South Korea - The Korea Times

Han River buses resume full service Sunday after safety controversy

Seoul’s ambitious but troubled river ferry service, the Hangang Bus, will return to full operation on Sunday, ending a months-long hiatus triggered when one of the vessels ran aground last year. The restart marks a high-stakes moment for Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, who has staked significant political capital on the project despite a series of mechanical and safety hurdles. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday that all safety measures have been completed to resume full service along the 28.9-kilometer route from Magok in western Seoul to Jamsil in the city’s southeast. Last November, two months after launch, a vessel carrying 82 passengers ran aground in a shallow stretch near Jamsil Dock after its hull struck the riverbed, forcing it to a halt. Since then, service has been restricted to the western section between Magok and Yeouido. Inspired by London’s River Bus on the Thames, the Hangang Bus was launched in September last year but faced safety concerns from the outset, including worries about the river’s shallow average depth of 3 to 4 meters. Before resuming service,

Feb 25, 2026By Park Ung

Han River buses resume full service Sunday after safety controversy

GPTW Former KNOU president wins trust management prize for lifelong learning reform

Former Korea National Open University President Ryu Su-noh has been honored with the Korea Trust Management Grand Prize at the 24th Best Workplaces in Korea, in recognition of his leadership in lifelong education reform and commitment to trust-based governance. Ryu has demonstrated visionary leadership amid sweeping demographic and industrial shifts with artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transition. Recognizing that traditional education no longer sustains national competitiveness, he positioned lifelong learning as a strategic infrastructure, recognizing education as a continuous engine of national capability. The former president shifted the burden of adaptation from individuals to the state, pushing systemic reforms to widen access to education. He strengthened digital learning, modernized education infrastructure and tied lifelong learning to labor needs, turning the concept into an institutional framework. Ryu paired vision with execution, pushing through reforms and phased implementation that expanded continuing education options for midcareer workers, sharpened younger wor

Feb 25, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

[GPTW] Former KNOU president wins trust management prize for lifelong learning reform

InterviewChonnam National University steps up global recruitment with stronger student support

As regional universities step up efforts to attract and retain international students beyond the Seoul metropolitan area, Chonnam National University is seeking to position itself at the forefront — offering cradle-to-career support from admission through long-term settlement, while building on its expanding strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI). “Our goal is to further solidify the university’s standing as a prestigious institution that nurtures global talent — one that grows together with the region, reaches out to the world and leads the future,” Chonnam National University President Lee Keun-bae said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. Declaring this year the launch of a major global leap, the university plans to establish a dedicated Office of International Affairs to consolidate all functions related to globalization. The new office will integrate responsibilities currently handled by the international cooperation division under the Office of Public Affairs, creating a centralized system to support the university’s growing international s

Feb 25, 2026By Jung Da-hyun

Chonnam National University steps up global recruitment with stronger student support

In push for more efficient AI, Korean researchers develop dual-output artificial synapse

Researchers at Korea University have developed a dual-output artificial synapse designed to improve the energy efficiency of multitasking artificial intelligence (AI) systems, the university said Monday. The research was led by professors Wang Gun-uk and Park Young-ran of the KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, a joint program established by Korea University and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology. The human brain carries out many tasks at once, processing a stream of signals in parallel with remarkable efficiency. Conventional AI chips, in contrast, are typically built for narrowly defined functions. As a result, juggling multiple operations often requires breaking computations into separate parts or running them in sequence — a design that can sharply increase power consumption. Replicating the brain's capability has become a growing focus in AI research as systems require increasing amounts of computing power and electricity. The KU-KIST team created a brain-inspired artificial synapse that emits both electrical and optical signals simultaneously,

Feb 25, 2026By Lee Hyo-jin

In push for more efficient AI, Korean researchers develop dual-output artificial synapse

Gov't launches self-driving pilot program to fill transport gaps

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport will allocate about 3 billion won ($2.08 million) to expand self-driving services in areas and during hours underserved by public transport. The ministry announced on Tuesday that it will fund pilot projects in eight regions, including Seoul, Daegu, Gyeonggi Province, Gangwon Province and Jeju Island, to operate autonomous shuttles and demand-responsive transit (DRT) services. The initiative aims to improve transit access in regions and during hours where public transport services are limited. It also plans to test new self-driving freight operations to accelerate a commercial rollout over the next few years. Gangwon Province will introduce a late-night self-driving DRT service in Gangneung, which will host the upcoming ITS World Congress, the world’s largest intelligent transport systems event, in October. The service will run between key hubs such as Anmok Beach, Gangneung Station and the express bus terminal, offering late-night public transportation for tourists and event attendees. South Gyeongsang Province will continue operating

