Author: Jae young

July 8, 2025SEOUL – South Korea has long prided itself on its technological sophistication, a nation of 5G networks, semiconductor giants and integrated mobile ecosystems. Yet the legal and regulatory machinery governing its economy remains ill-suited to the demands of the industries it claims to champion.A modest but telling countermeasure has been the “regulatory sandbox,” a policy tool that grants temporary exemptions from outdated laws, allowing innovative companies to test new services or products without being immediately stifled by red tape.Introduced in 2020, the system has yielded tangible, if limited, results. According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry,…

July 8, 2025BUCHEON – The 29th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival opened Thursday with a bold statement on cinema’s future, selecting as its opening film “About a Hero” — a hybrid documentary by Piotr Winiewicz featuring an AI-generated screenplay trained on Werner Herzog’s complete filmography.The festival’s commitment to exploring artificial intelligence runs deep, with 11 AI films among its 217-title program and a three-day conference dedicated to examining how the technology is reshaping creative processes in cinema.Sunday marked the first day of the festival’s AI conference at Bucheon Art Center, bringing together industry pioneers, technologists and policymakers to examine practical…

July 8, 2025SEOUL – South Korea has failed to place Japan’s failure to address colonial-era forced labor at UNESCO-listed Meiji Industrial Revolution sites on UNESCO’s official discussion agenda.The outcome was marked by tense negotiations with Tokyo and behind-the-scenes efforts to rally international support, particularly from the 21-member World Heritage Committee under UNESCO.South Korea initially proposed discussing the issue during the 47th session of the World Heritage Committee held on Monday in Paris. Japan later submitted an amendment to exclude the issue from discussion, which was eventually put to a vote.Of the 21 committee members, there were eight blank ballots, three…

July 7, 2025SEOUL – YG Entertainment, once home to Korea’s most influential K-pop groups, is under mounting pressure to develop its next major intellectual property. While the company remains one of the so-called “Big Four” K-pop agencies — alongside SM, JYP and Hybe — it has yet to introduce a new act that rivals the global dominance of its legacy stars.The last truly game-changing group YG Entertainment debuted was Blackpink, nearly a decade ago in 2016. Since then, it has launched Treasure in 2020 and Babymonster in 2024. However, neither has reached the level of superstardom expected from a YG…

July 7, 2025SEOUL – Foreign residents living with Korean nationals may be eligible for South Korea’s new cash handout program, which aims to revive consumer spending and bolster household income starting July 21.Backed by a supplementary budget of 31.8 trillion won ($23.3 billion), the program offers a one-time payment of at least 150,000 won (about $110) to all Koreans residing in the country as of June 18.“The purpose of the ‘consumption coupons’ is to stimulate sluggish spending, revitalize the local economy, and support Korean incomes. Therefore, in principle, foreigners are excluded,” Vice Interior Minister Kim Min-jae said at a briefing…

July 7, 2025SEOUL – More young, unmarried South Koreans living with their parents, tend to express less desire to work over the past decade, according to a new report by the state-run Korea Labor Institute.The report, released in late June, analyzes a decade of data from 2015 to 2024 based on Statistics Korea’s annual survey of the economically inactive population — focusing on individuals aged 19 to 39 who are not actively seeking employment.According to the research institute, 56.1 percent of economically inactive youth living at home with their parents had showed willingness to seek employment in 2015. But the…

July 7, 2025SEOUL – South Korea’s Lee Jae Myung administration is scrambling to take the edge off the United States’ new tariffs, as the nation’s top security adviser departed Seoul on Sunday to travel to Washington and join forces with Seoul’s trade minister, who had arrived there the day before.Their trip to Washington came as the deadline nears for US President Donald Trump’s 90-day suspension of “reciprocal tariffs.”Trump told the media Friday that he would begin sending out letters Monday notifying 12 undisclosed countries of higher import duties that would take effect on Aug. 1. These would be among 56…

Channel A’s upcoming drama “My Lovely Journey” has unveiled the first stills of Kim Jae Young in character! Based on a bestselling Japanese novel by Maha Harada, “My Lovely Journey” follows Kang Yeo Reum (Gong Seung Yeon), a former idol-turned-travel reporter who has never been the center of attention in her life. As she takes on travel assignments on behalf of others, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery, coming to understand the true meaning of success and life. Kim Jae Young plays Lee Yeon Seok, an aspiring film director. Once a top student who graduated from a prestigious university’s engineering program…

KBS2’s “The First Night with the Duke” has dropped new stills ahead of tonight’s episode! “The First Night with the Duke” is a fantasy romance drama about an ordinary college student whose soul is transported into a minor character in a romance novel, Cha Sun Chaek (Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun). After waking up in the world of the novel, she ends up spending the night with the obsessive male lead, Yi Beon (2PM’s Taecyeon). Spoilers In the previous episodes, Cha Sun Chaek and Yi Beon have finally confirmed their feelings for each other and officially begun their romance. Despite the countless obstacles they’ve…

Kim Nam Gil and Kim Young Kwang begin a mysterious partnership in the upcoming Netflix series “Trigger”! “Trigger” is an action-packed thriller drama set in South Korea, a country known for its strict gun control laws. The story follows two men who, for their own reasons, take up arms amidst a rising wave of illegal firearms mysteriously appearing across the nation that leads to an unprecedented surge in gun-related crimes. Kim Nam Gil stars as Lee Do, a police officer who picks up guns once more to uphold justice, while Kim Young Kwang plays Moon Baek, a mysterious figure who…