This week’s record rainfall wreaked havoc not only on the lives of many people, but also some animals.  Social media saw a flurry of postings about stranded animals on flooded streets such as wild ducks, feral cats and dogs.  One Instagram post uploaded on Tuesday by user @assa_candy shared a plea for help from a pet owner whose puppy got swept away in the heavy rain.  "My puppy was swept away in the rain at the Catholic University of Korea. It’s hard to know

Social Affairs Aug. 10, 2022

    The following is part of Seoul Subway Stories, a Korea Herald series exploring subway stations and their surrounding areas across the city. – Ed.  On a recent Wednesday, a square near exit No. 2 of Sinchon Station was packed with people, predominantly young and female.  The crowds were for Enhypen, a rookie boy band from Hybe, the K-pop powerhouse behind BTS, who was holding a fan meet-and-greet event there.  While the septet said hello to fans one b

Social Affairs Aug. 7, 2022

  Tall, handsome and sweet -- Theo is everything a girl wants.  He is the boy next door with curly hair, smiley eyes and an adorable and vibrant personality. He is effortlessly stylish and loves food and cooking. He also knows a thing or two about cool Korean stuff, as he is half-Korean and half-Brazilian.  Theo is a virtual human created by a Brazil-born K-pop fan-turned-entrepreneur in Seoul, with an aim of bridging the two worlds as Brazilians’ fascination with Korea g

Social Affairs Aug. 4, 2022

Last week, another corpse thought to be of a North Korean was recovered from the South Korean side of the Imjin River, which flows from North Korea and crosses the border. The deceased, a woman, was wearing a badge with portraits of the North’s two former leaders Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, according to local police investigators. It was the fourth time in July that a body suspected to be of a North Korean was found washed up in the South. The three other bodies wore no badge to indica

Social Affairs July 31, 2022

   With its rugged granite peaks, leafy forests, streams and walking trails, Bukhansan is an oasis of greenery in the bustling metropolis of Seoul. And it has rightly been receiving attention from foreign residents and visitors. The only drawback is that it is not a leisurely walk but one that requires proper hiking gear.  To address this and support foreigners who want to explore Bukhansan but don‘t have the right shoes or outfits, the Seoul Hiking Tourism Center offers

Travel July 30, 2022

On May 5, the Gangdong-gu District Office in eastern Seoul received a call reporting a damaged road pole posing safety risks to drivers. It was not residents nor police officers on patrol who found the hazardous situation on the road, but a 2-year-old female poodle named Oh-gu.  “Oh-gu suddenly moved closer to the median strip while walking on a crosswalk with me. She usually likes to sniff everywhere. It was her curiosity that made me spot the damaged pole,” said Cho Mi-you

Social Affairs July 26, 2022

  Under the beaming sunlight, vacationers enjoy beach time at Songjeong Beach in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, one of the country’s most popular summer travel destinations, on Saturday. Some people take a rest in the shade of pine trees to escape from the blistering heat wave. As the scorching weather continued over the weekend, holidaymakers have been flocking to beaches to frolic in the cool, clear waters. Children enjoy swimming at Dolmeori Beach Dolmeori Beach in Hampyeong, South

Social Affairs July 23, 2022

  The hit drama series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” presents the story of rookie lawyer Woo Young-woo (played by Park Eun-bin), who is on the autism spectrum.  Showing Woo tackle difficult cases as she grows as a lawyer, while overcoming adversity and prejudice, the 16-part legal drama from television channel ENA was the most watched non-English TV show on Netflix during the week of July 11-17. For most viewers in Korea, where the show is set, the life and career of the

Social Affairs July 20, 2022

A K-pop idol-turned-actor recently turned himself into police, claiming he was tricked into working for phone scammers.  The 32-year-old, who turned himself in to a police station in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, said he thought he was hired for a simple job of collecting money from someone on behalf of his employer and wiring it to them. After meeting the person he was supposed to receive the money from, however, he realized that he was lured into assisting a voice phishing scam and that t

Social Affairs July 18, 2022

Last month, a Korean Navy sergeant was beaten up by a group of seven fellow servicemen for more than two hours at a unit in Donghae, Gangwon Province. The victim suffered severe ligament tears and bruises all over his body, which required four weeks of medical treatment. About a month before that, four high school girls in Cheonho-dong, southeastern Seoul, were caught by police for assaulting one of their classmates at a construction site.  The two cases may seem unrelated, but they have

Social Affairs July 13, 2022

Meth overdoses could be the cause of the two deaths – just hours apart – of a patron and a staff member of a late-night bar in Seoul’s Gangnam, police investigating the case said Sunday.  On July 5, at around 8 a.m., a man in his 20s was found unconscious in his car at a park in southern Seoul. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.  About two hours later, a woman in her 30s was found dead at her home. The deceased was an employee of a bar in Gan

Social Affairs July 10, 2022

The COVID-19 pandemic is not quite over yet, but the world is on alert for the next virus: monkeypox.  To date, more than 6,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported in 58 countries, with over 80 percent of the cases in Europe, according to the World Health Organization.  Korea confirmed its first case of the virus on June 22. The first patient is a Korean citizen who returned from a trip to Germany and showed symptoms of fever, sore throat, lethargy and skin lesions, the Korea Dise

Social Affairs July 7, 2022

The American West is battling a “biblical” explosion of grasshoppers and Mormon crickets. Italy’s Sardinia has been hit by what has been described as the worst locust outbreak in 60 years. It seems the world is under an invasion of insects.  And South Korea has its own problem.  An outbreak of tiny flies called “lovebugs” has brought an onslaught of complaints from residents in the northwestern part of Seoul and adjacent city of Goyang, Gyeonggi Provinc

Social Affairs July 6, 2022

   Sujan Shakya is perhaps the most famous Nepalese in Korea now.  Having starred in JTBC’s multinational talk show “Non-Summit” and MBC Every 1’s reality travel show “Welcome, First Time in Korea?” the 34-year-old is among those foreign residents who found fame here.  He is less well-known for his work as an interpreter for other Nepalese seeking asylum in Korea.  Almost every week, he meets two or three refugee applicants from Ne

Social Affairs July 4, 2022

   In the latest action thriller “The Round Up,” a tenacious Korean detective Ma Seok-do (Ma Dong-seok, also known as Don Lee) chases after a ruthless murderer Kang Hae-sang (Son Suk-ku) in Vietnam who kidnapped and murdered a Korean tourist there.  Mostly set in the Southeast Asian country, the film’s bloody fight and chase scenes between the two protagonists have enthralled more than 10 million moviegoers, making it one of the biggest box office hits since th

Social Affairs June 30, 2022