[Weekender] Regulations, privacy pose dilemma

With the latest revolutionary technology taking off, a growing number of entrepreneurs are paving the way in Korea for a wider use of unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones.Even President Park Geun-hye last month stressed the need for an industry-specific development strategy at a national level concerning unmanned vehicles, including drones. However, industry insiders agree that the existing legal landscape for drones remains relatively restrictive in comparison to other developed c

IndustryJune 19, 2015

[Weekender] Corporate Korea falls in love with drones

Corporations in South Korea from a wide variety of industry sectors are turning their eyes toward drone technology, which is expected to create a great number of new business opportunities down the road.South Korea’s 10th-largest conglomerate, Hanwha, is one of those firms aiming to make headway into the unmanned aircraft industry.The company, which has placed importance on the defense and military businesses since its foundation in 1952, recently acquired Samsung Techwin, the defense business a

CultureJune 19, 2015

[Weekender] Life’s a lottery for Korea’s dogs

It is the epitome of polarization to live as a dog in Korea.For more fortunate canines life is sweet. They are fed, groomed and catered to at a degree many less fortunate humans would envy.Dog hotels and a variety of beauty services from hair salons to nail shops are flourishing here. Some pooches are considered to be more than companions, becoming partners in fighting crime and assistants to the blind. Dogs today even have their own TV programs. Smart gadgets are designed to monitor their healt

Social AffairsJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Burgeoning Korean pet industry going ever more premium

Every day, Lee-seul, Byul and Dal-rae get dropped off at a kindergarten in Seoul by their mom. Throughout the day, they play with their friends under the supervision of their teacher, who instructs them on how to properly behave at home. When evening approaches soon after snack time, the three wrap up their day and head home. This may sound like a typical trio of youngsters, but unlike other kindergartners they are all schanuzers, which Kim Mee-hyun, 57, says are “basically like her children.” A

IndustryJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Dogs are colleagues to emergency rescue workers

Moran, a black Labrador retriever, can do more than just sit and roll over. She has special skills that no human and most pet dogs lack.With a keen sense of smell, the 30-kilogram Lab can track down missing persons miles away who are trapped in natural disaster areas or deep in the mountainous woods. She can help firemen and police solve mysteries on whether the missing victims are alive or dead.Moran is a rescue dog for the Special Rescue Team in Dobong-gu. The team, which works closely with th

CultureJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Why Koreans abandon so many dogs

The thousands of dogs Aerinwon, a private shelter in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, may have been abandoned, but it doesn’t mean they have given up on humans.They jump around and wag their tails as people pass by their enclosure, as if forgetting their past poor treatment.Their lively response is ironic, considering the majority ended up in the facility as they were considered either too ill or too old. Some people brought them in after rescuing them from an abusive environment, its director Kong K

Social AffairsJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Korea’s doggy double standards

When U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert’s arrival in South Korea was unexpectedly delayed by a day in October last year, rumors swirled over the reason. It turns out, he had a problem with American Airlines’ paperwork for his pooch, a basset hound named Grigsby, and he thus detoured to Los Angeles to fly instead with Korean Air to Incheon. The details on what happened remain unclear. While the episode may not have been pleasant for the U.S. flag carrier, it highlighted the Texas-headquartered airline’

Social AffairsJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Debate persists over legalization of dog meat

It had not occurred to Choi Jin-kyu, 30, until he was older that eating bosintang, or a hot soup made of dog meat, might be a habit that was frowned upon.His father has been taking him to eat the soup, long perceived here as energy-boosting and good for one’s health, since he was 10. He continues to enjoy it especially during the sizzling summer heat.“My father used to take me to this place. He said it would strengthen immunity and fend off viruses. Now that MERS is in town, I should eat it more

Social AffairsJune 12, 2015

[Weekender] Soft or crusty ― bread that Koreans fall for

A hot, steamy bowl of rice was long considered an irreplaceable staple in Korean breakfast. “You manage a day with the power of rice,” Korean moms would tell their kids, encouraging them to finish their meal. This centuries-old, typical morning scene is changing rapidly now. Bread, which arrived in Korea through Japan only in the 19th century, is fast emerging as a tasty and convenient alternative to rice. At a Seoul branch of French bakery Gontran Cherrier, croissants and champagne with walnuts

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] Korea’s oldest bakery boasts red bean buns

At around 12:40 p.m., people started lining up in front of Lee Sung Dang Bakery’s modest-size branch inside a department store in Jamsil, southern Seoul. The reason for the wait is the bakery’s signature red bean buns which come out at 1 p.m.“The line isn’t too bad today,” said Lee Yoon-mi, a customer in her 50s carrying five red bean buns and five vegetable buns on her tray. “I am just glad that I don’t have to go all the way to Gunsan to taste this treat.”Lee Sung Dang, the oldest bakery in Ko

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] Born and ‘bread’ in Daejeon

