South Korea

Headlines

1. 

   Crime & Justice · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Lawmaker seeks $4.9 mil. budget to detect AI smart glasses cheating

   The Korean government is stepping up efforts to crack down on cheating involving artificial intelligence (AI)-powered smart glasses, as concerns spread beyond the annual college entrance exam to national licensing tests, with even top scorers facing suspicions of misconduct. However, concerns are also emerging that widespread suspicions, even without concrete evidence, could undermine public trust in the fairness of exams. While authorities have pledged zero tolerance for cheating ahead of th...

   • Crime & Justice
   • AI
   • Asia
2. 

   Business · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   LG family scion repatriated from Cambodia after 8 years on the run

   A member of the family that founded conglomerate LG Group has been repatriated from Cambodia eight years after leaving Korea to escape an investigation into stock manipulation charges, police said Friday. Koo Bon-hyun, a nephew of the late LG Group honorary chairman Koo Cha-kyung, was detained upon arriving in the country Monday to undergo an investigation on suspicion of violating the Capital Markets Act, embezzlement and breach of trust, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. Th...

   • Business
   • Asia
3. 

   Business · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Korea's rice production falls for 5th year in 2026 amid changing diets

   Korea's rice output declined for the fifth consecutive year in 2026 amid changing dietary habits, data showed Friday, with the cultivation area also reaching a new low. Rice production decreased 0.9 percent year-on-year to 3.5 million tons this year, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Data and Statistics. It marked the fourth-lowest level since the government began compiling the data in 1965. The combined area of rice paddies in the country fell 1.1 percent year-on-year to 670,000...

   • Business
   • Asia
4. 

   Health · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   1 in 4 Korean high schoolers sleep less than 5 hours on weekdays

   One in four high school students in Korea gets less than five hours of sleep a night on weekdays, with those sleeping fewer hours reporting higher rates of stress, depression and suicidal thoughts. According to the National Youth Policy Institute on Friday, 27.3 percent of high school students slept less than five hours on average during weekdays, while 59.1 percent got fewer than six hours. The findings were based on responses from 54,170 middle and high school students nationwide. The study...

   • Health
   • Asia
5. 

   Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Top ruling party officials boycott meeting amid deepening factional rift

   Three members of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)'s Supreme Council boycotted a council meeting Friday in protest of party leader Kim Min-seok's decision to order an ethics probe into one of the officials over controversial remarks about President Lee Jae Myung. The three officials, who are aligned with former DPK leader Jung Chung-rae, criticized Kim for ordering the party's ethics committee to investigate Rep. Choi Min-hee's remarks suggesting that Lee had opposed former President...

   • Politics
   • Asia
6. 

   Crime & Justice · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Arrest warrant issued for man in murder of girl assaulted by his son

   A court issued a warrant Friday to arrest a man suspected of murdering a 15-year-old girl who allegedly was sexually assaulted by his son. The suspect, 59, was apprehended by police at a short-term rental property in northern Seoul on Wednesday after allegedly murdering the girl on the premise the previous day. The Seoul Northern District Court issued the arrest warrant for the suspect, citing concerns he could destroy evidence or flee. According to investigators, the suspect purchased a weap...

   • Crime & Justice
   • Asia
7. 

   Health · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   'Soju should not exist': Surgeon warns of addiction risk from cheap, strong alcohol

   Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. A practicing surgeon has issued a strong warning about the dangers of soju — a popular traditional Korean alcohol that is now mass manufactured — drawing on his own experience of severe alcohol addiction. Lee Jun-suh, a hepatopancreatobiliary surgeon, appeared on the YouTube channel Doctor Dinho on Tuesday and said, "Soju is a drink that should not exist." "Its alcohol content is far too high for its price, fueling alcohol addiction," he said. Gast...

   • Health
   • Asia
8. 

   Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Defense ministry conducting poll on military cadets over proposed academy integration

   The defense ministry said Friday it is surveying military cadets on the proposal to integrate the Army, Air Force and Navy academies as the government seeks to revise the plan amid pushback from alumni groups and key stakeholders. The online survey, running from Friday through Tuesday, will poll 2,350 cadets across all four class years, excluding about 143 naval cadets set to be deployed for rotational training, a ministry official told reporters. The ministry is pushing to merge the three in...

   • Politics
   • Asia
9. 

   Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

   Former presidential security official named new KOICA chief

   Oh Hyun-joo, former third deputy director of the presidential National Security Office, has been named to head the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the foreign ministry said Friday. Oh will formally take office on Monday to lead the agency, which is affiliated with the foreign ministry and responsible for the government's official development assistance (ODA) programs. After entering the foreign service in 1994, Oh held various posts in development cooperation and multilateral...

   • Politics
   • Asia
10. 

    Business · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Lee pledges capital market reform to address stock undervaluation

    President Lee Jae Myung on Friday reiterated his commitment to capital market reform, pledging to address what he has called "undervaluation" of Korean stocks by boosting market confidence and cracking down on market irregularities. Lee made the pledge during a policy discussion on the capital market held at the Korea Exchange, which brought together experts, corporate representatives and government officials. "Normalizing the capital market is our government's unwavering policy direction and...

    • Business
    • Asia
11. 

    Crime & Justice · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Gov't vows zero tolerance against cheating with AI glasses

    The government promised Friday to exercise zero tolerance against cheating using artificial intelligence (AI) glasses in next week's nationwide college entrance exam after suspicions of such cheating arose over an unrealistic score in this year's certified tax accountant exam. The suspicions emerged following revelations that the highest scorer in the tax accountant exam received a near-perfect score, missing only one question out of the 160 on the first-round test, earning 397.5 points out o...

    • Crime & Justice
    • AI
    • Asia
12. 

    Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Lee's approval rating falls back below 40%: poll

    President Lee Jae Myung's approval rating slipped back to 39 percent this week, a weekly poll showed Friday, amid negative sentiment over his real estate policies and economic concerns. The survey, conducted by Gallup Korea from Tuesday through Thursday on 1,002 people aged 18 and older, showed that positive assessments of Lee's performance fell 2 percentage points from the previous week, when the figure stood at 41 percent. Lee's approval rating has fluctuated around the 40 percent mark in r...

    • Politics
    • Asia
13. 

    Crime & Justice · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Seoul files criminal complaints against 5 serial 119 prank callers

    For the emergency dispatchers staffing Seoul’s 119 hotline — Korea’s equivalent of 911 — every second counts. Yet over the past year, a handful of individuals treated the city’s critical lifeline for fires, accidents, and medical emergencies as a personal bulletin board, a late-night cab service and a sounding board for drunken rants. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Friday that it had filed criminal complaints against five habitual callers who collectively flooded the 119 emergency dis...

    • Crime & Justice
    • Asia
14. 

    Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Gov't holds first task force meeting to ease living costs for wage earners

    Korea on Friday held the inaugural meeting of a new task force aimed at developing policies to reduce living costs and boost real disposable income for wage earners. First Vice Finance Minister Kwon Dae-young chaired the meeting with officials from relevant ministries to discuss detailed implementation plans following the presidential office's announcement of the initiative this week. The task force comprises four working groups covering existing support measures, taxation, fiscal policy and...

    • Politics
    • Asia
15. 

    Lifestyle · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    [WEEKENDER] Samsung Guide Dog School marks 33 years of changing lives

    Samsung Guide Dog School, which marks its 33rd anniversary this year, is Korea’s first guide dog training institution and the world’s only guide dog school operated by a single corporation, with its operations fully funded by Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance. The school was established in September 1993 by late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee as part of efforts to foster greater understanding and acceptance of people with disabilities. At the time, corporate involvement in guide dog trainin...

    • Lifestyle
    • Asia
16. 

