Lessons for life: Hong Kong educator looks beyond exams and interviews

South China Morning Post - Oct 13, 2026

For Hong Kong educator Christine Ma-Lau, preparing children for exams or school interviews is only part of the job – helping them understand who they are, how to treat others and what they can contribute to society matters just as much. Ma-Lau founded JEMS Character Academy in 2009 after concluding that many imported character education programmes did not fully meet Hong Kong’s needs. She developed her own curriculum around three areas: identity, relationships and community. Her work has earned...

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Gen Z workplace communication sparks friction in Korean offices

Oct 18, 2026

Gen Z workplace communication sparks friction in Korean offices

"This new hire is really strange. Even when calls come in, they do not answer, and when given instructions, they do not respond. They ignore most KakaoTalk messages and only reply to things that benefit them." Senior employees in their 30s who work with new hires in their 20s with impressive credentials frequently voice this grievance. They complain that open communication with junior staff remains difficult despite considerable effort. However, the 20-somethings targeted by this criticism counter that their true intent — exchanging precise information and avoiding getting hurt while communicating — is not getting across. Why young workers avoid office phones Participant 4: Why do people in their 20s avoid phone calls these days? Participant 2: We prefer text messages because they let us reply after preparing our thoughts. That is especially true for work-related matters. Because text leaves a written record, we can check details directly from the message without having to ask again later. Even if a phone call is recorded, it is more inconvenient because we have to go back and listen

Tradition isn't everything: Foreign nationals say cafes are most Korean places of all

Oct 18, 2026

Tradition isn't everything: Foreign nationals say cafes are most Korean places of all

Not long ago, I asked Conrad, a British participant on a food tour, what he considered the most quintessentially British food. I expected him to name the famous fish and chips or a full English breakfast spread. But without hesitation, he answered, “curry.” Seeing my puzzled expression, he smiled and explained. While Britain has its traditional signature dishes, curry is one of the foods Britons eat most frequently today. That got me wondering: What food or food culture best represents Korea today? When I posed the same question to Conrad, his unexpected answer was “coffee and cafe culture.” The other participants on the tour nodded in agreement. When I take foreign visitors on food tours, I often hear the same questions: “Why are there so many cafes in Korea?” and “Why are cafes still so crowded late in the afternoon?” I could explain that Koreans simply love coffee. But a look at Seoul's cafes suggests there is more to it than that. Cafes line nearly every alley, stay lit late into the night and draw long queues outside popular spots on weekends. This is less a matter

3 Seoul architectural gems where art meets everyday life

Oct 18, 2026

3 Seoul architectural gems where art meets everyday life

What might it look like if gentle waves rippled across the surface of the sea? The sky shimmers and the grass seems to undulate across an uneven metal surface. The wall of this building, stretching horizontally at a height of 3.6 meters and reflecting the surrounding scenery, looks strangely familiar. Then it becomes clear: It resembles "bangjja yugi," traditional Korean hammered brassware often seen on carefully arranged tables at Korean restaurants. The intricate patterns, painstakingly hammered into the metal, refract light to create its distinctive sheen. This place wrapped in a long bangjja yugi on its exterior is the Seoul SeMA Seo-Seoul Museum of Art. Built this year in Geumnarae Central Park near Geumcheon District Office Station in Geumcheon District, it won the Grand Prize at the 44th Seoul Architecture Awards last month. Seoul selects and awards city buildings every year. This year, it selected one Grand Prize winner, two Top Excellence Prize winners, four Excellence Prize winners and three New Architect Prize winners. Among these, public buildings that anyone can freely visi

Lee pays tribute to firefighter killed in Bucheon factory fire

Oct 18, 2026

Lee pays tribute to firefighter killed in Bucheon factory fire

President Lee Jae Myung paid his respects Saturday to a firefighter who died while responding to a factory fire in Bucheon, west of Seoul, the presidential office said. Lee posthumously awarded firefighter Kim Jin-seok the Okjo Order of Service Merit in recognition of his dedication and sacrifice, and offered condolences to his bereaved family, the office said. After paying his respects, Lee said, "The government must provide firefighters with recognition and support commensurate with their dedication and sacrifice." Lee also stressed the need to strengthen on-site safety measures to ensure that firefighters can perform their duties in safer working conditions. The president instructed Interior Minister Yoon Ho-jung, who accompanied him, to provide all necessary support for the treatment and recovery of firefighters injured in the blaze. The government also plans to provide further honors for Kim, including arrangements for his burial at a national cemetery. The fire broke out at a four-story metalworking factory at 8:38 a.m. Friday and was fully extinguished at 11:06 a.m., according to fi

