The Ministry of Justice has opened another third-party visa application center in London earlier this week, the latest in a series of moves to reduce the workload of embassy staff. “Starting from January 17, 2022, the Government of the Republic of Korea will open the Korea Visa Application Center (KVAC) in London, operated by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), to manage Korean v...

Concerns are growing as HIV testing has been suspended at most local health centers across Seoul to prioritize the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. All 25 local health centers in the capital used to provide free and anonymous sexually transmitted infection and HIV tests until 2019. Nearly two years into the pandemic, however, HIV and STI testing capacity has been drastically reduced with many ...

Wearing a mask has become commonplace during this pandemic. Though the act is often encouraged to stop the spread of COVID-19, there is one place where it is definitely frowned upon – dating apps. Users say profiles with only masked up photos can be misleading. Amid growing complaints, some dating app operators are cracking down on those considered a “magikkun” -- a portmanteau from the English ...

Discrimination against women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people and racial and ethnic minorities is pervasive in South Korea, a new report from the Human Rights Watch said on Thursday. The annual 32rd World Report 2022 highlights the human rights situation in nearly all of the 100 countries where the international organization works. Though South Korea has been described as an “est...

A new culture war is brewing in South Korea. At the center is Starbucks, after vice president of Shinsegae Group Chung Yong-jin -- the largest shareholder of the coffeehouse chain’s operation in the country -- shared several anti-communist posts on social media. In recent weeks, the outspoken billionaire made headlines for using the hashtag “annihilate communism.” While he has gained support for...

Retail giant Shinsegae Group saw its shares plunge on Monday as a controversial social media post from the group’s heir and Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin sparked investor jitters. The company’s stocks shed 6.8 percent to close at 233,000 won ($196.23) Monday against the benchmark KOSPI’s 0.95 percent decline. The plunge in stock value comes after Chung made several politically charged remarks in...

Records show that clothes padded with cotton were made and sometimes paid to the government as a form of tax, she explained. Though quilting itself is not unique to Korea, the level of dedication and the extent to which nubi covered a piece of clothing were, in order to give the clothes a religious meaning. “As if a subject of religious belief, people used to believe that putting effort into cl...

In 2015, a JTBC drama series called “Schoolgirl Detectives” received a warning from the KCSC over a kissing scene between two female high school students. “In the subtitles, they also opted for a literal translation of a lyric about drag queens and just translated it as ‘don’t get dragged,’ as if they had no idea what a drag queen is,” Kim said. “They wanted to consume popular cultural content ...

The conservative opposition People Power Party‘s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl asked the rhetorical question on Wednesday if he is an “idiot” to take part in a TV debate with his liberal rival Lee Jae-myung. His remark has now become a viral meme in online communities. At a campaign event on Wednesday in Andong, a conservative stronghold, Yoon dismissed a proposal by the candidate from t...

“The policy is inherently racist. I understand some of these countries have low vaccination rates, but all countries are suffering from the omicron variant, not just these countries. Why single them specifically out? The blatant discrimination is worrying and deeply saddening,” said the 41 year-old English teacher. Last week, the US announced the decision to lift similar travel restrictions on e...

Main opposition People Power Party’s presidential candidate Yoon Seok-youl has come under fire over a comment he made on Tuesday that “most South Koreans, especially young people, dislike China.” Following the comment, a spokesperson of the ruling Democratic Party’s campaign committee said the comment was “shocking” and “low” to reduce diplomatic relations between countries to whether who likes ...

Others made memes to debunk misinformation targeting Boric by making sharable memes based on his campaign promises using cute designs as well as photoshopping images of the candidate alongside their favorite K-pop idols. Mission complete? If the goal of this collective action was to generate online engagement, the job was done. One viral TikTok video promoting Boric’s campaign while playing BTS...

In a surprise move earlier this week, feminist politician Shin Ji-ye crossed party lines and joined the presidential campaign of conservative People Power Party candidate Yoon Suk-yeol. A long-time friend believes Shin’s move is driven by a personal vendetta. “I think she’s doing this to get back at (leader of People Power Party) Lee Jun-seok. My view is that she wants to get back at Lee for lam...

Shin ji-ye, a 31-year-old feminist with liberal political inclinations, made headlines Monday as she crossed party lines and joined the campaign of Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential nominee of the conservative People Power Party. The young politician ran as a Seoul mayor candidate for Green Party Korea in 2018, finishing fourth in the race with over 80,000 votes. Her campaign gained support from f...

A glamping site near Bukhansan in western Seoul offers caravans for hire on its booking platform. But the booking site says rentals are only offered to a select few. Among a long list of the type of guests that “cannot make bookings,” are groups consisting of two men, or only men. "Under no circumstances can the groups mentioned above book with us -- no exceptions,” the glamping site said on we...