Laos has asked South Korea’s Seongju County to raise age limits and expand seasonal farm work opportunities for older workers and married couples, while strengthening protections against extreme heat.
Lao Vice Minister of Labor and Social Welfare Phongxaysack Inthalath made the requests during a meeting with Jang Ik-bong, vice chairman of the Seongju County Council, and a county delegation in Vientiane on 12 October.
Seongju, in South Korea’s North Gyeongsang Province, is known for growing chamoe, a sweet yellow melon. The county signed a seasonal labor cooperation agreement with Laos in November 2023 and began receiving Lao workers in 2024.
The county received 153 Lao workers in 2024, 1,292 in 2025, and...
Laos has asked South Korea’s Seongju County to raise age limits and expand seasonal farm work opportunities for older workers and married couples, while strengthening protections against extreme heat.
Lao...
A USD 492 million potash mining and processing project in Khammouane is moving forward again after nearly a decade of delays, with production targeted for 2028.
On 12 October, Vietnam...
Nearly all registered job seekers in Laos are looking for work abroad, even as businesses at home struggle to recruit staff.
In the first nine months of 2026, a total...
The State Inspection Authority has flagged USD 1.976 million in diverted funds and spending on unused assets in Vientiane’s USD 99.7 million Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.
On 8 October,...
Laos will keep domestic fuel reserves at around 60 million liters or more and encourage companies to buy from multiple countries as the government seeks to reduce the risk...
Laos’ economy grew 4.8 percent in the first nine months of 2026, Prime Minister Saleumxay Kommasith told lawmakers on 5 October, crediting manufacturing, private investment, electricity, trade and tourism-related...
It was a busy day in the kitchen at The Academy Luang Prabang on 18 September. A group of students who were about to graduate were hard at work, preparing a special four-course French dinner.
The students cooked for nearly 40 guests, served the food, poured glasses of wine, and kept things moving in the dining room as the evening went on.
At The Academy, it was a chance to put months of training into practice, this time with real guests sitting at the tables and waiting to be served. For the students, it was a chance to see what it was like to handle a full dinner service from start...
Laos expects to welcome between 5 and 6 million international tourists in 2026, with Chinese visitors projected to account for around 2 million of that total, according to government estimates.
The numbers will be...
Laos hosted the Mekong Tourism Forum 2025 in Luang Prabang from 24 to 27 June, spotlighting the proposed ASEAN Rail Tourism Corridor (ARTC) as a key initiative to boost regional travel and connectivity.
Held...
In the forests of Laos, observation comes before words for Souksamlan “Toun” Laladeth.
That idea inspired the title of his debut visual anthology, Where the Forests Have No Words, officially launched on 5 October in Vientiane*.*
"People call me a conservation and nature photographer. But really, I'm just a simple person, nothing more," Toun said.
Toun’s connection with nature began easily in life. Growing up in the northern Bokeo Province, his mother taught him which forest vegetables were safe to eat, while...
Laos is preparing to compete in 12 sports at the 14th ASEAN Para Games in Kuala Lumpur next October.
The Lao team has proposed entering athletics, swimming, powerlifting, boccia, women’s goalball, men’s blind football,...
Laos continues working to develop chess among younger generations.
A group of young Lao players has returned from Singapore with 12 medals after gaining international experience against competitors from across Asia and beyond.
Team Laos...
In the forests of Laos, observation comes before words for Souksamlan “Toun” Laladeth.
That idea inspired the title of his debut visual anthology, Where the Forests Have No Words, officially launched on 5 October in Vientiane*.*
"People call me a conservation and nature photographer. But really, I'm just a simple person, nothing more," Toun said.
Toun’s connection with nature began easily in life. Growing up in the northern Bokeo Province, his mother taught him which forest vegetables were safe to eat, while his father, a local hunter, taught him how to track animals.
“Nature and forest, they cannot speak,” Toun says. “Spending time in nature is key to understanding its language.”
Years later, as he began working professionally in the forest, Toun learned more from experienced animal trackers in South Africa and Northern Europe. They taught him how to move silently in the forest, observe his surroundings closely, and think like the animals he was following.
"If you want to see wildlife, you have to think like wildlife, you have to move like wildlife, you have to act like wildlife," Toun said.
In 2009, Toun began working in the Nam Kan National Park as a porter,...