Wearable robots offer mobility to people with disabilities in Seoul

Oct 18, 2026

Wearable robots offer mobility to people with disabilities in Seoul

Advanced rehabilitation involving wearable robotics has traditionally remained out of reach for many due to high costs and limited availability outside major medical centers. Now, a pioneering municipal program in western Seoul is bringing this cutting-edge technology directly into neighborhood streets. The Mapo District office is running a specialized robotic rehabilitation initiative designed to help registered residents with mobility impairments regain independence. By partnering with the Seoul Seobuk Hospital and wearable robotics firm Angel Robotics, the district has established a collaborative support framework bridging public health infrastructure with advanced medical engineering. Driven by leading tech firms, research institutes and startups like Hyundai Motor, the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and Angel Robotics, Korea has rapidly expanded wearable robot technology beyond specialized medical rehabilitation into everyday industrial, agricultural and community mobility applications. The program utilizes robotic exoskeletons to analyze participants' gaits and

Dark Side of Seoul Podcast digs up city's secrets

Oct 18, 2026

Dark Side of Seoul Podcast digs up city's secrets

Korea has always been conscious of its own image, even as K-content exports and inbound tourism numbers continue to break records. But that global spotlight comes with an unspoken condition: show the shiny face, and sweep the unpolished parts under the rug. From outside, the country is often viewed through rose-tinted glasses, a tidy utopia of cute cafes and picture-perfect K-drama lifestyles. The Dark Side of Seoul Podcast offers something that doesn't fit on a postcard: an unvarnished look at Korean history and culture, aimed at the genuinely curious rather than the credulous, equally comfortable with the country's dark folklore as with its murders, crimes and political purges, distant and not so distant. The show is hosted by Joe McPherson and Shawn Morrissey, who have both lived in Korea for more than two decades and together lead The Dark Side of Seoul Ghost Walk. To be clear, this isn't a foreigner-complaint fest where the hosts look down on Korean culture. It respects the culture and its listeners enough to give the fuller picture, with a dark sense of humor that labels certain

Voice phishing cases detected by major banks double in 2025

Oct 18, 2026

Voice phishing cases detected by major banks double in 2025

The number of voice phishing transactions confirmed as fraud after being flagged by monitoring systems at major commercial banks doubled last year from a year earlier, data showed Sunday. According to the data submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service to Rep. Park Seong-hoon of the People Power Party, the five major banks — KB Kookmin Bank, Shinhan Bank, Hana Bank, Woori Bank and NH Nonghyup Bank — detected 8,760 such transactions through their fraud detection systems (FDS) in 2025 and subsequently confirmed them as actual fraud after taking temporary measures to suspend them. The figure more than doubled from 4,343 cases in 2024. An FDS is a technical system that monitors transactions, user activity and other data in real time to identify and flag suspicious behavior. The banks' FDS flagged 1.11 million suspected voice phishing transactions last year, up 39.9 percent from 796,000 in 2024. Of those, the banks took temporary measures against 157,000 transactions in 2025, up from 125,000 in 2024. Recently, Korean financial institutions are stepping up efforts to strengthen their cyb

Number of inmates granted early parole rises on prison overcrowding: lawmaker

Oct 18, 2026

Number of inmates granted early parole rises on prison overcrowding: lawmaker

The number of inmates released on parole before serving 60 percent of their full sentence has increased due to prison overcrowding, a lawmaker said Sunday. A total of 634 inmates who had served less than 60 percent of their full sentence were granted early parole in the January-August period, Rep. Joo Jin-woo of the main opposition People Power Party said, citing justice ministry data. The figure is around 3.7-fold bigger than the annual total of 172 in 2025, according to the lawmaker. The number of inmates who were released before fulfilling 60 percent of their sentence remained below 40 between 2022 and 2024 but sharply jumped last year. The increase was attributed to overcrowding at prisons across the country. As of the end of August, correctional facilities were operating at 126.2 percent of their capacity, compared with 122.1 percent in 2025, the data showed, according to Joo. To lower the rate, the justice ministry has been expanding early paroles for elderly and sick inmates who were deemed to have a low risk of reoffense. The ministry has said it plans to increase the number of ear

