Travel agencies are rushing to come up with new products to satisfy changed needs of pandemic travels

Lavender flowers in full bloom form violet clouds at Herb Village in Geochang, South Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Tourists take pictures in a field of lavender flowers at Herb Village in Geochang, South Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. Visitors enjoy blooming lavender flowers at Herb One, the largest lavender farm in the country, in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province. Lavender flowers fill a field measuring 330,000 square meters at Herb One, a lavender farm in Jeongeup, North Jeolla Province.

Gardening has become a new trend recently as people start to turn their eyes to nature to seek comfort from it. Although gardening is not easy in South Korea as many live in high-rise apartment complexes, many are growing potted flowers and plants at home and take care of them as “pet plants.” Why are we attached to plants and flowers? The exhibition “Gardening” at Piknic in central Seoul explores our psychology behind gardening and how we can interact with the nature.

“Meokbang” (also known as “mukbang”), a compound word for “eating” and “broadcast” in Korean, is a popular form of content found on video platforms such as Youtube, AfreecaTV, Twitch, and Kakao TV. Meokbang streamers show themselves consuming large platefuls of junk food while simultaneously interacting with viewers. Along with the rise of one-person households in the country, people have gotten in the habit of watching meokbang while eating alon

Tongyeong Hansan Battle Festival Tongyeong Hansan Battle Festival commemorates the Great Battle of Hansan of 1592, one of the most intense naval battles in Korean history. Held from Aug. 12 to 21, the festival is sponsored by the city of Tongyeong, and managed by the Great Battle of Hansan Memorial Foundation. Visitors will be able to see a reenactment of the battle followed by other performances. A variety of hands-on experience programs will be available for visitors at Yi Sun-sin Park. Perfo

Four Seasons Hotel Seoul launches online store for to-go menus  The Four Seasons Hotel Seoul has opened an online store for to-go dishes that can be picked up at the hotel. All orders need to be made at least 24 hours in advance. The online store’s most popular dish is American-style smoked BBQ that offers beef, pork and side dishes, including roasted potatoes, coleslaw, a brioche bun and mac and cheese. The BBQ menu serves 4 to 6 people and is priced at 220,000 won. The online s

With books going digital and online buying the preferred means of purchasing books, one of the major bookstore chains in South Korea has declared bankruptcy. The Seoul Book Center, operator of the country’s third-largest offline bookstore franchise, Bandi & Luni’s, was officially declared bankrupt as of Wednesday. The Seoul Book Center failed to clear some 160 million won ($143,000) on Tuesday, according to the Korean Publishers Association and publishing companies. Bandi &

Bandi & Luni's, the country's third-biggest bookstore chain that runs both online and in-person channels, has filed for bankruptcy. Seoul Mungo, the company behind the bookstore chain, sent an emergency letter notifying the bankruptcy to members of a local publishers' association on Wednesday. The company reportedly failed to pay a promissory note due the previous day. "(I) understand that Seoul Mungo failed to pay a 160 million won ($141,718) promissory note," an official from t

Exhibition of photos, poems written from conflict regions show writer Park No-hae’s love for humanity

South Korean researchers became the world’s first to discover a gene variant that causes a rare type of hearing impairment whose origins had so far remained unknown. The newly identified gene will help doctors better treat patients with auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder, or ANSD, and to find out if their condition can be improved through surgery, according to Dr. Choi Byung-yoon, Seoul National University Hospital’s otorhinolaryngology professor who led the research. “O

The musical “Dracula: The Musical” has been an all-time hit since it premiered in 2014 with Kim Jun-su, a former lead vocalist of the popular boy band TVXQ and now a veteran musical actor of 10 years, in the leading role. His hair dyed a bright red color again -- Kim’s signature look for his Count Dracula character -- the actor stood on the stage for the musical’s fourth season which kicked off on May 20 at the Blue Square in Seoul. The red-colored hair was intended to

DAEJEON--The Cultural Heritage Administration and Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday jointly announced that 11 suspects who attempted to smuggle out 92 valuable Korean cultural artifacts have been caught. The two agencies also unveiled the items the suspects allegedly tried to take out of the country during a press briefing held at Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency on Tuesday. “We started working together with the CHA from 2018,” Kim Jae-chun, an official from Daejeon