Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market in eastern Seoul is the largest seafood market in the city.  The market, both a wholesale outlet and a retail market, is always bustling with merchants, vendors and customers, all in search of the freshest seafood. The market was founded in 1927. Following daily auctions -- shell fish at 1 a.m. fresh fish at 1:30 a.m. and live fish at 3 a.m. -- seafood is transported to markets and restaurants across Korea.  Seafood stalls line up shoulder-t

Buddha’s Birthday, the largest Buddhist holiday, is celeberated with lotus lanterns of all shapes and colors. Every year, the lanterns cover the yard of Jogyesa, the Buddhist temple in central Seoul, and the surrounding areas.   While this year’s events have been scaled down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Buddhist faithful gather to celebrate the holiday, offering prayers and taking part in rites that have developed within Korean Buddhism over the centuries.  While lotus

The N Seoul Tower, with its pointy ramrod body and a donut shaped 360-degree observation deck in midriff, is an iconic piece of architecture visible from anywhere in central Seoul, given the view is not obstructed by a skyscraper. The N in the tower’s name is short for Namsan, the mountain on top of which the tower stands.  Combined with the height of the mountain, the tower is some 480 meters above sea level, and has been a prime vantage point for a sweeping view of Seoul for th

Only hundreds of meters away from the palace Gyeongbokgung in central Seoul, time travel into Korea’s history can begin in a temple enshrining Tangun, who founded the first kingdom of Korea in 2,333 BC. According to Korean tradition, Tangun was the legendary founder of Gojoseon, or old Joseon, the first recorded state in Korean history. The state occupied the northern part of the Korean Peninsula and parts of northeast China. In the shrine, a portrait and statue of Tangun have been pla

Jongmyo is a special shrine for the deceased kings and queens of Joseon. It is the oldest extant royal Confucian shrine, according to UNESCO. In Confucianism, when a person dies, the soul is believed to be separated from the body, with the soul going up to heaven and the body returning to earth. The ancestors of modern-day Koreans thought it was important to have a place for the spirit of the deceased and a place for the body. Jongmyo, located in Jongno district, central Seoul, is adjacent

For many South Koreans, it feels like spring hasn’t arrived yet. Thanks to the novel coronavirus, school closures and social distancing mean many of us spend most of our time indoors. But many parts of the country are already in color, with seasonal flowers coming into bloom about a month earlier than usual. In Seoul, yellow forsythia bushes are usually one of the first signs of spring.   One of the popular places for spring festivals in the city is Eungbongsan in Seongdeong-

If you are looking for a picnic spot where you can bring your kids, trek through the woods and enjoy spring sunshine, check out this alpaca-themed park in Hongcheon, Gangwon Province. The park, named Alpaca World, sits on an 360,000 square-meter plot where visitors can walk through and take a monorail ride around the area.  At certain spots, visitors can experience the mild-tempered animals that may try to eat parsnips out of your hands. You and your children can approach the animals

Dark tourism has risen in recent years to respond to the contemporary generation’s drive for unique, impactful and meaningful experiences. In Europe, the Auschwitz concentration camp is a classic example of dark tourism, where traces of wartime genocides and ethnic cleansing are preserved. A more recent case is Ground Zero in New York’s Manhattan, where the World Trade Center Twin Towers had stood before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks occurred in 2011. As for the Korean Peninsula,

Once a mecca for techies in South Korea in the 1970s, Sewoon Electronics Plaza, has now been transformed into a springboard for young entrepreneurs. Sewoon Sangga, located in Jongno-gu in central Seoul, was built as Korea’s first multi-use residential and commercial complex in 1968, and was home to the country’s very first electronics marketplace -- Sewoon Electronics Plaza. During its heyday, the venue attracted some of the best technicians in the country, hosting some of the

‘Social distancing’ campaign gains traction in S. Korea amid coronavirus outbreak