Kazakh man apprehended in viral Icheon road ambush case

Oct 18, 2026

Kazakh man apprehended in viral Icheon road ambush case

Police have apprehended a Kazakh man suspected of carrying out an ambush-style attack on a car at night in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, in an incident captured on dashcam footage that went viral recently. The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency and Icheon Police Station said Saturday that they detained the suspect, 21, on suspicion of aggravated intimidation and property damage. He and a fellow Kazakh national, 25, allegedly pursued and blocked a car carrying a driver in his 30s and a passenger on a road in Majang township on July 29. They allegedly left their own vehicle to threaten the occupants and kick the front of the vehicle. The case drew public attention after the footage was featured on the YouTube channel Han Moon-chul TV last month, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. As the footage spread, politicians such as Rep. Na Kyung-won of the opposition People Power Party questioned the state of public safety and called on police to mobilize all available investigative resources to catch the suspects. Police reopened the probe last month, and forensic specialists recovered som

Jeonbuk National University sociology students win top prizes in presentation competition

Oct 18, 2026

Jeonbuk National University sociology students win top prizes in presentation competition

Students from Jeonbuk National University’s Department of Sociology won top honors in an academic presentation competition for projects examining urban history, youth anxiety and changes in university life from a sociological perspective. The department said Friday that Kim Min-seo and Jang Eun-seong won the grand prize in a presentation competition organized by the Korean Sociological Association for supporters of the 2027 ISA World Congress of Sociology. Organized by the International Sociological Association (ISA), the congress will be held in Gwangju from July 4-10 next year. Two other teams received excellence awards. They were Bae Sol and Seon Hwa-pyeong, and Kim Se-jeong and Kim Yong-man. The grand prize-winning team explored the theme “How We Remember Gwangju,” examining the city’s history and urban spaces through a sociological lens to highlight the significance of hosting the World Congress of Sociology in Gwangju. The team examined a diverse range of historical sites and everyday spaces, including the former South Jeolla Provincial Office and Jeonil Building 245, artist

[COVER STORY] Korea focuses on AI majors while global universities rewrite rules of education

Oct 18, 2026

[COVER STORY] Korea focuses on AI majors while global universities rewrite rules of education

SINGAPORE, LONDON, SEOUL — Artificial intelligence (AI) is rewriting the rules across industries and higher education is no exception. While Korean universities are racing to establish AI departments and expand enrollment in advanced technology fields, some of the world’s leading institutions are taking different approach in adapting to the rapidly evolving technology. Rather than focusing solely on expanding AI-related education, these universities are rethinking the fundamentals of higher education, from what students should learn and how their abilities should be assessed to which academic strengths will remain valuable as AI takes on tasks once performed exclusively by humans. At Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, AI education is no longer limited to engineering and computer science majors. The university is working to make AI part of learning across every discipline, including the arts and humanities. The university aims to integrate AI into 40 percent of courses across all 52 undergraduate degree programs by 2030, up from just 5 percent today. Under the initiat

Lee again opposes ending live broadcasts of Cabinet meetings

Oct 18, 2026

Lee again opposes ending live broadcasts of Cabinet meetings

President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday reaffirmed his opposition over ending the livestreams of Cabinet meetings, saying he is open to all opinions exchanged during the meetings. Lee's remarks came just days after he wrote on his X account that he disagrees with a need to end the livestreams, calling a recent new report on alleged calls from Cabinet members to end them a "false claim." "It is difficult to understand why they are pressing against disclosing part of the Cabinet meetings by even lying that 'Cabinet members cannot speak up because the meetings are public,'" the president wrote in a message on X. He also shared a YouTube broadcast opposing such calls and introducing cases in which Lee embraces opposing opinions from Cabinet members during the meetings. "I have intentionally increased the number of participants by a significant number to listen to various opinions regarding state affairs," Lee said. "I have always liked debates and especially respected people who propose opposing views," he said, adding he has always emphasized the role of people with opposing views to prevent probl

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