The following series is part of The Korea Herald’s “Hello Hangeul” project which consists of interviews, in-depth analyses, videos and various other forms of content that shed light on the stories of people who are learning the Korean language and the correlation between Korea’s soft power and the rise of its language within the league of world languages. – Ed. Korean has 81.7 million speakers a...

Q. What crimes can result in a departure order? Three rules apply, regardless of the crime type. You could be ordered to leave when 1) you are fined in excess of 3 million won; 2) your accumulated fines over the past five years exceed 5 million won; and 3) you are handed a fine or heavier penalty twice in the past two years or three times in five years. In the case of sexual and physical misdem...

Meanwhile, what catches visitors’ eyes on their way to the store is an experience zone set up in collaboration with LG Electronics. On display are old black-and-white television models, washing machines, refrigerators and other electric appliances produced by GoldStar, the predecessor of LG Electronics, during the 1960s. One side of the wall is equipped with a large LED screen with images and vi...

Bae, a 29-year-old jeonse tenant in Seoul is at risk of losing the 200 million won ($154,000) deposit she paid to the landlord surnamed Kim who was found dead in October. “My husband and I took out bank loans to rent the jeonse apartment after we got married. We thought it was a safe jeonse contract because there were no mortgage loans secured on this house. I never imagined that I may not get m...

Among the passengers onboard were a curious mother-son duo. “It is amazing to actually ride a self-driving car. I have only seen them on the news,” said the 36-year-old woman who only gave her surname Yoo. “Looking at how the bus controls its speed by itself, I felt technology has advanced faster than expected.” She added that for her seven-year child, self-driving public transportation may so...

European-style variety shop Cecile Cedric greets customers with fragrant flowers and sweet aromas from candles and reed diffusers. The walls inside the shop, painted white and green, lead them to a special section showcasing antique ceramics and porcelain. “A contrast between new, exotic stores and old commercial buildings like rice warehouses with a deep history is something that catches the ey...

Sung was granted sole physical custody of the child by the Washington State Court in December 2019, and the Seoul Family Court ordered his ex-wife to return the child in accordance with the Hague convention in December of that year. The return order was later upheld by both the High Court and the Supreme Court in 2020 and 2021. “Currently, Bryan’s mother and her family are laughing the court ord...

5일 법무부에 따르면 미 국무부의 아동 문제 관련 특별보좌관인 미셸 버니어 토스 (Michelle Bernier-Toth)가 6일 정부 관계자들을 만나 헤이그 국제아동탈취협약에 근거한 국내 아동반환 사건의 집행 현황을 점검하는 시간을 갖는다. 법무부 관계자는 “국내 헤이그 아동탈취 협약 관련 사건 처리 장기화에 관해 제도적 개선방안에 대해 의견을 교환할 예정이다”고 밝혔다. 헤이그 국제아동탈취협약은 국제결혼이 증가하면서 배우자 한쪽이 다른 한쪽의 동의없이 해외로 불법 이동시킨 16세 미만 아동을 보호하고 신속히 양육권자에게 되돌릴 수 있도록 맺은 국제협약이다. 1980년 10월 만들어져 미국·영국 등 93개국이 가입했고, 한국은 지난 2012년 12월 89번째로 가입해 2013년 협약 이행을 위해 헤이...

Special adviser on children’s issue to the US State Department, Michelle Bernier-Toth, is currently in South Korea to discuss the issue of cross-over child abduction, officials in Seoul told The Korea Herald. A meeting between Bernier-Toth, who arrived over the weekend, and officials from S. Korea’s Ministry of Justice is to be held Tuesday, a ministry official said, with unresolved cases involv...

In October 2018, she came to Korea for a conference in Seoul. She was among 10 foreign police officers of Korean ethnicity. There she met Suh Joon of the Korea National Police Agency’s foreign affairs bureau, which doubles as the International Criminal Police Organization’s National Central Bureau in Seoul. Suh offered help. He looked through old newspapers and searched the internet to find the ...

Why art? The recent boom of the local art market has, in part, led many food companies to incorporate art into their brand campaigns, according to some business experts. “There has been swelling demand for artworks among young collectors, millennials and Generation Z who crave visuals. Promoting a brand’s identity in an aesthetically pleasing manner has become more important than before,” said ...

The Q&A session was Yoon’s first since returning from the Nov.11-16 trip to Southeast Asia during which his office did not allow MBC reporters on a presidential jet. During Friday’s in-office interview, the president was asked to speak on the matter and he said the decision was to “protect Constitution” because the media outlet “showed very malicious behavior.” As Yoon walked away to end the in...

A 25-year-old Korean flight attendant on a layover was critically injured in a stabbing at a Target store in downtown Los Angeles, California, according to US news media reports. The incident occurred at around 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. According to eye witnesses, the suspect -- a homeless man -- walked into the store, grabbed a large butcher knife off of a store shelf and attacked the Korean woman and...

For those commuting to Seoul from cities in Gyeonggi Province, rush hour means standing on the aisle of a packed bus running on an expressway. It is unsafe and against the law, but widely considered just part of life. Starting from Friday, 44 percent of intercity buses in Gyeonggi Province will no longer accept passengers when there are no seats left. Gyeonggi Provincial Government confirmed th...

One whole Korean-style fried chicken contains far more calories than the daily intake recommended by the World Health Organization, industry data showed Tuesday. According to a survey of 24 products from the top 10 fried chicken franchises in Korea conducted by the Korea Consumer Agency, the calorie content of one whole fried chicken ranged from 1,554 to 3,103 kilocalories. The daily recommended...