South Korea - The Korea Times

SeoulNotes.com guides foreigners to artistic, cultural events

A screenshot of seoulnotes.com advertising performances, exhibitions and film screenings / Courtesy of seoulnotes.comBy Jon DunbarThere's no shortage of artistic and cultural activities available for foreigners in Seoul, even during this pandemic. The problem is finding out about them ― or getting the word out to people who will benefit. Blossom and Eric Perriard aim to bridge that gap, with their new website seoulnotes.com which gives information on art shows, screenings of independent films and subtitled Korean films, exhibitions and other miscellaneous events.“This year, it's become pretty key to make the most of the city you live in, so we decided to go to more shows and take the opportunity to explore more of Seoul,” Blossom, an Australian citizen, said in an online introduction. “But we realized there's no English-friendly website that tells you what art shows, exhibitions, movies or events are on at a given time or day.”Her husband Eric, who is from France, told her of Pariscope, which lists upcoming or ongoing cultural events. Now a website, it was a p

Oct 6, 2020By Jon Dunbar

SeoulNotes.com guides foreigners to artistic, cultural events

Shejang offers int'l marketplace online

CEO Zahid Hussain sits in front of CEO Noman Rao, and two interns. / Courtesy of Shejang By Hallie BradleyThree entrepreneurs from three different countries set out to change the way foreign residents shop for groceries here in Korea and provide a sense of home while doing it. The startup, called Shejang, is now the largest online international grocery marketplace in Korea, and everyone including vegans and Muslims will be able to find food they can eat.“Being foreigners ourselves,” said co-founder Robin Sheeraji, “we feel what the other 3.5 million foreigners feel in Korea and that is why our core value is to make foreigners' lives easier.”Co-founder Zahid Hussain added, “Our site primarily caters to foreigners living in or traveling to Korea and secondarily to Koreans. The reason behind the decision is to solve two issues foreigners are facing in Korea in terms of food and groceries. First, grocery products from other countries are not very easily available, especi

Sep 29, 2020By Jon Dunbar

Kimberley Street, Hong Kong's 'Little Korea'

Kimberley Street, widely considered Hong Kong's "Little Korea" / Courtesy of Jericho LiBy Jericho LiIt is no secret that many Hongkongers are obsessed with K-pop stars and Korean TV dramas. I was told that four out of 10 them admit that they devote a considerable amount of time on planning trips, and South Korea is the second-most-popular travel destination.The gloomy outlook of the lingering COVID-19 pandemic has apparently killed the travel bug in many locals, and their feelings definitely resonate with me. With little chance of flying out to revisit Seoul this year, I decided to spend a day tucking into Korean food at Kimberley Street in the bustling Tsim Sha Tsui area. Tsim Sha Tsui is not only famous for its prestigious shopping and cultural attractions, but also well-known to many for Kimberley Street which is affectionately dubbed “Little Korea” by Hongkongers. Apart from restaurants and cafes, one can also find Korean grocery stores and grab Korean snacks such as kimbap and kimchi. Inside Namdaemoon One, a Korean restaurant in Hong Kong's Kimberley Street / Courte

Sep 29, 2020

Foreign Line

Make traditional Korean liquorThe Sool Company has a solid schedule of classes for the first few days of the Chuseok long weekend, providing a fun and rewarding activity for those stuck in Seoul.On Wednesday they offer their usual introductory class on makgeolli, followed with a class on soju distillation Thursday and a lesson on “100 flowers sool,” Friday. Makgeolli is a simple brew, usually served as a white milky liquid, made by fermenting rice with a special yeast called nuruk. Traditionally associated with farmers and rural communities, makgeolli is a byproduct of the process of making more refined alcoholic beverages. Soju is made by distilling the filtered product of makgeolli production. Traditionally it was made by aristocratic families and the recipes were handed down through generations from mother-in-law to daughter-in-law. Creating a small amount of soju produces a larger volume of makgeolli, also known as takju, which was often given out to servants and laborers. According to The Sool Company, “100 flowers sool” is a special fragrant style of makgeolli. The class will i

Sep 28, 2020By Jon Dunbar

Joseon Images Korea during World War I

German sailors from the SMS Jaguar visit the palace circa 1907. / Robert Neff CollectionBy Robert NeffJust before 8 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 1914, the ground began to shake in Jemulpo (modern Incheon). At first it began as a low rumble but “became more violent [and then] gradually became feeble and died after one hour and thirty-three minutes.” The earthquake was not the most shocking news that morning.Europeans, in the Far East, awoke to discover their countries were at war. Embassies and consulates immediately began organizing reservists. Germans throughout Japan gathered at Shimonoseki and boarded a steamer for Tsingtao (modern Qingdao, China) via Busan, Korea. From the same port, British volunteers sailed for Hong Kong aboard another ship. Sometimes the opposing forces were on the same ship ― as was the case with the Japanese steamship Omi-Maru. It was bound for Shanghai (with a contingent of Austrian and German volunteers) and Hong Kong (with seven British reservists).In Korea, 21 French residents answered the call for mobilization. Among them were J. Boher (propri

