A visitor to a wetland in Gangneung, Gangwon, uses a lotus leaf to avoid the hot sun on July 1.YONHAP
It's Hump Day! Hope you're having a great week so far. Here are the stories you need to know in Korea.
In today's news, the government introduced its policy changes for the second half of the year, with support offered for young people and workers, as well as a list of other measures. Couples are turning up to weddings uninvited to check out venues before they book them. Supplies of ube are being stretched thin due to the latest food trend.
What policies were revealed? The government announced policy changes for the second half of the year and released a guidebook on Tuesday. The policies include free menstrual product dispensers at public facilities, short-term parental leave and 24-hour foreign exchange trading, as well as a host of other measures.
What labor policies are being introduced? Among the labor protections being added, parental leave rules are becoming more flexible. Child care leave will be allowed to be taken once a year in one- or two-week increments to accommodate short-term caregiving needs, usually during school vacations, temporary school closures or in cases when children are sick. Spouses will also be allowed to use paternity and parental leave during their partner's pregnancy, while government support for infertility treatment leave will be extended to four days.
What social policies are being implemented? As mentioned before, menstrual products will be made available for free from dispensers at public facilities. Food assistance programs will be expanded, operating at 300 locations nationwide. Meanwhile, transportation services are set to become more convenient. The free transfer policy allowing passengers to re-enter rail systems within 15 minutes of disembarking will be expanded to more lines. A unified high-speed rail application is also set to be launched, allowing people to reserve KTX and SRT tickets in one place.
Couples are secretly sneaking into other people's weddings? Apparently so. As the cost of weddings rise nationwide, couples are doing their due diligence in a controversial way before they part with their hard-earned cash. What is being called an amhaeng tour, or "undercover tour," has become a trending practice among couples looking to get married. They visit venues on their own, joining weddings without an invitation, in order to get a feel for the place.
Have people been caught? Wedding guests have reported seeing people turning up in casual clothes to weddings and peering around the premises. "They didn't even leave a gift and kept scanning the room, which caught my eye," one guest said after spotting some supposed "undercover" guests. At another wedding, a couple in tracksuits were spotted placing 20,000 won ($13) in a gift envelope and helping themselves to the buffet. In Korea, the minimum amount considered "polite" as a wedding gift is 50,000 won.
Is there a case for undercover tours? While turning up to an event uninvited isn't considered best practice, a professor at Incheon National University says wedding espionage may be inevitable. "Undercover tours keep wedding vendors on their toes and ease the information gap in the market, which is positive, but for some rude tours, venues should step in with penalties so the ceremony isn't disrupted," they said.
First of all — what's ube? Ube is a purple yam grown almost entirely in the Philippines, and its use in a range of products in Korea has become a trend. From purple lattes at cafes, purple cream bread and even purple-colored alcohol, ube everything is gaining traction in Korea. However, with ube growing in popularity so quickly, the supply is struggling to meet demand.
What's the problem? Ube production in the Philippines is shrinking. Production of the crop fell to 12,483 metric tons in 2025 from 13,381 in the previous year. It isn't just Korea that's importing. The United States has also increased its demand for ube, as well as other countries, resulting a supply squeeze. How is this affecting Korean businesses? Bakeries and cafes have reported difficulties in procuring ube powder, which is used to bake bread and make drinks. Cafe chain Knotted, which sells ube doughnuts and drinks, said it experienced supply swings in March and April, but that the situation has since stabilized. “We are building a stable supply chain in close cooperation with our sourcing regions and supply partners,” said an industry source.
