Koreans might have left on an exodus for their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday, or Seollal, before the COVID-19 era. But the growing concerns about the rapid spread of the omicron variant and the upsurge in the number of infections may lead many Koreans, expats and travelers to scratch their heads as to how to spend their Seollal weekend, without leaving their homes. Though you may not ...

"For our family, eating a bowl of tteokguk together signals a start to the New Year. We skipped tteokguk once, and I had a strange feeling that we were not welcoming the new year,” Lee said. Lee offered a tip on making jidan decorations, stressing that one should make them first before starting to cook the main tteokguk because it can take more time than expected. “I recommend you make jidan fi...

Continuing the matriarchal tradition, Koh’s youngest daughter and her daughter-in-law have decided to become haenyeo. Koh‘s youngest daughter Jwa Geum-ok, 41, recently joined her mother as an intern haenyeo upon graduating from a haenyeo school. “I’ve been out in the sea about eight times and oftentimes returned with less than 5 kg of harvest. I once collected less than one kilogram. When my ea...

The Busan International Film Festival decided to renew Lee Yong-kwan’s term as chairman in an extraordinary general meeting held Thursday at the Busan Cinema Center‘s BIFF Hill. Lee will lead the annual film festival for the next four years. As one of the founding members of the BIFF in 1996, Lee has held several posts at the organization, including programmer-in-chief, vice-director and directo...

Those who decide to stay in Seoul for the five-day extended Seollal holiday might consider climbing a small mountain in the heart of the city. You can enjoy the outdoors, no tickets or reservations required. Inwangsan, which can be translated as the “mountain of the generous king,” is one of the more accessible mountains in central Seoul. Among the many hiking trails that it offers, the best-kno...

YouTuber’s lies about owning luxury products, ensuing criticism offers hints at understanding high interest toward videos boasting wealth

The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture unveiled plans to build a stronger support system for artists impacted by the lingering pandemic. Under this year’s slogan, “Together with art, standing beside citizens,” the SFAC announced its three top items on the agenda and 10 action plans of the year at a press conference at the SFAC Daehangno Center, Wednesday. The three items call for diversifyin...

ASEAN young people also showed considerable interest in Korea, with90.4 percent of ASEAN youth and 97.7 percent of ASEAN youth in Korea showing a high level of interest in the country in the survey. They get the most amount of information and content about Korea via social media, the internet and television programs. Young people in ASEAN member states looked for information regarding Korean foo...

LTI Korea expands its scope to translating all Korean-language content, not just literature

South Korean contents enjoyed robust demand overseas in 2020, defying the overall decline in exports and tepid growth in the domestic market, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism data showed on Monday. A 2021 research study on the cultural content industry which encompasses 11 sub-areas showed that the exports in 2020 jumped 16.3 percent to $11.92 billion from the previous year. “Exports...

Hunminjeongeum exhibition opens at National Hangeul Museum

Queens of the Joseon era (1392-1910) had an average life span of 51 years and were outlived by royal concubines by an average six years, a new study has found. According to Lee Mi-seon, a researcher at the Academy of Korean Studies, queens lived longer than kings, whose average life span has been estimated to be 47 by other scholars. Compared to women from the noble class of that era, who lived...

Beginning next year, South Korea will work on the restoration of the pylon and the access road of the Ramesseum, a mortuary temple of Pharaoh Ramses 2, located across from the modern city of Luxor in Upper Egypt, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Sunday. Kim Hyun-mo, head of the Cultural Heritage Administration and Mostafa Waziry, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council o...

Thousands of Buddhist monks from across the nation gathered in Seoul on Friday to protest against the “religious bias” that they claim is prevalent within the Moon Jae-in’s government. An estimated 5000 monks demanded an apology from President Moon Jae-in for ”religious bias and discrimination” during the protest which took place at Jogyesa, the chief temple of South Korea‘s largest Buddhist sec...

The event is being held by Stackhouse, a company that has been organizing diverse sneaker-related offline events in Korea since 2017. GQ Korea Sneakers columnist Kim Eun-soo also took part in the event as the curator. Admission is free.