SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — When South Korea announced its latest housing policy this month, officials were not only grappling with soaring property prices and supply shortages in the Seoul metropolitan area. They were also contending with a tiny, nocturnal amphibian with outsized influence: the Mongkoi. The Mongkoi (also known as narrow-mouth frog), listed [...]
SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — With more than one in four South Korean households now raising a pet, real estate developers are racing to appeal to so-called “pet families” by building apartments with dedicated pet-friendly amenities. According to data released Thursday by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, 28.6 percent of households [...]
GUNSAN, Sept. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The city of Gunsan in North Jeolla Province said Monday it will begin accepting applications from local farmers to join its 2025 Ecosystem Service Payment Program, designed to secure food and habitat for migratory birds that flock to the Geum River and Mangyeong River estuaries each winter. Under the [...]
JEJU, South Korea, Aug. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — Honeybee populations on Jeju Island are collapsing at alarming rates, with local officials and beekeepers warning that climate change has left colonies increasingly vulnerable to disease and pests. According to data released Tuesday by Jeju Province and the Korea Beekeeping Association, a 2022 survey of 157 apiaries [...]
BUSAN, Aug. 15 (Korea Bizwire) — In a move seen as both scientific and symbolic, South Korea has published the world’s first complete genome sequence of the extinct Dokdo sea lion (Dokdo Ganchi or Dokdo Kangchi) —commonly known in the West as the “Japanese sea lion”—while using the name “Dokdo sea lion” in a peer-reviewed international [...]
BUSAN, Aug.13 (Korea Bizwire) — A team of South Korean researchers has successfully decoded the full genome of the extinct sea lion species, known as Kangchi, which once inhabited Dokdo Island. The breakthrough, the first of its kind in the world, provides scientific evidence that the species’ extinction was primarily caused by overhunting during the [...]
TONGYEONG, Aug. 12 (Korea Bizwire) — Tongyeong’s public cat protection and adoption center, known as the “Cat School,” has come under scrutiny for alleged neglect of its feline residents, sparking controversy and raising questions about its management. Opened in September 2023 in a repurposed island school in the picturesque village of Yongcho, the Cat School aims [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — August 8 marks World Cat Day, a global observance established by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) in 2002 to improve awareness about cats and acknowledge their value alongside humans. The day promotes the importance of protecting and caring for cats, with an emphasis on adoption, particularly of [...]
SEOUL, Aug. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul Facilities Corporation announced on August 8 that twin Eurasian otters were born at the Children’s Grand Park Zoo in Gwangjin-gu on June 24. The birth is a significant event for conservation efforts, as the Eurasian otter was designated a natural monument in South Korea in 1982 and is classified [...]
SEOUL, August 7 (Korea Bizwire) – South Korea is set to release 30 red foxes into the Sobaeksan Mountains this year, part of a long-running restoration effort to bring back a species once common across the Korean Peninsula but driven to the brink of extinction by human intervention in the 1970s. The Korea National Park [...]