South Korea

A Texas Lyme-disease researcher who came to the U.S. from South Korea at age 5 and is a longtime legal permanent resident was detained at San Francisco International Airport for a week, according to his lawyer.

Tae Heung “Will” Kim, 40, was returning from his brother’s wedding in South Korea on July 21 when he was pulled out of secondary screening for unknown reasons, said Eric Lee, an attorney who says he’s been unable to talk with his client.

Lee said that he has no idea where Kim is now and that Kim has not been allowed to communicate with anyone aside from a brief call last week to his family. A Senate office told him that Kim was being moved to an immigration facility in Texas, while a representative from the Korean Consulate told Kim’s family that he was going to be sent somewhere else.

“We have no idea where he is going to end up,” Lee said. “We have no idea why.”

Kim has misdemeanor marijuana possession charges from 2011 on his record, but his lawyer questioned whether that was the kind of offense that would merit being held in a windowless room underneath the terminals at the airport for a week.

Representatives from the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the L.A. Times. But a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection told the Washington Post, which first reported the story, that “this alien is in ICE custody pending removal hearings.”

The spokesperson also said: “If a green card holder is convicted of a drug offense, violating their status, that person is issued a Notice to Appear and CBP coordinates detention space with [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].”

Kim’s attorney said if his client was detained because he “had a little weed when he was pulled over 15 years ago in his 20s,” that was absurd, adding: “If every American who had a tiny amount of weed in their car was detained under these conditions…”

Kim’s mother, Yehoon “Sharon” Lee, told the Washington Post that she was worried about her son’s health in custody.

“He’s had asthma ever since he was younger,” she told the Washington Post. “I don’t know if he has enough medication. He carries an inhaler, but I don’t know if it’s enough, because he’s been there a week.”

His mother told the paper that she and her husband entered the U.S. on business visas in the 1980s but by the time they became naturalized citizens, Kim was too old to get automatic citizenship.

Kim has a green card and has spent most of his life in the U.S. After helping out in his family’s doll-manufacturing business after the death of his father, he recently entered a doctoral program at Texas A&M and is helping to research a vaccine for Lyme disease.

There have been multiple reports nationwide of U.S. permanent residents being detained at airports, particularly those with criminal records, no matter how minor. These cases have prompted some experts to warn that green-card holders should avoid leaving the country, to reduce the risk of not being allowed back.

Unification ministry in Seoul says allowing individual tours will not violate international sanctions.

South Korea is considering allowing individual tours to North Korea as it studies ways to improve relations with its neighbour, a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of Unification says.

“The government is formulating and pursuing North Korea policies with the goal of easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula and improving inter-Korean ties with various measures under consideration in the process,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The announcement was made as Seoul takes more steps to ease tensions with its northern rival after the election of President Lee Jae-myung, who has pledged to improve strained ties with Pyongyang.

In a bid to ease tensions, Lee suspended anti-North Korea loudspeaker broadcasts along the border and ordered a halt to leaflet campaigns criticising the North’s leaders by anti-Pyongyang activists.

Koo Byung-sam, spokesperson for the Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, refused to comment on a “particular issue”. But he said he understood individual tours were not in violation of international sanctions, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.

South Korea’s Dong-A Ilbo newspaper also said Lee’s administration is considering resuming individual trips to North Korea as a negotiating card to reopen dialogue with Pyongyang.

It reported that Lee mentioned the proposal during a National Security Council meeting on July 10. The government subsequently began a review of the plan, the report added, quoting a senior official.

Tourism is one of a narrow range of cash sources for North Korea that are not targeted under United Nations sanctions imposed over its nuclear and weapons programmes.

Citing anti-Pyongyang broadcasters, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency also reported on Monday that the National Intelligence Service this month had suspended all of its decades-old broadcasts targeting the North Korean regime.

Lee said he will discuss further plans with top security officials to resume dialogue with North Korea, which technically is still at war with the South after the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice and not a peace treaty.

North Korea recently opened a beach resort in the city of Wonsan, a flagship project driven by leader Kim Jong Un to promote tourism. But the tourist area is temporarily not accepting foreign visitors, according to a note on Wednesday by DPR Korea Tour, a website operated by North Korea’s National Tourism Administration.

North Korea’s tourism industry appears to be struggling even after it lifted COVID-19 border restrictions, allowing rail and flight services with Russia and China.

Asked if South Koreans would travel to Wonsan, Koo said North Korea first needs to open the area to the outside world.

South Korea once ran tours to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang area but suspended them in 2008 when a South Korean tourist was shot dead by a North Korean soldier.

Seoul, South Korea – When Sideny Sim had a chance to visit the United States on business several years ago, it was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream.

Like many South Koreans, Sim had long admired the US as a cultural juggernaut and positive force in the world.

These days, Sim, a 38-year-old engineer living near Seoul, feels no such love towards the country.

As US President Donald Trump threatens to impose a 25 percent tariff on South Korea from August 1, Sim cannot help but feel betrayed.

“If they used to be a country that was known to be a leader in culture, the economy and the perception of being ‘good,’ I feel like the US is now a threat to geopolitical balance,” Sim told Al Jazeera.

South Korea and the US share deep and enduring ties.

South Korea is one of Washington’s closest allies in Asia, hosting about 28,000 US troops as a bulwark against North Korea.

The US is home to a larger South Korean diaspora than any other country.

But with the return of Trump’s “America First” agenda to Washington, DC, those ties are coming under strain.

In a Pew Research Center survey released earlier this month, 61 percent of South Koreans expressed a favourable view of the US, down from 77 percent in 2024.

Like dozens of other US trading partners, South Korea is facing severe economic disruption if it cannot reach a trade deal with the Trump administration by the August deadline.

The Asian country, which is a major producer of electronics, ships and cars, generates more than 40 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) from exports.

In addition to sending a letter to South Korean President Lee Jae-Myung outlining his tariff threats, Trump earlier this month also claimed that Seoul pays “very little” to support the presence of US Forces Korea (USFK).

Trump’s comments reinforced speculation that he could demand that the South Korean government increase its national defence spending or contributions to the costs of the USFK.

After Trump last week told reporters that South Korea “wants to make a deal right now,” Seoul’s top trade envoy said that an “in-principle” agreement was possible by the deadline.

With the clock ticking on a deal, the uncertainty created by Trump’s trade policies has stirred resentment among many South Koreans.

Kim Hyunju, a customer service agent working in Seoul, said that although her company would not be directly affected by the tariffs, Trump’s trade salvoes did not seem fair.

“It would only be fair if they are OK with us raising our tariffs to the same level as well,” Kim told Al Jazeera, adding that the Trump administration’s actions had caused her to feel animosity towards the US.

“I can’t help but see the US as a powerful nation which fulfils its interests with money and sheer power plays,” Kim said.

“I’ve always thought of the US as a friendly ally that is special to us, especially in terms of national defence. I know it is good for us to maintain this friendly status, but I sort of lost faith when Trump also demanded a larger amount of money for the US military presence in our country.”

Kim Chang-chul, an investment strategist in Seoul, expressed a more sanguine view of Trump’s trade policies, even while acknowledging the harm they could do to South Korean businesses.

“The US tariff policy is a burden for our government and businesses, but the move really shows the depth of US decision-making and strategy,” Kim told Al Jazeera.

“Trump wants South Korea to be more involved in the US’s energy ambitions in Alaska. It’s part of the US pushing for geopolitical realignment and economic rebalancing.”

Earlier this year, the US held talks with South Korean officials about boosting US exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Korea, a major LNG importer.

Keum Hye-yoon, a researcher at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), said it has been difficult for a US ally like South Korea to make sense of Trump’s comments and actions.

“When Trump cites ‘fairness’ in his tariff policy, it’s based on unilateral expectations of improving the US trade balance or restoring economic strength to certain industries,” Keum told Al Jazeera.

