In icy Seoul, the Han River slows to a hush SEOUL, January 26 (AJP) -Under the grip of Arctic air, sections of Seoul’s great waterway have begun to harden — ice floes drifting in silence, icicles clinging to embankments where the river meets the city. What is usually a moving ribbon of steel-gray water now carries the weight of winter, visible and unmistakable. A severe cold wave continues to blanket South Korea as northerly winds sweep down the peninsula, driving temperatures sharply lower and pushing wind chills well below what thermometers suggest. Cold wave advisories remain in effect for the Seoul metropolitan area, as well as parts of central and inland southeastern regions. The cold is expected to linger through Monday. Morning lows are forecast to fall as far as minus 15 degrees Celsius, with daytime highs struggling between minus 3 and 8 degrees. Even under clear skies, the air bites. Along the Han, the transformation is stark. Ice forms where currents slow. Frost traces railings and reeds. The river does not freeze all at once — it stiffens in fragments, mirroring the way winter settles over the city: gradually, insistently. Authorities have urged the elderly and young children to limit outdoor activities as subzero mornings near minus 10 degrees Celsius persist in central regions. Elsewhere, dry air and strong winds have raised wildfire concerns, particularly in the mountains of Gangwon Province and in coastal and southern areas. Light snow or rain is expected in parts of the west coast and Jeju Island, but across the country, winds will remain strong — sharpening the cold, carrying it deeper into streets, bridges and riverbanks. For now, the Han flows on, slowed but not stilled — a frozen reminder that winter, at its peak, reshapes even the most familiar landscapes. 2026-01-26 16:02:43

Jeju beckons spring with Ipchun festival SEOUL, January 26 (AJP) -Ipchun — the first of the 24 solar terms and the quiet and unseeming threshold of spring — is nearing. Before buds appear or fields turn green, the change arrives as ritual, rhythm and light. From Feb. 2 through Ipchun Day on Feb. 4, Jeju will host the Tamna Kingdom Ipchun Gut, a ceremonial opening of spring rooted in the island’s ancient agricultural memory. The event will unfold at Gwandukjeong Pavilion and the Jeju Mok Government Office site, spaces long entwined with Jeju’s civic and spiritual life. Organized by the Jeju Federation of Arts and Culture, the festival revives communal rites that trace back to the era of the Tamna Kingdom, when the arrival of spring was not a date on a calendar but a matter of survival and shared hope. Through chants, movement and offerings, the gut marks the land’s awakening — and the people’s. This year’s theme, “Nal Berong Ttang Umjjak, Spring Stirs,” is expressed in the Jeju dialect, evoking the moment when warmth begins to seep into the soil and the earth itself seems to stretch after winter. Across four categories, 21 programs reinterpret those ancestral gestures, blending shamanistic ritual, agricultural tradition and communal celebration. The island has already begun to signal what is coming. On Jan. 25, ipchun chundeung lanterns were lit around the Jeju Mok Government Office site — quiet beacons announcing that spring is on its way. Hanging against the winter sky, they do not rush the season. They wait, as Jeju always has, for the land to answer. 2026-01-26 15:58:34

Italy makes final preparations for Milano-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics SEOUL, January 23 (AJP) - With about two weeks remaining until the 2026 Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Winter Olympics, South Korea’s national team has pledged a strong showing at the Games. The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee held a send-off ceremony for the national delegation on Wednesday at Olympic Parktel in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The Games will feature around 5,000 athletes from more than 90 national Olympic committees (NOCs), competing across eight sports and 16 disciplines. South Korea will send a delegation of about 70 athletes and officials in six sports, aiming to win at least three gold medals. The Winter Olympics will be held from Feb. 6 to 22 (local time) in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. The main South Korean delegation is scheduled to depart for Italy on Jan. 30. 2026-01-23 16:12:13

PHOTOS:The story of fishing village in Sokcho Gangwon, January 22 (AJP) — The sea off Sokcho was calm. Walking along Cheongcho Lake toward the gaetbae landing, the ferry began to move slowly as people pulled hard on the iron rings attached to the cable. For visitors, the gaetbae is a novel experience. For locals, it was once the only way to get across. Riding the pulley-operated ferry leads to Abai Village, a neighborhood shaped by displacement and time. Abai Village was formed by displaced people who fled south from Hamgyong Province in North Korea during the Korean War. “Abai” is a Hamgyong dialect word referring to an elderly man. Those who escaped the war settled along the sandy shore of Sokcho’s coast, believing they would soon be able to return home. The land was inhospitable—building homes and securing drinking water were difficult—but people from the same hometowns gathered together and formed communal settlements. What began as a temporary refuge became a permanent home over the decades. Walking through the narrow alleys, low fences and weathered signboards come into view. Amid restaurants catering to tourists, traces of everyday life remain. Abai Village is the only remaining collective settlement of displaced people in South Korea and a place where the pain of division and the hope for reunification coexist. Its stories resurface whenever inter-Korean relations shift, whether toward reconciliation or tension. Sokcho is often described as a tourist city where the sea meets Seoraksan, but its roots lie in the settlement history of displaced people. After the war, many who arrived here made their living through fishing, helping drive the city’s growth. The Cheongho-dong area remains the heart of Sokcho’s fishing industry. Fresh catches move through the live fish centers and the Sokcho Fisheries Market, where the sea continues to shape daily life. Food in Abai Village tells this history most directly. Hamheung-style cold noodles, abai sundae, squid sundae, gajami sikhae and various fermented seafood dishes reflect culinary traditions carried from the north. Combined with East Sea specialties such as red snow crab and steamed fish, they form Sokcho’s distinctive food map. For tourists they are local delicacies; for residents, they are tastes preserved in longing for home. From the top of Seorak Geumgang Bridge, the view widens. The East Sea, Cheongcho Lake and the cityscape of Sokcho unfold at once. While it is a popular photo spot for visitors, for displaced residents this sea once stood in for a homeland they could not return to. Where scenic beauty overlaps with painful memory, Sokcho’s tourism moves beyond simple consumption. A walk through Abai Village is a journey between past and present. The brief crossing on the gaetbae, old signboards in the alleys and a plate of sundae on the table connect into a single narrative. Sokcho remains a tourist destination, but its appeal is built upon layers of time shaped by division. To truly travel Sokcho is not only to look at the sea, but to face the lives of those who have lived while gazing toward it. 2026-01-22 17:58:03