Despite the vast demand for additional chains in other, more populated areas like Seoul and even abroad, Sungsimdang stubbornly refuses to expand beyond its three local stores, which have now become Daejeon landmarks. “We want to be unique to the Daejeon area and provide a flavor that people can only taste when visiting here,” said Kim Kang-eun, head of public relations at Sungsimdang. That flavor is the reason foodies and tourists from all over the nation have flocked to the Eunhaeng-dong area

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] More bakeries on the map

OPS Bakery, BusanOPS’s signature menu is the hagwonjeon, which in Korean means “pastry for hagwon,” or after-school lessons. The idea was to create a simple, hearty snack that Korean children could gobble down with a glass of milk before heading to an evening of grueling studies. Made with eggs and honey from Gyeongju’s Mount Tohamsan, the sweet, spongy cake embodies a typical Korean mother’s caring for her child, said OPS.Another specialty of the bakery is the pollack roe baguette, which combin

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] PNB choco pies an icon of Jeonju

During the recent Jeonju International Film Festival, everyone who visited Jeonju seemed to have the same souvenir in mind: a box of bakery PNB’s famous choco pies. The bakery’s bright orange shopping bags were ubiquitous around its branches, and hourlong lines snaked around corners.PNB (also known as Pungnyeon Jegwa) first opened in 1951 in Jungang-dong, Jeonju, and has been passed down through three generations. Instead of choosing to continuously change and expand its offerings, the bakery ha

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] Street pastries that are uniquely Korean

Street food is an intrinsic part of Korean society, and where there are cups of dried squid, heated silk worm larvae and bowls of spicy rice cakes, there are also pastries that are uniquely Korean.Walk down almost any bustling shopping district or high-time nightlife area and street food vendors selling various types of pastry and cake snacks are an inevitable find; whether it’s the ever-so popular “boongabbang” ― a red bean paste-filled sweet pastry shaped like a fish ― or the sweet-eggy goodne

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] The rise of ‘indie’ bakery

“Indie,” the word that Joo Eun-suk, who runs a bakery called Mill in Seochon, uses to describe the growing number of small-scale, artisanal bakeries in Seoul, aptly captures the independent spirits of these bakers. These artisans seem to see dough as a canvas, to be nurtured with natural starters and the right blend of quality flour to achieve a unique blueprint of texture, flavor and aroma that represents their idea of good bread, be it the ephemeral brioche at Mill, the chewy and crisp-edged c

FoodJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] Franchise bakeries look beyond Korean market

If one were to randomly walk into a bakery in just about any urban neighborhood in Seoul, there is a high likelihood that it is either a Paris Baguette or a Tous Les Jours. Neither is French. They are Korean brands, respectively run by SPC Group, the market’s undisputed leader, and CJ Foodville, a unit of local conglomerate CJ Group. Armed with a systematic production and distribution system, big-budget marketing campaigns and a wide product range, the franchise bakeries have rapidly expanded to

IndustryJune 5, 2015

[Weekender] The ascent of one-person media

The media is evolving and diversifying into forms unimagined only a few years ago aided by digital and information communication technologies. Information in Korea was controlled by the few and distributed to the masses, even after literacy became the norm.Those working at newspapers and broadcasting stations effectively chose what information their readers and viewers had access to. In many cases, such dynamics allowed the governments of various countries to pull the wool over the public’s eyes

TelevisionMay 29, 2015

[Weekender] ‘Vloggers’ at forefront of one-man media

Today, in a world where anyone can easily upload a video of themselves doing anything and everything, video blogging has become the new mode of self-expression.“Vloggers” ― or video bloggers, who film or live-stream their thoughts, ideas and interests, have become tremendously popular here in the past years. Some of them rack up fans just like K-pop celebrities, while others are earning significant income through broadcasting online.The genres vary, befitting the increasing influence of video co

IndustryMay 29, 2015

[Weekender] YouTube redefines broadcast in digital era

Ten years ago, YouTube uploaded its first video about elephants at the zoo and their “really, really long trunks.”YouTube, which opened to the public soon after the cofounders’ mammalian clip, became one of the fastest-growing websites in 2006, matched by equally swift copyright threats from media companies.Later that year, YouTube created a stir for what many analysts said was an “overpriced” purchase by Google Inc.Google’s CEO at the time justified the $1.65 billion acquisition, saying, “This

TechnologyMay 29, 2015

[Weekender] Instagram, the new dominant platform?

Facebook remains the king of social media for now, but its reign is not eternally secure, and evidence for this can be found in one of its own affiliates: Instagram. A growing number of Facebook and other social media users are setting up accounts on Instagram to share their personal photos. Celebrity photos on Instagram ― often uploaded by the stars themselves ― are avidly consumed by both fans and the media. The number of Korean users is estimated at more than 4 million, the majority of them b

TechnologyMay 29, 2015