• Drama sets becoming ‘ghost towns’

    The sensational drama series “My Love From the Star” is elevating “hallyu” or the Korean wave to new levels. It has created a positive overflow, particularly in the tourism sector as the locations where the drama was shot have become tourist hot spots. But how long will they continue to…

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  • Collective insensitivity to safety

    Once again human error was behind the nation’s biggest maritime disaster in over two decades. Experts said Friday that the capsizing of the ferry Sewol involved violations of many regulations and poor safety precautions practiced by its crew and enforced by the government. On top of the captain and other…

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  • Death toll rises to 36, no new survivors found

    JINDO ― Only sobs and moans sounded in a gymnasium in Jindo, South Jeolla Province, where friends and family of passengers who went missing in the ferry Sewol’s accident gathered to watch a video clip of two divers going underwater and attempting to enter the ship, Saturday. The video, however,…

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  • Please, be alive

    JINDO ― An odd sense of helplessness mixed with hope prevailed at Paengmok Port, Friday. The families of more than 200 students and other passengers in the sunken Sewol ferry appeared ready to hold on to any sign of hope on the third day after the vessel capsized. The bulbous…

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  • Jeju Island: a true traveler’s gem

    This is an article written by a foreign student participating in the “Must-See Routes” program organized by the Visit Korea Committee. It is the final of three articles published in The Korea Times’ tourism section. — ED. The flight from Seoul to Jeju Island took no longer than an hour.…

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  • East Asia

    Korean games popular in China, Japan

    Critics argue tough regulations curb growth potential K-pop’s rise is fast and furious, representing the country’s booming cultural industry. Yet this doesn’t mean K-pop is the most profitable export item among cultural products. Guess what the No.1 is? Computer games. According to the state-run Korea Finance Corporation, Korea’s games exports…

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  • Five-year-old girl the only survivor of family

    Among the youngest survivors rescued from the ferry Sewol that sank off the southwestern coast was a 5-year-old girl, and her story touches many. Her mother, father and older brother are still missing. The girl, identified as Kwon, is being taken care of at Hankuk Hospital in Mokpo, South Jeolla…

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  • Captain, gov’t under fire

    The captain of the ill-fated Sewol ferry is the focus of public outrage after it became known that he and six other crewmembers were among the first to be rescued when the vessel was sinking. Captain Lee Joon-seok, along with a chief engineer surnamed Sohn and other crews, was escaped…

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  • Hope pinned on divers

    Tragedies create heroes and heroines and the sinking of the ferry Sewol, off the country’s southwestern coast Wednesday en route to Jeju, is no exception. Among them, military and civilian divers could deserve the biggest praise as they work around the clock with the hope of saving the almost 300…

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  • Park pledges full support for rescue work

    President visits site to console family members President Park Geun-hye visited the site of the sunken ferry Sewol, Thursday, to console grieving families of the missing and encourage rescue workers. She met the family members in a gymnasium in Jindo, near the scene of the tragedy, to hear their tearful…

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