South Korea - The Korea Times

Hyundai workers, residents in Ulsan fear impact of robots' arrival at US factories

“We weren’t even shaken during COVID. It somehow just passed us by,” said Joo Jung-hee, an 80-year-old restaurant owner. “That’s because of the factory workers.” Running a small restaurant in Ulsan, a city whose economy revolves around six major Hyundai Motor factories, Joo has rarely worried about sales. Even with pain-relief patches on hands darkened by age spots, she still smiles at the sight of customers streaming in each day, metimes swallowing a handful of painkillers before returning to work. Inside the modest 82-square-meter restaurant, ten steel tables fill quickly at lunchtime. Factory workers tired of cafeteria food come for Joo’s pollack stew or ft tofu up, and the place turns into mething like a neighborhood living room. Over the years serving out food, she now knows when the next seasonal promotion is. Restaurants nearby have changed owners several times in the past year alone. But Joo has held on to her spot, which sits directly across from the factory gates for three decades. For her, Ulsan was the city that made it possible to raise three sons. She arrived

Mar 14, 2026By Hankookilbo

Hyundai workers, residents in Ulsan fear impact of robots' arrival at US factories

Korea to invest $5.8 bil. in semiconductor, AI, battery technologies

The government will invest about 8.6 trillion won ($5.77 billion) this year to accelerate development across various fields, including semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), shipbuilding, energy and batteries, as it moves to strengthen Korea’s technological sovereignty and respond to intensifying global competition. The Ministry of Science and ICT announced Friday that the joint public-private Special Committee on the National Strategic Technology approved the 2026 implementation plan, mobilizing 23 ministries to coordinate research funding, policy tools and financial support. The plan is part of the government’s five-year national strategy for strategic technologies from 2024 through 2028, aimed at securing critical capabilities that are considered essential to national security and industrial growth. As part of the plan, the government has ramped up national strategic technology research and development (R&D) spending by 30 percent from last year to 8.6 trillion won in 2026. The fund will support coordinated government programs covering 513 designated technologies, which th

Mar 13, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

Korea to invest $5.8 bil. in semiconductor, AI, battery technologies

Ex-station chief’s testimony at Itaewon disaster hearing sparks fury from bereaved families

The former Itaewon Station chief said during an investigative hearing Friday that she would still not have ordered trains to skip Itaewon Station on the night of the 2022 Halloween crowd crush, drawing fury from bereaved families who accused her of abetting the disaster that killed 159 people. On the second day of fact-finding hearings by the National Commission for the Investigation of the Oct. 29 Itaewon Disaster in Seoul, questioning centered on Song Eun-young’s decision not to request trains skip Itaewon Station that night as well as Yongsan District Office’s failure to address illegal structures near the narrow alley where the crowd crush happened. Asked whether she would make the same choice again under identical circumstances, Song replied, “Yes, that’s right,” prompting strong reactions from families in the audience. Some yelled, “If you stay in the post, people will die again,” and “What have you done for three years?” as the hearing briefly grew chaotic. Song, who now holds a different post with Seoul Metro, defended her decision by arguing station staff had

Mar 13, 2026By Lee Hae-rin

Ex-station chief’s testimony at Itaewon disaster hearing sparks fury from bereaved families

Lawmaker targets English cram lessons for toddlers after level test ban

A lawmaker who led this week’s ban on English level tests for preschoolers is now vowing to push a far more sweeping proposal that would sharply curb academic lessons for children at so-called “English kindergartens” and other private institutes in Korea. On Thursday, the National Assembly approved an amendment to the Private Teaching Institutes and Extracurricular Lessons Act in order to ban level tests used by private institutes to screen or rank preschool students for their programs. This law will come into force six months after passage. Only low‑pressure diagnostic checks will be allowed after a child is enrolled, and only with prior parental consent, using observation‑style activities intended to support learning rather than rank children. Detailed standards for these diagnostics will be set later by enforcement ordinances. A senior aide in the office of Rep. Kang Kyung-sook of the minor liberal Rebuilding Korea Party, who led the legislation effort, welcomed the passage but stressed that it represents only “half” of the lawmaker’s early-childhood agenda. “The oth

Mar 13, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Lawmaker targets English cram lessons for toddlers after level test ban

Police to deploy maximum security for BTS comeback show amid terror concerns

Police said Friday that they will deploy maximum security measures for K-pop group BTS’ concert at Gwanghwamun Square on March 21, citing the possibility of a terror attack amid intensifying tensions in the Middle East and worsening global security conditions. In a press release, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency said it will mobilize all resources to counter terrorism risks in and around the venue near City Hall in central Seoul, with over 200,000 fans expected to crowd the area for the concert. It also pledged a tough response to hoax threats. “If a bomb threat is reported on the day of the event, it could cause major disruptions,” the police said. “Anyone who causes delays or wastes police resources by making bomb threats will be subject to arrest and a full investigation until they are apprehended.” Police buses and water-filled barricades will be placed on surrounding roads to block access to the venue as part of the safety measures. Metal detectors will also be set up at 30 entrance points. Police asked visitors to pack light, saying that screening procedures could cau

Mar 13, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Police to deploy maximum security for BTS comeback show amid terror concerns

