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Study Identifies Music and Korean Cultural Identity as Key Drivers of ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ Global Popularity

Study Identifies Music and Korean Cultural Identity as Key Drivers of ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters’ Global Popularity

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — A new analysis of online reactions to Netflix’s animated film K-Pop Demon Hunters has identified music and Korean cultural identity as the two central forces behind the film’s worldwide success. The study, released Wednesday by the Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation (KOBACO), was conducted by media researcher Baek Hyun-mi of Korea [...]

South Korea’s Surprise Baby Bump Signals a Pause in Its Demographic Decline

South Korea’s Surprise Baby Bump Signals a Pause in Its Demographic Decline

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s birth figures ticked upward again in September, marking the fifteenth straight month of increase—a rare run of positive news for a country long synonymous with demographic freefall. According to government data released Wednesday, 22,369 babies were born in September, an 8.6-percent rise from a year earlier and the [...]

Korea’s Seniors Work into Their 70s as Pension System Falls Short

Korea’s Seniors Work into Their 70s as Pension System Falls Short

SEOUL, Nov. 26 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea now has the highest employment rate among seniors in the OECD, a trend driven less by choice than by economic hardship as the country enters an era of rapid population aging. A report released Wednesday by Oh Yoo-jin, a researcher at the National Pension Research Institute, shows that [...]

Korea Moves to Replace Civil Service ‘Duty of Obedience’ With Protections Against Unlawful Orders

Korea Moves to Replace Civil Service ‘Duty of Obedience’ With Protections Against Unlawful Orders

SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea is preparing to abolish a decades-old legal requirement obligating civil servants to obey orders from their superiors, a cornerstone of the country’s bureaucratic culture since 1949. The move marks one of the most significant shifts in public-sector governance in more than half a century. The Ministry of Personnel [...]

President Lee’s Global South Tour Signals a New Phase in South Korea’s Search for Strategic Relevance

President Lee’s Global South Tour Signals a New Phase in South Korea’s Search for Strategic Relevance

ANKARA & SEOUL, Nov. 25 (Korea Bizwire) —  President Lee Jae Myung’s recent four-nation trip — anchored by his appearance at the G20 summit in Johannesburg and followed by stops in the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Turkey — was less a ceremonial swing through diplomatic capitals than a quiet attempt to reposition South Korea within [...]

Seoul’s Gwangjang Market Engulfed in Dispute as Shop Owners Plan Lawsuit Over Price-Gouging Fallout

Seoul’s Gwangjang Market Engulfed in Dispute as Shop Owners Plan Lawsuit Over Price-Gouging Fallout

SEOUL, Nov. 24 (Korea Bizwire) — A long-running controversy over price-gouging at Seoul’s iconic Gwangjang Market has escalated into a legal battle, as brick-and-mortar shop owners move to sue street vendors for damages, arguing that repeated scandals have driven customers away and caused significant financial harm. According to interviews conducted by Yonhap News Agency, the Gwangjang [...]

South Korea Quadruples Investment in Bio Big Data as Global Competition Accelerates

South Korea Quadruples Investment in Bio Big Data as Global Competition Accelerates

SEOUL, Nov. 21 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea has nearly quadrupled its investment in “bio big data” over the past five years, reflecting the government’s drive to strengthen the country’s competitiveness in next-generation drug development and digital healthcare. According to a new report by the National Center for Biotechnology Policy Research, government investment in the sector [...]

Korean Civic Group Secures First International Support to Correct Distorted World Maps of Africa

Korean Civic Group Secures First International Support to Correct Distorted World Maps of Africa

SEOUL, Nov. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — A Korean civic organization campaigning to correct distorted world maps has received its first formal endorsement from an international body, marking a significant milestone in its effort to address long-standing misrepresentations of Africa’s size. VANK, a digital diplomacy group, said on Nov. 20 that the Statistical, Economic and Social Research [...]

A New Kind of Partnership: Korea Looks to the UAE as It Searches for Its Next Growth Engine

A New Kind of Partnership: Korea Looks to the UAE as It Searches for Its Next Growth Engine

  ABU DHABI & SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Korea Bizwire)  — On a warm November morning in the Emirati capital, President Lee Jae-myung arrived at a polished conference hall filled with Korean and Emirati business executives, all seated beneath a chandelier of cascading glass. But it was the future — not the décor — that commanded [...]

Inequality ‘Built Into the System’: Study Highlights Structural Fault Lines in Korea’s Labor Market

Inequality ‘Built Into the System’: Study Highlights Structural Fault Lines in Korea’s Labor Market

SEOUL, Nov. 19 (Korea Bizwire) —  A large majority of South Korean workers say the country’s labor market is fundamentally unequal, reflecting long-standing structural divides between large conglomerates and smaller firms, according to new research presented at a major labor conference in Seoul on Tuesday. The survey, released at the 30th-anniversary forum of the Federation [...]