Sep 22, 2020By Robert Neff

Toasting 7 years, Southside Parlor stresses adaptability, community

Bobby Kim, one of the co-owners of Southside Parlor / Courtesy of Robert Michael Evans By Kyung LeeItaewon cocktail bar Southside Parlor will hold its seven-year anniversary party on Saturday, Sept. 26, and Robbie Nguyen, one of the bar's original founders, attributes this milestone to the amazing team that makes up the Southside Family.It's a celebration the bar's management hopes will rally enough confidence in patrons to attend amid the recent downgrade in social distancing mandates. Recent lockdown measures have been hard on the food and beverage industry, so their original plan for a summertime anniversary has turned into an autumn celebration after several postponements. “The pandemic is hard on everyone,” Nguyen told The Korea Times. “There's no point of having an anniversary party if no one feels comfortable.”He highlighted the poster for the anniversary party, which uses a well-known mural of a frog by the late Daniel Johnson, a musician and visual artist f

Sep 22, 2020By Jon Dunbar

Holiday in North Korea Consumer adventures in Pyongyang

Billboards for North Korean companies stand next to a monument to the Three Revolutions. / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar By Jon DunbarDoing business in North Korea has got to be incredibly complex. Their economic system is unrecognizable compared to ours, and even buying a drink can be frustrating. I recall on my first visit to Pyongyang in August 2010, one store in the Yanggakdo Hotel had a complicated payment system, where money was exchanged here, and products were exchanged safely over there. It felt almost like they were quarantining us financially, afraid of capitalist contamination. Also, oddly, it seemed like they weren't very exact with change, often erring in my favor. There were souvenir shops for us wherever we went, but we never handled the local currency, instead transacting in U.S. dollars, Chinese yuan or euros. On Aug. 15 we visited Moranbong Park, where thousands of Pyongyang citizens were celebrating the liberation of Korea. They were having fa

Sep 15, 2020By Jon Dunbar

[Holiday in North Korea] Consumer adventures in Pyongyang

New book explores 'Weird and Wonderful' Korean temples

Daewon Temple's dragon entrance / Courtesy of Dale QuarringtonBy Hallie BradleyIt's said again and again, once you've seen one Korean temple, you've seen them all. Ask Dale Quarrington, though, and that's a mistake. “In a nebulous sense, yes, they all do look the same in their symmetry and outward appearance,” began the foreign resident of Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province. “But if you look closely, and you understand what you're looking at, a world of difference reveals itself.”Quarrington is the owner and writer of KoreanTempleGuide.com and recently he released his third book on the subject titled “Korean Temples: The Weird and Wonderful” in which he hopes to dispel the notion that all Korean temples are the same.The red-and-green facades with Buddhist scenes and flowers painted from floor to rafter are what most people first notice when they approach a Korean temple. The colors that are consistent across temples make it seem as though they are one and the same until you come to a place like Daewon Temple in Pohang. “Daewon Temple has a 10

Sep 15, 2020

COVID-19 makes life tougher for immigrant workers

Migrant workers lay bricks at a construction site in Seoul in this undated photo. Korea Times fileBy Kim Se-jeongKorea is home to almost 2.5 million people who were born outside the country, with almost half coming from China and Vietnam, followed by the Philippines and Bangladesh.However, the lives of those coming from developing countries are fragile here. They are usually manual workers with lower wages, and often came to Korea alone to send money back home to support their families. Even for those staying with family in Korea, the money they earn is far from enough to provide them with a decent living. Then came the COVID-19 pandemic which made their lives even more precarious. The Korea Times reached out to a couple of workers from developing countries to hear their stories. All the names have been changed to protect their privacy.Jose, from the Philippines, used to work at a shipbuilder in Mokpo, but lost his job in July when the company went bankrupt. He used to earn 1.8 million won a month, out of which he sent about 1.4 million back home to Cebu where his wife and daughter l

Sep 10, 2020By Kim Se-jeong

COVID-19 makes life tougher for immigrant workers

Filipinos angered by racist comments from internet users in Korea

Filipinos are outraged by racist comments from several internet users in Korea during a row triggered by a tattoo of 19-year-old Filipina TikTok star Bella Poarch. /Screen capture from Bella Poarch's TikTokBy Lee Hyo-jin Social media users in the Philippines appear to have been angered by racist comments made by some internet users in Korea during a row triggered by a tattoo of Filipina American TikTok star Bella Poarch. Poarch, a U.S.-born social media influencer, 19, has over 15 million followers on TikTok and more than 2.4 million followers on Instagram. The controversy began with Poarch's TikTok video of her dancing uploaded on Sept. 5. In the video, a tattoo on her left arm with the pattern of the Rising Sun flag was revealed to millions of viewers. The flag, which was widely used by Imperial Japan during World War II, to some symbolizes the country's wartime aggressions. It is perceived as highly offensive to Koreans as it harkens back of the tragic history of Japan's 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula. Following criticism from Korean internet users, Poarch issued a pub

Sep 10, 2020By Lee Hyo-jin

Filipinos angered by racist comments from internet users in Korea

VIDEO What do Koreans think about Filipinos joining #cancelkorea movement?

Global Community