Videos of international artists performing in South Korea sometimes go viral for an unusual reason: the audience seems to know every word. Thousands of people may sing an English-language chorus together, or continue a song almost immediately when the artist turns the microphone toward the crowd. In Korea, this kind of collective singing is commonly … Read more
Coffee culture in South Korea has changed dramatically over the past few decades. Cafés are everywhere, iced Americanos are popular even in cold weather, and many people now choose coffee based on beans, roast profiles, brewing methods, or simply the café they like. Yet Korean coffee mix has not disappeared. It is no longer at … Read more
Today, Cheonggyecheon Stream looks like a carefully landscaped walking path running through the heart of downtown Seoul. Water flows between high-rise buildings, people sit on the stone steps, and in summer, trees and bridges provide places to escape the heat. I also think Cheonggyecheon has become a genuinely useful public space. Compared with its early … Read more
If you want to understand Korean history and cultural heritage in one place, the National Museum of Korea is one of the best places to start in Seoul. Its permanent galleries cover everything from prehistoric Korea and the ancient kingdoms to Goryeo, Joseon, and the Korean Empire, while other sections introduce painting, ceramics, Buddhist art, … Read more
Korean art can be found far beyond Korea. Museums in New York, London, Paris, Tokyo, and many other cities hold Goryeo Buddhist paintings, Joseon white porcelain, ceramics, sculpture, textiles, archaeological objects, and everyday items from different periods of Korean history. Some of these objects left Korea more than a century ago, while others entered foreign … Read more
If you spend a winter in Korea, one of the first things you may notice indoors is the floor. Even in a modern apartment with beds, sofas, and dining tables, sitting or lying directly on a warm floor still feels completely natural to many Koreans. That warmth has a long history, but the heating system … Read more
Korean fried chicken is such an ordinary part of life in Korea today that it can be hard to imagine a time when it did not exist in its current form. We order it while watching football or baseball, choose it when nobody in the family can agree on dinner, and scroll through delivery apps … Read more
When people explain Korean birthday traditions, they often begin with special milestones such as Baekil, Dol, or Hwangap. But when I think about birthdays in Korea, my first image is much more ordinary: a bowl of seaweed soup on the breakfast table. Birthdays in Korea today are not completely different from birthdays elsewhere. We eat … Read more
When you visit an old Buddhist temple in South Korea, there is a good chance that getting there involves a mountain road, a forest trail, or at least a noticeable climb. Some of Korea’s best-known historic temples sit far from dense city centers, surrounded by trees and mountains. This sometimes leads to a simple explanation: … Read more
In the age of generative AI, memory chips have become some of the most important components in the global technology industry. AI servers need enormous amounts of DRAM and high-bandwidth memory, or HBM, to move data quickly between processors, and two South Korean companies — Samsung Electronics and SK hynix — sit near the center … Read more