Nathan Taverniti, a 24-year-old from Australia, lost two friends to the tragic crowd crush on Oct. 29. He had come to Seoul with the friends to celebrate Halloween after hearing about how popular the day is in the city’s hip district of Itaewon through TikToks and the popular Korean TV series “Itaewon Class.” What began as a fun night unfolded unexpectedly. Caught in a crowd, he was hit by a wa...

Over a year after an online travel permit system called the Korea Electronic Travel Authorization (K-ETA) for nationals of over 100 visa-waiver countries came into effect, international travelers’ experiences with the new system have been mixed, highlighting the need for consistency and transparency in the K-ETA’s application approval process. The system was meant to speed up the entry process f...

As South Korea searches for answers to why 156 people died in an Itaewon alley on Oct. 29, a sensitive question is lingering in the minds of some politicians – particularly those on the right. "Could this turn into a political debacle like Sewol?" The sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 resulted in the death of 304 people, most of them high school students. When it happened, the Park Geun-hye ad...

Test your knowledge of Korea with our weekly quiz on the language, culture, history or anything K-related. -- Ed. Find the answer at the bottom of this page. Leeds is the name of an English city. But in Korea, the term “Leeds era” has taken on a life of its own. It is a popular term that has stood the test of time and inspired the name of a TV show as well as a commercial. It is also often use...

In the aftermath of the deadly Itaewon crowd crush on Saturday, social media quickly filled with videos and posts, some purportedly from eyewitnesses. But unsubstantiated claims also emerged and spread. The joint investigation by police and the National Forensic Service has begun into the cause of the incident. Here is what we know so far. Was it a stampede or a crowd crush? The tragic incide...

4. Narrow, steep street The tragic incident occurred in a narrow downhill next to the Hamilton Hotel outside exit 1 of Itaewon subway station. Viral video clips of the night on social media show how jam-packed the 45-meter hill was which is around 4 meters in width. Behind the hotel is also a long street filled with restaurants and bars which stretches 300 meters – it often becomes the busiest ...

Rev. Lee Dong-hwan’s fight to reverse the decision by the Korean Methodist Church to suspend him for two years for blessing LGBT people in 2019 came to an end last week. The church upheld its earlier decision on the grounds that Lee’s action violated the teachings of the church. “It is disappointing to be honest, not because of personal reasons but because it sets a precedent within the Methodi...

International Korean Studies scholars gathered on Thursday for two-day discussion on the opportunities and challenges posed by the “once-unimaginable” global popularity of Korean culture, at a forum held in-person for the first time since the pandemic. The 11th biannual World Congress of Korean Studies kicked off at the Academy of Korea Studies headquarters in Seongnam, south of Seoul, with some...

Popular South Korean messaging app KakaoTalk lost some 2 million users following an outage which began Saturday and lasted hours, industry tracker data showed. The number of KakaoTalk users was estimated at 39.05 million on Sunday, down 2.07 million from Friday when the figure stood at 41.12 million, according to an analysis by industry tracker WiseApp on Monday. But as the country’s most popul...

Iranian sport climber Elnaz Rekabi, who competed in a climbing championship in Seoul on Sunday without wearing a hijab, has flown back to Iran, the Iranian Embassy in Seoul said Tuesday. “Ms. Elnaz Rekabi, who has participated in the final round of the Asian Climbing Competitions in Seoul, departed from Seoul to Iran in the early morning of October 18, 2022, along with the other members of the T...

Tech giant Kakao has said most of its services have been restored following an extended outage that began Saturday. But as the country suffered a digital blackout for many hours, the dominance of its "super app" has been called into question. Launched in 2010 as a messaging app, KakaoTalk grew in popularity exponentially over the years and branched out to other areas such as shopping and banking...

South Korean airlines are considering ways to extend the maximum working hours for crew on board to avoid layovers for long-haul flights such as the New York-Incheon route. Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, two of South Korea’s largest full-service carriers, said the move comes after Russia's airspace was shut down after its invasion of Ukraine, prompting Korean airlines to take a detour for safet...

Weak won makes overseas travel, imports expensive Mia, a 29-year-old from Seoul who recently traveled to the US, spoke of how expensive things have become for Korean won earners. “I definitely spent less money (while visiting the US) compared to my other trips because you can buy many things cheaper in Korea at the moment,” said Mia, who preferred to be identified only by her English name. For...

Blind, a workplace community app, has been a source of some of the biggest company news stories and viral social media posts globally. They range from the Korean Air “nut rage” incident and the 2017 sexual harassment allegations at Uber to the controversy at US food delivery platform DoorDash over an initiative that requires all employees to make one food delivery every month, to name a few. On...

In 2015, the Korean Methodist Church revised its Book of Discipline, putting “supporting or agreeing with homosexuality” on a par with doing drugs or gambling which are both illegal in the country. The Methodist Church states that officials and members of the church will face a trial which is designed to “protect the Book of Discipline and prevent crime.” But Lee said blessing people regardless...