Seoul to crack down on illegal accommodation services using ordinary homes and apartments

SEOUL -- Seoul City's public police division will conduct a thorough crackdown on illegal accommodation service operators that use unregistered homes or apartments for short-term or long-term accommodation services. To promote South Korean home culture, the country allows owners of homes that are smaller than 230 square meters (2,475 square feet) to lease their property for homestay services. Such cultural accommodation services are not required to be registered as accommodation

September 26, 2023

More than 1 mln South Korean people aged 60 years and older work in 2022: data

SEOUL -- Out of some 13,154,000 South Korean people aged 60 years and older, more than one million are working, government data showed. South Korea is a rapidly aging country where about 30 percent of the population will consist of people aged 75 years and older by 2073. According to the health ministry's data, 1,050,718 people aged 60 years and older were registered to the mandatory state medical insurance for workers. The number increased by some 108 percent compared to 503,840 p

September 26, 2023

​King Charles invites S. Korean President Yoon to Britain

SEOUL -- South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol will visit Britain to meet with King Charles III in November 2023. The South Korean presidential office said Yoon's state visit is designed to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties that began in 1883. In November 1883, Britain established diplomatic relations with the Joseon dynasty that ruled the Korean Peninsula from 1392 to 1897. The United Kingdom (UK) was the second Western nation that set up diplomatic ties with the la

September 26, 2023

​S. Korean presidential office sets out to arrange Chinese President Xi's visit

SEOUL -- South Korea will start the preparation for the arrangement of Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Seoul, the presidential office said. The announcement by the South Korean president's office was made a day after the Chinese president spoke with South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and said that he would seriously consider visiting South Korea during a meeting at the Asian Games held in China's southern port city of Hangzhou on September 24. If Presid

September 25, 2023

S. Korea to present foreign visitors with prepaid transport payment cards printed with Korean names

SEOUL -- South Korea has revealed its special plan to offer a special gift for foreigners who visit the country on September 23 and 24. Visitors who enter South Korea through the Incheon International Airport, the country's main gateway, will be given prepaid transport payment cards printed with the travelers' names in Hangul, Korean characters. Hangul, the writing system of the Korean language, was invented by King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty in 1443 and was distributed t

September 22, 2023

S. Korea's state studio opens new indoor filming facility for sea battles and ship accidents

SEOUL -- A multi-purpose indoor filming facility for special scenes such as sea battles, artificial rainfall, and ship accidents was built in South Korea's largest state-run studio, Studio Cube. The special effects studio played a key role in filming the Netflix drama series Squid Game. A large water tank, which is 30.4-meter-(99.7-foot)-long and 20.9-meter-wide, was installed in the complex. The construction of the special filming facility began in October 2021. South Korea

September 21, 2023

Southern port city to start pet registration service using dog nose wrinkles

SEOUL -- The southern port city of Changwon will start a pet registration service using dog nose wrinkles. Near-field communication chips are used for the registration of dogs but some dog owners refuse to use the chips because of the fee of about 10,000 won ($7.4). Currently, the South Korean government mandates dog owners to register their pets using near-field communication chips that are either inserted into the flesh of a dog or into a pendant-type holder that can be attached to a

September 21, 2023

16 people hospitalized in river cruise boat accident in Seoul

SEOUL -- 16 people were injured and received medical treatment after a river cruise boat carrying 146 crashed into a bridge pier in Seoul. River cruise boats on Seoul's Han River, the river that flows from the eastern part of the city out to the West Sea, are a popular tourist attraction. The boats are especially popular after sunset as the cruise experience offers sightseeing tourists beautiful scenery of Seoul's nightscapes. According to Seoul's emergency headquarters

September 21, 2023

S. Korean retail giants attract consumers with pre-cooked menus for autumn harvest festival ritual

SEOUL -- South Korean retail giants including Shinsegae have set out to attract busy city dwellers and housewives with pre-cooked or heat-and-eat menus that are used for a Confucian rite that is carried during the traditional Korean autumn harvest festival called "Chuseok." The three-day festival holidays are celebrated on August 15 of the lunar calendar. On Seollal, the Lunar New Year Day in Korean language, and Chuseok, non-Christian families normally prepare a table full o

September 21, 2023

S. Korea to set up new governance for systemization of immigration policies

SEOUL -- South Korea will set up new governance including structures and processes to systemize the country's fragmented immigration policies, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during a conference in Seoul. In 2022, South Korea with a population of some 52 million had 2.13 million foreign residents and 9.9 percent (210,880) had acquired South Korean citizenship. The number of foreign residents has increased by about fourfold compared to 536,627 people in 2006. However, despite

September 20, 2023