Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Seoul's Han River pools open for night swimming as crowds surge

Summer evenings are becoming prime swimming hours in Seoul, where thousands of residents are heading to Han River pools after sunset as the city extends operating hours to help people beat the heat. The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Ttukseom and Yeouido swimming pools, along with the Jamsil and Nanji water playgrounds, have been operating nightly from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. since July 3 and will continue through Aug. 30 without closing days. The city said the nighttime program has proved popular as prolonged heat waves drive more people outdoors after dark. "The night openings have transformed these public spaces into accessible, budget-friendly evening retreats for citizens escaping the heat," a city official said, noting that the combination of upgraded water infrastructure and cultural programming has made the riverside pools a centerpiece of Seoul's summer nightlife. Since the facilities opened for the summer season on June 19, Han River swimming pools and water playgrounds have welcomed 149,988 visitors through Tuesday. Ttukseom Pool recorded the highest attendance with 50,819 visito

Jul 19, 2026By Lee Kyung-min

Seoul's Han River pools open for night swimming as crowds surge

Chinese TV personality Zhang Yuan resumes activity after 2-year hiatus over anti-Korea remarks

Chinese television personality Zhang Yuan has resumed social media activity two years after suspending his career following controversy over remarks widely criticized as anti-Korean. Zhang posted a new profile photo on his social media account Friday along with the Chinese greeting, "Long time no see." It was his first post in two years on the account he used while working in Korea. Zhang, a Chinese national and former Chinese-language instructor, rose to prominence through JTBC's variety show "Non-Summit" and later appeared on a number of Korean entertainment programs. His Korean career came to a halt in May 2024 after remarks from a personal livestream drew intense criticism. Zhang said Korea was "stealing Chinese culture," citing the Dano Festival, Confucius and Chinese characters, and said he planned to conduct street interviews to hear what Koreans thought. He also said he would wear clothing resembling that of an emperor from China's Ming or Song dynasty and visit a Korean palace, adding that it would feel as though "an emperor from the suzerain state had come to inspect a tributary

Jul 18, 2026By Hankookilbo

Chinese TV personality Zhang Yuan resumes activity after 2-year hiatus over anti-Korea remarks

InterviewMeet Korea's 1st official MA in K-culture and entertainment

For Abigail Jazmine Llamo, who will turn 29 this year, K-pop was never just entertainment. “K-pop may seem light and entertaining on the surface, but for me, it provided joy, comfort and hope,” she said in a recent interview with The Korea Times. “It became a kind of escape, but also a source of energy that helped me dream of a different future. Because of that, I wanted to be part of the kind of work that could inspire or comfort others.” That personal connection ultimately brought Llamo, a Filipino national, to Korea, where she recently completed a master’s degree in K-Culture and Entertainment at Sungshin Women’s University — becoming the first graduate of the program. Her journey reflects the deeply personal ways in which the Korean cultural wave continues to resonate across borders, including in the Philippines, where Korean media content has long enjoyed widespread popularity. Llamo’s exposure to Korean culture began early, through a family visit to Korea in 2004 and television broadcasts of dramas such as “Jewel in the Palace.” Her interest deepened in the foll

Jul 17, 2026By Jung Min-ho

Meet Korea's 1st official MA in K-culture and entertainment

Korean craft, clothing take center stage as Busan welcomes UNESCO officials

Busan is turning one of the world's biggest heritage gatherings into a showcase of Korean craftsmanship and fashion, with two exhibitions opening Thursday to welcome delegates and visitors attending the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said it is hosting the Korean craft exhibition "Invitation to Korean Craft" from Thursday through July 30 and the traveling Hanbok Fair from Thursday through Wednesday at Shinsegae Centum City in Busan. Organized with the Korea Craft and Design Foundation, the events are designed to introduce visitors from Korea and abroad to the beauty of Korean craft, hanbok and everyday culture during the UNESCO meeting. The craft exhibition features 149 works by 29 artists working in ceramics, textiles, glass, hanji (Korean traditional paper) and lacquerware. The exhibition is divided into two sections, presenting traditional Korean aesthetics alongside contemporary works that highlight how handcrafted objects can be integrated into daily life. Among the featured artists are Lee Jeong-hoon, who reinterprets the fo

Jul 16, 2026By Lee Kyung-min

Korean craft, clothing take center stage as Busan welcomes UNESCO officials

Han Kang says Paichai High School incident should lead to deeper reflection

Nobel laureate Han Kang has spoken publicly about the recent controversy involving Paichai High School's baseball team, saying the incident should not simply be forgotten and instead deserves deeper reflection from society. The Korean author made the remarks while attending the 80th Avignon Festival in France, Wednesday (local time), where she met with Korean reporters. Asked about criticisms that Korea's response to the controversy may have been excessive, Han said the issue calls for serious discussion. "I think we need to think more deeply about this issue," she said. Han added that the teachers she knows have also been wrestling with difficult questions raised by the incident. "They ask themselves, 'What can we do?' and 'How did we, as the older generation, fail to the point where this happened?'" she said. The controversy began after several members of Paichai High School's baseball team chanted slogans including "Let's go to Starbucks" and "Tank Day" during a game against Gwangju Jeil High School on June 29. The chants were widely criticized for referencing Starbucks promotions that