“As allies like South Korea share supply chains with the US and work closely with its companies, disregarding these structures and imposing high taxes will likely create burdens on US businesses and consumers as well.”

While Trump’s most severe tariffs have yet to come into effect, South Korean manufacturers have already reported some disruption.

South Korea’s exports dropped 2.2 percent in the first 20 days of July compared with a year earlier, according to preliminary data released by Korea Customs Service on Monday.

Kim Sung-hyeok, the head of research at the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) Labour Institute, said exporters in the auto, steel, semiconductor and pharmaceutical sectors had been especially affected.

“As exports in these fields decreased considerably since the tariff announcements, production orders in domestic factories have declined,” Kim told Al Jazeera.

“Some automotive and steel production lines have closed temporarily, while other manufacturing sites have closed altogether. Voluntary resignations and redeployments have become rampant in some of these workplaces.”

Kim said small companies may face the brunt of the tariffs as they are not capable of “moving their manufacturing plants to the US”, or “diversifying their trade avenues outside of the US”.

“And as major companies face a general decline in exports, these small companies will consequently face a shortage in product delivery volume that will cause employment disputes,” he said.

The Korea Development Institute estimated in May that the number of employed South Koreans would increase by just 90,000 this year, in part due to the economic uncertainties, compared with a rise of 160,000 last year.

Even before Trump’s arrival on the political scene, US-South Korea relations had gone through difficult periods in the past.

In 2002, two South Korean middle-school girls were killed when they were struck by a US Army armoured vehicle.

After the American soldiers involved in the incident were found not guilty of negligent homicide by a US military court, the country saw an explosion in anti-US sentiment and nationwide protests.

In 2008, nationwide protests took place after the South Korean government decided to continue importing US beef despite concerns about the risk of Mad Cow Disease.

More recently, President Lee, who was elected in June, has emphasised the importance of maintaining positive relations with China, Washington’s biggest strategic rival and competitor.

The KIEP’s Keum said the US-South Korea relationship has evolved into a partnership where the US has become a “conditional ally”, where “economic interests take precedence over traditional alliance”.

“The US is increasingly demanding South Korea to cooperate in its containment strategy of China among its other socioeconomic policies,” she said.

Keum said that South Korea will need to seek out alternative markets and diversify its exports to mitigate the fallout of Trump’s agenda.

“South Korea also doesn’t need to act alone. The country can seek joint action with countries such as EU members, Japan and Canada to come up with joint responses to the current predicament,” she said.

Five-day deluge unleashed flash floods and landslides that killed 18 and left nine others missing, authorities say.

Torrential rains that lashed South Korea have killed at least 18 people and left nine others missing, authorities said, as the government lifted advisories for heavy rain and the meteorological agency warned of a return of heatwaves to southern parts of the country.

The toll on Monday came as South Korea’s military also announced dispatching thousands of troops to rain-ravaged areas to assist in recovery efforts.

The downpours began on July 16 and brought some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record to some of South Korea’s central and southern provinces. The five-day deluge collapsed homes, triggered landslides and unleashed flash floods that swept away cars and campers.

At least 10 people were killed in the southern county of Sancheong, and four others remain missing there, according to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety.

Another person was killed when their house collapsed in the town of Gapyeong, northeast of the capital, Seoul, while a man who had been camping near a stream there was found dead after being swept away by rapid currents.

The man’s wife and teenage son remain missing, the South Korean JoongAng Daily reported. Two others, including a man in his 70s who had been buried in a landslide, were listed as missing in the same town.

The rains also forced some 14,166 people to evacuate their homes in 15 cities and provinces, and caused “extensive property damage”, the Yonhap news agency reported.

The agency said 1,999 cases of damage had been recorded at public facilities, and 2,238 cases were recorded at private homes and buildings.

South Korea’s military said it has dispatched some 2,500 personnel to the southwestern city of Gwangju as well as the South Chungcheong and South Gyeongsang provinces to assist in the recovery efforts.

The troops will be overhauling homes and stores affected by the rains, it said.

Hannah June Kim, an associate professor in the Graduate School of International Studies at Sogang University in Seoul, told Al Jazeera that “a lot of people were taken off guard” because monsoonal rains came later than expected this year.

“The expectation was that monsoons would not be appearing during this summer,” she said. “So, when this heavy rain started to fall this past week, a lot of local areas were unprepared.”

“We are seeing the heavy effects of climate change and how it’s affecting different areas,” she added.

South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) forecast more rainfall in the southern regions on Monday but said that a heatwave would follow. According to the JoongAng Daily, heatwave advisories and warnings have already been issued for parts of South Jeolla, the east coast of Gangwon and Jeju Island.

“From July 24 onward, morning lows will remain between 23 and 26 degrees Celsius [73.4F to 78.8F], and daytime highs will range from 30 to 35 degrees Celsius [86F to 95F], higher than the seasonal averages of 22 to 25 degrees Celsius [71.6F to 77F] in the morning and 29 to 33 degrees Celsius [84.2F to 91.4F] during the day,” it reported, citing the KMA.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world.

In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

They included three people who died trapped in a Seoul basement apartment of the kind that became internationally known because of the Oscar-winning Korean film Parasite.

The government said at the time that the rainfall was the heaviest since records began, blaming climate change for the extreme weather.

Above average rainfall recorded in last five days in Sancheong county, where most deaths took place.

The nationwide death toll from heavy rainfall in South Korea has risen to 14, authorities said, as fears grow of more deaths, with 12 more people missing since the disaster began.

Two people died and four went missing in the resort town of Gapyeong on Sunday after a landslide engulfed houses and flooding swept away vehicles, the AFP news agency reported, citing government officials.

A woman in her 70s was killed when her house collapsed in the landslide, while the body of a man in his 40s was found near a bridge after he drowned, South Korea’s official news agency Yonhap reported.

Close to 170mm (6.7 inches) of rainfall was recorded in the area in Gyeonggi province, about 70km (40 miles) east of Seoul, early on Sunday.

But most of the deaths occurred in the southern county of Sancheong, which has seen nearly 800mm (31.5 inches) of rain since Wednesday.

Two bodies were found there early on Sunday during search and rescue operations, raising the number of deaths in the rural county of 33,000 to eight, with six still missing.

The adjacent county of Hapcheon received 699mm (27.5 inches) of rain, while the nearby county of Hadong got 621.5mm (24.5 inches).

Two of the 12 people reported missing were from the southwestern city of Gwangju, Yonhap said.

Yonhap also quoted authorities as saying they have registered 1,920 cases of flooded roads, soil loss and destroyed public facilities, and 2,234 other cases of damage to private property, such as buildings and farmland.

A total of 12,921 people have taken shelter across 14 major cities and provinces, Yonhap said.

South Korea typically experiences monsoon rains in July and is usually well-prepared. But this week, the country’s southern regions were hit by especially intense downpours, with some of the heaviest hourly rainfall on record, official weather data showed.

Scientists say climate change has made extreme weather events more frequent and intense around the world. In 2022, South Korea endured record-breaking rains and flooding, which killed at least 11 people.

Former president has been indicted on additional charges as a special prosecutor continues investigations.

Disgraced former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has been indicted over his declaration of martial law last year as investigators widened an insurrection probe.

The prosecution indicted Yoon on charges including abuse of power and obstruction of special official duties, prosecutor Park Ji-young told reporters on Saturday.

Park said Yoon also did not follow the required procedure to declare martial law, including holding a meeting with all government cabinet members.

He was also charged with “drafting and discarding a false document” that stated the prime minister and defence minister endorsed martial law.

Yoon has denied all wrongdoing.

He plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian rule in December, sending troops to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.

Yoon became the first sitting president in the country to be taken into custody when he was detained in January after resisting arrest for weeks, using his presidential security detail to thwart investigators.

