[Weekender] Why becoming a parent takes learning

When her daughter turned 18 months a few years ago, Lee Ji-seon faced a totally unexpected situation. Her daughter only wanted to spend time outdoors -- all day, every day. She’d sit on her stroller and cry nonstop until Lee would take her outside, even if it was two o’clock in the morning.“So I’d take her on a stroller walk at 2 a.m., and just walk around the neighborhood until she fell asleep,” said Lee, a former teacher who now raises two children. “And I’d very carefully take her back to her

Social AffairsApril 29, 2016

[Weekender] Healthful Korean tea to fit every need

Since long ago, tea in Korea has been associated with medicinal effects. Many ingredients in traditional concoctions, such as ginseng, overlap with those used in tea.　Besides green tea, there are many other types of tea enjoyed in lieu of water, as desserts and as healthy drinks. 　Another common one here is barley tea, known as bori-cha in Korean. Made by steeping roasted barley, the tea is enjoyed both hot and cold, and substitutes drinking water in many homes and restaurants. 　This grain-based

IndustryApril 22, 2016

[Weekender] Tea fields in Boseong beckon with natural green splendors

BOSEONG, South Jeolla Province -- While nearby tropical nations like the Philippines and Indonesia have their hanging rice terraces in Banaue and Tegalalang that serve as major tourist attractions, Korea also has its own natural green splendors for tourism. 　Located at the southern tip of the peninsula is the Daehan Dawon Tourist Tea Plantation -- more often known as Boseong Green Tea Plantation -- in Boseong, South Jeolla Province.  　The lusciously vibrant green tea fields of Boseong is the nat

FoodApril 22, 2016

[Weekender] Tea resurgence brews

Long before the invasion of western coffee, Korea was a tea-drinking country with a rich ceremonial tea culture and heritage preserved for more than a thousand years.　Tea has always been at the center of the country’s tradition, culture, poetry, drama, art and song. But little attention was often paid to it in the post-war era, making it difficult to maintain its significance in society.  　Korean tea eventually lost its once prominent role to coffee, as the product of the West became more access

CultureApril 22, 2016

[Weekender] At one with nature, tea, others

Traditional Korean tea-drinking is not just about the beverage. 　It’s based on the harmony of all aspects involved in the process, including nature, attire, interior setting, teaware and people, explains Kim Eui-jung, who is recognized as Korea’s 27th intangible cultural asset for her expertise in traditional royal tea ceremonies. 　Kim’s mother, Kim Mi-hee, in 1980 helped restore Korea’s unique tea tradition which had been passed down for hundreds of years since the Goryeo dynasty (918-1392) but

FoodApril 22, 2016

[Weekender] Tea franchises tap growing interest in health, demand for diversity

In South Korea, home to some of the world’s most avid coffee consumers, tea has often been pushed aside as a traditional drink befitting the older generation and out of touch with modernity. However, with more Koreans prioritizing health and demanding wider beverage options, tea is gradually emerging as an attractive drink, fueling the country’s fledgling tea industry. Tea franchise O’sulloc`s tea. (AmorePacific)

IndustryApril 22, 2016

[Weekender] Korea going coinless by 2020

Korea is officially going cashless by dumping coins first. In the country that boasts high smartphone adoption and credit card ownership, the way people pay for everything is changing, with more digital transactions than ever before.To spur the trend, the Bank of Korea is seeking a digital way to replace coins for transactions with its aim to make Korea a “coinless society” by 2020. “The most important goals are resolving inconvenience that consumers and shops feel while carrying and storing coi

April 15, 2016

[Weekender] Digital payment drives out ATMs

As bank consumers embrace digital payment methods, they are gradually turning their backs on automated teller machines, as cash machines on the street here have fallen to decline.Korea’s leading five banks ran a total of 29,611 ATMs as of the end of last year, down 4.4 percent, or 1,378, from a year earlier, according to data from the industry.The banks are Shinhan Bank, Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea.  Kookmin Bank has shut some 571 ATMs in the past three y

April 15, 2016

[Weekender] Tech firms seek leadership in era of electronic money

Online shopping can often be full of hassles. Shoppers have to install a package of security programs to fend off possible hacking attempts, enter credit card information, and type in a long and complex password. They need to repeat the routine again if a single mistake is made along the way.Mobile payment services, however, have eliminated such hurdles plaguing online shoppers. The mobile payments boast built-in security programs, a simple and easy-to-use user interface, and a high level of com

April 15, 2016

[Weekender] Will big wallets become a thing of the past?

