'I started teaching myself': how an author with autism found his voice through stories

One thing Shin Jeong-ok, a team leader at a McDonald’s restaurant in Seoul’s Seongbuk District, enjoys about her job is being looked up to by friends and acquaintances in their 60s and older. In Korea, where the population is rapidly aging, seniors face increasingly fierce competition for employment as they outnumber younger job seekers. As of this year, more than 11 million people in Korea, or 21.6 percent of the population, are aged 60 or older. Many are baby boomers born between 1955 and 1963, a generation larger than those that came before them. Now entering retirement, they are increasingly seeking jobs, but age-related health issues and physical limitations restrict their employment options. Fortunately for Shin, her current job title is a hard-earned position she began in her early 50s. Now, the 63-year-old says she cannot imagine a life without working five times a week at McDonald’s Jongam SK branch in northern Seoul. “When I tell my neighbors or friends that I work at McDonald’s, I see the envy in their eyes. Being able to say that I have a job and seeing their admira

Prediction market Kalshi has opened an investigation into suspicious bets related to President Trump’s selection of his next press secretary, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company said that it was looking into at least three trades placed on its platform shortly before news outlets began announcing the appointment of Katie Zacharia to the White...

Chinese military aircraft may already be using a new joint aviation facility in Laos, with satellite imagery showing twice as many K-8/JL-8-family trainer aircraft there as the Laotian air force is assessed to possess. Eight of the two-seat trainer and light-attack aircraft were visible at Ban Keun Airport in commercial satellite imagery taken on September 30, according to Reuters, which first reported the images. More than two dozen military and support vehicles were also visible. The image was...

Trivia buffs, test your knowledge with today’s interactive superquiz.

Lyazzat Khan, a proud resident of Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, has quietly been building an empire of laughter. Originally from Kazakhstan, she is the mastermind behind Event Max, a business that brings Russian-speaking comedians to Korea. For Korea’s Russian-speaking population of nearly 200,000, there is a growing market for entertainment services. Most of these residents are Koryo-saram, or ethnic Koreans from former Soviet Union countries. Many are employed in the country’s light and heavy industry factories, working grueling hours. Leisure services for this group of workers remain underdeveloped, mostly because of the language barrier to accessing Korean entertainment. Over half of Korea’s Russian-speaking population lives in Ansan and Incheon, where in some neighborhoods, it is common to hear Russian spoken on the street. Restaurants and lounges catering specifically to Russian-speakers have sprung up in these neighborhoods since the early 2000s. However, a demand for more community-centered entertainment is on the rise as many businesses were shuttered during the pandemic. Ent

Researcher Song In-joo's father had been adamant that he did not want to die in a hospital, so she stayed by his side at home through his final days. "I realized that death isn't a momentary event, but a long, painful process. You have to work hard to die," Song said. "Everything is going as it should," her father said two days before he died. "I believe my father died peacefully, thanks to the care and human touch he received," Song said. "Death inevitably requires the help of others." That was in 2016. Song, then a senior research fellow at the Seoul Welfare Foundation and now head of Ssro Lab, began researching lonely deaths that year in hopes of preventing people from dying without care or human contact. To do so, she first had to determine who dies in isolation, why they become isolated and how they spend their final days. Since she could not ask the dead themselves, she analyzed police records on 20,000 unattended deaths and interviewed family members and neighbors to examine the circumstances surrounding lonely deaths — a process known as a "social autopsy." Song recently publishe

A Korean-born man who spent 14 years in a U.S. prison for armed robbery does not have to serve in the Korean military, a Seoul court has ruled, extending an exemption for convicted inmates to those who have served their jail sentences overseas. The ruling rejects the Military Manpower Administration's position that only inmates transferred to Korea to complete their sentences qualify for exemption. The court did, however, attach a condition meant to keep the exemption from becoming a loophole for draft evasion. Under the Military Service Act, anyone sentenced to 18 months or more in prison is placed in wartime labor service, a category that exempts a person from peacetime duty and calls him up only for labor support in the event of war. The man, whose name was withheld, moved to the U.S. with his family and later became a permanent resident there. He was convicted of robbery and aggravated assault in 2010 and was deported to Korea after completing his sentence last year. A physical examination classified him as eligible for alternative service as a social service agent, but he sought ass