He was released on procedural grounds in March even as his trial on insurrection charges continued.

Last week, he was detained again after an arrest warrant was issued over concerns he might destroy evidence in the case.

Yoon appeared in court on Friday at a hearing to argue for his arrest warrant to be cancelled.

The ex-president’s legal team told reporters Yoon defended himself for more than 30 minutes and noted his “limited physical mobility and the challenges he was facing”.

The court denied the request.

State prosecutors have already indicted Yoon on other criminal charges, including masterminding a rebellion, a charge with conviction carrying only two sentences — capital punishment or life imprisonment.

Meanwhile, a demonstration with thousands attending took place in the South Korean capital, Seoul, as well as other parts of the country against the policies of current President Lee Jae-myung.

Lee won a snap election in June after Yoon was removed from office.

Many South Koreans are angry because they believe the new government has not addressed their concerns in its reform plans.

Record rainfall is expected to continue hammering parts of South Korea until Monday as more warnings are issued to the public.

Four people have been confirmed dead and at least two others missing as torrential rains continue to batter South Korea for a fourth consecutive day, forcing thousands of people from their homes and stranding livestock in rising floodwaters, authorities said.

Authorities warned on Saturday that up to 250mm (9.8 inches) of additional rain could fall throughout the day, raising concerns of further damage and casualties, the country’s official Yonhap news agency reports.

Rain is forecast to last until Monday in some areas, and weather officials have urged extreme caution against the risk of landslides and flooding, with warnings issued for most of South Korea.

More than 2,800 people are still unable to return to their homes out of a total of more than 7,000 people evacuated in recent days, the Ministry of Interior said.

Rainfall since Wednesday reached a record of more than 500mm (almost 20 inches) in South Chungcheong province’s Seosan, located to the south of the capital, Seoul, the ministry added.

According to Yonhap, areas of the country have received 40 percent of their annual average rainfall in just the past four days.

Among those reported dead was a person who suffered a cardiac arrest inside a flooded vehicle on a road in Seosan. The man was taken to a nearby hospital but died later, officials were quoted by Yonhap as saying.

A man in his 80s was found dead in the flooded basement of his home, while a third person died when a retaining wall collapsed onto a moving vehicle. Another person was also found dead in a stream, officials said. Two people remain missing in the southwest city of Gwangju.

In the province of Chungcheong, cows were desperately trying to keep their heads above water after sheds and stables were flooded by the rainwater.

Yonhap also reported a total of 729 cases of damage to public infrastructure, including flooded roads and the collapse of river facilities. Cases of private property damage have reached more than 1,000, including 64 flooded buildings and 59 submerged farmlands, it added.

Rains were also expected in neighbouring North Korea.

In July 2024, torrential rains also hammered parts of South Korea’s southern regions, killing at least four people and causing travel chaos.

More than 140,000 children had been sent overseas by Seoul following the devastating 1950-53 Korean War.

South Korea is set to end the decades-old practice of outsourcing adoptions to private agencies, after a damaging investigation concluded the country’s government-endorsed foreign adoption programme violated the fundamental human rights of adoptees.

On Saturday, South Korea will introduce a “newly restructured public adoption system, under which the state and local governments take full responsibility for the entire adoption process”, South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare said.

South Korea sent more than 140,000 children overseas following the devastating 1950-53 Korean War, when intercountry adoption was encouraged as a solution.

A Truth and Reconciliation Commission investigation concluded earlier this year that the international adoption process had been riddled with irregularities, including “fraudulent orphan registrations, identity tampering, and inadequate vetting of adoptive parents”.

The new change is a “significant step towards ensuring the safety and promoting the rights of adopted children”, the Health Ministry added.

Under the new system, key procedures – such as assessing prospective adoptive parents and matching them with children – will be deliberated by a ministry committee, under the principle of the “best interests of the child”.

Previously, this had been done by major adoption agencies with minimal oversight from the state. The commission blamed the government for the issues, particularly a failure to regulate adoption fees, which turned the industry into a profit-driven one.

“With this restructuring of the public adoption system, the state now takes full responsibility for ensuring the safety and rights of all adopted children,” said Kim Sang-hee, director of population and child policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

International adoption began after the Korean War as a way to remove mixed-race children, born to Korean mothers and American soldier fathers, from a country that emphasised ethnic homogeneity.

It became big business in the 1970s to 1980s, bringing international adoption agencies millions of dollars as the country overcame post-war poverty and faced rapid and aggressive economic development.

Activists say the new measure is only a starting point and warn it is far from sufficient.

“While I think it’s high time that Korea close down all private adoption agencies, I don’t believe … having the state handle new adoptions is enough,” said writer Lisa Wool-Rim Sjoblom, a Korean adoptee who grew up in Sweden.

The government should prioritise implementing the findings of the truth commission, issue an official apology, and work to help the tens of thousands of Koreans who were sent abroad for adoption, Sjoblom told the AFP news agency.

“The government urgently needs to acknowledge all the human rights violations it enabled, encouraged, and systematically participated in, and, as soon as possible, begin reparations.”

Blackpink is back in the area.

The K-pop girl group, made up of Rosé, Lisa, Jennie and Jisoo, triumphantly kicked off the North American leg of the Deadline world tour Saturday night at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. After taking a two-year break to focus on solo projects, the group reunited for its first U.S. concert since the Born Pink tour concluded in 2023.

Despite dropping only one group number since then — hardstyle, Diplo-produced “Jump,” released Friday — Blackpink sold out two nights at one of the Los Angeles area’s biggest venues.

“This is incredible. It is such an honor to perform at the SoFi Stadium for you guys,” Rosé said. “We are really really excited to be here.”

Sarah Hoang has been a Blackpink fan since 2019, following their Coachella debut that same year. To celebrate her first time seeing the girl group, the San Diego resident passed out commemorative tickets to other fans.

“I’ve been waiting for them for a long time,” Hoang said. “I was really excited to be finally seeing them in L.A., especially at the first tour of the U.S. leg.”

The stadium was awash in pink as fans went all-out for their idols. While many dressed according to the band’s namesake, others took inspiration from the girls’ solo projects. Concertgoer Evelyn Rios, who lives in Los Angeles, nailed Jennie’s look from the “Ruby” album cover in her all-black outfit and cherry-red wig. A fan since 2020, she attended the 2023 show at Dodger Stadium and noted she was most excited to hear “like Jennie.”

The show consisted of five acts and an encore, alternating between group and solo sections. Blackpink started off strong, firing through “Kill This Love,” “Pink Venom” and “How You Like That.”

The Saturday night set list was identical to the one in Goyang, South Korea, last weekend, save for Lisa’s solo section. While the maknae — or youngest member of the group — performed “New Woman” and “Rockstar” for the tour’s opening dates, she opted for the edgier “Thunder” and “Fxck Up the World” Saturday night.

Lisa’s two-piece Louis Vuitton set evoked Wonder Woman as she conquered the stage, lightning crackling behind her. Channeling the same spellbinding energy from her Coachella set earlier this year, where she also performed tracks from “Alter Ego,” Lisa proved why she’s among K-pop’s most magnetic performers.

All four solo projects are sonically distinct, and seeing them back-to-back highlighted just how artistically diverse the Blackpink members are. Jennie, who also performed solo at Coachella this year, leaned into her hip-hop influences as she delivered a mashup of “Mantra,” “with the IE (way up)” and “like Jennie.” Meanwhile, Jisoo pleased with the effervescent, electronic pop of “earthquake” and “Your Love.”

Rosé prompted laughs from the audience as footage of her filming a TikTok and eating French fries backstage played leading up to her solo section. When she finally appeared in front of the audience, she took a more intimate approach, sitting at the edge of the stage with guitarist Johnny “Natural” Najera.

