'It's not that we like Seoul': Young Koreans explain why they leave their hometowns

Korea and the United States have formally selected a gas-fired power plant project in Texas as the first project under Seoul's $350 billion investment commitment to the U.S., the industry ministry said Thursday. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Resources announced the three projects, including the Texas plant, after the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in November last year, under which Korea pledged to invest in the U.S. in return for lower U.S. tariffs on Korean imports. The formal announcement comes after U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday (U.S. time) announced Korea's investment plans at the White House. The investment will comprise $150 billion for shipbuilding cooperation and $200 billion for projects in various strategic sectors. "As taxpayers' money will be injected into the initiative, we have placed top priority on the commercial viability of the projects and the national interest to ensure that not a penny goes to waste," Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan told reporters during a briefing. "We held consultations with the U.S. side while carefully exami

Korean companies are advised to expand their operations in the United States, as bilateral economic ties increasingly extend beyond trade to investment, technology and supply-chain resilience, the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) said Wednesday. The U.S. business lobby and the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) discussed opportunities and challenges of Korean firms when they expand investment and operations in America during the eighth annual Doing Business in the U.S. Seminar. The seminar was held as part of a special program marking the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence. AMCHAM Chairman James Kim said the economic relationship between the two countries is increasingly driven by the aforementioned sectors, rather than trade alone. “The next chapter of the U.S.-Korea economic partnership will be defined not simply by how much we trade, but by how much we build, invest, innovate and grow together,” Kim said. KCCI Executive Vice Chairman Kim Jeong-il emphasized the need for Korean companies to understand local regulations and business conditions, while buil

President Lee Jae Myung on Thursday pledged to persistently seek practical ways to reduce military tensions with North Korea, even as the two Koreas are at odds over the recent blast of North Korean mines along the border. The president made the remarks on North Korea at a ceremony marking the 78th Armed Forces Day at the military headquarters in Gyeryongdae, South Chungcheong Province, following last week's explosions of two North Korean mines in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that left three South Korean soldiers wounded. "My administration will consistently pursue practical measures to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas," Lee said. "The knots in inter-Korean relations are extremely complex, but we will steadily, patiently strive to untie them, one by one," the president said. He said peace and prosperity must be forged with "our own hands," and that "the surest form of security is one that renders conflict unnecessary, in other words, one that creates peace." "For the sake of peace on the Korean Peninsula, the two Koreas must find a way to win together and build trust," the

Korea on Thursday celebrated the 78th anniversary of the founding of its armed forces, unveiling a range of advanced military equipment, including its laser-based anti-drone system, to the public for the first time. The Armed Forces Day event kicked off on the runway of the military headquarters in Gyeryong, some 145 kilometers south of Seoul, involving some 3,600 personnel and around 70 pieces of military equipment, according to the defense ministry. This year, the military will showcase two laser-based anti-drone air defense systems, dubbed Cheongwang, in a demonstration of their ability to intercept drones. The anti-drone systems, which are capable of precisely striking small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), will be unveiled to the public for the first time. Other assets being displayed for the first time include drone swarms powered by artificial intelligence (AI), multipurpose unmanned ground vehicles and counter-drone interceptor UAVs. During the event, the government plans to award the Chungmu Order of Military Merit to late Lt. Col. Kim Oh-rang and late Ssg. Jung Seon-yeop for the

Gender Equality Minister Won Min-kyong said Thursday the presidential office has asked her to "steady" her ministry, apparently signaling her retention after the nominee to replace her withdrew amid political controversy. Won made the remarks after Rep. Yong Hye-in of the minor Basic Income Party withdrew her candidacy last month amid controversy over the former nominee's plans to keep her parliamentary seat if she was appointed as minister. When asked by reporters whether she would keep her post, Won responded that Cheong Wa Dae had requested that she "steady the organization" following Yong's withdrawal. "(I) will make efforts with the staff to steadfastly push for the policy tasks reported to the president and the public in July," she said in a briefing marking the first anniversary of the ministry's reorganization. The ministry was newly launched under a revised government reorganization law in October last year after facing possible disbandment under the previous administration of former President Yoon Suk Yeol. The ministry has pushed for new projects under Won, including launching

Nearly half of Koreans say they trust the prosecution more than the police, highlighting the challenge facing the police ahead of the official abolition of the Prosecutors’ Office on Friday. In a poll conducted in September by Media Tomato of 1,035 adults nationwide, 47.5 percent of respondents said they trusted prosecutors more, compared with 28.4 percent who chose police officers. Another 24.1 percent said they were unsure. The prosecution led the police in public trust across every age group except those in their 60s, where the gap was still within the survey’s margin of error. Among respondents in their 20s, 54.1 percent chose the prosecution and 17.2 percent picked the police. The comparable figures were 60.5 percent and 18.3 percent for people in their 30s. The prosecution also held an edge among those in their 40s and 50s — age groups viewed as a key support base for the liberal governing bloc. Among those in their 40s, 43.7 percent chose the prosecution, compared with 33.3 percent for the police. Among those in their 50s, the figures were 42.9 percent and 34.4 percent, res