    Lifestyle · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    [WEEKENDER] How guide dogs and humans become partners

    Completing professional training does not mean a guide dog is immediately ready to accompany a visually impaired person. The dog must first be matched with a suitable partner, and the two must learn to walk and live together. Few understand this process better than Yoo Seok-jong of Samsung Guide Dog School. Born with a visual impairment, Yoo now lives with his fifth guide dog. Drawing on his own experience, he helps visually impaired people find dogs suited to their needs and lifestyles. Duri...

    • Lifestyle
    • Asia
17. 

    Lifestyle · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    [WEEKENDER] A day with Jerry, guide dog in training

    As Jerry, a Labrador retriever, approached a crosswalk, he came to a stop at the curb. His trainer, Keum Jung-hun, had given no command. Jerry simply recognized the boundary between the sidewalk and the road and stopped on his own. Keum pressed a small device, producing a sharp click. Known as a clicker, the tool signals that Jerry has performed a task correctly. "It means he did a good job," Keum explained. "Verbal praise takes time, but a clicker lets us mark the exact moment he does someth...

    • Lifestyle
    • Asia
18. 

    Lifestyle · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    'I'd rather stay an intern': Why some Gen Z workers in Korea are choosing less responsibility

    For some young Korean workers, leaving the office on time matters more than finishing every task, and avoiding the responsibilities of a permanent position can be more appealing than climbing the corporate ladder. These attitudes are emerging among members of Generation Z, who are challenging workplace expectations long shaped by loyalty, overtime and deference to senior colleagues. In a roundtable discussion organized by the Hankook Ilbo, young participants shared their views on work, career...

    • Lifestyle
    • Asia
19. 

    Lifestyle · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    How a close friend of labor activist Jeon Tae-il keeps his legacy alive

    Choi Jong-in, 78, still aches for his friend Jeon Tae-il, who was just 22. When Jeon set himself on fire in the middle of Pyeonghwa Market in Seoul's Jung District on Nov. 13, 1970, Choi was the first to rush to his side, taking off his jacket to smother the flames. “His hair was burning and curling like nylon fabric, his lips were turning inside out, but he sprang back to his feet and shouted, ‘We are not machines!” More than half a century has passed, and one might expect Choi to recount th...

    • Lifestyle
    • Asia
20. 

    Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Clash over NK defector label fuels debate over identity

    A bill to change South Korea’s legal term for North Korean defectors set off a shouting match at the National Assembly Thursday after an opposition lawmaker challenged Unification Minister Chung Dong-young over the proposed name. “Minister Buk Dong-young, why is it OK to call me ‘bukhyangmin?’” asked Rep. Park Choong-kwon of the main opposition People Power Party, who fled North Korea in 2009. He had replaced Chung’s surname with “buk,” the Korean word for north. Rep. Lee Ki-heon of the rulin...

    • Politics
    • Asia
21. 

    Conflict · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Korea urges Japan to face full history of Sado mine during separate memorial

    Korea on Friday called on Japan to fully acknowledge the history of wartime forced labor at the Sado mine complex as it held a separate memorial ceremony for Korean victims of forced labor for the third consecutive year. Korean Ambassador to Japan Lee Hyuk made the call during the ceremony held at a hotel on Sado Island in Niigata Prefecture, with nine family members of the victims attending. "Many Korean workers had been mobilized against their will and forced to work at the mine through gov...

    • Conflict
    • Asia
    • Japan
22. 

    Politics · Asia The Korea Times 44 min ago

    Remains of 2 Korean independence fighters to return home from US, Uzbekistan

    The remains of two Korean independence fighters laid to rest in the United States and Uzbekistan will return home next week to mark the 80th anniversary of a project to repatriate the remains of such activists from overseas, the veterans ministry said Friday. The remains of Ho Si-han and Lee Gwal will be brought back from the U.S. and Uzbekistan, respectively, on Sunday, according to the ministry. It marks the first time that the remains of an independence fighter buried in Uzbekistan will re...

    • Politics
    • Asia
    • US