Lifestyle - The Korea Times

No. of multicultural households on steady increase in Korea

Single-person households top 30% in 2019By Lee Kyung-min The number of multicultural households has been on the steady increase here, reaching 354,000 in 2019, up from 335,000 in 2018, Statistics Korea said Tuesday. This was a further jump from 319,000 in 2017 and 316,000 in 2016. Of them, the number of single-person households with multiracial background reached 42,000 in 2019, accounting for 11.9 percent of total multicultural households in Korea, and down from 43,000 in 2018.The number of two-person and three-person multicultural households have been on a steady rise over the past few years, contrasted by a decline in the number of single-person households and households with four members or more. Overall, the number of multiracial families is climbing. The statistics agency said that this can be attributed to an increase in the number of divorces and separation of family members and children leaving after reaching a certain age for reasons including education and marriage.About 98,000 were two-person households in 2019, accounting for 27.7 percent of the total. This was up from 9

Dec 8, 2020By Lee Kyung-min

No. of multicultural households on steady increase in Korea

Portion of single-member households tops 30% last year

GettyimagesbankThe portion of single-member households in South Korea surpassed 30 percent of the total for the first time in 2019, data showed Tuesday, amid a delay in marriage and rapidly aging population.One-person families accounted for 30.2 percent of the total last year, up 29.3 percent from the previous year, according to the data by Statistics Korea.Households consisting of a single member totaled 6.15 million in 2019, up from 5.85 million the previous year, the statistics agency said.One-person households have been on the steady rise since 2015, when the percentage of people living alone hit 27.2 percent. The data came as more South Koreans are delaying marriage, and the country is undergoing rapid aging.Of such households, people in their 20s accounted for the largest slice of 18.2 percent last year, followed by people in the 30s with 16.8 percent and in their 50s with 16.3 percent, the data showed.The statistics agency said 6 in 10 single-member households had jobs last year.The number of households having a working single member came to 3.67 million as of October 2019, ac

Dec 8, 2020

Portion of single-member households tops 30% last year

COVID-19 brings changes to Christmas spirit around the globe

gettyimagebanksBy Park Han-solThe coronavirus pandemic has changed the world as we know it and long-held Christmas holiday traditions are no exception. Due to COVID-19-related difficulties, this year some children are visiting Santa Claus on Zoom while the Salvation Army's Red Kettle Campaign will be held in Korea on digital platforms.From one Danish zoo's decision to place Santa Claus inside a giant snow globe to some U.S. malls requiring the use of face masks, plexiglass and plastic shields, in-person visits with St. Nicholas have undergone a significant transformation this year. Going one step further from such social distancing meetings are virtual Zoom calls with the Claus himself.American websites such as VisitFromtheClauses.com and TalktoSanta.com are enjoying a surge of popularity as COVID-19 case numbers continue to rise."We're expecting to triple or quadruple our income this season," Don White, a 79-year-old performer of Santa. Claus in VisitFromtheClauses.com, said during an interview with CNN, Saturday.Against a festive backdrop with a Christmas tree, a cozy fireplace and

Dec 8, 2020By Park Han-sol

COVID-19 brings changes to Christmas spirit around the globe

Winter snack street vendors can be found online

Seen are a number of bungeoppang and a solitary ddongppang on display / Korea Times photo by Kim Ju-young By Park Ji-won“Bungeoppang,” a fish-shaped pastry filled with red bean paste, has long been one of the most iconic winter street foods in Korea. The name is a combination of the words “bungeo” referring to crucian carp and “ppang” meaning bread in Korean.The snack even has a variation called “ingeoppang,” also a fish-shaped bun filled with red bean paste, vegetables and cream. The word “ingeo” refers to common carp, differentiated from bungeoppang. It is more expensive and crispier than bungeoppang. Now, as bungeoppang has a longer history than inggeoppang, the former is often used to refer to both.The fish-shaped buns' popularity is attributable to its comparably cheap price; customers could buy two to six pieces of bungeoppang with a 1,000 won bill ($0.90). But the number of vendors has decreased partly because the price of ingredients soared and the vendors w

Dec 7, 2020By Park Ji-won

Winter snack street vendors can be found online

What's left in rustic county after 'ginseng rush'

“Father, the Breadwinner”: A farmer harvests commercial ginseng on his farm in Geumsan, South Chungcheong Province in this 1992 photo. He ensured his children were fed and educated with the income he earned from selling ginseng. / Courtesy of Yang Hae-nam'Capturing Winds' narrates boom and bust of commercial ginseng farms in GeumsanBy Kang Hyun-kyung Rye fields in a snug place surrounded by low mountains are a common sight in South Chungcheong Province's rustic county of Geumsan, once famous for four-year-old premium ginseng.Local ginseng farmers grow rye to make their farmland suitable for ginseng production. They destroy the rye crop when the grains are ripe for harvesting. The following year they sow and destroy the crop again. The fallen rye crops and remnants fertilize the soil and make it moist enough to create good living conditions for various microbes. Once the barren soil becomes fertile, farmers plant ginseng seeds there and cultivate the crops for a period of four years. “Once the ginseng is harvested after four years of cultivation, the soil becomes dra

Nov 30, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

What's left in rustic county after 'ginseng rush'

