In the eyes of Song In-soo, South Korea is a cruel place for schoolchildren. After official school hours are done, they sit for several more hours in “shadow schools.” At hagwon, as they are more commonly known, elementary school students learn middle school subjects. Middle school students may even be expected to complete the entire high school math curriculum before they start high school. “Parents come home from work in the evening, but their kids aren’t home from hagw

Social Affairs Sept. 27, 2019

INCHEON -- Hong Eun-hye carries on the tradition of her late mother and grandmother, crafting rice cakes, snacks and candies the North Korean way. Born in Hamhung, the reclusive state’s second-largest city, she grew up watching them prepare “finger sticks” -- stick-shaped donuts coated in sugar -- and bean candies -- tiny bean curd balls stir-fried and glazed in sugar -- to sell at local markets. “My mom and grandma used to make these to support my family,” Hong sai

Food Sept. 27, 2019

Restaurant Bukhyang (Songdo, Incheon) Bukhyung is a bright, inviting restaurant with a vintage vibe that sits among trendy eateries and cafes in Songdo’s multiplex shopping center Triple Street. However, its specialty -- North Korean home-style meals -- does not conform to South Korea’s fast-changing food trends. A joint venture between traditional liquor bar Wolhyang and spicy sausage stew franchise Nolboo, Bukhyang is the first real attempt here to market North Korean cuisine

Food Sept. 27, 2019

North Korea is a forbidden land for South Koreans. But there is a way to experience the contemporary culture of the reclusive communist state without actually crossing the border: Visiting restaurants here that specialize in North Korean cuisine. With over 32,000 North Korean refugees calling South Korea home now, such eateries, either targeting fellow homesick defectors or curious South Korean diners, are easy to find with a quick search on the internet. “Having been separated for nearly

Food Sept. 27, 2019

Seoul is keen on repurposing and reinventing city infrastructure, embracing adaptive reuse as an innovative way of unlocking the hidden potential in old buildings, warehouses and factories. According to real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, this trend of transforming old industrial factories and warehouses into new, hip cultural spaces is still very much popular for developers and consumers alike in Seoul, and is spreading to other aged pockets of the city. Here are some of the inspir

Arts & Design Sept. 20, 2019

As banking goes mobile, retail banks are trying to figure out what to do with their increasingly empty branches. One idea is to give customers more reasons to stop by, like a cup of Paul Bassett coffee, a Krispy Kreme doughnut or a chance to browse through some new books. Woori Bank, one of South Korea’s three major retail banks along with Kookmin and Shinhan, was the first to sublet space in its branch to a retail business in 2016, opening up a corner of its branch in Seoul’s Ichon-

Culture Sept. 20, 2019

The approaching Chuseok holiday is a time of the year that Koreans press pause in their busy day-to-day life and appreciate traditional values of their family, communities and the nation as a whole. Many families visit palaces and famous historic sites during the holiday, usually after performing ancestral rites in the morning of Chuseok, which this year falls on Friday. One of the popular destinations is Namsangol Hanok Village in central Seoul, a traditional village that shows what life was du

Culture Sept. 11, 2019

Seoul’s new cultural hot spot, the Oil Bank Culture Park, has a fascinating history behind its unusual name. For more than four decades, the giant oil tanks that now function as exotic cultural venues stored 69 million liters of oil as part of resource-poor South Korea’s national fuel reserves. The site was off limits to the public. Its fashionable rebirth into an artsy space came about in 2017, long after its official closure in 2000, as the result of a public idea contest. Now

Travel Sept. 6, 2019

While gochujang -- Korean red chili paste -- is captivating the taste buds of many overseas, a Chinese sauce known for its tongue-numbing heat is the latest obsession among spicy food lovers here. Mala, a fiery, oily sauce that originates from China’s southwestern region of Sichuan, is the flavor behind this year’s popular malatang hot pot and the stir-fried version, mala xiang guo. As fans can’t seem to get enough of these fiery dishes, Korean food companies and eatery fr

Food Sept. 6, 2019

Late last month, two giant chili statues occupied a corner of Seoul Plaza, in front of City Hall, drawing interest from foreign tourists and passers-by. The air carried the unmistakable scent of the fiery spice. Farmers’ booths nearby had loads of freshly harvested, sun-dried red chilies, ready to be ground into gochu-garu -- chili powder -- or to be aged into thick, fermented chili paste, gochujang. The Aug. 27-29 Yeongyang H.O.T. Festival led to on-the-spot sales and delivery orders

Food Sept. 6, 2019

The city of Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, has the country’s first gallery dedicated to upcycling and runs programs for both artists and the general public. The ongoing exhibition at the Gwangmyeong Upcycle Art Center has a child-friendly zoo theme: A tiger, an eagle and other wild animals have been recreated out of various waste materials. But the message isn’t just for kids. “The ‘Upcycle Zoo’ exhibition intends to provoke thoughts about what’s happening on

Arts & Design Aug. 30, 2019

A fancy new building with an inviting lawn yard, public art installations and plenty of Instagrammable photo spots, Seoul Upcycling Plaza looks just like a hip place to be. And that’s what city officials hope it will become -- a magnet for trendsetters and a hotbed of new lifestyle movements. Upcycling is, according to the center’s public relations manager Cho Ara, a step beyond recycling. “It is not just about using things again (recycling). It is about giving them a new

Arts & Design Aug. 30, 2019

At first, it seemed the museum was in the wrong place. Traditional wooden architecture standing smack in the middle of a new residential town, the Museum of Shamanism appears out of place among the towering apartment buildings around it. It has no space even for a parking lot. Ironically, though, this might be the location most befitting a building dedicated to shamanism -- which, despite being deeply ingrained in Korean society, is dismissed by many as a backward relic of the past and demonized

Culture Aug. 23, 2019

JEJU ISLAND -- In her family-run distillery in Seongeup, a small village at the foot of Hallasan on the volcanic island of Jeju, Kim Hee-sook does everything the old way. She crafts the island’s iconic spirits omegisul and gosorisul the same way her ancestors did, using only local ingredients -- glutinous millet, barley, water and homegrown nuruk, the fermentation starter. Traditional earthenware is used for brewing, distilling and aging the liquor. “This house used to have a straw t

People Aug. 16, 2019

South Korean banknotes and coins begin life at a factory in Gyeongsan, just outside Daegu. They are then transported to the Bank of Korea’s vault in Seoul, heavily guarded by armed security officers, to enter the money circulation cycle. In its lifespan as a medium of exchange, the banknotes and coins travel around at varying speeds, with some -- 1,000 won bills in particular -- changing hands numerous times before exiting circulation. However, some coins spend most of their time sitt

Economy Aug. 16, 2019