Starting with heartbreak anthems “3am” and “toxic till the end,” Rosé concluded with the upbeat, global chart-topping single “Apt.,” during which she brought a fan on stage. Released with Bruno Mars in October, the song still sits comfortably on the Billboard Hot 100.

Blackpink debuted “Jump” before its official release last weekend in South Korea, so Los Angeles fans were prepared for the long-awaited comeback single. They jumped and danced all the way through the addictive track when Blackpink performed it not once, but twice.

“I must say the song is really addictive the more and more I hear it,” Rosé said after the first run. “I personally think it’s the most exciting one to perform during our set.

With a mix of old and new hits, Saturday night brought together both longtime fans and K-pop newcomers.

Sydney Grube and Thet Aung drove up together from San Diego just for the concert. While Aung has been a fan since the group began, Grube started listening after seeing Lisa in HBO’s “White Lotus” in February.

“I started listening to all the solo acts, and then started listening actually to the Blackpink music,” Grube said, adding that she was most excited to see the individual sections.

The concert also united fans of all ages, with plenty of families arriving in coordinating outfits. At one point, Blackpink even shouted out all the “baby blinks” in the audience — many of whom were not even born when the group debuted in 2016.

“I did want them to dance more, but they did really good,” said 9-year-old Tara Castro, who was wearing a Blackpink hat and glasses. “They’re my favorite K-pop.”

With tour dates charted through January, fans are expecting new music — perhaps even a full album — sometime soon. Hopefully this isn’t the last we see of Blackpink in our area.

SEOUL — As the Trump administration has been churning out trade threats this week, South Korea, a crucial trading partner and military ally, has been struggling — like many — to navigate the uncertainty that looms over trade negotiations with Washington.

On Monday, Trump sent a letter dictating new tariff rates to 14 countries including South Korea, which was hit with a 25% tax. The levies were set to kick in Tuesday, but were postponed to Aug. 1. Trump left the door open for another extension, telling reporters the new deadline was “firm but not 100% firm,” depending on what trade partners could offer.

But it’s unclear whether the additional three weeks will be enough to resolve the longstanding disagreements between Washington and Seoul. One of the biggest points of contention is South Korea’s auto industry, which was the third biggest exporter of automobiles to the U.S. last year.

Although White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday that Trump’s phone was ringing “off the hook from world leaders all the time who are begging him to come to a deal,” the tone in Seoul has been reserved.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, left, walks across the tarmac on Sunday as President Trump boards Air Force One. On Monday, Trump dictated new tariff rates to 14 countries, including a 25% tax on South Korea.

(Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press)

Last week, ahead of the initial July 8 deadline, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung, who took office last month, said “it’s difficult to say for certain that we can finish [the trade talks] by July 8.”

“Both sides are doing their best and we need to come up with an outcome that can be mutually beneficial to both parties, but we still have not yet been able to clearly establish what each party wants,” he added.

Since then, senior South Korean trade officials have been dispatched to Washington with the hopes of bringing a deal within striking distance.

“It’s time to speed up the negotiations and find a landing zone,” Trade Minister Yeo Han-koo said after meeting with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Monday.

So far, the only two countries that have struck new trade deals with the Trump administration are the U.K. and Vietnam.

But the Lee administration has maintained a note of caution. At a high-level meeting held Tuesday to discuss the current state of the negotiations, Lee’s presidential chief of staff for policy, Kim Yong-beom, reportedly emphasized the “national interest” over speedy dealmaking, instructing officials to support tariff-affected industries and “diversify” South Korea’s export markets.

Under a decades-long free trade agreement, South Korean tariffs on most U.S. goods are already zero, meaning there are fewer concessions Seoul can offer, analysts say. And on the key points of contention such as automobiles, there is little daylight to be found.

“This announcement will send a chilling message to others,” Wendy Cutler, vice president of the Washington-based Asia Society Policy Institute and former deputy U.S. trade negotiator, said in a post on X.

Trump’s letter also suggested that the U.S. will “not be open to reprieves” from sectoral tariffs, including those on automobiles, Cutler added.

South Korean trade officials have stressed that removing or significantly reducing the 25% tariffs on cars is a top priority.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt holds a trade letter sent by the White House to South Korea during a news conference on Monday.

(Al Drago / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

But South Korean cars from Hyundai and Kia factor significantly into the $66-billion trade deficit that Trump has decried as unfair. Last year, South Korea was the third biggest exporter of automobiles to the United States, to the tune of $34.7 billion. It bought $2.1 billion worth of cars from the U.S.

Until now, the country’s flagship automakers Hyundai and Kia have been able to sidestep any major tariff shocks, achieving instead record sales in the first half of the year by selling existing inventory in the U.S.

But many believe it is only a matter of time until they will have to raise vehicle sticker prices, as some competitors have done. Both companies’ operating profits are now forecasted to hit double-digit declines compared with the previous year.

The U.S. has also reportedly demanded concessions that touch on sensitive issues of food or national security in South Korea — a far harder sell to the public than the expanded manufacturing cooperation that South Korea has sought to center in the trade talks.

Among these are opening up South Korea’s rice market to U.S. imports and allowing Google to export high-precision geographic data to its servers outside of South Korea.

As an essential crop that represents a significant portion of farmers’ incomes, rice is one of the few heavily protected goods in South Korea’s trade relationships. Under its free trade agreement with the United States, Seoul imposes a 5% tariff on U.S. rice up to 132,304 tons, and 513% for anything after that.

U.S. Army soldiers attend a ceremony last month in Dongducheon, South Korea. A 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that it cost $19.2 billion to maintain American troops in South Korea from 2016 through 2019.

(Kim Jae-Hwan / SOPA Images via Getty Images)

The South Korean government has long denied Google’s requests to export high-precision geographic data — which is used for the company’s map services — on the grounds that it could reveal sensitive military sites that are essential for defense against North Korea. Last year, Ukraine accused Google of exposing the locations of some of its military systems to Russia.

Equally vexing are Trump’s long-running demands that Seoul should pay more to host the some 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.

“South Korea is making a lot of money, and they’re very good. They’re very good, but, you know, they should be paying for their own military,” Trump said at a White House Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, adding that he told South Korea it should pay $10 billion a year.

Over a four-year period from 2016 through 2019, the total cost of maintaining U.S. troops in South Korea was $19.2 billion, or around $4.8 billion a year, according to a 2021 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. Over that period, South Korea footed about 30% of the total annual costs, in addition to providing indirect financial support such as waived taxes or foregone rents.

Under the Special Measures Agreement, the joint framework that governs this arrangement, Seoul’s payments have grown over time. Under the latest version, which covers 2026 to 2030, Seoul’s annual contribution beginning next year will be $1.19 billion, an 8.3% increase from 2025, and will increase yearly thereafter.

Trump’s demand for nearly 10 times that — along with the threats that the U.S. might pull its troops from the country — has previously drawn widespread outrage in the country, spurring calls by some for the development of South Korea’s own nuclear arsenal.

“The Special Measures Agreement (SMA) guarantees stable conditions for U.S. troops stationed in Korea and strengthens the joint South Korea – U.S. defense posture,” a spokesperson for South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in response to Trump’s comments.

“Our stance is that the South Korean government will adhere to the 12th SMA, which was agreed upon and implemented in a legitimate manner.”

A luxurious airport has many posh amenities to keep passengers entertained and relaxed during layovers, and one traveller shared what she did during her eight-hour stay there

While many of us have to grin and bare threadbare airports during long waits for flights, there are a select few that offer passengers a more luxurious experience. Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea, is a traveller’s paradise, boasting an array of facilities to keep you relaxed and entertained.

Its Spa on Air provides showers, sauna, and even a sleeping room. There’s also a cinema, ice skating rink, Korean cultural performances, exhibitions, the K-Culture Museum, rest zones, and nap rooms, all within the airport. Lucy Q, a New York content creator who relocated to London in 2023, found herself with an eight-hour stopover at Incheon and decided to indulge in a spa day.