Photo essays: What to expect in South Korea's countryside

Vaccine expert underscores significance of equal access to COVID-19 vaccines

Jerome Kim, director general of the International Vaccine Institute, gives a lecture on COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza at the Moroccan ambassador to Korea's residence in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Tuesday. Courtesy of Corea Image Communication InstituteBy Dong Sun-hwaVaccine expert Jerome Kim has highlighted the importance of providing “equal access” to COVID-19 vaccines amid media reports that some countries may start vaccinations as early as next month.“For COVID-19, we have three vaccines that show efficacy and safety,” Kim, director general of the Seoul-based International Vaccine Institute (IVI), said at the Korea CQ Forum hosted by the Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI), Tuesday. “Coming weeks will likely bring more, but 8.8 billion doses are reserved, mainly by high-income countries.“Modeling suggests that use of the first 2 billion doses by high-income countries without some equity will double global deaths.”Kim spoke about the issue in front of foreign ambassadors to Korea, including Kuwaiti Ambassador Bader Mohammad Al-Awadi an

Nov 25, 2020By Dong Sun-hwa

Vaccine expert underscores significance of equal access to COVID-19 vaccines

Korea's childbirths in September hit lowest point

GettyimagesbankThe number of babies born in South Korea edged down 2.2 percent in September from a year earlier, data showed Wednesday, in yet another sign that the country's population is on the verge of a sharp decline.The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 23,566 babies were born in September, compared with 24,090 tallied in the same month of 2019.It marked the lowest number of newborns for any September since 1981, when the statistics agency started compiling data on newborns on a monthly basis. In the third quarter of 2020, the total number of newborn babies here reached 69,105, down 6.2 percent from a year earlier, the data showed. In the first nine months of 2020, a total of 211,768 children were born, down 8.8 percent on-year.South Korea's total fertility rate hit an all-time low in 2019, a clear sign of its imminent population decline. The rate, which refers to the average number of children a woman bears in her lifetime, came to 0.92 last year, down from 0.98 a year earlier. Last year marked the second consecutive year for the rate to fall below 1, while it is li

Nov 25, 2020

Korea's childbirths in September hit lowest point

Korean Buddhism: Untold hallyu teetering

Buddhist monastics walk in a row at Baekdam Temple, Gangwon Province, in this Korea Times file photo. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulA series of scandals undermine Korean Buddhism's global influence By Kang Hyun-kyungEven before the term hallyu was coined in the early 2000s to refer to the successive sensational success of Korean dramas in Japan following KBS's mega hit TV series “Winter Sonata,” there was the export of Korean ideas and thoughts.Korean Buddhism is the untold side of hallyu.Korea's export of Zen Buddhism had preceded the overseas sensational reactions to Korean dramas and K-pop which seems to have reached its peak with the presence of superstar K-pop band BTS since the mid-2010s. Starting in the late 1980s, Korean Buddhism captivated some Americans and Europeans who sought to find peace of mind and reach the mental state of complete detachment from worldly desires. In the 1990s, a flurry of Westerners visited Korea to study Buddhism and about 100 people chose to become Buddhist monastics, dedicating their rest of lives to preaching and spreading Budd

Nov 25, 2020By Kang Hyun-kyung

Korean Buddhism: Untold hallyu teetering

Descendant fights for forgotten heroes

Lee Dong-il, president of the Patriotic Martyrs Family Association, speaks during an interview at The Korea Times office in Seoul on Friday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulNon-profit group calls for better treatment of fallen independence fightersBy Park Han-solHonoring patriotic martyrs with a moment of silence following the singing of the national anthem has been customary for all government-hosted ceremonies in Korea. In reality, however, most Koreans do not reflect on the sacrificed lives they pay tribute to, and merely do so out of obligation to a decades-long practice.“They are the fallen heroes who were victimized during the campaign to save the nation from Japan's colonial rule,” Lee Dong-il, president of the Patriotic Martyrs Family Association, said during a recent Korea Times interview at the non-profit group's office in Seoul.The patriotic martyrs are individuals who have been formally recognized for sacrificing their lives between the Japanese's assassination of Empress Myeongseong in 1895 to Aug. 14, 1945, the day before liberation.Although the martyrs

Nov 23, 2020By Park Han-sol

As e-scooters gain popularity, safety concerns rise amid eased rules

A man drives an E-scooter in Seoul, Nov. 3. YonhapWendell, an English teacher living in Seoul's southeastern Songpa district, often uses a ride-sharing electric scooter to go to a subway station. The increasingly popular urban mobility tool not only saves him time but also helps him avoid bus crowds amid the coronavirus pandemic."I use them twice a week to get to the station. It saves time by about half," the 43-year-old American said, asking to be only identified by his first name. "I don't have to worry about catching COVID from using a bus and it's so fun."The popularity of e-scooters has grown sharply in South Korea, now home to 52,080 units nationwide as of end-August, a big jump from 17,130 tallied at the end of last year, according to joint research by Seoul city, the Korea Startup Forum and the Shared Personal Mobility Alliance (SPMA).The coronavirus impact also played a part in its rapid growth, as people like Wendell have increasingly shunned public transport. Between March and August, the cumulative e-scooter usage via mobile apps was recorded at 15.2 million cases, 4.3 ti

Nov 11, 2020

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