SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — A major exhibition of the late Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee’s art collection has drawn strong early interest in Washington, surpassing 15,000 visitors within its first month, underscoring growing global attention to Korean cultural heritage. The National Museum of Korea said on Thursday that attendance at “Korean Treasures: Collecting, Cherishing, [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of foreign workers in South Korea surpassed 1.1 million in 2025 to reach a record high, with the proportion of employed international students also sharply up, a survey showed Thursday. As of May, there were 1.69 million foreigners aged 15 or older residing in Korea, up 8.4 [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — The ceiling for no-show penalties at reservation-based fine dining restaurants will be raised to 40 percent of the preordered menu, the antitrust regulator said Thursday. From now on, advance reservation-based upscale restaurants, such as omakase establishments, will be allowed to charge a no-show fee of up to 40 percent [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to expand its national heritage–based industries into a ₩100 trillion ($75 billion) market over the next five years, positioning cultural legacy as a core driver of the country’s global soft power, the Korea Heritage Service (KHS) said Wednesday in its 2026 policy blueprint. The initiative comes amid [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 18 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea plans to ban the free distribution of disposable plastic cups and phase out large paper cups at major cafés as part of a sweeping anti-plastic initiative set to be unveiled next week. The Climate and Environment Ministry said on Wednesday that its forthcoming “Comprehensive Anti-Plastic Strategy,” to be [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Most South Korean parents say the trait they most hope to cultivate in their young children is simply becoming “a healthy person,” with honesty ranking as the top core value, according to new research released Wednesday. The survey, conducted by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education and [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Foreign visitors to South Korea are increasingly favoring “value-for-money” shopping aligned with personal tastes, signaling a shift away from the high-end, big-ticket purchases that once dominated tourist consumption, according to new data released by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO). An analysis of foreign credit card transactions from 2018 through September [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — Most South Koreans want to remain in their homes or local communities as they age or face illness, but many say the country’s local care systems are not prepared to support that preference, according to a new nationwide survey released Tuesday. The survey of 1,500 adults, conducted earlier this month [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Korea Bizwire) — A growing number of South Korean children and teenagers are embracing makeup as part of their everyday culture, driven by social media trends, easy access to inexpensive cosmetics and a loosening of school restrictions. The shift has sparked concern among parents and educators who worry about the deepening pressures [...]
SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Korea Bizwire) — Young South Koreans are reporting strikingly low levels of life satisfaction compared with their global peers, revealing a generational mood shaped as much by economic pressure as by a sense of dwindling possibility. A government report released Tuesday shows that among waged workers ages 19 to 34, only 36 percent [...]