Another free music listening zone at a record shop in Itaewon called Vinyl & Plastic, operated by Hyundai Card, attracts many LP collectors for its inventory of nearly 20,000 records for sale. “I can buy LPs online, but I prefer to visit offline shops like here with my friends because I can listen to various kinds of music. I love this quiet and cozy atmosphere here,” said Kong, a 24-year-old co...

He described his journey to mastering Korean as opening “a door of opportunity.” “Studying Korean has helped me to become a popular YouTuber while allowing me to meet my Korean wife. It has opened up so many doors that I never knew existed. I owe a large portion of my life to having studied the Korean language, and I can’t imagine what I would be doing now if I hadn’t studied it,” he said. So h...

For many Koreans, their most treasured memories from their student days are often of multiday trips to renowned historic or natural sites around the country. These include the UNESCO-recognized historic city of Gyeongju; the country’s wartime capital and now second-biggest city Busan; and Jeju Island, the one and only Korean entry to the World’s Seven Wonders of Nature. However, an online post ...

Soaking in hot water with strangers, getting body scrub treatments and eating roasted eggs and sweet rice punch called "sikhye" to rehydrate -- the bathhouse experience often depicted in films and dramas has long been a part of Korean life. But the longstanding communal bathing culture may soon be history, as soaring energy prices deal a cruel blow to an industry already pummeled by the pandemic...

Nine out of 10 successful candidates for this year’s teacher employment examination for public kindergartens, elementary schools and special education schools in Seoul are women, data showed Friday, continuing a years-old trend of extreme sex-ratio imbalance. A total of 166 applicants passed the test -- 164 applying to work at schools operated by the city government and two for national educatio...

그는 최근 박찬욱 감독의 영화 '헤어질 결심'에 봤다며 “놀라운 영화”라고 평했고, 빠른 시일 내 송강호, 배두나, 강동원, 이지은(아이유) 등 국내 유명 배우들이 총출동한 고레에다 히로카즈 감독의 영화 '브로커'를 보고 싶다고 말했다. 또 빠른 시일 내에 “한국에 다시 가서 독립영화를 제작하고 싶다”고 했다. 처음 한국어 트윗을 시작했을 때 그는 사실 한국어 뿐만 아니라 다양한 나라의 언어로 트윗을 하며 해외 팬들과 소통하는 중이었다. 그런데 유독 한국어로 트윗을 하면 한국 팬들의 반응이 남달랐다고. 그는 자신이 한국에서 이 같은 관심을 받은 것을 그간 한국과 미국의 정치적, 문화적 교류 관계가 한국이 미국을 바라보는 방향으로 주로 일어났기 때문이 아닐까 한다고. 이젠 그 반대로, 미국 배우가 한국어...

One can also easily find videos on YouTube where the so-called “meokbang" content creators eat large platefuls of white rice and grilled Spam. Invented by Hormel Foods in 1937, Spam’s annual sales have constantly grown in Korea since 1987, when local firm CJ CheilJedang first introduced the product to the Korean market. After surpassing 100 billion won ($80.6 million) in 2007, Spam sales contin...

North Korea is clamping down on the use of South Korean slang and expressions, which experts in Seoul see as a response to the growing influence of South Korean dramas and films in the reclusive state. According to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency, the communist regime has adopted new legislation that seeks to impose stronger punishment on its residents who taint the “Pyongyang st...

Meanwhile, another painting from the 19th-century Joseon era, “A Rabbit Gazing at the Round Moon,” as the name implies, shows a rabbit gazing at a round moon in the sky with its ears perked up. In ancient times, the rabbit was viewed as a mystical creature that would make the elixir of life in a mortar for the goddess of the moon.

Q. Walk me through the marriage registration process for international couples. If you are a foreigner and planning to register a marriage with a Korean partner, the first thing you need to do is go to the embassy of your country in Korea and have your single status affidavit issued. When a translated copy of the document is ready, visit any district office with your partner for marriage regist...

In the wee hours of Monday, cellphones in homes and offices suddenly started making beeping sounds en masse in Greater Seoul. It was the emergency text alert for a 3.7 magnitude earthquake detected near Ganghwa County, Incheon. The earthquake occurred at 1:28 a.m. in waters about 25 kilometers west of Ganghwa County. It was the first quake stronger than 3.0 magnitude to hit the nation this year....

After five years of tweeting in Korean and some years of language study, McDonell says he now understands daily conversation in Korean and can read plain Hangeul, the Korean alphabet, on Twitter. His favorite Korean word is “sam" as it carries more than one meaning. “It means three, like the number, and also can refer to hemp, like cannabis – what a lot of people in the US call ‘weed,’” he said...

On weekends, a street from Sinchon Station to the main gate of Yonsei University in Seoul has turned into a K-pop mecca, where various performances and fan events draw crowds of young music fans from all over the world to the car-free zone. However, the lively scene is unlikely to continue from later this month, as the Seoul Metropolitan Government decided Thursday to lift the weekend traffic ba...

Q. What’s the difference between deportation and a departure order? Both serve the same purpose -- removing foreign nationals from South Korea. But deportation does so in a more forceful manner. In case of a departure order, local authorities tell foreigners to leave the country by a certain date and trust that they will do so voluntarily. But a deportation order requires authorities to take a...

In one of the world’s busiest metropolises, Seoul is home to over 9 million people and now, officially, at least 15 otters. Following a series of otter sightings along the Han River which cuts across the megacity, local authorities last week announced that 15 Eurasian otters are confirmed to be inhabiting there. The analysis, conducted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, is based on footage o...