President Lee questions what foreign workers and multicultural families get

President Lee questions what foreign workers and multicultural families get

President Lee Jae-myung said on October 27 that foreign workers "do not help the national economy much" because they send their wages home, per YTN.

Why this matters. About 2.81 million people with a migrant background lived in Korea in 2025, 5.4% of the population. Of them, 75.1% are foreign nationals, per Yonhap.

Catch up.

• October 27. Lee said it at a Cabinet meeting about farm labor shortages. Hankyoreh quoted him without the word "much." Lee asked it on X to correct the quote and apologize. Its union said he should apologize to migrant workers first, per Media Today.
• October 28. Lee shared a post from the online community FM Korea (에펨코리아). It objected that multicultural mothers are in priority group 2 for Seoul's public postpartum care centers (산후조리원). He wrote that he would review whether such priority should end, per Hankook Ilbo.
• October 29. Lee wrote on X that some policies must not become "special privileges" or "reverse discrimination" against Korean households. The Blue House (청와대) said it will review the decree behind the priority list. Its spokesperson said the Cabinet remark was about too little support for farm and fishing work, and the need for well-paid jobs there, per Chosun Ilbo.

Worth knowing. The Justice Party called Lee's post "hate politics," and the Rebuilding Korea Party called it "divisive," per Hankook Ilbo.

One complication. Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon sided with Lee on this. He said giving multicultural families extra weight can leave citizens feeling deprived, and he ordered a full review of the city's rule, per Hankook Ilbo.

The last time. On June 19, 2019, Hwang Kyo-ahn, then leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, said his party would seek a separate minimum wage for migrant workers, citing their "little contribution" to the economy. Thirty-two civic groups called it discrimination, per the Korea Times.

What this means for you. Nothing has changed yet. If you are in a multicultural family and need help now, Family Centers (가족센터) and the Danuri helpline (1577-1366, open 24 hours, 13 languages) are covered in Seoulstart's guide.

What's next. The Blue House says it will review the Mother and Child Health Act enforcement decree with the local governments that run the centers, per Hankook Ilbo. There is no draft and no date.

Korea This Week

A special counsel again seeks death for Yoon, and a court clears eight officers

Special counsel Cho Eun-suk's team asked the Seoul High Court on October 29 to sentence former President Yoon Suk Yeol to death for leading an insurrection, per Yonhap.

What changed. A lower court gave Yoon life imprisonment in February, and the team asked for death then too. The law allows only death or life in prison, with or without labor, for an insurrection ringleader. Korea has not carried out an execution since December 1997. The team argued the plan ran for more than a year. The lower court found the decision came two days before December 3, per YTN.

One complication. On October 30, the Seoul Central District Court acquitted eight former officers tied to martial law. They include two brigadier generals at the "hamburger meeting" with Noh Sang-won, a former military intelligence commander. The court found no proven intent to subvert the constitution, per Yonhap.

North Korea answers Seoul's talks offer with about a dozen ballistic missiles

North Korea fired about a dozen short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on October 29, about a week after Seoul offered military talks on the border, per Yonhap.

What changed. The missiles left the Wonsan area around 12:30 p.m. and flew about 250 kilometers. The military believes they came from the KN-25, a 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher.

Chips lift growth to 1.0%, and SK hynix posts a record quarter

South Korea's economy grew 1.0% from the previous quarter in July to September, above the 0.3% the Bank of Korea forecast in August, per Yonhap.

The numbers.

• Growth was 3.4% from a year earlier. This is an advance estimate.
• Private consumption fell 0.2%.
• SK hynix reported operating profit of ₩83.33 trillion on revenue of ₩104.61 trillion for the quarter, both records, per Yonhap.
• September industrial output rose 3.0% from August, the fastest since March 2011. Chip output rose 19.2%, per Yonhap.

Worth knowing. SK hynix said nearly all its DRAM and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) capacity through 2029 is already sold.

Hiring now. Chip equipment maker ASM is hiring a Senior Engineer for key account technology in Hwaseong.

Pediatric emergency doctors at Ajou University Hospital move to quit after a police raid

Seven of the nine specialists at Ajou University Hospital's pediatric emergency center have told the hospital they want to resign, after a police search of the center, per JoongAng Ilbo.

What changed. In July, a 4-month-old baby died at the center after arriving with breathing difficulty. The family filed a malpractice complaint, and Gyeonggi Nambu police searched the center on September 30. At a National Assembly audit on October 27, a police official said he regretted the disruption the search caused doctors but did not apologize, per Yonhap.

What's next. Senior police officials visited and apologized on October 29. The next day, center head Lee Ji-sook said she had submitted her resignation and asked people not to call it collective action. Doctors' groups asked police to publish investigation guidelines by the end of November, per Maeil Shinmun. For how emergency rooms work, see Seoulstart's emergency room guide.

Choi Bool-am, TV's "national father," dies at 87

Actor Choi Bool-am died on the night of October 29 at a Seoul hospital. He was 87, per Yonhap.

Worth knowing. He played Detective Park in the MBC crime drama "Chief Inspector" (수사반장), which ran from 1971 to 1989. He was the village head in "Country Diaries" (전원일기), a rural family drama that ran for 22 years. The government posthumously gave him the Geumgwan Order of Cultural Merit, the highest class.

Hiring this week

New roles at companies you know, picked from Seoulstart Jobs.

• Senior Software Engineer. Riot Games, Seoul. Posted October 26.
• Senior Lead, Strategy and Operations, North Asia. Agoda, Seoul. Posted October 26.
• Global Design Change Engineer. GE HealthCare, Seongnam. Posted October 26.
• Head of Professional Conduct Unit. Green Climate Fund, Incheon. Posted October 29.
• Assistant Engineering Manager. Marriott International, Seoul. Posted October 26.