However, Lucy opted not to use the airport’s on-site spa and instead headed over to Cimer Spa in the nearby Paradise City complex.

She chronicled her lavish experience on YouTube, showing off the spa that’s just a free shuttle bus ride away from the airport.

Cimer prides itself on blending traditional Korean jjimjilbang culture with contemporary comforts, featuring a variety of pools and even a tornado slide. It’s a hit among long-haul layover passengers like Lucy, looking to unwind before their next flight.

In her YouTube video, Lucy shared her journey: “From the arrival terminal I took the free Paradise City bus to Paradise City. I went through the hotel and out the other side and you’ll reach the spa.”

Lucy chose to buy the aqua spa ticket, which gave her a access to all pools and saunas over a six-hour period.

Adults can grab this ticket for 60,000 KRW (£32.24), or 70,000 KRW (£37.61) during peak season from July 1 to August 31.

She detailed the process, saying that once you’ve paid your entry fee, you’re given a wristband for access to a locker and all the aquatic attractions.

Lucy commented: “The pool portion of the spa had one main room with a bunch of smaller spa things off it, like this cave pool, the glass infinity pool, different temperature pools with a DJ booth, water slides and so much more.”

The American expat then highlighted a “massive variety of spa rooms” on offer, including an amethyst room, a salt room, and a light therapy room – where she nodded off for an hour or so.

In the locker room, you’re handed traditional bath house robes to wear but Lucy suggests choosing a larger size after finding the medium uncomfortably snug.

There’s even a spot to eat at the spa. While digging into a pizza – the “cheapest thing” available – Lucy observed: “This section is also where they had food. I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and it was surprisingly really good.”

Wrapping up her review, she noted: “On the roof they have a foot spa, an infinity pool and these interesting coloured baths. There was also a gender segregated nude sauna where you obviously could not film but there were hot and cold pools and it was really nice alternating between the two.”

Lucy concluded her travel tale by expressing she “could not have found a better way to spend a layover”, detailing that her entire experience, which covered both entry and food, came in at a mere $50, amounting to roughly £36.79.

The arrest comes after the court authorises former leader’s arrest, citing concerns he may destroy evidence.

South Korea’s former president, Yoon Suk-yeol, has been arrested for a second time and returned to a solitary jail cell over his ill-fated attempt to impose martial law last December.

Yoon’s detention on Thursday came after a court in the South Korean capital, Seoul, ordered his arrest, citing concerns the former leader could seek to destroy evidence.

The 64-year-old politician, who is on trial for insurrection, is being held at the Seoul Detention Center, where he spent 52 days earlier in the year before being released four months ago on technical grounds.

Yoon plunged South Korea into a political crisis when he sought to subvert civilian government on December 3, sending armed soldiers to parliament in a bid to prevent lawmakers from voting down his declaration of martial law.

He became South Korea’s first sitting president to be taken into custody when he was detained in a dawn raid in January, after spending weeks resisting arrest, using his presidential security detail to head off investigators.

But he was released on procedural grounds in March.

South Korea’s Constitutional Court then removed Yoon from office in April, paving the way for a snap election, which was held in June.

The country’s new president, Lee Jae Myung, approved legislation launching sweeping special investigations into Yoon’s push for martial law and various criminal accusations tied to his administration and wife.

Earlier this month, the special counsel questioned Yoon about his resistance during a failed arrest attempt in January, as well as accusations that he authorised drone flights to Pyongyang to help justify declaring martial law.

Yoon has defended his martial law decision as necessary to “root out” pro-North Korean and “antistate” forces.

The latest arrest warrant against Yoon authorises his detention for up to 20 days, as prosecutors prepare to formally indict him, including on additional charges.

“Once Yoon is indicted, he could remain detained for up to six months following indictment,” Yun Bok-nam, the president of Lawyers for a Democratic Society, told the AFP news agency.

“Theoretically, immediate release is possible, but in this case, the special counsel has argued that the risk of evidence destruction remains high, and that the charges are already substantially supported.”

During a hearing on the arrest warrant on Wednesday, Yoon’s legal team criticised the detention request as unreasonable, stressing that Yoon has been ousted and “no longer holds any authority”.

The former president also spoke at the seven-hour hearing, saying he is now “fighting alone”, according to South Korean media.

“The special counsel is now going after even my defence lawyers,” Yoon complained. “One by one, my lawyers are stepping away, and I may soon have to fight this alone.”

Meanwhile, Yoon’s lawyers said that the former leader would not attend the 10th hearing of his insurrection trial on Thursday following his arrest.

Citing health concerns, Yoon’s lawyers submitted a written reason for his absence to the court shortly before the hearing was scheduled to begin, according to South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency.

His lawyers, however, attended in his place, the agency said.

If convicted, Yoon could face a maximum penalty of life in prison or death.

North Koreans’ repatriation comes as South Korea’s newly-elected president is working to improve inter-Korean ties.

South Korea has repatriated six North Koreans who were rescued at sea earlier this year after their vessels drifted across the de facto maritime border, Seoul’s Unification Ministry has said.

The North Koreans, who were picked up by South Korean authorities in separate vessels in March and May, were transported across the Northern Limit Line on Wednesday morning with their “full consent” and after they had repeatedly expressed their wish to return home, the ministry said.

The repatriation was successfully completed with the cooperation of North Korean authorities despite repeated failed attempts by Seoul to contact Pyongyang about their return, according to the ministry.

The development comes as South Korea’s newly-elected president, Lee Jae-myung, is working to bolster ties between the two Koreas, which remain in a technical state of war after hostilities in the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

Speaking at a news conference to mark his first month in office last week, Lee said that Seoul should work to improve relations in coordination with its ally, the United States, and that cutting off dialogue completely would be a “foolish act”.

Last month, South Korea’s military turned off loudspeakers broadcasting anti-North Korea propaganda across the inter-Korean border in one of the Lee administration’s first steps towards rapprochement.

South Korea’s Ministry of National Defence at the time said the move would help “to restore trust in inter-Korean relations” and “promote peace on the Korean Peninsula”.

WASHINGTON — President Trump on Monday placed a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea, citing persistent trade imbalances with the two crucial U.S. allies in Asia.

Trump provided notice of the tariffs to begin Aug. 1 by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of both countries. The letters warned both countries to not retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 25% that we charge,” Trump wrote in the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung.

The letters were not the final word from Trump on tariffs, so much as another episode in a global economic drama in which the U.S. president has placed himself at the center. His moves have raised fears that economic growth will slow to a muddle, if not make the U.S. and other nations more vulnerable to a recession. But Trump is confident that tariffs are necessary to bring back domestic manufacturing and fund the tax cuts he signed into law Friday.

The S&P 500 stock index was down nearly 1% in Monday afternoon trading, while the interest charged on the 10-year U.S. Treasury noted had increased to nearly 4.39%, a figure that could translate into elevated rates for mortgages and auto loans.

Trump has declared an economic emergency to unilaterally impose the taxes, suggesting they are remedies for past trade deficits even though many U.S. consumers have come to value autos, electronics and other goods from Japan and South Korea. But it’s unclear what he gains strategically against China — another stated reason for the tariffs — by challenging two crucial partners in Asia who could counter China’s economic heft.

“These tariffs may be modified, upward or downward, depending on our relationship with your Country,” Trump wrote in both letters.

Because the new tariff rates go into effect in roughly three weeks, Trump is setting up a period of possibly tempestuous talks among the U.S. and its trade partners to reach new frameworks.

Trump initially sparked hysteria in the financial markets by announcing tariff rates on dozens of countries, including 24% on Japan and 25% on South Korea. In order to calm the markets, Trump unveiled a 90-day negotiating period during which goods from most countries were taxed at a baseline 10%.