Seoul city officials have formally petitioned the central government to dismantle three bureaucratic hurdles that they argue are stalling the capital’s push to become a top-tier global cultural and tourism hub. The proposal, submitted Thursday by the Seoul Metropolitan Government to the Office for Government Coordination, targets outdated administrative requirements spanning international concert permits, online hotel verification and virtual reality content classification. Municipal leaders argue these rules impose unnecessary delays on local creative industries and undermine tourist trust. At the center of the push is a long-standing mandate requiring pre-approval from the Korea Media Rating Board for any live show featuring non-Korean performers. Under current law, even a single foreign guest artist on stage subjects the entire event to review, punishable by up to three years in prison or fines reaching 30 million won ($22,077). While intended to police foreign performers, the rule routinely entangles classical, traditional Korean music and K-pop concerts. Officials pointed out tha

President Lee Jae Myung pledged Thursday to continue taking practical steps to reduce military tensions with North Korea and urged Pyongyang to join efforts to restore dialogue. The message, delivered in his Armed Forces Day address, signaled that Lee intends to keep his engagement policy intact despite renewed friction over the latest land mine incident in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). “The knots in inter-Korean relations are extremely complex, but we will steadily, patiently strive to untie them, one by one,” Lee said during a ceremony marking the 78th Armed Forces Day at Gyeryongdae, the military headquarters in South Chungcheong Province. “I hope that the North joins us now on the path of restoring trust and resuming dialogue, following a long interruption,” he added. The president went onto say that Seoul would “consistently pursue practical measures to reduce military tensions between the two Koreas,” stressing that the surest form of security is creating peace that makes fighting unnecessary. Lee’s remarks came a day after the South Korean military formally blamed Nor

In a move that could permanently reshape urban transit in one of Asia’s most densely populated metropolises, Seoul city officials announced an ambitious strategy, Thursday, to integrate 500 fully autonomous buses into regular city transit routes by 2030. The initiative took a major step forward when the Seoul Metropolitan Government signed a landmark agreement with Hyundai Motor Company and the Seoul Bus Transportation Business Association at City Hall. The tripartite partnership aims to bridge the gap between niche technological trials and full-scale public utility, laying the groundwork for driverless Level 4 automation across the city's bus network. Under the agreement, Hyundai will engineer and manufacture specialized 11-meter buses designed specifically for autonomous integration. Unlike standard vehicles retrofitted with aftermarket sensors, these factory-built models will feature electronic steer-by-wire and brake-by-wire systems, redundant safety controls and cyberattack defenses, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government. "Seoul is taking the lead in connecting cutting-e

President Lee Jae Myung named senior presidential secretary for economic growth Ha Joon-kyung as his new policy chief, Cheong Wa Dae said Thursday, filling a post that had remained vacant for a month. Ha, an economist who has served in the presidential office since Lee began his term in June 2025, will oversee a broader range of economic and social policies in his new role. He replaces Kim Yong-beom, who stepped down on Sept. 1 amid criticism over the introduction of high-risk single-stock leveraged exchange-traded funds and other controversial economic policies. “Ha is a leading scholar who has incorporated fair growth and efforts to reduce polarization into his growth strategy,” senior presidential secretary for public relations and communications Seong Ghi-hong said during a press briefing. “We expect him to bring about tangible changes in areas directly linked to people’s lives, including welfare, jobs, education and housing.” The presidential press secretary said Lee named Vice Minister of Trade, Industry and Resources Moon Shin-hak to take over Ha’s former post. Moon has

People aged 65 and older took up over 20 percent of Korea's population this year amid rapid aging and the ultralow birthrate, data showed Thursday. The number of elderly people stood at 11.12 million in 2026, accounting for 21.6 percent of the country's 51.6 million population, according to the data from the Ministry of Data and Statistics. The proportion makes Korea a "super-aged society," and is to rise further to 30 percent in 2036 and over 40 percent in 2050, according to the ministry. The number of households headed by older adults came to 6.5 million, accounting for 28.8 percent of all households in the country. Of the 6.5 million households, 38 percent were single-person households, which has been increasing since 2015. Households led by seniors are forecast to rise further to account for 50.6 percent of the total households in the country in 2052. The remaining life expectancy for those aged 65 was estimated at 21.7 years on average as of 2024, with the figure for men coming to 19.5 years and 23.7 years for women. The net assets of households headed by seniors came to 493 million wo

A regional court on Thursday dismissed a request to remove a statue of late former President Park Chung-hee installed outside a train station in the southeastern city of Daegu. The Daegu District Court dismissed the case filed by the Korea National Railway, a state-owned rail infrastructure management company, against the Daegu metropolitan government, some 21 months after the statue was erected on the plaza outside Dongdaegu Station. The railway corporation had argued that the municipal government installed the statue on state-owned property without proper prior consultation. The city government countered that it holds lawful administrative authority over the plaza and that targeting Park's statue while permitting other structures on the site was unfair. The statue was erected under former conservative Mayor Hong Joon-pyo as a tribute to the former conservative leader, who ruled the country for 18 years following a 1961 military coup until his assassination in 1979. Its presence has divided activists and the local community as conservatives praise Park for driving the nation's rapid indu