Local governments across Korea are competing to host prisons, once widely regarded as undesirable facilities, as shrinking populations and struggling local economies prompt communities to seek new sources of jobs, residents and spending. Cheongsong and Yeongdeok counties in North Gyeongsang Province, Jecheon in North Chungcheong Province and Boeun County in the same province are among the municipalities that have entered the competition. According to the Ministry of Justice, Thursday, the government is seeking sites for four correctional facilities to address prison overcrowding and aging infrastructure. Each facility would accommodate 1,000 inmates and employ 250 permanent staff members, requiring at least 192,000 square meters of land. The four projects have a combined construction cost of 967.6 billion won ($680 million). They will be carried out as build-transfer-lease projects, under which private companies construct the facilities and transfer ownership to the government, which then pays rent for their use. Cheongsong is touting its experience as host to four correctional facilitie

Thirty-eight people suffered minor injuries Saturday when part of a ceiling collapsed at a building in Daegu, fire authorities said. According to the Daegu Fire and Safety Headquarters and the Buk District Office, the incident occurred at 10:16 a.m. on the second floor of a four-story building in Gwaneum-dong, Buk District. At the time, a vendor was selling kitchenware and other goods to elderly customers when a section of the ceiling finish collapsed. All 66 people inside evacuated the building on their own following the collapse. A total of 38 people were reported to have sustained minor injuries, with nine of them transported to hospitals. None of the injuries are believed to be life-threatening. Firefighters were dispatched to conduct a search and implement safety measures at the scene. A thorough search following the evacuation revealed no additional casualties. Police also deployed officers around the site to manage traffic. Built in 1994, the four-story building previously housed a grocery store on the first floor, which had suspended operations in September. Authorities plan to in

Every weekday before 1997, death row inmates in Korea braced themselves between 6 and 9 a.m. — the hours when executions could happen. If 9 a.m. passed uneventfully, they felt relief. Then they went to sleep wondering if the next morning would be their last. No one has been executed since Dec. 30, 1997, but 56 people remain on death row — 52 in Ministry of Justice correctional facilities and four in military prisons. Kim Dae-keun, a research fellow at the Korean Institute of Criminology and Justice, interviewed 42 of them. "Most of them were ashamed, distressed or regretful about what they did," Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times. "I imagine they were brutal and frightening when they committed their crimes. But many I met in prison now were older, frail men." Oct. 10 marks World Day Against the Death Penalty, an annual international observance calling for the abolition of executions as judicial punishment. In Korea, the day arrives with the death penalty still on the books but widely regarded as unenforceable. Most inmates now believe executions will not resume — a beli

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) on Saturday called for renewed efforts to abolish the death penalty, nearly 30 years after the country's last execution. In a statement marking the 24th World Day Against the Death Penalty, NHRCK Chairperson Ahn Chang-ho noted that Korea had not carried out an execution since Dec. 30, 1997. “The past 30 years have shown that society can maintain public safety and a stable criminal justice system without carrying out executions. This experience is a valuable asset that goes beyond simply suspending executions,” Ahn said. “Now is the time to advance discussions on whether the death penalty should remain in law, drawing on this experience.” Ahn also highlighted the global trend toward abolishing capital punishment. According to Amnesty International, 145 countries had abolished the death penalty in law or practice as of the end of last year, accounting for about three-quarters of countries worldwide. He said discussions on abolition should take into account the suffering of violent crime victims and their families, as well as publ

Hong Kong police have arrested 127 people in a six-month undercover operation against a Vietnamese-led crime syndicate accused of running loan-sharking rackets charging interest rates of up to 3,700 per cent, as well as illegal gambling and unlicensed bars in West Kowloon. The syndicate is also alleged to have helped illegal immigrants find shelter and work, with police raiding eight premises on October 8 and 9. Among those arrested were 10 alleged core members, including the suspected leader, a...