South Korea

Students take the annual College Scholastic Ability Test, or college entrance exam, at a high school in Seoul last November. Students face enormous pressure to do well on the test and get into a top university. Airplanes are grounded on the day of the tes

The All-Work, No-Play Culture Of South Korean Education

3:39pm April 15, 2015

by Elise Hu

A new report finds South Korean students feel greater stress than those in any other developed nation. The country is weighing the relentless pressure it places on studying and exams.

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Koreans — many of them elderly — line up to receive 500 won, or about 50 cents, from Shin Banpo Church in southern Seoul. Each week, organizers say, a few hundred seniors show up at each church that offers the service, and the line starts hours in adv

A Forgotten Generation: Half Of South Korea's Elderly Live In Poverty

7:21pm April 14, 2015

by Elise Hu

In a country known for its tech advances and rapid economic rise, the generation responsible for the growth isn't faring so well. Half of South Korea's seniors live below the poverty line.

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Language instructor Soh Bor-am teaches eight Mandarin classes a day, as Chinese tourism to South Korea swells.

A Chinese Tourism Boom Has South Koreans Cramming

3:02pm April 02, 2015

by Elise Hu

South Korea is the top foreign destination for Chinese tourists, which means Koreans are scrambling to adjust to the hordes of travelers from the mainland.

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U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert waves as he leaves a hospital in Seoul, where he recovered from being attacked by a knife-wielding South Korean nationalist.

World News

U.S. Ambassador Leaves Hospital After Attack In South Korea

1:48pm March 10, 2015

by Bill Chappell

"I'm walking, talking, holding my baby, hugging my wife, so I just feel really good," U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert says as he is released from a Seoul hospital days after he was attacked.

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert leaves Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Seoul, South Korea, after the attack.

North Korea: Attack On U.S. Ambassador Is 'Deserved Punishment'

1:27pm March 05, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Pyongyang said it welcomed the attack on Ambassador Mark Lippert, who was assaulted in Seoul by a knife-wielding political activist who said he opposed joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises.

Park Han-chul (center) president of South Korea's Constitutional Court, sits with other judges prior to the ruling on the country's adultery law Thursday in Seoul.

World News

South Korea Decriminalizes Cheating, Shares Of Contraceptive Companies Rise

7:59pm February 26, 2015

by Jasmine Garsd

The country's Constitutional Court voted 7-2 to abolish a 1953 law that made adultery a crime punishable by up to two years in prison.

A couple uses a selfie stick on a Mexican beach.

The Unstoppable Selfie Stick Trend Has Invaded American Shores

12:43pm January 08, 2015

by Elise Hu

You can't miss them, and some folks can't resist them. Selfie sticks — monopods that help you take cellphone photos of yourself — are only growing in popularity.

Cho Hyun-ah (center) leaves for a detention facility today following a court order. Cho served as head of in-flight service for Korean Airlines until earlier this month. Her conduct aboard an aircraft over a packet of improperly served macadamia nuts led

World News

Ex-Korean Air Executive Arrested Over 'Nut Rage' Incident

2:35pm December 30, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

Cho Hyun-ah's conduct aboard an aircraft over a packet of improperly served macadamia nuts led to her resignation. She was arrested today for violating South Korea's aviation safety laws.

World News

After Nut Rumpus, Macadamia Sales Rocket

6:49pm December 11, 2014

by Bill Chappell

After a Korean Air executive was enraged by a steward's presentation of macadamia nuts in her first-class cabin, a large South Korean market reports an unlikely side effect.

Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of Korean Air's chairman and CEO, has apologized and resigned from a position at the airline after a backlash over her kicking a steward off a recent flight. Cho was angered by the presentation of macadamia nuts.

World News

Nut Rumpus Prompts Korean Airline Exec To Apologize And Resign

1:42pm December 10, 2014

by Bill Chappell

Cho Hyun-ah, whose family runs Korean Air, forced a Korea-bound jet to return to a New York terminal so she could eject its cabin crew chief over the presentation of macadamia nuts.