The 90-day negotiating period technically ends before Wednesday, even as multiple administration officials and Trump himself suggested the three-week period before implementation is akin to overtime for additional talks.

Administration officials have said Trump is relying on tariff revenues to help offset the tax cuts he signed into law on Friday, a move that could shift a greater share of the federal tax burden onto the middle class and poor as importers would likely pass along much of the cost of the tariffs. Trump has warned major retailers such as Walmart to simply “eat” the higher costs, instead of increasing prices in ways that could intensify inflation.

Trump’s team promised 90 deals in 90 days, but his negotiations so far have produced only two trade frameworks.

His trade framework with Vietnam was clearly designed to box out China from routing its America-bound goods through that country, by doubling the 20% tariff charged on Vietnamese imports on anything traded transnationally.

The quotas in the United Kingdom framework would spare that nation from the higher tariff rates being charged on steel, aluminum and autos, still British goods would generally face a 10% tariff.

The United States ran a $69.4-billion trade imbalance in goods with Japan in 2024 and a $66-billion imbalance with South Korea, according to the Census Bureau.

According to Trump’s letters, autos would be tariffed separately at the standard 25% worldwide, while steel and aluminum imports would be taxed 50%. The broader 25% rates on Japan and South Korea would apply to goods not already covered by the specific sectoral tariffs.

This is not the first time that Trump has tangled with Japan and South Korea on trade — and the new tariffs suggest his past deals made during his first term failed to deliver on his administration’s own hype.

In 2018 during Trump’s first term, his administration celebrated a revamped trade agreement with South Korea as a major win. And in 2019, Trump signed a limited agreement with Japan on agricultural products and digital trade that at the time he called a “huge victory for America’s farmers, ranchers and growers.”

Boak writes for the Associated Press.

SEOUL — The third and final season of Netflix’s “Squid Game” broke viewership records on the streaming platform following its release on June 27, marking a fitting close for what has arguably been the most successful South Korean TV series in history.

Although reviews have been mixed, Season 3 recorded more than 60 million views in the first three days and topped leaderboards in all 93 countries, making it Netflix’s biggest launch to date.

“Squid Game” has been transformative for South Korea, with much of the domestic reaction focused not on plot but on the prestige it has brought to the country. In Seoul, fans celebrated with a parade to commemorate the show’s end, shutting down major roads to make way for a marching band and parade floats of characters from the show.

In one section of the procession, a phalanx of the show’s masked guards, dressed in their trademark pink uniforms, carried neon-lit versions of the coffins that appear on the show to carry away the losers of the survival game. They were joined by actors playing the contestants, who lurched along wearing expressions of exaggerated horror, as though the cruel stakes of the game had just been revealed to them.

At the fan event that capped off the evening, series creator Hwang Dong-hyuk thanked the show’s viewers and shared the bittersweetness of it all being over.

“I gave my everything to this project, so the thought of it all ending does make me a bit sad,” he said. “But at the same time, I lived with such a heavy weight on my shoulders for so long that it feels freeing to put that all down.”

Despite the overnight global fame “Squid Game” brought him (it’s Netflix’s most-watched series of all time), Hwang has spoken extensively about the physical and mental toil of creating the show.

Visitors take photos near a model of the doll named “Younghee” that’s featured in Netflix’s series “Squid Game,” displayed at the Olympic park in Seoul in October 2021.

(Lee Jin-man / Associated Press)

He unsuccessfully shopped the show around for a decade until Netflix picked up the first season in 2019, paying the director just “enough to put food on the table” — while claiming all of the show’s intellectual property rights. During production for the first season, which was released in 2021, Hwang lost several teeth from stress.

A gateway into Korean content for many around the world, “Squid Game” show served to spotlight previously lesser-known aspects of South Korean culture, bringing inventions like dalgona coffee — made with a traditional Korean candy that was featured in the show — to places such as Los Angeles and New York.

The show also cleared a path for the global success of other South Korean series, accelerating a golden age of “Hallyu” (the Korean wave) that has boosted tourism and exports of food and cosmetics, as well as international interest in learning Korean.

But alongside its worldly successes, the show also provoked conversations about socioeconomic inequality in South Korean society, such as the prevalence of debt, which looms in the backstories of several characters.

A few years ago, President Lee Jae-myung, a longtime proponent of debt relief, said, “‘Squid Game’ reveals the grim realities of our society. A playground in which participants stake their lives in order to pay off their debt is more than competition — it is an arena in which you are fighting to survive.”

In 2022, the show made history as the first non-English-language TV series and the first Korean series to win a Screen Actors Guild Award, taking home three in total. It also won six Emmy Awards. That same year, the city of L.A. designated Sept. 17 — the series’ release date — as “Squid Game Day.“

Although Hwang has said in media interviews that he is done with the “Squid Game” franchise, the Season 3 finale — which features Cate Blanchett in a cameo as a recruiter for the games that are the show’s namesake — has revived rumors that filmmaker David Fincher may pick it up for an English-language spinoff in the future.

While saying he had initially written a more conventional happy ending, Hwang has described “Squid Game’s” final season as a sobering last stroke to its unsparing portrait of cutthroat capitalism.

“I wanted to focus in Season 3 on how in this world, where incessant greed is always fueled, it’s like a jungle — the strong eating the weak, where people climb higher by stepping on other people’s heads,” he told The Times’ Michael Ordoña last month.

“Coming into Season 3, because the economic system has failed us, politics have failed us, it seems like we have no hope,” he added. “What hope do we have as a human race when we can no longer control our own greed? I wanted to explore that. And in particular, I wanted to [pose] that question to myself.”

The unarmed man was found in the central-west border section before being led to safety by South Korean troops.

A North Korean man has crossed the heavily fortified land border with South Korea and is now being held in custody, the South Korean military has confirmed.

The unarmed individual was located on Thursday in the central-west section of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), before being guided by South Korean troops to safety, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Seoul’s army carried out “a standard guiding operation to secure custody”, a process that involved a considerable number of soldiers, it said.

After the North Korean was detected early on Thursday morning, the task of bringing him to safety took about 20 hours to complete, the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.

He was mainly still during the day, with South Korean soldiers approaching him at night, it noted.

Seoul has not commented on whether it viewed the border crossing as a defection attempt.

There were no immediate signs of unusual military activity in North Korea, the South Korean army said.

Crossing between the two Koreas is relatively rare and extremely risky, as the border area is strewn with mines.

It is more common for defectors to first travel across North Korea’s border with China, before heading on to South Korea.

Last August, a North Korean soldier reportedly defected to the South and was taken into custody in the northeastern county of Goseong.

And then in April, South Korean troops fired warning shots after roughly 10 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the military demarcation line. Pyongyang’s officers returned to their own territory without returning fire, Seoul said.

The crossing on Thursday comes a month after the liberal politician Lee Jae-myung was elected as the new South Korean president, following months of political chaos, which began with the conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December.

Lee has taken a different stance from his predecessor on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promising to “open a communication channel with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula through talks and cooperation”.

“Politics and diplomacy must be handled without emotion and approached with reason and logic,” he said on Thursday. “Completely cutting off dialogue is really a foolish thing to do.”

As part of his attempt to rebuild trust with his neighbour, Lee has banned loudspeaker broadcasts at the border and attempted to stop activists flying balloons with propaganda into North Korea.

However, it remains to be seen whether Kim will cooperate.

In response to Yoon’s decision to strengthen military alliances with Washington, DC, and Tokyo, Kim called South Korea his country’s “principal enemy” last January.

Diplomatic efforts have stalled on the Korean Peninsula since the collapse of denuclearisation talks between Washington and Pyongyang in 2019 during the first US President Donald Trump administration, after a series of Trump-Kim summits, globally watched spectacles that bore little concrete progress.

