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June 30, 2026
 

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Claire Lee
Bang Chun-ja, a 78-year-old South Korean woman living alone, holding Hyodol, an artificial intelligence-powered healthcare doll designed for the elderly, during an interview at her home in Yongin in April.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Jun 11, 2026
In aging South Korea, AI dolls are caring for the elderly
Authorities are providing AI care devices to seniors living alone, including in districts of Seoul and in Yongin, south of the capital.
A demonstrator raises his fist as people surround a vote-counting center to protest a controversy over a shortage of ballot papers that disrupted voting in a local election, in Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Jun 7, 2026
South Koreans protest over ballot mishap, demanding local election rerun
National Election Commission chairperson Rho Tae-ak resigned after public outrage over ballot paper shortages.
In her 90s, South Korean sculptor Kim Yun Shin still wields a chain saw with quiet focus, refining a craft she honed over decades spent far away from home.
CULTURE / Art
May 7, 2026
South Korean chain saw artist carves a name for herself at 91
Long overlooked in her home country, sculptor Kim Yun Shin has recently gained recognition and is featuring in a sweeping retrospective at Hoam Museum of Art.
Zhao Bin, a Chinese business traveler, speaks to the media after checking in for a flight to Pyongyang on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 30, 2026
Why are Chinese flights to North Korea resuming now?
Before both countries closed their borders due to COVID-19, North Korea received an estimated 300,000 foreign visitors in 2019, 90% of them Chinese.
South Korea's former first lady, Kim Keon Hee, the wife of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, arrives at the special prosecutor's office in Seoul on Aug. 6, 2025. Kim was sentenced to 20 months' jail for corruption on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 28, 2026
South Korea’s former first lady jailed 20 months for corruption
Kim Keon Hee, the wife of impeached former President Yoon Suk Yeol, was acquitted of other charges that included stock manipulation.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects a munitions factory where multiple rocket launcher systems are produced, at an undisclosed location, in this photo released on Dec. 30.
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 30, 2025
North Korea’s Kim touts new rocket launchers that could target South
Kim reportedly said the new weapons system would serve as his military’s “main strike means.”
An instructor touches up a mannequin in a coffin during a funeral administration class at the Busan Institute of Science and Technology in Busan.
BUSINESS
Nov 3, 2025
Death becomes a growing business in aging, lonely South Korea
Single-person households now account for around 42% of all homes in South Korea, giving rise to a new profession: cleaners called in to clean homes after their occupants have died.
A chartered plane transporting South Korean workers who were detained in an immigration raid last week arrives at the Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Sep 12, 2025
South Korean workers arrive home after U.S. detention
South Koreans made up the majority of the 475 people arrested at a Hyundai-LG battery factory site in the state of Georgia last week.
A building slated for demolition that was once a clinic for sex workers hired to serve U.S. soldiers protecting Seoul from North Korea
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Sep 10, 2025
South Korean women target U.S. military in landmark forced prostitution lawsuit
Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving U.S. troops stationed in the country.
Jung Yong-sun, a local official tasked with pest-control duties, poses while wearing a plastic netted onion bag for protection from "lovebugs" on the peak of Gyeyangsan Mountain in Incheon, west of Seoul.
ENVIRONMENT / Climate change
Jul 9, 2025
South Korea battles ‘lovebug’ invasion amid climate change
Seoul is now annually hit by a weeks-long infestation of a type of March fly whose distinctive mating behavior earned it the nickname.
The Demilitarized Zone — the border area separating the two Koreas — is one of the most heavily mined places on earth.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jul 4, 2025
North Korean man detained after crossing land border, Seoul says
Defections across the land border are relatively rare, as the area is densely forested, heavily mined and monitored by soldiers on both sides.
A supporter of ousted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol holds a placard during a gathering near the Seoul Central District Court in the capital, where Yoon had appeared earlier in the day for another hearing in his criminal trial, as he defends himself against insurrection charges over his declaration of martial law.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
May 24, 2025
Meet the ‘Yoonies’: ex-president’s shadow looms over South Korean poll
Experts say the ousted leader’s influence continues to loom over the election, as he drew extreme religious figures and right-wing YouTubers into mainstream politics.
A woman looks at a piece of calligraphy created by Korean independence activist Ahn Jung-geun in his jail cell weeks before his execution in 1910, at the Seoul Auction on April 22.
ASIA PACIFIC
May 18, 2025
Independence hero assassin’s calligraphy breaking auction records in Seoul
Revered in South Korea for his efforts to defend the country against Japanese encroachment, Ahn Jung-geun is best known for assassinating Japan’s first prime minister.
An 81-year-old apple farmer who lost her crop walks past the remains of her neighbors' homes after a wildfire swept through the area, in Andong, South Korea, on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Mar 30, 2025
South Korea’s ‘heartbreaking’ wildfires expose superaged society
The inferno has also laid bare South Korea’s demographic crisis and regional disparities.
Director Park Chan-wook (center) and his cast hit commercial gold with “Joint Security Area,” a film about North and South Korean friendship.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2025
South Korean blockbuster ‘Joint Security Area’ strikes a chord 25 years on
Park Chan-wook’s tale of inter-Korean friendship was a risky undertaking at the time of filming, but it has since become a celebrated cinematic masterpiece.
Steelworks of South Korea's largest steelmaker POSCO are seen over a residential area in Pohang on Feb. 13. Smoke billows from chimneys as factories churn in South Korea's steelmaking heartland, now under threat from Washington's new tariffs on the port city's largest export.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
Feb 16, 2025
Trump tariffs loom large in South Korea’s ‘steel city’
South Korea was the fourth largest exporter of the metal to the United States last year, accounting for 13% of its total steel imports.
South Korea, along with countries such as France and Italy, have asked questions about DeepSeek's data practices, submitting a written request for information about how the company handles user information.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Feb 6, 2025
South Korean ministries and police block access to DeepSeek
The move comes after the Chinese artificial intelligence startup did not respond to a request about how it manages user information.
People watch a news broadcast with file footage of a North Korean missile test, at a train station in Seoul on Tuesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 14, 2025
North Korea fires suspected short-range ballistic missiles
The launches on Tuesday morning came a day after the foreign ministers of South Korea and Japan held talks to reaffirm ties.
Security personnel walk on the road with buses blocking an entrance gate to protect impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol from a possible second arrest attempt by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials in Seoul on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Jan 7, 2025
South Korea investigators get new warrant to arrest President Yoon
The former star prosecutor has refused questioning three times after his bungled Dec. 3 martial law decree plunged South Korea into political chaos.
A demonstrator holds a placard that reads "I will fight with President Yoon Suk Yeol" during a rally in support of the impeached South Korea president in the Gwanghwamun area of Seoul on Saturday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / FOCUS
Jan 4, 2025
South Korea’s political crisis: what could happen next?
From another arrest attempt to waiting for a Constitutional Court decision, the scenarios that could decide President Yoon Suk Yeol’s fate are numerous.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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