The Korea Herald today shared some data from Statistics Korea:
Continue readingthe number of babies born in the first quarter of 2025 rose by 7.3 percent compared to the same period last year. That makes it the highest first-quarter increase recorded since the agency began tracking the figure in 1981.
…South Korea continues to have the lowest fertility rate in the world.
2015 is shaping up to a hot summer. The Korea Herald quotes a Korean meteorologist predicting, “… that this summer will be as hot as last year, based on climate forecasts from Korean and Japanese meteorological agencies and the World Meteorological Organization.”
The article suggests that Seoul temperatures remain high because of “… the urban heat island effect [which] includes surface reflectivity, impervious surfaces, green space availability, building height and artificial heat emissions.”
Our vocabulary on climate, & hot and humid part one and part two,
According to the Korea Times, the Seoul subway will start 30 minutes earlier, at 5am, starting August 1, 2025. Subway use continues to grow and we coveted that here. (We enjoy the subway during the hot summer months though some outdoor bus stops are cooled.)
Want to learn vocab and culture regarding subway etiquette? Asking directions and more asking directions.
A massive fire broke out at the Kumho Tire plant in Gwangju on Saturday 5/17. The fire was fortunately contained by the next day. According to the Korea Herald, “…As of Sunday, 462 firefighters and 168 pieces of equipment had been dispatched to the scene.” Kumho Tire is consistently listed among the top 15 global tire manufacturers. “[They] posted sales of $860 million during the first quarter of 2025, up 15% year-over-year and a first quarter high.”
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According to an article in the Korea Herald today, “buffet chains are making a comeback as dining costs continue to rise in Korea.” The articles continues with interviews of several people describes waiting in long lines to get into buffets.
As COVID nearly ended the rein of buffet restaurants, Koreans are now returning to find value and endless choices at them. The “price gap between single-dish meals and buffet admission has narrowed significantly compared to before the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Here’s an earlier post we did about a buffet restaurant in Seoul. And a more recent post on the topic.
Looking for related vocabulary to help you learn Korean? Heres our post on the expression, my mouth is bored (I’m hungry). And our post on eating too much.
“Over the last 10 years, average daily bus ridership in Seoul has fallen by 19 percent, from 4.57 million in 2014 to 3.73 million in 2024, according to official city data released in April.” An article in the Korea Herald today describes the steady decline in passengers on Seoul buses over the past 10 years.
The Seoul city government is required to subsidizes private bus companies when they are not meeting their quota. Further they report that over 90 bus routes operate at a loss. “In contrast, subway usage rose from 38.2 to 44.7 percent, showing a growing preference for rail over road-based transit.”
We covered electric buses in three parts:
Part one, part two, and part three.
South Korea’s Hawaii-like Jeju Island, is a popular tourist destination for Koreans. Here, a group of all-women divers work year round to collect seafood from the depths of the water.
The findings of an investigation, published on May 2, 2025, shows that these women have unique genetic differences that may play into their ability to spend so much time in the water.
According to a 5/7/2025 article on CNN,, “…the practice is dying out. Young women are no longer continuing this matrilineal tradition; the current group of Haenyeo divers, with an average age of around 70 years, may represent the last generation.”