If you’re a fan of Korean dramas, you would be no stranger to gimbap. The seaweed rice roll, usually filled with various ingredients, are akin to sandwiches in the West. It is easy to get, inexpensive and good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It is the ultimate meal on the go. Recently in K-dramas, this versatile dish has taken on different meanings. In Netflix’s hit drama “The Glory,” protagonist Moon Dong-eun, played by actor Song Hye-kyo, eats gimbap whenever she can

Television Jan. 25, 2023

The act of honoring the spirits of ancestors by offering them food and drinks during the Lunar New Year has been considered a serious tradition for centuries in South Korea. But this year, some families have decided to honor the tradition in a lighter mood, according to photos gone viral on online communities. Versatile screen This photo, uploaded by an anonymous user and shared on Instagram, shows a clever use of a wall-mounted TV screen, a staple in Korean living rooms. Instead of keeping

Culture Jan. 24, 2023

Actress Kim Go-eun’s character in tvN’s “Little Women” is described as the typical Korean firstborn daughter. She is a strong realist who is willing to make sacrifices to support her family. She saves up money, not for her own sake but for her siblings. The burden of being the firstborn child in a family is a topic not only confined within South Korea. It is a subject studied by psychologists worldwide. Yet, in a society where deep-rooted patriarchal practices of the past

Social Affairs Jan. 14, 2023

When a small provincial branch of NongHyup Bank offered an online-exclusive installment savings plan with an annual interest of 8.2 percent in November last year, the news spread like wildfire among savvy savers. It sold like lottery tickets. Within hours, the bank sold 900 billion won ($707.8 million) of saving products, which was more than five times the size of the branch's total assets of 167 billion won. The problem was that the rural bank just wanted to attract just 10 billion won of fu

Market Jan. 11, 2023

Recently, the possibility police discovered a new serial killer sent shock waves across South Korea. Lee Ki-young, who was arrested late last month for the murder of a taxi driver and his ex-girlfriend, will undergo an extensive investigation into additional DNA found inside his home. Looking back, South Korea’s history of serial killers is still considered for its hateful brutality and aggression. Here are three of Korea’s most notorious serial killers: 1. Lee Choon-jae, the &l

Social Affairs Jan. 10, 2023

High cost of housing plays a role in South Korean couples not wanting to have babies, new study suggested, as the country struggles to find ways to reverse a shrinking population. According to the report, released Monday, by the state-affiliated Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, a 1 percent rise in the median home prices leads to 0.002 fewer births per woman. As of end-2021, Korean women had an average of just 0.81 babies over their lifetimes, which was the world’s lowest t

Social Affairs Jan. 3, 2023

Foreigners working in South Korea on an E-9 visa with a high command of the Korean language will likely be allowed to stay in Korea continuously for up to 10 years. According to a plan announced Friday by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the Employment Permit System will be revised to give benefits to foreign laborers who are fluent in Korean. Currently, holders of the E-9 nonprofessional work visa wishing to extend their stay after 4 years and 10 months must leave Korea and reapply for th

Social Affairs Dec. 30, 2022

For millennials and Generation Z – those who were born between the early 1980s to early 2010s, respectively – clashing with their bosses at work has been popular material for television comedy in South Korea over the past few years. But recently, the skits took a new turn, with many of them poking fun at how their real enemy at work is not their bosses, but themselves. Saturday Night Live Korea’s new segment “MZ Office” – with “MZ” referring to mil

Culture Dec. 25, 2022

A hundred and one Korean dairy cows will fly to Nepal over the next month, as part of a plan to help boost the productivity of the South Asian country's dairy industry by sharing the cow's genetic resources. Led by Heifer Korea and the South Korean government, the project marks the first time live Korean cows are being sent overseas. Nepal has some 7.5 million dairy cows, about 20 times the number of Korea, and the dairy industry accounts for 9 percent of Nepal's gross domestic product, but t

Social Affairs Dec. 21, 2022

When Vittoria Oliveira de Souza Ventura came to South Korea from her native country of Brazil five years ago, she didn’t expect her name to cause trouble. “My full name is more than 25 characters long (in the English alphabet) and I was denied access to many services because name registration was not possible,” Ventura told The Korea Herald. When written in Hangeul -- the Korean alphabet -- her full name is 16 characters long, compared to most Korean names' three. “I&rsqu

Social Affairs Dec. 15, 2022

HANOI, Vietnam -- In an era of shifting supply chains, Vietnam is poised for a bigger global role and its partnership with China will provide momentum for that, said the chief of the Southeast Asian country’s top economic think tank. “China has pledged to strengthen its economic cooperation with Vietnam and the partnership regarding the supply chain is a big part of that,” Bui Quang Tuan, director general of Vietnam Institute of Economics, told The Korea Herald, at his office

Economy Dec. 14, 2022

HANOI, Vietnam -- Hyundai Motor has mostly remained No.2 in Vietnam in terms of market share, but it seeks to change that with its new plant in Ninh Binh province, located just South of Hanoi, a senior official at the local unit told The Korea Herald. “Bolstered by our increased annual production capacity due to the second factory that started operating in November, our annual sales in the Vietnamese market next year is projected to jump to at least 85,000 to 90,000 vehicles from the curr

Mobility Dec. 12, 2022

Despite public outrage, Seoul police said on Wednesday that they do not consider a drunk driving car accident that killed a 9-year-old in a school zone last week a hit-and-run. On Sunday, Police filed an arrest warrant for the suspect in his 30s, who ran over a student who was heading home from Seoul Eonbok Elementary School in Gangnam district on Friday afternoon. After hitting the child, the suspect just drove off, according to witness testimonies and CCTV footage. The suspect’s blood

Social Affairs Dec. 7, 2022

South Korea’s Korean language foundation plans to expand its global program which is currently available at 244 institutions across 84 countries, as it looks to the next decade. “This year, we celebrated our 10th anniversary,” King Sejong Institute Foundation President Lee Hai-young at an event honoring the foundation’s scholarship recipients held in Seoul on Monday. The foundation has been assisting students worldwide seeking to learn Korean language and culture with i

Social Affairs Dec. 6, 2022

The World Bank Group seeks to hire more Koreans, especially women, in climate, energy, agriculture and economy in this post-pandemic era, Diarietou Gaye, the organization’s vice president for human resources told The Korea Herald in a recent interview. Gaye noted that the WBG is looking for young Koreans who could bring their experience and contribute to helping other countries end extreme poverty, in an exclusive interview with The Korea Herald in Seoul on Nov. 18. Gaye visited Seoul to

Economy Dec. 5, 2022