ERTC Express: Helping Businesses Recover their Employee Retention Tax Credit

The number of Korean content that was illegally distributed overseas reached nearly 500 million cases last year, the highest number since 2022, a lawmaker said Monday. The number of reported cases hit 493.6 million in 2025, up 19.2 percent from the previous year, according to the data submitted to Rep. Jeong Jun-ho of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea by the Korea Copyright Protection Agency. The figure is the highest since 477.1 million in 2022, when the agency began compiling relevant data. Of the total, piracy cases involving webtoons accounted for the majority at 66.5 percent, followed by films and broadcasts at 33.5 percent. By language, 46.6 percent of the reported cases involved content distributed in English, followed by Chinese at 20.4 percent and languages of Southeast Asian nations at 15.7 percent. While the number of content illegally distributed in English fell 17 percentage points on-year, the portion of those distributed in languages of Southeast Asian and European nations, such as Vietnamese, Thai, Spanish and French, rose. Despite a surge in digital piracy cases, the nu

New forms of school violence, including one that forces those bullied into physical fights, are on the rise but many of those responsible for such violence go nearly unpunished, a lawmaker said Monday, citing relevant data from the education ministry. According to the data submitted to Rep. Han Byung-do of the ruling Democratic Party, 490 cases of such violence have been subject to a review by school disciplinary committees between 2024 and August this year. A total of 1,961 disciplinary measures were taken against 1,232 students involved, but 77.7 percent, or 1,523, of those measures taken are those considered "light" as they leave no official records of the incidents or their punishment, according to the lawmaker. Such measures include requiring a written apology and orders to keep a distance from victims. Less than 10 percent, or 193, of the measures involved a suspension or school transfers. The report comes amid an apparent spread of the so-called yacha rule, where victims are pushed into unwanted physical fights under the guise of mutual agreement. "There needs to a detailed guideli

The head of South Korea's military manpower agency voiced regret Monday over South Korean footballers glorying in their exemption from mandatory military service following their win at the recent Asian Games. Military Manpower Administration (MMA) Commissioner Hong So-young made the remarks during a parliamentary audit, after some of the gold medalists gloated about their exemptions in media interviews and on social media, sparking strong public backlash and reigniting calls for policy overhaul. "I deeply regret this unfortunate situation," Hong said. "I take heavily to heart the sense of loss felt by young men serving their military duties, as well as the public's calls for reform." After clinching the gold medal in men's football at the Asian Games on Oct. 3, Yang Min-hyeok, one of the players on the national team, told media he played the match to earn the exemption rather than winning a medal or trophy. Park Seung-soo, another member on the team, uploaded a photo of himself wearing a cap typically worn by men who have completed their military service. Their actions have sparked widesp

When a fire broke out at a military battery storage facility in South Chungcheon Province in August, the building’s advanced fireproofing worked as designed. The reinforced concrete walls and automated sprinklers contained the blaze before the structure was lost. Yet that success created a perilous new crisis. Inside the facility sat roughly 210,000 unexploded lithium batteries. Scorched and baked by extreme heat, the remaining stockpiles lingered on the brink of secondary thermal runaway — a violent chain reaction capable of triggering massive explosions. Heavy treads or four-legged rescue robots, standard tools in modern disaster response, were far too heavy. A single misstep pressing against a delicate cell could detonate the entire room. For nearly two weeks, firefighters could only watch from the exterior perimeter. They were completely barred from entering the hazard zone. Battery safety has become an urgent national focus in Korea following a series of severe industrial fires. The risk was starkly highlighted in June 2024, when a thermal runaway explosion at a lithium battery

Police on Monday apprehended a man in his 60s for allegedly murdering a woman under police protection over stalking and dating violence on the southern resort island of Jeju, officials said. The man was placed under emergency arrest hours after allegedly fatally stabbing the woman in her 40s outside a hotel in Jeju at 1:38 a.m., according to the Jeju Seobu Police Station. During police questioning, the man reportedly claimed the victim was a former lover. The victim was found to have reported the man for stalking in October 2025, and filed multiple reports of dating violence in May. Last month, police issued her a smart watch to alert authorities of emergencies and registered the woman as a subject of protection. She was reportedly unable to use the device during the fatal attack. A restraining order had not been issued against the man as formal cases had not been officially filed during the previous reports. Police plan to file for a warrant for the suspect's formal arrest after further investigation.

President Lee Jae Myung's move to the official presidential residence at Cheong Wa Dae is being planned for this year, an official said Monday. Lee and first lady Kim Hea Kyung have been living at the official residence used by former President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul's Yongsan Ward while refurbishments take place at Cheong Wa Dae. Yoon relocated the presidential office and residence from Cheong Wa Dae to Yongsan upon taking office in 2022 but Lee decided to return both to the former location following his inauguration last year. Only the presidential office completed its move to Cheong Wa Dae in December. "We are preparing to enable the move within the year after completing building commissioning and moving preparations," the presidential official said. "No schedule has been fixed for the move to the Cheong Wa Dae residence yet."

