Store reopens after monthlong renovation

22 police officers disciplined over alleged involvement in martial law bid

Twenty-two police officers were slapped with disciplinary measures over their alleged role in former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law bid in 2024, police said Monday. A disciplinary committee under the Prime Minister's Office has decided to dismiss two officers and demote four others, as well as suspend 10 from their duties and hand down pay cuts for six officers, the National Police Agency said in a notice. The dismissed officers were two senior superintendent generals accused of playing key roles in blocking access to the National Assembly on the night of the martial law bid, when lawmakers voted to lift the decree. A senior superintendent general is the third-highest rank in the Korean police. Police also demoted Kim Joon-young, a superintendent general — the second-highest rank after the top-ranking commissioner general — by one rank to a senior superintendent, in what is widely considered an unusual move within the police organization. The measure came four months after a police task force requested disciplinary action against the officers in question in February.

Jun 15, 2026By Yonhap
22 police officers disciplined over alleged involvement in martial law bid

Inspection launched into teachers' training program related to China's Korean War propaganda

The defense ministry said Monday it has launched an internal inspection into how the operator of South Korea's war memorial museum came to include a visit to a facility in China that promotes Chinese propaganda about the 1950-53 Korean War in an overseas training program for teachers. A news report said the Korea War Memorial Organization, which operates the War Memorial of Korea, recently listed a memorial hall in Dandong, China, as part of the itinerary for teachers featuring historic sites related to anti-Japanese movements during Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. The memorial hall in China offers public displays centered on the view that Chinese involvement in the war was an effort to assist North Korea in fighting U.S.-led Allied forces that backed the South. "An inspection is under way regarding the program in question, and we are looking into the exact accounts," ministry spokesperson Chung Binna told a press briefing when asked if the ministry views the program as appropriate. "Regardless of the reasoning, the defense ministry deems the itinerary a grave error in the first

Jun 15, 2026By Yonhap
Inspection launched into teachers' training program related to China's Korean War propaganda

'Teach You a Lesson' inspires real-life proposal to protect Korean teachers

A think tank of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea proposed a dedicated agency to protect teachers from complaints and legal proceedings that currently burden them individually, modeled on a fictional body featured in the Netflix series “Teach You a Lesson.” A policy suggestion from the Institute for Democracy proposed bringing to life the Korean Educational Rights Protection Bureau, a fictional squad in the drama deployed to salvage classrooms from unruly students and toxic parents, sometimes through vigilante violence. The proposal envisions it as an education activity protection bureau within the Ministry of Education, handling protective procedures, conflict mediation and shared accountability. “The buzz around the Netflix drama 'Teach You a Lesson' reflects how popular culture is capturing the anxiety felt on school grounds ... The fictional agency in the drama is a fantasy, but teachers having to personally bear complaints, reports, investigations and lawsuits is a very real problem,” said Lee Gyeong-a, a research fellow at the institute. “The core is to prevent indivi

Jun 15, 2026By Park Ung
'Teach You a Lesson' inspires real-life proposal to protect Korean teachers

Korea's media watchdog vows bold regulatory reforms

The chief of Korea's media watchdog vowed to foster a healthy media environment through bold regulatory reforms during a press conference held Monday. "We plan to foster a healthy media environment through bold improvements of old and unreasonable regulations, such as those related to broadcast advertisements and broadcast programming," Kim Jong-cheol, the chairperson of the Korea Media and Communications Commission (KMCC), said at a press conference to mark his first six months in office. The media watchdog is also planning to push forward with the establishment of a media development committee tasked with improving policies related to the media industry, Kim said. Some of the agendas to be discussed at the public-private committee include the restructuring of the funding systems for broadcasting, media and telecommunications sectors, the media watchdog chief added. Kim mentioned that his organization is keeping a close watch on the local broadcaster JTBC after two companies related to the broadcaster filed for bankruptcy later last week. Regarding the progress on the enforcement of some

Jun 15, 2026By Yonhap
Korea's media watchdog vows bold regulatory reforms

Should chip tax bonanza be shared with workers, society?