Jul 16, 2026By Hankookilbo

Han Kang says Paichai High School incident should lead to deeper reflection

Seoul opens 30-year archive of urban metamorphosis

In 1995, as the capital of Korea hurtled toward a high-tech future, municipal officials quietly launched a panoramic survey to document its rapidly changing face. Decades before high-resolution smartphones and digital mapping, the project aimed to preserve the memory of a metropolis in perpetual motion. Now, 30 years and over 40,000 photographs later, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is opening this vast visual archive to the public. Marking the completion of its seventh five-year recording cycle spanning from 1995 to 2025, the city has launched an extensive exhibition, “Seoul, a City Painted by Time,” running across both physical and digital spaces. The landmark project has served as an essential tool for urban planning and public policy. Every five years, photographers have returned to identical coordinates across the capital to capture the dramatic, often unrecognizable shifts in the landscape. The stark evolution of Seoul’s key districts highlights the sheer scale of this transformation: rural farmlands in Magok, a district on the city's western edge, have been entirely repla

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Seoul opens 30-year archive of urban metamorphosis

Culture ministry brings global art, literaterary figures to Korea

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in collaboration with the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, officially launched this year's K-Fellowship, a prestigious international exchange program designed to connect global cultural leaders with the country’s rapidly growing domestic art and literary scenes. Marking its 18th anniversary, the annual initiative targets a strategic shift in cultural diplomacy. Following last year's focus on the performing arts, this year’s program zeroes in on visual arts, literature and publishing, bringing 10 influential global experts to Korea for highly tailored, site-specific itineraries. The initiative is built around high-impact, practical networking. Rather than standard sightseeing, invitees engage in custom-tailored programs — including direct museum and institutional visits, participation in major national exhibitions and one-on-one executive consultations — aimed at laying down the infrastructure for future institutional partnerships. The fellowship began its 2026 run by hosting Ezequiel Martinez, the director genera

Jul 16, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Culture ministry brings global art, literaterary figures to Korea

Dongdaemun Design Plaza transforms into giant open-air getaway

Not every summer escape requires a coastal highway or a mountain trail. This year, the Seoul Design Foundation is betting that live music, open-air lounges and a curated night market can turn the city's sleekest architectural landmark into a premier vacation destination. The foundation said Wednesday it will host the DDP Vacance: DDP Music Festival from July 31 through Aug. 2 at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza’s (DDP) Eoullim Square. The three-day event is explicitly designed as a metropolitan retreat, inviting worn-out office workers, local residents, and international tourists to experience Seoul’s nightlife without leaving the urban core. Operating from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. daily, the festival aims to rewrite the script for city events. Organizers noted that unlike conventional music festivals where audiences scatter immediately after the headliner finishes, DDP Vacance is engineered to make people linger, relax and explore long after sunset. The festival’s sonic backdrop will change each night, featuring three distinct, themed evenings of live music. A lineup of smooth jazz will ope

Jul 15, 2026By Lee Kyung-min

Dongdaemun Design Plaza transforms into giant open-air getaway

Incheon to showcase live UAM flight demo at upcoming drone expo

Incheon is positioning itself at the forefront of the next-generation aerospace sector as it prepares to host the 2026 Korea Drone and UAM Expo. The three-day event, running from Wednesday through Friday, will be staged across several major venues, including the Songdo Convensia, the Incheon National University Innovation Center and Songdo Moonlight Festival Park, municipal officials said Tuesday. Now in its sixth year, the expo is co-hosted by Incheon Metropolitan City and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. A consortium of state agencies, alongside Incheon Technopark and Inha University, are organizing the event's specialized programming. A central highlight of this year's expo is urban air mobility (UAM) — an emerging ecosystem of highly automated, electric aircraft designed to transport passengers and cargo over short distances within congested metropolitan areas. The expo kicks off Wednesday at the university's innovation center with the K-UAM Service Showcase. The premier event will feature what organizers bill as Korea's first live flight demonstration of a domes

Jul 14, 2026By Jhoo Dong-chan

Incheon to showcase live UAM flight demo at upcoming drone expo

'Beautiful Things' singer Benson Boone to return to Korea in October

American popstar Benson Boone will return to Korea for a solo concert on Oct. 26 as part of his "Wanted Man" world tour, the show's organizer, Live Nation Korea, said Monday. The concert will begin at 8 p.m. in Hall 10 of KINTEX Exhibition Center 2 in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. The singer launched the "Wanted Man" tour this month, following his "American Heart" tour of North America and Europe, which ran from August last year to March and sold out across both continents. Boone rose to fame through TikTok before appearing on the 19th season of "American Idol." His breakout hit "Beautiful Things" (2024) became the most-streamed song in the world that year, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Billboard Global 200 for seven weeks. His debut album, "Fireworks & Rollerblades" (2024), reached No. 6 on the Billboard 200, and he earned a best new artist nomination at the 67th Grammy Awards, where he performed "Beautiful Things" with his signature backflip. His second album, "American Heart" (2025), debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and placed three tracks on the Hot 100

Jul 13, 2026By Pyo Kyung-min

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