The unification ministry on Monday appointed a North Korean defector to head the Korea Hana Foundation, an agency affiliated with the ministry to support the resettlement of North Korean defectors, for the first time. Kim Young-hee, 61, who previously headed the North Korea Development Institute, was named president of the foundation for a three-year term, according to the ministry. It marked the first time that a North Korean defector has been appointed to the post since the foundation's establishment in 2010. Kim, who was born in Kilju County in North Hamgyong Province, came to South Korea in 2002, and has since assumed the role of a North Korean economy expert for various government agencies and local governments. The foundation's top post remained vacant for more than 19 months after its previous chief, Cho Min-ho, was dismissed in February last year over allegations he sexually and verbally harassed employees.

The government on Monday finalized a package of measures aimed at preventing suicide in a nation that has outstripped other developed countries in terms of suicide rates for more than two decades. The sixth Suicide Prevention Basic Plan was finalized during a meeting of the suicide prevention policy committee presided over by Prime Minister Han Seong-sook. The measures include reducing motivation for suicide and offering psychological care and counseling. Korea has charted out the suicide prevention basic plan every five years starting in 2004 in an effort to curb suicide rates. The fifth basic plan was announced in 2023 for a period through 2027, but the government came up with the sixth plan earlier than scheduled as suicide rates spiked in 2024. Korea's suicide rate, which refers to the number of suicide deaths per 100,000 people a year, surged to 29.1 in 2024, but fell back to 27.8 in 2025. This year, suicide deaths totaled 7,432 between January and July, down 12.3 percent, or 1,043, from the same period last year. The country has been at the top among the OECD member countries in te

The Ministry of National Defense inaugurated a physical artificial intelligence (AI) research center Monday at Pangyo Techno Valley — a sprawling high-tech hub south of Seoul often hailed as Korea's Silicon Valley for its heavy concentration of tech giants, startups, and advanced research facilities. The opening marks the start of an ambitious national project to train humanoid robots and autonomous machines for high-risk military missions, such as mine clearance, explosive ordnance disposal and hazardous chemical reconnaissance. Led by Defense Minister Kang Shin-chul, the launch event brought together roughly 150 officials from government agencies, academic institutions and defense industries, including representatives from the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Presidential National AI Committee. Operated in partnership with Ajou University, the Pangyo facility is the first of five specialized regional defense AI hubs planned across the nation. While Pangyo will focus on hardware-software integration — collecting physical operational data to train humanoid and multilegged robots

The main opposition People Power Party (PPP) on Monday criticized President Lee Jae Myung's golf outing over the weekend, questioning whether it was appropriate for him to play golf while the collapsed ceiling of a supermarket in Daegu left dozens of people injured. "Is a single line of instruction given while playing golf the right attitude for the head of state responsible for people's lives?" PPP leader Jang Dong-hyeok said during a meeting of the party's supreme council. "Is it even possible to receive reports in real time and give directions while playing golf?" In a statement released the previous day, Cheong Wa Dae said Lee immediately issued an order from the golf course for thorough rescue operations after receiving reports about the incident. The incident took place Saturday morning, leaving 38 people injured. PPP chief spokesperson Park Sung-hoon also released a commentary, accusing Lee of enjoying what he called an "imperial" round of golf, a term widely used in Korea to describe golf outings that are especially leisurely, unlike ordinary rounds where golfers are usually rush

Korea plans to gradually phase out special military service arrangements for athletes and artists, while tightening eligibility for international arts competitions, the head of the Military Manpower Administration (MMA) said Monday. MMA Commissioner Hong So-young told lawmakers during a National Assembly audit that she backed the Ministry of National Defense’s plan to scale back the exemption program before eventually abolishing it. “Our position is the same as the defense ministry’s,” Hong said, adding that the proposal was undergoing a final review as part of the government’s defense reform plan and would be announced soon. Under measures presented to the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee, the MMA plans to limit eligibility only to first-place winners at international arts competitions, rather than granting exemption to both first-place and second-place winners. It also aims to cut the number of qualifying winners at domestic traditional arts competitions from two or three per event to one. The agency said 86.6 percent of artists admitted to the program over th

Sonam Sherpa, left, president of the Society of Nepalese Students in Korea (SONSIK), presents a briefing binder on student welfare to Ram Kaji Khadka, joint secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Nepal, during a meeting in Kathmandu, Thursday. The two discussed key issues affecting Nepali students studying in Korea, including student welfare, academic document verification and broader educational cooperation between the two nations. Courtesy of SONSIK