Lifestyle

DAILY FORTUNE - JULY 26, 2023

REVIEW 'The Phantom of the Opera' now lives beneath the Charlotte Theater in Seoul

A scene from the musical, "The Phantom of the Opera" / Courtesy of S&COMusical 'The Phantom of the Opera' to run through Nov. 17By Holly ChikThe legendary musical “The Phantom of the Opera” is back in Seoul with a top-notch Korean cast and breathtaking live orchestral music.The Korean-language version of the performance is making a strong third-time comeback with glamorous costumes, creative set design and engaging choreography. “It gives me great joy that The Phantom's story will be told in South Korea once again in the Korean language,” the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote in the playbill. He also noted that the show's debut in 2001 attracted over 300,000 people, and a successful return followed in 2009.A scene from the musical, "The Phantom of the Opera" / Courtesy of S&COAdapted from the namesake novel by French writer Gaston Leroux, the award-winning musical is set in the grand Paris Opera House, where the enigmatic Phantom resides in a labyrinthine lair hidden beneath the theater. The Phantom also assumes the role of a mysterious singing teache

DAILY FORTUNE - JULY 25, 2023

K-beauty: What does it cost to be beautiful?

Plastic surgery clinic signs are listed on a building in Gangnam, southern Seoul, in this April photo. Korea Times fileSome believe K-beauty pushes unrealistic beauty standards By Dami KimDALLAS ― “Her skin is so pale. She seemed so white and pure,” a male contestant on “Single's Inferno,” the hit dating show of 2021, said when he described his first impression of a female contestant. Other male contestants praised the same female contestant and stated she is their type as they “like people who have light skin.”In 2021, along with “Squid Game,” this hit dating show attracted global attention to South Korea, but it also sheds light on the country's obsession with unrealistic beauty standards. Hana Kim is a Korean American who thinks the beauty standards in Korea are outrageous and toxic for women of all ages. As young as she can remember, her family suggested plastic surgery as it would make her look “much prettier in Korea.” Her mother even offered her plastic surgery as a graduation gift when she graduated college. “M

Cash-strapped wage earners give up vacations: survey

By Ko Dong-hwangettyimagesbankA majority of wage earners in Korea cannot afford to take a vacation this summer because of their economic conditions, according to the results of a survey released Sunday.Among the country's salary earners who have given up on taking a vacation this year or delayed making plans, 62 percent said they did so because they “don't currently have enough cash in hand.”The survey was conducted by Gabjil119, a civic group advocating for the rights of domestic workers, over a week starting on June 9. “Gabjil,” or “gapjil” as it's more commonly spelled, is Korean for a set of actions taken by workplace superiors or customers in service sectors against others who deem the actions unfair and abusive.The survey, which interviewed 1,000 salary earners aged 19 and older across the country, has found that less than 44 percent have made vacation plans for this summer. Meanwhile, over 36 percent said they had not yet decided whether to take a vacation this summer, while 20 percent said it was not an option. There was a correlation betwe

Booker-nominated Bora Chung's 'Your Utopia' to be published in English next year

The Korean cover of Bora Chung's 2021 short story collection, “To Meet Her” (direct translation). Its English-language translation, “Your Utopia,” rendered by Anton Hur, is set to be published next year. Courtesy of Arzak LivresBy Park Han-solThe English-language translation of novelist Bora Chung's 2021 short story collection, “Your Utopia,” is set to hit the shelves next year in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and India.Translated by Anton Hur, the piece is an absorbing mix of absurdist and wryly humorous tales that draw on elements of horror, science fiction and even zombie apocalypse to take veiled jabs at perceived injustices in today's world. The duo was previously shortlisted for the International Booker Prize for Chung's genre-defying collection, “Cursed Bunny,” last year.Among the eight stories featured in “Your Utopia” is “One More Kiss, Dear,” which centers on an AI-powered elevator's unrequited love for one of the residents in an apartment complex.Some of the tales are inspired by real-li

DAILY FORTUNE - JULY 24, 2023

Startup CEO infuses entertainment to learning Korean

KOKIRI, an app-based Korean learning platform using Korean entertainment content, created by education service startup Koylabs / Courtesy of KoylabsBy Lee Gyu-leeK-pop and entertainment have been gaining more and more attention from global audiences lately.For Jeon Ye-ji, the founder and CEO of education service startup Koylabs, this is an opportunity for people around the world to have a more interesting and fun way of picking up not only the Korean language but also its culture. “I want people to feel that it's easy and fun to learn Korean (through our platform) … I hope this can help expand the ways to access Korean culture and content,” she told The Korea Times during an interview at the company's office in central Seoul, Wednesday. “Jeon Ye-ji, founder and CEO of Koylabs / Courtesy of Koylabs“I believe knowing the language is one of the ways to have a better understanding of a culture … So through our service, I hope to provide people learning Korean with an experience to expand their cultural scope.”Koylabs runs KOKIRI, an app-based K

Pink Kimchi CEO sets out to bring unique flair to spicy Korean side dish

Pink Kimchi CEO Kim Kyoung-min / Korea Times photo by Choi Won-sukBy Lee Gyu-leePink Kimchi's flagship product is pink turnip dongchimi (radish water kimchi). Courtesy of Pink KimchiKimchi, a side dish made with fermented vegetables, is a staple food consumed by Koreans in almost every meal. It is impossible to talk about Korean cuisine without kimchi. With its long history, many variations of kimchi have been developed using different ingredients like napa cabbages or radishes, usually made with chili flakes, like baechu (cabbage) kimchi, or without chili flakes, like dongchimi (radish water kimchi). But the kimchi brand Pink Kimchi strives to add a new flair to the Korean comfort food through its flagship product, pink dongchimi, made with locally grown turnips from Ganghwa Island off the coast of Incheon west of Seoul.“I want to establish something that reminds people of Pink Kimchi when they think of Ganghwa turnips. And within the brand, there is more than just kimchi, but variations so every generation can enjoy different tastes through five different flavors I've set to

DAILY FORTUNE - JULY 21, 2023