SEOUL — It’s a worldwide shift that has taken political scientists and sociologists by surprise: the growing ideological divide between young men and women.

In the recent U.S. presidential election, President Trump won 56% of the vote among men ages 18 to 29, according to an analysis from Tufts University’s Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.

In Germany, young men are twice as likely as young women to support the far-right Alternative for Germany party, or AfD, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year’s European Parliament elections showed a similar trend. According to the European Policy Center, in Portugal, Denmark and Croatia, more than four young men voted for far-right candidates for every young woman who did the same.

But few countries exemplify the trend more than South Korea, where a recent presidential election showed just how polarized its youth has become.

In South Korea, 74.1% of men in their 20s and 60.3% of men in their 30s voted for one of the two conservative candidates compared with 35.6% and 40.5% of their female counterparts, respectively.

Experts say the so-called 2030 male (men in their 20s and 30s) phenomenon, which emerged alongside the mainstreaming of gender equality discourse in South Korea over the last decade, has defied traditional left-right taxonomies.

The “2030 men are difficult to define under standard electoral theory frameworks,” said Kim Yeun-sook, a political scientist at Seoul National University’s Institute of Korean Political Studies.

Having come of age in a world with radically different social contracts than those of their parents, right-leaning 2030 male voters are less likely to focus on North Korea — a defining preoccupation for older conservatives — than on feminism, which for them has become a dirty word that conjures “freeloading” women trying to take more than they are owed.

The men have taken umbrage with visual symbols or hand gestures — such as a pinched forefinger and thumb — that they argue are anti-male dog whistles used by feminists, in some cases succeeding in getting companies to discontinue marketing campaigns featuring such offending content.

South Korean women supporting the #MeToo movement stage a rally to mark the upcoming International Women’s Day in Seoul on March 4, 2018.

(Ahn Young-joon / Associated Press)

In the 2022 presidential election, it was men in their 20s and 30s who helped Yoon Suk Yeol — the conservative candidate who claimed that structural sexism no longer existed — clinch a razor-thin victory over his liberal opponent, Lee Jae-myung, who was elected president in June.

This perception that men — not women — are the true victims of gender discrimination in contemporary society is a defining belief for many young South Korean men, says Chun Gwan-yul, a data journalist and the author of “20-something Male,” a book about the phenomenon that draws on extensive original polling of young South Koreans.

Although male backlash to contemporary feminism is the most visible aspect of the phenomenon, Kim Chang-hwan, a sociologist at the University of Kansas, says that its roots go back to socioeconomic changes that began much earlier.

Among them was a series of government policies three decades earlier that led to a surge in both male and female college enrollment, which soared from around 30% of the general population in 1990 to 75% in 2024. Add to that the increasingly long-term participation of women in the workforce, Kim said, and “the supply of educated labor has ended up outpacing economic growth.”

“The young men of today are now feeling like they are having to compete five times harder than the previous generation,” he said.

(Despite the fact that gender inequality in South Korea’s job market is among the worst in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, with women making on average around 65% of their male counterparts and far more likely to be precariously employed, such wage gaps tend to be less prominent for earners in their 20s.)

And although most research has shown that the negative effect of South Korea’s male-only compulsory military service — which lasts up to 21 months — on wages and employment is minimal, anxieties about getting a later start than women in a hypercompetitive job market have also contributed to young South Korean men feeling that they are getting a raw deal.

Chun, the data journalist, points out that the mass entry of women into higher education also led to another tectonic shift being felt by the current crop of young men: the rapid collapse of traditional marriage dynamics.

“Women have been doing the math and are increasingly concluding marriage is a net loss for them,” he said. “South Korea transformed from a society where marriage was universal into a marriage-is-optional one in an incredibly short time frame, especially compared to many Western countries where those changes played out over 60 or 70 years.”

In 2000, just 19% of South Koreans between the ages of 30 and 34 were unmarried, but today that number is 56%, according to government data. Over a third of women between 25 and 49 years old now say they don’t ever want to get married, compared with 13% of men, according to a government survey last year. One in 4 men will now remain unmarried in their 40s.

South Korean women take part in a rally to mark International Women’s Day in downtown Seoul on March 8, 2024.

(Jung Yeon-je/ AFP/Getty Images)

Chun notes that the mismatch in the marriage landscape has bred in many the misogynistic resentment associated with incels, a term for men who identify as involuntarily celibate. A common refrain among young conservative men is the swearing-off of South Korean women, who are often cast as “kimchi women” — gold diggers who are unwilling to pull their weight while demanding too much of men.

“Do you need to only date Korean women just because you’re Korean? No,” said Chul Gu, an online personality popular among young men in a recent stream. “There are Thai women, Russian women, women of all nationalities. There is no need to suffer the stress of dating a Korean kimchi woman.”

Resentment toward South Korean women, Chun says, is inseparable from the generational animus that feeds it.

“In the worldview of young South Korean men, they aren’t just fighting women, they are fighting the older generation that is siding with those women,” he said. “It’s essentially an anti-establishment ethos.”

The “586 generation,” as they are commonly called, are South Koreans in their 50s or 60s who came of age during the high-growth, authoritarian period of the 1980s. Associated with the pro-democracy movements of the time, the 586 generation is one of the most liberal and pro-gender equality demographics in South Korea — and one whose members built much of their wealth through cheap real estate, an avenue no longer available for the majority of young South Koreans accustomed to seeing housing prices in Seoul double in as little as four years.

“Young South Koreans are seeing those homes become worth millions,” Chun said. “Meanwhile, South Korea’s birth rate is falling and life expectancy is rising to 80 or 90, so many young voters are thinking, ‘We’re going to have to be responsible for them for the next 40 to 50 years.’”

Among the candidates in last month’s presidential election, it was Lee Jun-seok, a 40-year-old third-party conservative candidate, who most aggressively targeted these tensions.

During his campaign, Lee promised to segregate South Korea’s fast-depleting national pension by age, a move he said would relieve younger South Koreans of the burden of subsidizing the older generation’s retirement.

Although he finished with just 8% of the total vote, he won the largest share — 37.2% — of the 20-something male vote, and 25.8% from men in their 30s.

“South Korea is very much locked into a two-party system where it is generally rare to see a third party candidate make much of a difference,” Kim, the political scientist, said. “I think there’s a lot of negative polarization at play — an expression of defeatism or disenfranchisement at the fact that status quo politicians aren’t addressing young men’s problems.”

Data show that disillusionment with democracy too runs deep.

According to a recent survey of 1,514 South Koreans by the East Asia Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, just 62.6% of South Korean men between the ages of 18 and 29 believe that democracy is the best political system — the lowest percentage in any age and gender group — with nearly a quarter believing that a dictatorship can sometimes be more preferable.

Whether the rightward drift of young South Korean men is a temporary deviation or a more serious forecast for South Korea’s democracy is still an open question, according to Kim.

“But now is the time to act,” she said. “There absolutely needs to be a political response to the younger generations’ frustrations.”

An Army veteran who grew up in Van Nuys and was awarded a Purple Heart self-deported to South Korea this week as he was threatened with being detained and deported by federal immigration forces.

On Monday, veteran Sae Joon Park, who legally immigrated from South Korea when he was seven years old, grew up in Koreatown and the San Fernando Valley and held a green card, flew back to his homeland under threat of deportation at the age of 55. He said he is being forced to leave because of drug convictions nearly two decades ago that he said were a response to the PTSD he suffered after being shot during military action in Panama.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m still in disbelief that this has actually happened,” Park said in a phone interview from Incheon early Wednesday morning. “I know I made my mistakes … but it’s not like I was a violent criminal. It’s not like I’m going around robbing people at gunpoint or hurting anyone. It was self-induced because of the problems I had.”

Sae Joon Park, an Army veteran with a Purple Heart.