See all new jobs in Korea

Watch This Week

• Tuesday November 3 and Thursday November 5. Yoon Suk Yeol's insurrection appeal holds its last two hearings. Yoon gives his final statement on November 5, and the court then sets a verdict date, per Kukmin Ilbo.
• Friday November 6. Nvidia completes its $1 billion investment in Naver and becomes its third-largest shareholder, behind the national pension fund and BlackRock. Naver fixes the share count on Tuesday, per Yonhap.

In Conversation

A war game about a North Korean invasion used real footage of the Itaewon crowd crush to show civilians dying, and its publisher has now apologized.

What changed. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, from US developer Infinity Ward and US publisher Activision, came out October 23. MBC reported on October 27 that a fake news clip in its opening matches footage of the 2022 crowd crush. The clip runs one to two seconds, per Weekly Kyunghyang.

Worth knowing. Bereaved families and civic groups demanded removal on October 28, the day before the fourth anniversary of the crush, per Weekly Kyunghyang. The crush killed 159 people, per Yonhap.

What's next. Activision apologized on October 30: "We deeply apologize to the victims and their bereaved families who must have suffered." The footage will be removed in an update on November 12, per Yonhap.

Korea Decoded

Paying respects at a Korean funeral (빈소)

Korean funerals follow a three-day format (3일장), and most guests who are not family come on the evening of day two.

Worth knowing. A visit takes 30 to 45 minutes. You bring cash, not flowers, food or gifts. The condolence gift (부의금) goes in a sealed white envelope with your name on the back. For a colleague it is typically tens of thousands of won, and more for someone closer. Choi Bool-am's mourning room (빈소) opened on October 30 at a Seoul hospital funeral hall, per Edaily.

One complication. Bereavement leave is company policy, not law. Most medium and large companies give about five days for a spouse, parent or child and about three for a grandparent or sibling. Colleagues remember who came. See Seoulstart's guide to Korean funeral culture.

Activities

Festivals

• Saturday November 7. Busan Fireworks Festival (부산불꽃축제): the 21st edition is held at Gwangalli Beach and Gwangan Bridge, with a Black Eagles air show before the main fireworks. Reserved seats cost ₩70,000 to ₩100,000, per Korea Tourism Organization.
• Still on. Cheongsong Apple Festival (청송사과축제), Cheongsong-eup, North Gyeongsang Province, November 4 to 8. Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, final week through November 15.

Events

• Tuesday November 3. Watch the Melbourne Cup with the Australia and New Zealand community group ANZA Korea over brunch at SAUCE in Yongsan, noon to 2 p.m. The race starts at 1 p.m. Brunch costs ₩25,000, or ₩50,000 with bottomless drinks (₩5,000 less for members). Walk-ins are welcome if there is space, per ANZA Korea.

Good Watches

• CNA Insider. “Can You Lose Your Citizenship Unknowingly? Inside South Korea's Nationality Law.” Children of transnational families, some of whom finished military service, are finding they lost Korean citizenship years ago after taking a foreign parent's nationality. Families say officials told them dual nationality was fine. 21 minutes. (watch)
• TED. “How to Clean Up the World's Dirtiest Industry.” Climate strategist Joojin Kim spent years persuading Korean banks to stop funding coal. He explains how he plans to use the same approach on shipping finance. 8 minutes. (watch)

Good Reads

• The Fact. “‘Winter is almost here’: Guryong village residents with nowhere to go.” A fire that began on October 27 in Gangnam's last shantytown burned for about 13 hours. Gangnam District opened shelters in two school gyms and offered hotels. (link)

• Seoulstart. “The Best Time to Travel in Korea, Season by Season.” Autumn color usually peaks at Naejangsan in early to mid-November. KTX trains and intercity buses sell out weeks ahead around Chuseok and Seollal, so travel before or after.

• Hankyoreh. “A drama about 5·18 draws a petition to pull it, and worries about creative freedom.” Episode 6 of SBS's “Doctor X: Age of the White Mafia” aired October 24 with a series-high 19.5% rating. A petition asked SBS to stop the show over a patient living with a bullet fragment from the May 1980 Gwangju uprising. (link)

• Yonhap. “S. Korea, Turkey unearth Hellenistic-era mosaic remains.” A joint team from Korea's National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage and Ankara University found a mosaic floor from 323 to 30 BC at Kultepe, near Kayseri in central Turkey. (link)

• JIBS. “Births rise for a record 26 months, and the population still falls.” Korea recorded 23,703 births in August, up 13.0% and the most for any August since 2019. Births have risen for 26 straight months, the longest run since monthly records began in 1981. Deaths still outnumbered births by 6,605. (link)

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New on Seoulstart this week

• A new tax refund estimator shows how much overpaid income tax you could claim back, with a guide to filing the correction claim (경정청구).
• Visa tools: score yourself with the F-2-7 points calculator, check whether a town counts as a population-decline area with the regional visa area finder, and read the new F-2-R regional visa guide.
• Everyday tools in six languages: open Korean HWP documents, write a Korean address in English, make an ID photo and work out your Korean age.
• A calculator that checks a job agency's fee.
• Job fairs for foreign residents.
• Where-to-live guides for Busan, Incheon and Daegu.

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That's Seoulstart Korea Weekly for this week. See you next week.

P.S. Job of the week: Fever is hiring a PR Specialist, based in Seoul. More roles like it are on Seoulstart Jobs.