Recent Blog Posts

President Lee Jae Myung on July 14 criticized his own government for leaving the abortion pill mifepristone unapproved, calling the situation "irresponsible" during a Cabinet meeting and pressing ministries to find a way around a legislative deadlock that has lasted more than five years. The instruction has renewed attention on a question that has remained unresolved since the Constitutional Court’s 2019 abortion ruling: how abortion care and medication should be regulated in practice.

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A photo of national team forward Cho Gue-sung's tanned skin set off a heated exchange between Korean and Brazilian users on X during the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the latest flashpoint in a pattern of online hostility toward Korea coming from some of the same overseas audiences who consume its pop culture most enthusiastically. The dispute, reported by the fan translation account Pannchoa on July 6, has drawn renewed attention to how quickly K-pop and K-drama fandoms abroad can turn into forums for mockery of Korean society itself.

• Read more about Cho Gue Sung's Tanned Skin Sparks Social Media Brouhaha
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South Korea's monthly birth figures have now risen year on year for 22 consecutive months, a streak that began in July 2024 and has continued through this spring. April births totaled 24,521, up 18.0 percent from a year earlier and the fastest April increase since comparable records began in 1981. The total fertility rate climbed to 0.93, still far below the 2.1 needed to keep the population stable, but a marked improvement from the 0.72 low recorded in 2023.

• Read more about Korea's Births Rise for a 22nd Straight Month
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South Korea's Minimum Wage Commission is racing toward its mid-July deadline to set the hourly minimum wage that will take effect on January 1, 2027, with labor and management proposals now separated by just 690 won. As of July 9, the labor bloc was holding at 11,220 won an hour while business representatives offered 10,530 won, a gap of roughly 50 cents at current exchange rates but a wide one in the context of Korea's annual wage ritual.

• Read more about 2027 Minimum Wage Talks Come Down to the Wire
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South Korea's Ministry of Justice announced on July 1 that it will bring in 16,915 additional foreign seasonal workers in the second half of 2026, aiming to ease chronic labor shortages in farming and fishing communities. The decision, made a day earlier at a meeting of the ministry's seasonal worker policy council, pushes the total number of seasonal workers allocated for the year to 117,113, an increase of 21,517 over last year's 95,596.

• Read more about Korea to Add Nearly 17,000 Foreign Seasonal Workers This Year
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• Read more about Bracing for the Rainy Season: What Korea's 2026 Typhoons May Bring
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On Friday, July 10, 2026, a company that most Americans had never heard of a year ago walked onto the Nasdaq and made history. SK Hynix (에스케이하이닉스), the South Korean memory-chip maker, raised $26.5 billion in its US market debut, the largest first-time listing by a foreign company ever, edging past the $25 billion that Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba raised in 2014. For a firm that was trading as a near-worthless penny stock two decades ago, the moment was, in the words of Chairman Chey Tae-won, a dream come true.

• Read more about SK Hynix Lands the Biggest Foreign Debut in US History
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South Korea's Supreme Court on July 9 upheld a seven-year prison sentence against former President Yoon Suk Yeol for obstructing his own arrest, delivering the first final ruling among the eight criminal trials he faces stemming from his December 3, 2024 martial law declaration. The Court's Third Division dismissed Yoon's appeal in a televised hearing, stating "all appeals are dismissed." The ruling is final and cannot be challenged further through South Korea's standard court system, coming 583 days after the martial law order.

• Read more about Yoon Suk Yeol's First Conviction Upheld by Supreme Court - Status of other Related Cases
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In the spring of 1905, a British merchant vessel named the SS Ilford slipped out of Jemulpo Port in Incheon, carrying 1,033 Korean men, women, and children. They were embarking on a grueling, month-long transpacific voyage toward Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Drawn by newspaper advertisements promising high wages, free housing, and a prosperous life in a land of opportunity, these "adventurous spirits" had no idea they were sailing into a multi-generational saga of indentured servitude, statelessness, and ultimate survival.

• Read more about 에니켄: :The Legacy of the 1,033 Koreans Who Went to Mexico in 1905
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From:  @wordswithbones

• Read more about Bau-Bau, the only non-Korean place that uses Hangeul
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So far I’ve made six new Korean language cheat sheets, and they’re completely FREE through my Patreon page. This week I’m releasing a cheat sheet about Causative Verbs (사동사), and this should help you with memorizing some of the most common verbs and forms. These were all created as a set, and there are still two more cheat sheets that I’ll release over the next two weeks.

• Read more about I created a Korean Causative Verbs CHEAT SHEET [6/8]
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• Read more about Korea's New "Fake News" Law Takes Effect
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Video from: @kimchibites89  and @denmikstark

• Read more about The Soju Tornado: How a Post-War Necessity Became a Favorite Bar Trick
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Video from Video Pro Episode#139: Koreapro.org

• Nationwide

• Read more about Powering the Machine: Korea's AI Ambitions Run Into a Hard Energy Ceiling
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• Read more about Centre Pompidou Hanwha Opens in Seoul
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For centuries, the coastlines of South Korea’s Jeju Island have been home to the 해녀 (Haenyeo), an extraordinary community of all-female free-divers who plunge into the ocean to harvest seafood. Known as "women of the sea," these divers descend up to 60 feet below the surface without any breathing equipment, often staying underwater for minutes at a time. Remarkably, many of these women continue this grueling labor well into their 70s and 80s.

• Jeju

• Read more about Genetic and Physiological Adaptations of the Haenyeo
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South Korea's streak of global streaming dominance has reached a new milestone as the action school-drama Teach You a Lesson (known domestically as 참교육) officially climbed to become Netflix's fifth most-watched Korean series of all time.

• Read more about Teach You a Lesson: Netflix Hit and Cathartic Conversation Starter
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South Korea’s big-box retail landscape suffered a major blow on July 3, 2026, after the Seoul Bankruptcy Court officially terminated the corporate rehabilitation proceedings of Homeplus Co., the nation’s second-largest hypermarket chain. The milestone decision marks a critical turning point in a year-and-four-month court receivership that began in March 2025.

• Read more about Homeplus Faces Liquidation as Court Halts Rehabilitation
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One of the most persistent small frustrations of getting around Korea without a Korean credit card is finally being addressed. Kobus, the integrated express bus reservation site operated by Tmoney, will begin accepting foreign-issued card payments in August, according to a Chosun Biz report published July 1. The service will allow users to purchase express bus tickets without signing up for membership, and a similar option for intercity bus reservations is being prepared with a target launch of September.

• Read more about Express Bus Tickets Open to Foreign-Issued Cards Starting in August
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Every week I’m posting one new Korean language cheat sheet for the next eight weeks – this is the FIFTH cheat sheet and it’s all about Passive Verbs. Also note that my Patreon paid supporters can download all EIGHT of my newest cheat sheets all at once.

• Read more about I created a Korean Passive Verbs CHEAT SHEET [5/8]
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