(From Sae Joon Park)

Asked to comment on Park, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Park has an “extensive criminal history” and has been given a final removal order, with the option to self-deport.

Park said he suffered from PTSD and addiction in the aftermath of being wounded when he was part of the U.S. forces that invaded Panama in 1989 to depose the nation’s de facto leader, Gen. Manuel Noriega.

But now Park, a legal immigrant, is targeted by federal authorities in President Trump’s recent immigration raids that have prompted widespread protests in Los Angeles and across the nation. Federal authorities have arrested more than 1,600 immigrants for deportation in Southern California between June 6 and 22, according to DHS.

A noncitizen is eligible for naturalization if they served honorably in the U.S. military for at least a year. Park served less than a year before he was wounded and honorably discharged.

Since 2002, over 158,000 immigrant service members have become U.S. citizens.

As of 2021, the Department of Veteran Affairs and DHS are responsible for tracking deported veterans to make sure they still have access to VA benefits.

Park’s parents divorced when he was a toddler, and his mother immigrated from South Korea to the United States. He followed her a year later. They first lived in Koreatown, moved to Panorama City and then Van Nuys. He graduated from Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks in 1988.

Struggling at first to learn English and acclimate with his classmates, he eventually became part of the Southern California skateboarding and surfing scene of the 1980s, which is when television editor Josh Belson met him. They have been close friends ever since.

“He’s always got a smile, a very kind of vivacious energy about him,” said Belson, who attended a nearby high school when they met. “He was the kind of person you wanted to be around.”

After graduating, Park said he wasn’t ready to attend college, so he joined the military.

“The Army provided not only turning me into a man, but also providing me with the GI Bill, so you can go to college later, and they’ll pay for it. And the fact that I did believe in the country, the United States,” he said. “So I felt like I was doing something honorable. I was very proud when I joined the military.”

Park’s platoon was deployed to Panama in late 1989, where he said they experienced a firefight the first night there. The following day, he said he was carrying an M-16 when they raided the house of one of the “witches” Noriega allegedly followed. He said they saw a voodoo worship room with body parts and a cross painted in blood on the floor.

While there, he heard gunfire from the backyard and returned fire. He was shot twice, in his spine and lower left back. The bullet to his spine was partially deflected by his dog tag, which Park believes is the reason he wasn’t paralyzed. A military ambulance was delayed because of the firefight, but a Vietnam veteran who lived nearby rescued him, Park said.

“I just remember I’m just lying in my own pool of blood and just leaking out badly. So he actually went home, got his pickup truck, put me in the back of his pickup truck with two soldiers, and drove me to the hospital,” Park said.

He was then evacuated to an Army hospital in San Antonio. A four-star general awarded him a Purple Heart at his bedside. Then-President George W. Bush visited wounded soldiers there.

Park spent about two weeks there, and then went home for a month or so, until he could walk. His experience resulted in mental issues he didn’t recognize, he said.

“My biggest issue at the time, more than my injuries, was — I didn’t know what it was at the time, nobody did, because there was no such thing as PTSD at the time,” he said. Eventually, “I realized I was suffering from PTSD badly, nightmares every night, severe. I couldn’t hear loud noises, and at that time in L.A., you would hear gunshots every night you left the house, so I was paranoid at all times. And being a man and being a tough guy, I couldn’t share this with anyone.”

Park started self-medicating with marijuana, which he said helped him sleep. But he started doing harder drugs, eventually crack cocaine. He moved to Hawaii after his mother and stepfather’s L.A. store burned during the 1992 riots, and married. After Park and his wife separated, he moved to New York City, where his addiction worsened.

“It got really bad. It just got out of control — every day, every night, all day — just smoking, everything,” Park said.

One night, in the late 2000s, he was meeting his drug dealer at a Taco Bell in Queens when police surrounded his car, and the dealer fled while leaving a large quantity of crack in his glove compartment, Park said.

A judge sent Park to rehab twice, but he said he was not ready to get sober.

“I just couldn’t. I was an addict. It was so hard for me to stay clean. I’d be good for 30 days and relapse,” he said. “I’d be good for 20 days and relapse. It was such a struggle. Finally, the judge told me, ‘Mr. Park, the next time you come into my courtroom with the dirty urine, you’re gonna go to prison.’ So I got scared.”

So Park didn’t return to court, drove to Los Angeles and then returned to Hawaii, skipping bail, which is an aggravated felony.

“I did not know at the time jumping bail was an aggravated felony charge, and combined with my drug use, that’s deportable for someone like me with my green card,” he said.

U.S. Marshals were sent looking for Park, and he said once he heard about this, he turned himself in in August 2009, because he didn’t want to be arrested in front of his two children.

He served two years in prison and said immigration officials detained him for six months after he was released as he fought deportation orders. He was eventually released under “deferred action,” an act of prosecutorial discretion by DHS to put off deportation.

Every year since, Park was required to check in with federal officials and show that he was employed and sober. Meanwhile, he had sole custody of his two children, who are now 28 and 25. He was also caring for his 85-year-old mother, who is in the early stages of dementia.

During his most recent check-in, Park was about to be handcuffed and detained, but immigration agents placed an ankle monitor on him and gave him three weeks to get his affairs in order and self-deport. He is not allowed to return to the United States for 10 years. He worries he will miss his mother’s passing and his daughter’s wedding.

“That’s the biggest part. But … it could be a lot worse too. I look at it that way also,” Park said. “So I’m grateful I made it out of the United States, I guess, without getting detained.”

“I always just assumed a green card, legal residency, is just like having citizenship,” he added. “I just never felt like I had to go get citizenship. And that’s just being honest. As a kid growing up in the United States, I’ve always just thought, hey, I’m a green card holder, a legal resident, I’m just like a citizen.”

His condition has spiraled since then.

“Alright. I’m losing it. Can’t stop crying. I think PTSD kicking in strong,” Park texted Belson on Thursday. “Just want to get back to my family and take care of my mother … I’m a mess.”

Times staff writer Nathan Solis contributed to this report.

Six US nationals were taken into custody in South Korea near a restricted border area with North Korea.

South Korean authorities have detained six United States citizens who were attempting to send an estimated 1,300 plastic bottles filled with rice, US dollar bills and Bibles to North Korea by sea, according to news reports.

The US suspects were apprehended in the early hours of Friday morning after they were caught trying to release the bottles into the sea from Gwanghwa island, near a restricted front-line border area with North Korea, South Korea’s official Yonhap news agency reports.

The six were taken into custody after a coastal military unit guarding the area reported them to the police. The area in question is restricted to the public after being designated a danger zone in November due to its proximity to the north.

Activists floating plastic bottles or flying balloons across South Korea’s border with the north have long caused tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

An administrative order banning the launch of anti-Pyongyang propaganda towards the north is already in effect for the area, according to Yonhap.

On June 14, police detained an activist for allegedly flying balloons towards North Korea from Gwanghwa Island.

Two South Korean police officers confirmed the detentions of the six with The Associated Press news agency but gave no further details.

In 2023, South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down a 2020 law that criminalised the sending of leaflets and other items to North Korea, calling it an excessive restriction on free speech.

But since taking office in early June, the new liberal government of President Lee Jae-myung is pushing to crack down on such civilian campaigns with other safety-related laws to avoid a flare-up in tensions with North Korea and promote the safety of front-line South Korean residents.

Lee took office with a promise to restart long-dormant talks with North Korea and establish peace on the Korean Peninsula. His government has halted front-line anti-Pyongyang propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts, and similar North Korean broadcasts have not been heard in South Korean front-line towns since then.

It remains unclear if North Korea will respond to Lee’s conciliatory gesture after it pledged last year to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of peaceful Korean reunification.

Official talks between the Koreas have been stalled since 2019, when the US-led diplomacy on North Korean denuclearisation derailed.