Seoul's northern satellite city reveals blueprint to reduce CO2 emissions by 40 percent in 7 years

SEOUL -- Uijeongbu City, a northern satellite city of Seoul, has revealed a blueprint to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases by 40 percent until 2030. At the current rate, the environment ministry predicted that Uijeongbu's annual emission of greenhouse gases will reach about two million tons in 2030. The northern satellite city with a population of some 463,700 used to be the largest bed town of Seoul until the late 1990s. Uijeongbu located in the center of Gyeonggi Provin

January 23, 2023

South Korea to scrap mask mandate for most indoor places January 30

SEOUL -- South Korea plans to lift the mask mandate for most indoor places from January 30 as part of efforts to return to normal life three years after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said on January 20 that the mask guidelines will be eased from “mandatory” to “optional” except for some vulnerable indoor facilities as the daily caseload of coronavirus infections continues to fall. He added that the mask mandate, howe

January 20, 2023

Seoul becomes world's first city to provide metaverse-based administrative services

SEOUL -- Seoul became the world's first city to provide administrative services using metaverse, a virtually created world accessible using smart devices or PCs, in various sectors, including education and tax. Seoulites can communicate with their mayor regarding public policies by creating avatars in the virtual world. The municipal authorities unveiled their scheme in November 2021 to provide metaverse-based services in every administrative sector by 2026 through a 3.9 bill

January 17, 2023

Marine ministry to promote migration of young people to fishing villages via support program

SEOUL -- In an effort to encourage young city people to migrate to under-populated fishing villages, the marine ministry will roll out a promotion program that will include various government-funded supports such as a fishing boat rental service, house rental service, and the operation of incubation curriculums of fishermen. According to the state statistical information service, South Korea's fishermen population is decreasing rapidly. There were about 121,700 people working i

January 17, 2023

Elderly lone diners more prone to accelerated frailty and aging: study

SEOUL -- Old people who eat alone are more likely to show a higher frailty scale than those who eat with others, a joint study by South Korean doctors showed. Doctors said the feeling of social isolation felt during meal times affected the aging process by causing depression and malnutrition. The term frailty normally refers to an aging stage that could develop into elderly diseases. The clinical frailty scale is decided by measuring the functional status of the body and mind of

January 17, 2023

​Convenience store GS25 targets "home-aloners" with Lunar New Year festival gourmet menu

SEOUL -- South Korean convenience store franchise GS25 has released a premium lunchbox menu for "home-aloners," single-person households who chose to stay at their homes rather than to visit their families in their hometown. The premium meal box consists of traditional Korean menus including Tteokguk, a rice cake soup consumed during the Korean Lunar New Year holidays called "Seol." Seol, a three-day festival that celebrates the Lunar New Year, is the largest tr

January 16, 2023

Southern port city to operate incubation programs to beef up workers' big data capability

SEOUL -- The southern port city of Busan will kick-start an incubation program for its workers to improve their capability to understand and utilize big data in their administrative work processes. South Korea has been collecting public data from various sectors for the last decade. Big data is a collection of data sets that is too large for conventional tools or methods to process. While the vast amount of information has extremely high statistical power, it could also have a high

January 16, 2023

Busan to create smart indoor gardens to purify air in multi-purpose areas

SEOUL -- To help urbanites heal their mind and take a break from busy life, smart gardens with plants capable of removing indoor air pollutants will be established in South Korea's southern port city of Busan. The small-sized indoor gardens with automatic water supply systems will be provided to multi-purpose areas such as welfare centers and educational service centers. Using internet of things (IoT) technology, smart gardens control air quality, wind speed, and water distri

January 13, 2023

Southern port city to invest $4 mln to create urban forests in 22 areas

SEOUL -- The southern port city of Busan will invest five billion won ($4 million) to create urban forests over 22 areas that are equivalent to some four football fields. Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, has a population of 3.4 million over an area of 770 square kilometers. However, about 47 percent of the city consists of mountains, making the city very cramped with a small number of green areas that are easily accessible by citizens. The port city famous for it

January 12, 2023

​Seoul to utilize drones to monitor tile roofs of traditional Hanok buildings

SEOUL -- Seoul will adopt a safety inspection service using drones to manage traditional Korean houses called "Hanok." The drone safety inspection service will check the condition of tiled roofs instead of having human inspectors climb up the old buildings. Any Hanok residents in Seoul can request the city government for a drone inspection service if they find maintenance issues such as water leaks. Seoul currently has about 8,000 Hanok buildings. According to the city,

January 12, 2023