South Korea

As evening settled over Seoul’s western Seogyo-dong neighborhood and closing time approached, customers streamed out of a bakery café carrying bags stuffed with bread. The bakery sells its unsold bread and pastries at half price at the end of each day to customers who reserve them in advance. Owner Lee Yoo-jin, 35, has offered the end-of-day discount for […]

Every time senior officers finished their shifts, they would take a shower and rub skin lotion into their hair. “What is that about? Did a nightclub open nearby? Are they getting ready to go there?” The same thing happened the next day, and the day after that. Leave work, shower, apply skin lotion to their hair. The behavior was repeated, and there was […]

Click here for more articles by Kormedi.com. A heat wave with temperatures approaching 40 degrees Celsius has continued across Korea. President Lee Jae Myung said during a recent meeting with senior secretaries and aides that the current heat wave is “effectively a national disaster situation,” stressing that the government should maximize the level, […]

In Jongno District, the historical heart of Korea’s capital, centuries-old heritage lives alongside the messy realities of modern urban living. High-rise office towers share narrow alleyways with sprawling neighborhoods of hanok — traditional Korean houses. Reconciling urban regulation with the preservation of these architectural treasures has long […]

A "fundamental" overhaul of Korea's military service system is vital for national security and survival, the head of the military manpower agency has said, in the face of a shrinking pool of conscripts amid a demographic cliff. Military Manpower Administration (MMA) Commissioner Hong So-young made the remarks in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on […]

About seven out of 10 Koreans regard having at least two children as ideal but many end up having just one due to financial burdens and other factors, a study showed Sunday. According to a survey by the Presidential Committee on Ageing Society and Population Policy, 71 percent of respondents chose two or more as their ideal number of children. The survey […]

Former Prime Minister Kim Min-seok won party-member primaries in Incheon and Jeju Island on Saturday, a week after losing to rival Jung Chung-rae, the former ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) leader, as the party's leadership race enters its middle stage. Kim beat Jung 47.75 percent to 42.08 percent in votes cast by dues-paying party members in […]

The national health insurance ran a deficit of nearly 4 trillion won ($2.8 billion) in the first quarter of 2026, data showed Sunday, increasing the likelihood of a return to an annual net loss for the first time in six years. According to National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data submitted to Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Jeon Jin-sook's office, the […]

The national police said Sunday they will launch a nationwide crackdown on organized crime and international transgressions in the new week, with a focus on young gangsters turning to fraud and money laundering. The Korean National Police Agency (KNPA) said its special operations will begin Monday and run through Oct. 31. It will target high-yield financial […]

Korea recorded the highest electricity demand for the year in recent days amid a prolonged heat wave, industry data showed Sunday. The country's maximum electricity demand reached 95.321 gigawatts on Friday, according to data from the Korea Power Exchange (KPX). The reserve capacity stood at 8.2 gigawatts. An emergency power supply alert is issued if the […]

Koreans are consuming significantly less kimchi than in the past despite the surge in global popularity of the country's signature side dish, data showed Sunday. According to a joint study by researchers from Chung-Ang University, Jeju National University, and the World Institute of Kimchi, the proportion of Koreans who reported eating no kimchi within the […]

A Chungnam National University research team has developed a technology that more than triples the yield of a key antimalarial compound in sweet wormwood. The university said Thursday that the team has developed a highly efficient cultivation strategy to enhance the growth of sweet wormwood and increase its yield of artemisinin, a key ingredient in […]

A University of Seoul student team won the grand prize at Simulation Challenge 2026, held at Yeoksam POSCO Tower in southern Seoul on July 30. The Simulation Challenge was an academic competition organized by Synopsys Korea’s Simulation & Analysis Division and co-hosted by Tae Sung S&E. Participating teams used simulation software to propose […]

President Lee Jae Myung is pushing to revise policies that are criticized for going against the interests of young Koreans, as his approval rating among this demographic remains the lowest of any age group. The disputed measures span multiple sectors, including a tax overhaul plan concerning individual savings accounts (ISAs), which angered people in their […]

Korea's oceans ministry has recently commissioned a research project aimed at devising strategies to promote the use of a possible arctic shipping route able to handle traffic in 2030, sources said Sunday. The project seeks to assess the commercial viability of such a route, including a survey on shipping companies and logistics firms in regard to using […]

The government on Sunday called for better protection for vulnerable outdoor workers and livestock amid the ongoing heat wave, even with the most serious alerts being lifted nationwide. In a meeting attended by relevant ministries and regional authorities, the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters reviewed emergency protocols to counter […]