Women head chefs now helm 1 in 10 Michelin-starred restaurants in Korea

Women head chefs now lead 1 in 10 Michelin-starred restaurants in Korea, marking a symbolic crack in the industry’s long-standing glass ceiling even as stark gender gaps persist worldwide. The newly released Michelin Guide Seoul and Busan 2026 lists a record 46 starred restaurants, of which five are helmed by women, or about 10.9 percent, up from three out of 40 last year. That makes 2026 the first year, based on available data, that women have crossed the 10 percent threshold among Korea’s Michelin-starred chefs. At the global level, women remain badly outnumbered: A 2022 analysis of 2,286 Michelin-starred restaurants in 16 countries found only about 6 percent were led by women, with the figure still hovering between 5 and 10 percent in 2025. Michelin’s own leadership has publicly acknowledged the imbalance. “Where are the women? Too few women are leading kitchens, despite the fact that more and more of them are working in kitchens,” international director Gwendal Poullennec said at the 2024 French edition of the ceremony, calling it “a reality we deplore.” For every woman

Mar 13, 2026By Lee Hae-rin

Women head chefs now helm 1 in 10 Michelin-starred restaurants in Korea

Medical school admission quota rises to 3,548 for 2027 academic year

The nation's medical school admission quota for the 2027 academic year has been confirmed to be 3,548, an increase of 490 from the 2024 academic year, the education ministry said Friday. The decision follows significant conflict between the government and the medical community between 2024 and 2025 after the former Yoon Suk Yeol government had sharply raised the quota by 2,000 for the 2025 academic year to 5,058. The quota was adjusted later to 4,567 for that year before being reverted to 3,058 for the 2026 academic year. The government last month unveiled a plan to gradually increase the quota by an annual average of 668 through 2031. The education ministry said the universities with the largest increase in medical school enrollment next year will be Kangwon National University in the northeastern city of Chuncheon and Chungbuk National University in the central city of Cheongju, with an increase of 39 students each. The school with the smallest increase will be CHA University in Pocheon, northeast of Seoul, with only a net increase of 2 people, it noted, adding all 40 medical schools n

Mar 13, 2026By Yonhap

Medical school admission quota rises to 3,548 for 2027 academic year

Soonchunhyang University launches college dedicated to int'l students

Soonchunhyang University announced Thursday that it will establish a new college dedicated exclusively to international students as part of a broader overhaul of its education system to cultivate global talent. The new college will operate as an independent academic unit exclusively for international students, with its own curriculum and administrative system rather than placing foreign students across existing departments. The college will offer several specialized majors for international students, including undeclared major programs, global health, global industrial engineering and global sports management. The program will adopt a phased curriculum that integrates Korean-language instruction with major coursework across each academic year. The initiative will also align with the university’s strategic focus on AI-driven medical convergence. Leveraging its biomedical research infrastructure, affiliated hospitals and industry partnerships, the university plans to expand global programs in fields such as health care, medicine and industrial engineering. It aims to collaborate with loca

Mar 12, 2026By Jung Da-hyun

Soonchunhyang University launches college dedicated to int'l students

Itaewon tragedy hearing turns emotional as survivor recounts horror, police trade blame

The long-awaited public inquiry in the 2022 Itaewon crowd crush opened Thursday with tearful testimony from survivors and heated exchanges between police officials accused of mishandling emergency calls on the night of the disaster. The hearing came more than three years after the 2022 tragedy, following prolonged political gridlock, disputes over accountability and repeated delays in forming an independent investigative body. The National Commission for the Investigation of the Oct. 29 Itaewon Disaster, the special fact-finding group investigating the tragedy, began the first of two days of hearings in central Seoul. The session drew bereaved families and witnesses whose testimonies shed new light on a chain of failures preceding the crowd surge, resulting in the deaths of 159 people during Halloween celebrations. Tears filled the hall as Min Seung-ho, a survivor of the events, recounted the moments before the crowd crush in a narrow alley in Itaewon turned fatal. “From 10 to 11 p.m., there were at least three big pushes,” Min recalled. “No one was intentionally shoving, but peopl

Mar 12, 2026By Lee Hae-rin

Itaewon tragedy hearing turns emotional as survivor recounts horror, police trade blame

Record number of new PhD holders face low-wage trap in Korea

The number of new doctorate holders in Korea hit a record high of nearly 20,000 last year, but an increasing percentage of these highly educated professionals are taking low-wage jobs in a labor market structurally incapable of absorbing them. According to data released Tuesday by the Korea Education Statistics Service under the Korean Educational Development Institute, 19,831 individuals earned a Ph.D. from domestic graduate schools in 2025. This marks a 51.6-percent surge compared to 2015, the highest since the institute began tracking data in 1999. When records began in 1999, the country produced just 5,586 new doctorates annually. That number steadily increased, surpassing the 10,000-mark in 2010 before nearly doubling again over the following 15 years. Women largely drove the surge, accounting for a record-high 43.5 percent of all new Ph.D. recipients last year with 8,629 graduates. In 1999, only 1,144 women earned a doctorate, representing 20.5 percent of the total. The latest figure reflects a 7.5-fold increase over the past 26 years. Despite holding advanced degrees, a growing sha

Mar 12, 2026By Hankookilbo

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