SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul’s experiment with “no-scooter zones” has drawn strong public support, with a majority of residents reporting safer and more comfortable pedestrian environments, city officials said Monday. The pilot program, the first of its kind in South Korea, was launched in May along two busy stretches: the 1.3-kilometer Red Road [...]
SEOUL, Nov. 4 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s television industry, long celebrated for its global influence, remains mired in poor labor conditions—where freelance writers, producers, and crew often work close to 30 hours straight without rest and rely on verbal contracts instead of written agreements. A new report by the Korea Creative Content Agency, released [...]
BUSAN, Nov. 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A restaurant in Busan’s Chinatown has come under scrutiny after a festivalgoer accused it of overcharging for a popular Chinese dish, sparking yet another public debate over price gouging in tourist areas. The controversy began when a visitor posted online that a plate of guobaorou (sweet and sour pork) [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Jung Eun-hye, a 35-year-old actress and painter with Down syndrome who rose to prominence through the hit drama Our Blues, appeared before South Korea’s National Assembly on Thursday to call for the passage of a special bill supporting stable, rights-based public jobs for people with severe disabilities. Speaking as a [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 31 (Korea Bizwire) — Despite a high-profile safety campaign, Seoul’s designated “kickboard-free zones” are failing to keep electric scooters off crowded streets, with underage riders zipping through school districts largely unchecked. On a recent afternoon in the Banpo neighborhood, a 15-year-old middle school student rode a shared e-scooter alongside friends on electric bicycles, weaving [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul is turning to artificial intelligence and advanced spatial data to make its streets safer, using a city-developed 3D mapping platform to identify and eliminate potential crime blind spots. City officials said Wednesday that the new system, known as the S-Map Crime Vulnerability Prediction Model, will be fully deployed [...]
GWANGJU, Oct. 30 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is confronting a troubling rise in criminal investigations and prosecutions involving people with mental disabilities, prompting renewed calls for reforms to safeguard their legal rights. According to a report released in May by the Judicial Policy Research Institute, criminal cases involving mentally disabled individuals nearly doubled in four [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 29 (Korea Bizwire) – Three years after a deadly crowd crush turned a festive Halloween night into one of South Korea’s darkest moments, visitors returned Wednesday to a narrow alley in Seoul’s Itaewon district. They came quietly, many before dawn, carrying white chrysanthemums and handwritten notes that filled the street once choked with panic [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) — The recent arrest of a Korean couple accused of orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud ring in Cambodia has thrown new light on a crime many still struggle to take seriously: romance scams. While some ask how anyone could fall for a stranger online, advances in artificial intelligence and increasingly sophisticated psychological [...]
SEOUL, Oct. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — A new payment technology that allows bus passengers to board without tapping a card or phone has debuted in Seoul, in a pilot seen as a step toward a fully touch-free public transit system. Tmoney, the operator of South Korea’s dominant transit payment platform, said Monday it has activated its [...]