With the rise of plastic cards and smartphone applications in everyday transactions, Korean consumers have little need for cash -- or full-sized wallets.Data shows that consumer preferences are turning more toward smaller, thinner wallets whose primary function is to hold plastic cards.According to online marketplace Gmarket, sales of card wallets and money clips surpassed that of half- and full-sized wallets in 2014 and 2015. In 2010, card wallets and money clips had represented just 10 percent

April 15, 2016

[Weekender] A cashless society

A cashless society is fast becoming a reality in Korea.Cashless transactions here have already overtaken those made with notes and coins. Koreans use cash for just 20 percent of all payments they make. According to a recent survey by the Bank of Korea, the average Korean carries 74,000 won ($65) cash and two credit cards in their wallet, withdrawing cash out of ATMs only three times per month.Men and older people still prefer cash compared to Women and younger people, the survey found. “Spending

April 15, 2016

[Weekender] ‘Descendants of the Sun’: more fantasy than reality

Lee Soo-yeon, a 27-year-old office worker in Seoul, can’t get enough of “Descendants of the Sun,” the ongoing Korean drama series that features a military romance between a solider and a surgeon. 　“I think the series has many things that I can’t really see or achieve in my real life, such as the sense of justice, responsibility and altruism,” she told The Korea Herald. “And on top of all that, it is just very romantic.”　The 16-episode series takes place in a fictional war-torn Mediterranean coun

Social AffairsApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] Military at crossroads on female soldiers

It was almost a no-brainer for Park Na-hyun, a 26-year-old female student, to join the military.Having grown up in a family with a “disciplinary” father who served in the military for 20 years, military uniform was the norm. The scholarship provided by the military school was also a merit hard to pass up.However, eight months into her first year at military school, she decided to quit. As one of the two exclusive female cadets out of 30 cadets in her squad, she said she experienced implicit disa

DefenseApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] Military culture infuses throughout every part of society

On an ordinary weekday morning, throngs of executives line up by rank at the lobby of a sprawling glass building in Seoul that houses the headquarters of one of the country’s biggest family-run conglomerates. They are awaiting the chairman, who is about to make his entrance in about half an hour. As he emerges through the door, a vacuum-like, fleeting stillness sweeps through the pack, followed by waves of deep bows from the waist. In the evening, on the other side of town, a group of college st

DefenseApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] Military life leaves mental marks

Former Brig. Gen. Yoon Han-doo recalls the day when South Korean corvette Cheonan was struck by a North Korean torpedo on March 26, 2014. The retired general had been serving as the head of the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, which attended to the wounded sailors after the incident that left 46 dead.“Right then, I thought ‘this is a war, these are casualties of war,’” he said. Nearly 63 years have passed since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, but the occasional skirmish with the comm

DefenseApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] A soldier’s life

On July 27, 1953, the three-year Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty. Nearly 63 years later, inter-Korean tensions are at their highest point in years as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issues threats of nuclear strikes against the South and the U.S.The peculiar background means South Korea still has mandatory conscription for all able-bodied men. Nearly all adult men in Korea have hoisted and fired a gun and marched in military uniform with the purpose of protecting their count

DefenseApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] Korea's reluctant reservists

Whenever former military officer Kim Jung-wook receives a letter from the Army requiring him to join a military drill as reservist, the 28-year-old office worker is nervous about how to bring it up with his boss. “Sometimes I feel like I’m requesting a permission for time off,” Kim told The Korea Herald “Though no one has ever accused me of it, I am worried that my boss and teammates wouldn’t appreciate it because I am the only one who has served in the military from the team,” he said. He is on

PoliticsApril 8, 2016

[Weekender] Art auction boom lifts shares of Seoul Auction

Shares of Seoul Auction, the only listed art auction house in Korea, rallied on a rosy outlook for its 2016 performance in the beginning of the year. The company shares hit a record high of 24,950 won ($21.70) on Jan. 19. NH Investments and Securities forecast the company’s operating profits will soar to 21.6 billion won this year, up 43.5 percent from 2014, thanks to increased global interest in Korean monochromatic paintings.The firm’s revenue is also expected to jump to 71.9 billion won this

IndustryApril 1, 2016

[Weekender] Foreign interest spurs Korean art market

When Jason Lee, 43, a human resources professional in Hong Kong, visits Seoul to see clients, he makes it a point to squeeze time into his tight schedule to go to a gallery. “I’ve collected contemporary Korean artwork that I like for the past few years for investment purposes, witnessing their growing popularity in the Hong Kong art market,” he said. “As the Korean art boom continues, I can gain high premiums when I resell those artworks at auctions later.” Unlike previous spikes in demand for K

IndustryApril 1, 2016

[Weekender] Samsung's tradition of art collection

Samsung Group chairman Lee Kun-hee is known as Korea’s most powerful and the wealthiest business tycoon, but he is also an avid art collector – a side of the man not well-known to the public. Samsung’s chief is currently the largest private holder of artworks in the nation, with more than 150 national treasures in the company’s Ho-Am Art Museum and Leeum museum. “Lee learned how to collect art pieces from his father Lee Byung-chul, the founder of Samsung,” said Lee Chong-sun, who worked as a dir

IndustryApril 1, 2016