A corgi puppy shakes itself dry after getting soaked. / Courtesy of gettyimagesbank Korea has gone through a cultural shift in terms of public attitudes toward animals. Eating dog meat was once common while keeping pets indoors was considered unusual. Dogs were raised to keep thieves away rather than provide companionship.   Yet, public attitudes have changed dramatically in recent decades, with a growing number of people keeping pets as companions or “family members.

Migrant workers pluck cabbage at a farm in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province. The Korean government will invite more than 50,000 migrant workers to Korea in the remaining months of this year, as part of its effort to deal with labor shortages in the shipbuilding, manufacturing and service industries.   According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of job vacancies stood at 230,000 as of June, the highest since February 2018.   The labor shor

Artists with disabilities at the opening ceremony of “Into the People, Into Harmony,” an exhibition at Cheong Wa Dae’s Chunchugwan in central Seoul, August 31. / Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism An art exhibition highlighting the works of disabled artists was held at Cheong Wa Dae, the former presidential compound.    The exhibition was designed to support artists with disabilities and present their works to the pu

The 27th Busan International Film Festival will take place from October 5 to 14.     The southeastern port city of Busan will see a myriad of festivals in October. Such festivals have only been held online or in a mixed on- and offline format since 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but most of them this year are returning to their original forms with a wide range of offline programs since most of the social distancing rules&n

​ Inga Griese, editor-in-chief of ICON / Courtesy of Inga Griese    A growing number of foreign newspapers, broadcasters and magazines have been featuring Korea in recent years, prompted by the increasing global popularity of and attention to the country’s cultural content.    Often, the subject has been how Netflix’s megahit series “Squid Game” appealed to global audiences or how that dystopian drama’s characters were featured prominen