Crowds gather to take photos and say goodbye to Bukang-i, a shark that had been staying for 15 days in a canal at North Port Waterfront Park in Dong District, Busan, during a second operation to guide it back to sea on Oct. 2.SONG BONG-GEUN
I hope everyone is having a good National Foundation Day weekend.
In this weekend’s longer reads, we'll examine how Ukraine's transfer of two North Korean POWs to South Korea has turned into an ugly diplomatic spat between Seoul and Kyiv, and experience the future today during Seoul's Smart Life Week 2026.
We'll also look at how the recent mine blast in the DMZ is putting South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's policy toward North Korea to the test, take in the splendor and history of Gayasan National Park and learn why Koreans are drinking less than they did before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Here's what you need to know!
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How a humanitarian transfer of North Korean POWs became a row between Seoul and Kyiv
Ukraine asked South Korea to keep the transfer of two North Korean prisoners of war secret from the start of their talks, South Korea's spy agency told lawmakers Wednesday, supporting Seoul's account in a dispute that has led it to summon Kyiv's top envoy and demand an apology.
The two governments agreed on confidentiality through "several channels," including a phone call between their foreign ministers and talks between South Korea's embassy in Kyiv and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said, according to lawmakers briefed behind closed doors.
Ukraine has not expressed regret or apologized "officially or unofficially," the agency said. Kyiv denies any such agreement.
From robots to AI and people-centered tech policies, the future is now at Smart Life Week 2026
In Seoul, generative AI could soon handle public inquiries in the civic quarter of Gwanghwamun, while self-driving taxis could be available around the clock at Seoul Station, the capital’s main transit hub.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Seoul Metropolitan Government is envisioning for an AI-powered future.
The city government will underpin how advances in AI could shape Seoul and the lives of Seoulites in its annual Smart Life Week (SLW) 2026 event, set to take place at Coex in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, from Tuesday to Thursday.
DMZ mine blast puts Lee's approach to North Korea to the test
In 2015, South Korea answered a North Korean mine attack with loudspeakers and pressure. Eleven years later, another blast in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) has left Seoul with a much harder choice.
When Seoul concluded that Pyongyang was behind the 2015 wooden-box mine incident, it responded immediately by cranking loudspeaker broadcasts against the North again. The blast cost one South Korean soldier both legs and another soldier his right leg.
Back then, the South Korean government was able to raise pressure on the North before finding an exit through talks at Panmunjom. Under the Lee Jae Myung administration, however, loudspeakers have been dismantled, and Pyongyang refuses to communicate with Seoul.
Ancient woodblocks draw you in, the sounds of Mount Gaya make you stay
HAPCHEON, South Gyeongsang — Centuries of invasions destroyed or damaged countless cultural treasures on the Korean Peninsula.
But nearly eight centuries later, more than 80,000 woodblocks known as the Tripitaka Koreana, carved with the Buddhist canon during the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392), still survive at Haein Temple on Mount Gaya.
The story of how they survived is fascinating enough to plan a trip to the mountain, designated Korea’s ninth national park in 1972. Straddling Seongju County in North Gyeongsang and Hapcheon County in South Gyeongsang, Gayasan National Park spans 76.792 square kilometers (18,975 acres).
Why has drinking fallen below the pandemic level in Korea?
Korea's drinking culture, long built around traditions like "somaek," a mix of soju and beer, and company dinners known as hoesik, is shrinking. The decline is especially pronounced among younger Koreans.
Alcohol shipments in Korea fell to 2.99 million kiloliters (789.9 million gallons) last year, the lowest level in 27 years, according to the National Tax Service. That is 5.2 percent below 2021, when social distancing rules at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic kept people from gathering.
That is not the picture many foreigners have of the country. On social media, soju, somaek and other soju-based cocktails remain a mainstay of Korean culture content. Many dream of coming to Korea to make their own soju whirlpool like their favorite K-pop stars, or to pair a glass of soju with convenience store snacks or a hot bowl of gukbap, the rice soup that often appears in Korean mukbang videos and K-dramas.
