Bo-eun leads the digital content team. She has covered foreign affairs, North Korea, tech, economy and gender issues at The Korea Times. She did a short stint at the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong, where she obtained a new perspective on news production and life. Small sources of joy for her are lounging in the sun, having a good latte and swimming.
Korea short of halal eateries
By Kim Bo-eun
Muslim tourists from Southeast Asia are finding Korea is short of Halal restaurants and prayer rooms.
Only around 140 restaurants in the country serve Halal food.
Halal means permitted in Arabic and refers in this case to the type of food Muslims are allowed to eat and how it is prepared. Muslims are not supposed to eat pork and other food containing blood or alcohol.
Most Halal restaurants here serve Indian, Pakistani, Turkish or Arab cuisine.
Only about 50 Korean restaurants offer Halal food. Some Korean restaurants provide grilled fish or braised seafood, or offer vegetarian dishes such as temple cuisine.
The Korea Muslim Association has certified only five restaurants.
A total of 244,520 tourists from Malaysia a predominantly Muslim state visited Korea last year, a 17.7 percent increase from a 2013, according to the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).
Another 208,329 tourists came from Indonesia, a 10.1 percent rise from a year earlier.
About 624,000 Muslim tourists came here in 2013, many lured by K-pop and Korean dramas.
There is also a shortage of prayer rooms.
There are 15 mosques, including Seoul Central Masjid, and 60 prayer rooms in the country.
“Because there are only around 135,000 Muslims in the country, there is a dire lack of prayer rooms and Halal restaurants,” said a KTO official. “Due to the growth in Muslim tourists, the tourism industry will need to better attend to their needs.”