Korea’s debate over how to share the spoils of a historic semiconductor boom is intensifying, with the government claiming the need for a new mechanism to share unexpected gains from chipmakers — including tax revenues and excess profits — even as business and labor clash over how far the state should reach into corporate earnings. Several top policymakers, including President Lee Jae Myung himself, have recently suggested a national-level — or even international — debate on how to use excess corporate gains, as part of efforts to narrow the pay gap between large and small firms. At the International Labour Organization conference in Geneva last Wednesday, Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said that gains from the chip boom driven by artificial intelligence (AI) demand should serve as many as possible. “The benefits of AI should not be concentrated only in a few countries and companies, but should also translate into new opportunities for all nations and workers,” he said. Those gains are the result of a semiconductor boom that has sent profits soaring at Samsung Electronics an

Jun 15, 2026By Jung Min-ho
Should chip tax bonanza be shared with workers, society?

US tech firm files defamation suit against KBS over report on its technology

U.S. tech firm SeeDevice has filed a defamation lawsuit against Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) and its U.S. affiliate, KBS America, accusing them of inaccurate reporting on its technology that cost the company a major commercial opportunity and wasted years of research. The company said last week that a trial has been set at the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to begin in January 2027. The case stems from an August 2024 KBS report alleging the Korean government decided to retract its research grant after finding the company's technology to be fraudulent. At the center of the dispute is QMOS, SeeDevice's proprietary sensor technology designed to simultaneously detect visible light as well as X-rays, ultraviolet and short-wave infrared wavelengths invisible to the human eye, without the specialized materials and processes that many conventional infrared sensors require. In its reporting, KBS cited an insider who alleged that the technology, developed by Korean American Kim Hoon, founder and CEO of SeeDevice, lacked substance. It reported it had raised questions

Jun 14, 2026By Park Ung
US tech firm files defamation suit against KBS over report on its technology

Mexican man apologizes for racist gesture toward Korean YouTuber at World Cup

A Mexican football fan who made a racist gesture toward a Korean YouTuber during the Korea-Czech Republic match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup apologized amid widespread controversy. Korean YouTuber Ino Cat, who has 6.6 million subscribers, posted a video Thursday from Akron Stadium in Zapopan near Guadalajara, Mexico, where she had watched the Group A opener between Korea and the Czech Republic. In the caption, she asked viewers, “Tell me if I'm just being too sensitive,” with the English caption “POV: When you experienced racism at the World Cup.” The footage shows her taking a selfie and waving at the camera while, behind her, a Mexican man looks directly into the lens and pulls both eyes back with his index fingers — a gesture long recognized as insulting toward people of Asian descent. The man in the video was later identified as Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes, president of an engineering association in the Mexican state of Jalisco. As the controversy grew, he posted a video apology over the weekend. “I sincerely regret everything this situation has caused. I have taken t

Jun 14, 2026By Park Ung
Mexican man apologizes for racist gesture toward Korean YouTuber at World Cup

Half of S. Korea's young adults view N. Korea with hostility: poll

Nearly half of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s view North Korea as a hostile state, more than double the share of those who see it as a partner for cooperation, a survey showed Friday. The poll, commissioned by the National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) and conducted by Korea Research from May 27 to June 1, surveyed 1,200 respondents aged 19-39. It showed 49.8 percent of respondents considered North Korea as hostile, while 32.4 percent took a neutral position and 17.8 percent disagreed. On cooperation, only 27.3 percent viewed the North as a potential partner, against 42.7 percent who did not. A separate survey of all age groups conducted in the first quarter found 41.9 percent viewed North Korea as a subject of cooperation or support, suggesting younger Koreans hold a markedly harder line against North Korea. On the question of where inter-Korean relations should head, 36.8 percent favored peaceful coexistence for now, while keeping unification as a longer-term goal. Another 20.3 percent supported maintaining two separate states before eventually pursuing unification, while 19.4

Jun 12, 2026By Yonhap
Half of S. Korea's young adults view N. Korea with hostility: poll
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