Feb 24, 2026By Lee Gyu-lee

Gov't launches self-driving pilot program to fill transport gaps

Wage gap between big businesses and smaller firms hits record high

The wage gap between large conglomerates and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) widened to a record high in Korea, fueling concerns about widening income disparities across the workforce and a growing reluctance among job seekers to join smaller firms. According to the Ministry of Data and Statistics, workers at small and medium-size enterprises earned an average of 3.07 million won ($2,125) a month in 2024, compared to 6.13 million won at large corporations. The overall average monthly income across all workers was 3.75 million won, up 3.3 percent from a year earlier. In Korea, a company’s size is defined by its sales and total assets. A firm qualifies as an SME if its three-year average sales fall within industry-specific thresholds and its total assets are below 500 billion won. Large corporations, in contrast, are those with combined assets of 10 trillion won or more and are designated as business groups subject to cross-shareholding restrictions. The data covered about 20.94 million jobs enrolled in social insurance programs and occupational pensions for public officials,

Feb 24, 2026By Park Ung

Wage gap between big businesses and smaller firms hits record high

Not Scary Company helps reclusive young people return to society

Lee Myung-sun was 27 when he withdrew into his room. “I just stared at job applications,” he said. “Convenience stores, cafes, PC rooms, restaurants — I couldn’t bring myself to apply anywhere. I was scared. I kept thinking, ‘People will think I’m pathetic working part-time at this age.’” Until a few years earlier, isolation had seemed a remote problem. His first job was at one of the busiest hotel buffets in Seoul, where he worked more than 80 hours a week starting at 4:30 a.m. Initially dissatisfied with his skills in the kitchen, Lee pushed himself —until his chronically weak right wrist was injured while training in Australia. Despite surgery, his wrist never fully recovered. Rehabilitation felt meaningless, and so began a period of reclusion that stretched to three years. He tried to return to work several times, but each attempt ended after a few months and each failure deepened his anxiety. When he quit his job at a Vietnamese food company, anxiety and paranoia began to overwhelm him to the point that the thought of ending his life crept into his mind. What even

Feb 24, 2026By Hankookilbo

Not Scary Company helps reclusive young people return to society

Ruling party pushes 5% profit fine for workplace deaths amid business worries

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea is pressing ahead with a new industrial safety bill that would let regulators fine companies up to 5 percent of their annual operating profit when multiple workers die on the job, despite concerns from business groups. Following the approval of the National Assembly’s Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee last week, the revision to the Occupational Safety and Health Act now heads to the Legislation and Judiciary Committee before a final floor vote. The bill, led by Rep. Kim Ju-young, would for the first to link financial penalties for repeated fatal accidents directly to profitability rather than flat fines. If passed, the labor minister would be able to impose a penalty of up to 5 percent of a firm’s operating profit when three or more workers are killed in industrial accidents in a year and the employer is found to have violated key safety or health obligations. If operating profit is nonexistent, difficult to calculate or deemed too small, authorities could instead levy up to 3 billion won ($2.1 million). “Under the current law, e

Feb 24, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Ruling party pushes 5% profit fine for workplace deaths amid business worries

Korea reports 20th case of African swine fever

Korea confirmed a new African swine fever (ASF) case at a pig farm in the southern county of Euiryeong on Monday, in what marked the 20th case of such an infection in South Korea this season. As part of efforts to prevent additional infections, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters plans to conduct an epidemiological investigation and restrict access to the site in the county in South Gyeongsang Province. All pigs at the affected farm will be culled. The country confirmed its first ASF case of the year earlier this month in the eastern city of Gangneung after a two-month hiatus. ASF does not affect humans but is fatal to pigs, and there is currently no vaccine or cure for the disease.

Feb 23, 2026By Yonhap

Korea reports 20th case of African swine fever

Main blaze in wildfire in southern Hamyang County contained

The main blaze in a wildfire in the southern county of Hamyang was completely contained Monday, about 44 hours after it broke out over the weekend. The fire had burned 234 hectares since it broke out around 9 p.m. Saturday, with the containment rate reaching 100 percent as of 5 p.m. Monday, according to the Korea Forest Service. A total of 164 residents evacuated, but no casualties were reported. The government mobilized some 115 helicopters, 250 pieces of equipment and 1,600 personnel to extinguish the wildfire. Prime Minister Kim Min-seok visited the county in the early hours of Monday and checked authorities' firefighting efforts while encouraging on-site personnel, according to his office. He stressed the full mobilization of available resources in an all-out containment effort and later visited local residents at an evacuation center set up at an indoor gym to promise them relief and support. The forest service earlier ordered a Level 2 wildfire response at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, an order given when the damage is expected to exceed 100 hectares, the average wind speed tops 11 meters per s