With rapper Jay Park’s recently-launched Won Soju becoming a phenomenal hit, soju is getting a premium makeover.  For long, the vodka-like liquor has been loved for its accessibility (a bottle costs just about $1) and versatility (think of the boilermaker known as somaek or all the other variations). But these latest renditions are far more special, aiming to create a new subgenre of soju.  Questions remain about whether the premium versions will be more than a passing fad, w

Food July 26, 2022

Cable channel ENA’s hit legal drama series “Extraordinary Attorney Woo” offers a glimpse of what it might be like to work with a person who has autism spectrum disorder. The main character is an autistic genius named Woo Young-woo (played by Park Eun-bin), who, after graduating from a top law school with honors thanks to her photographic memory, embarked on a career as an attorney at a big law firm. The series follows the rookie lawyer as she tackles one case after another

Social Affairs July 20, 2022

State prosecutors put on hold the police’s push to put down a dog which attacked and severely injured an 8-year-old boy in a case that sparked public outcry over the weekend, local reports said Sunday. They cited a lack of evidence to prove the dog was dangerous. According to reports, the disposal process of the mixed breed dog, which mauled the neck and arms of an elementary school student at an apartment complex in Ulsan on July 11, has been suspended following the prosecution’

Social Affairs July 17, 2022

In a corner of Sinsa-dong in Seoul’s Gangnam district, there’s a nearly two-decade-old record store dedicated to classical music. With a collection of more than 200,000 CDs and vinyl records as well as some 3,000 books on the world’s greatest musicians and music history, the shop – Pungwoldang – is not an ordinary shop. It is a salon, school and publishing house for classical music aficionados and musicians. But above all, owner Park Jong-ho, 62, wants it to be

People July 16, 2022

Subway stations in Seoul will house more clinics and pharmacies, providing easy access to commuters who need medical services on the go. According to Seoul Metro, operator of Seoul’s subway system, the first two installments of the Metro Medical Zone consisting of medical clinics and pharmacies opened at Yeoksam Station on Line No. 2 and Jongno 3-ga Station on Line Nos. 1, 3 and 5 on Thursday. Both are open 365 days a year from 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, including weekends. Some

Social Affairs July 14, 2022

Until this summer, Jeong Ran, a freelance photographer, had no idea where Hamyang was. The rural county of South Gyeongsang Province is just about one and a half hours’ drive from the city of Gumi, where she lives, yet it has never entered her scope of interest. When this reporter talked to her early this week, the 32-year-old was on her second trip to Hamyang. Only two weeks ago, she returned from a two-week rural stay program there. “This time, I want to make postcards with

Social Affairs July 13, 2022

Convenience store owners are pushing to impose late-night surcharges on items to offset the expected rise in labor costs from next year’s legal minimum wage increase. In a meeting held Tuesday, the National Convenience Store Franchise Association, which represents store owners, decided to officially demand that convenience store franchises support the idea. Under the proposal, owners would impose a 5 percent surcharge on the price of all items sold at their store from midnight to 6 a.

Consumer July 6, 2022

Jeju tourism did not just bounce back to pre-pandemic levels -- it has reached a new high thanks to high travel demand from domestic tourists, suggests new data released Tuesday. According to tentative data compiled by the Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Tourism Association, the number of domestic tourists to the southern resort island hit an all-time high of 6.8 million during the first half of this year. Compared to a year earlier, this is a 24 percent jump. The six-month visitor

Travel July 5, 2022

The life story of Eva Yoo Ri Brussaard, a Korean adoptee in the Netherlands, is heartbreaking, yet it is sadly familiar. At age 2, she was abandoned by her biological father and was sent oversea with her blind sister to be adopted by a Dutch couple. The couple got divorced only three years later, her sister was sent to an orphanage, and she stayed with the Dutch mother, only to live in neglect. “I always dreamt about my (birth) parents and thought that I could have a better life in Kor

Social Affairs July 1, 2022

From a four-day workweek to work-from-anywhere arrangements, also known as “workcations,” Korea’s big tech firms are riding on the global wave of workplace reforms toward extreme flexibility and better work-life balance for employees. The highly-enviable four-day working week experiment is to take place at Kakao. Starting from July, employees get every other Friday off. This is on top of the fully-remote work and flexible-hour system announced late last month. “As

Technology June 30, 2022

In Korean, Samseong Station on Line No. 2 is written and pronounced exactly the same as Samsung, the country’s No. 1 conglomerate by any measure. Even some locals presume the two to be related, given the firm’s nearly ubiquitous presence in South Korea.  They aren’t.  Rather, it is the another Korean corporate behemoth -- Hyundai Motor Group -- that is linked to it.  In 2014, the auto group bid a jaw-dropping 10.5 trillion won ($8.04 billion) to buy a plot

Hashtag Korea June 27, 2022

Korean language has no shortage of insults, but “kkondae” seems to hold a special place in the country right now. While the term‘s definition and usage have expanded over the years from condescending seniors at work to people of older generations in general who come into conflicts with younger people over values and resources, the fear of being labeled as such has grown in tandem. At Kyobo Book Center, a keyword search for “kkondae” returns some 75 entries with

Social Affairs June 21, 2022

Behind the shining successes in economy, education, public security and the health care system, Korea is a country with an extremely low birth rate and the highest suicide rate among OECD member nations. Now, the country stands at a crossroad to choose its path forward. “It is between whether we place a high value on mental state or continue to focus on extrinsic values,” said Ji Na-young, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Extrinsic

People June 16, 2022

In a country where nearly one-third of all households consist of just one person, products and services tailored to the need of those living alone keep growing their presence in the market. Mobile applications are no exception. Apps are springing up to cater to solo life.  The King of Honjok Studies have shown that people living alone are more likely to experience a lower quality of life, and men living alone more so. The King of Honjok aims to help by providing services that enable

Social Affairs June 13, 2022

Son Suk-ku, the South Korean actor who rose to instant fame with his performance in “My Liberation Notes,” has interesting stories to tell, not just in fiction, but also in real life. While many fans may be drawn to the wild, rebellious spirit he has shown in recent performances, the actor was “morbidly shy” during his teenage years, according to his own words. This was one of the reasons he moved to the United States as a middle school student. “My father was

Television June 8, 2022