KOSPI flirts with 5,000 landmark despite grim GDP SEOUL, January 22 (AJP) - South Korea’s benchmark KOSPI has touched the 5,000 mark for the first time in its history to cause euphoria on Thursday when the country reported a grim economic data, showing the gross domestic product contracting 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter. The KOSPI closed 0.9 percent up at 4,952.53 after rising as high as 5,019.54. The main index has cracked a new four-digit momentum in just two months since passing the 4,000 mark. 2026-01-22 16:33:20

Most powerful cold wave of winter hits South Korea SEOUL, January 20 (AJP) - An intense cold wave gripped the Korean Peninsula on Tuesday, coinciding with Daehan, the final of the 24 traditional lunar terms marking the peak of winter. Temperatures plummeted below minus 10 degrees Celsius across the greater Seoul area and Gangwon Province, prompting authorities to issue cold wave advisories for most of the country. In the capital, the morning wind chill factor plunged to a staggering minus 18 degrees Celsius, marking the coldest day recorded so far this winter. The biting conditions forced commuters to bundle up in heavy layers as the city faced its most severe sub-zero stretch of the season. The Korea Meteorological Administration predicted that the frigid conditions will persist through the weekend. 2026-01-20 17:13:58

Korean won drifts toward 1,480 on global dollar strength SEOUL, January 19 (AJP) -The Korean won edged back toward 1,480 per U.S. dollar, a level widely viewed as a government defense line, amid broad dollar strength fueled by rising U.S. tensions with the European Union over Greenland and escalating risks linked to Iran and Venezuela. 2026-01-19 16:51:19

Plum blossoms defy winter as Daehan approaches Gangwon, January 18 (AJP) -Ahead of Daehan, the coldest period in the traditional Korean calendar, plum trees are already beginning to burst into bloom at Naksansa Temple on Korea’s east coast. Daehan, meaning “great cold,” is the 24th and final solar term, falling around Jan. 20 on the Gregorian calendar and marking the depths of winter in the lunar year. It is traditionally associated with biting winds, frozen ground and the harshest conditions of the season. Yet even as icy air lingers over the East Sea, the plum — long celebrated in East Asian culture as a symbol of resilience — pushes out its first buds. Unlike cherry blossoms that arrive with spring, plum trees bloom in late winter, often amid snow and frost, standing as quiet proof that renewal begins before the cold has fully loosened its grip. At Naksansa, where the temple’s stone pagodas overlook the winter sea, pale blossoms and tight buds contrast sharply with bare branches and muted winter tones — a fleeting moment when nature signals the turning of the season, even at its coldest. 2026-01-19 16:47:09

Few babies, big business: Baby Fair at COEX SEOUL, January 16 (AJP) -South Korea has one of the world’s lowest birth rates, but when it comes to babies, the country remains serious. The 2026 Momsholic Baby Fair, one of Korea’s largest exhibitions dedicated to pregnancy, childbirth and childcare, opened Thursday at COEX Hall A in southern Seoul. The fair runs through Jan. 18, bringing together about 500 booths operated by some 200 companies from Korea and overseas. Despite shrinking family sizes, the exhibition hall was filled with expectant parents, young couples and families browsing products that span the full arc of early life — from pregnancy care and delivery essentials to infant nutrition, early childhood education programs and children’s room interiors. One dedicated zone, dubbed the “Good Sleep Project,” focused on rest, recovery and healing for parents and babies alike. Organizers said the event is designed to offer practical, hands-on information for expectant and first-time parents, while also easing financial pressure by enabling direct transactions between companies and consumers, often at discounted prices. The fair unfolds against the stark demographic reality facing South Korea. The country’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman is expected to have over her lifetime — stood at about 0.80 from January to October last year, among the lowest in the world. Yet inside COEX, the mood was less about decline than determination: strollers rolling past crowded aisles, product demos drawing small audiences, and parents-to-be comparing notes on how to prepare for a future that, for them at least, is already on the way. 2026-01-16 17:51:57

Advance train tickets for Lunar New Year now on sale SEOUL, January 16 (AJP) - Sales of advance train tickets for the Lunar New Year break began this week. According to railway operator KORAIL, tickets are available online for about a week starting Thursday, about a month in advance, for trains running during the weeklong holiday from Feb. 13 to 18. The first two days of pre-booking will be reserved for senior citizens aged 65 and older, people with disabilities, and recipients of national merit honors. Ordinary citizens can book tickets from next Monday to Jan. 21. However, booking dates may vary by destination. 2026-01-16 11:09:37