South Korea - The Korea Times

World Refugee Day festival brings communities together in Seoul

To mark World Refugee Day, people from different walks of life gathered on Saturday for the fifth "Shall We Walk?" Refugee Festival at Ttukseom Hangang Park beneath Cheongdam Bridge near Jayang Station on Seoul Metro Line 7. Despite the rainy weather, the festival featured refugee performances representing cultures from around the world, where refugees took center stage to share their lives, stories and unique talents. Attendees enjoyed traditional Burundian drumming, Ethiopian and Jumma cultural dance performances, Sudanese, Pakistani and Afghan music, Korean songs, African traditional singing and K-pop, highlighting the cultural diversity that refugees offer to Korean society and showcasing refugee communities living in Korea. Organized by Refugee pNan, a local nongovernmental organization, the festival was designed to foster natural encounters that overcome prejudice. Rather than relying on lectures or formal discussions, the open-space event encourages understanding through shared experiences, aiming to reduce the distance and misconceptions often associated with the term “refuge

Jun 21, 2026By Bereket Alemayehu

World Refugee Day festival brings communities together in Seoul

'Onggi Jonggi' art exhibition features Korea-based global artists who explore beyond social media and algorithms

Six global artists from diverse backgrounds are displaying their work during Insa Art Week at TOPOHAUS Gallery in central Seoul’s Insa-dong neighborhood, in group exhibition titled "Onggi Jonggi." Co-curated by Ella Kaill, founder and editor of Half Local magazine, the exhibition's vision is to step outside the frame of social media. "Onggi Jonggi," a term evoking a charming, irregular gathering of people or things, presents photography, paintings, sketches, textile work and pixel art, providing an exploration of Seoul through fresh and often unconventional perspectives. "We wanted to look at Korea in a slightly different way. If you look at social media, everything about Korea is Seongsu, pop-up stores and Olive Young. Those things are fine, but they're not the only things about Korea," she told The Korea Times at an opening event on June 12. Kaill, who first moved to Korea from England in 2019, was drawn by a long-standing fascination with the country. Having studied Korean language, cinema, culture and history at SOAS University of London, she arrived with a deeper understanding of

Jun 19, 2026By Bereket Alemayehu

'Onggi Jonggi' art exhibition features Korea-based global artists who explore beyond social media and algorithms

Busan rock band Daisy Gun wants you to put down the phone

When you go to a concert these days, it seems like everyone around you has their cellphone out — capturing what everyone else is recording, messaging friends or maybe just doomscrolling on social media. With the new single "Square Eyes," the Busan-based rock band Daisy Gun takes aim at this culture that is consumed through smart devices. "It's a bit of a political number, and is basically about how people spend too much time on their phones making them susceptible to a whole lot of nonsense," Louis Cilliers, the band's South African guitarist and vocalist, told The Korea Times. "After a few heated arguments about not trusting everything you read online, I started writing the lyrics with the idea of disinformation spreading through social media. People are very comfortable in their echo chambers and are naive enough to believe anyone with a strong enough rhetoric." He added that the lyrics also touch on our overreliance on phones. "There's a phrase in the chorus, 'with square eyes, and a turtleneck,' that references the posture that develops from the overuse of phones," he said. But he wa

Jun 17, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Busan rock band Daisy Gun wants you to put down the phone

How far back does 'Hipdang-dong' go?

For years, a sign above a side street next to Exit 1 of Sindang Station on Seoul Metro lines 2 and 6 announced that visitors were entering the “Seoul Central Market Furniture District.” Then, in 2023, this was replaced by a new sign reading “1946 Hwanghak Furniture Street.” The sign raises several questions, particularly as an accompanying information board outlining the history of the area's furniture and rice markets fails to explain why it bears the date 1946. It explains that in 1950s and 1960s the area was known as the "largest grain wholesale and retail market in the country" which “prospered to the extent that it distributed over 70% of the rice consumed by Seoul citizens at the time,” and also notes that it was at a rice shop there in 1938 that Hyundai founder Chung Yu-yung first honed his business skills. It also notes that the area was once known for “specializing in furniture for newlyweds,” though now it “primarily deals in commercial furniture,” particularly for the food service industry, but makes no mention of the fact that furniture stores and factor

Jun 16, 2026By Matt VanVolkenburg

10th Korean Refugee Film Festival returns with focus on refugee-led storytelling

After a year's absence, the anticipated 10th edition of the Korea Refugee Film Festival (KOREFF) is back with four major films made in Korea and Europe. The festival, founded in 2015 to bring refugee stories to the Korean public through cinema, is also part of the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention this year. This year's festival will feature two film premieres: “Allies in Exile” by Syrian refugee filmmaker Hasan Kattan, and “A Lighter Between Invisible Bars” by Liam Han, a refugee from Myanmar living in Korea. The program is rounded out by two European productions, “Green Border” (2023) by Agnieszka Holland, and “Souleymane's Story” (2024) by Boris Lojkine. Over the past decade, the festival has provided a platform for filmmakers, activists, refugees and members of the public to explore the realities of forced displacement through culture and storytelling. Stefan Maier, deputy representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Korea, said the festival’s central theme this year is “Festival of Refugees,” or the idea that refuge

Jun 16, 2026By Bereket Alemayehu

10th Korean Refugee Film Festival returns with focus on refugee-led storytelling

Indie music festival answers Busan's calling

Five music venues across Busan will unite to host over 30 live music acts for the first-ever Busan Calling Music Festival on Friday and Saturday. Although seemingly only in its first year, the festival is actually a rebrand of last year's Debaser Fest, run by Jamie Finn, editor of Debaser Magazine. "I was never super keen on the name Debaser Fest. It was a decision made with deadlines approaching. So, to keep things simple, I named it after the mag," Finn admitted. "We've called it Busan Calling to reflect the aims of the fest, which is to build a bridge between the really underrated Busan music community and other musical places." Finn has been heavily active for years supporting the local music scene across Korea, publishing his own magazine, running a massive English-language Kakao group chat and organizing music festivals. As well as Busan Calling and Debaser Fest, he's also been running Block Party, a similar multivenue event in Seoul, for the last four years. Finn added that planning has already begun for Block Party's return to central Seoul's Haebangchon and Gyeongnidan in Septemb

Jun 15, 2026By Jon Dunbar

Indie music festival answers Busan's calling

RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK No bad luck at SOL Taphouse

There are fewer pleasures in life than going to Busan. The city offers up the delights of sunshine, beaches, urbanity and local cuisine such as "dwaeji-gukbap" (pork rice soup) or the myriad of "eomuk" (fish cake) producers. I’m going to hazard a guess that most people wouldn’t associate Korea’s coastal “second city” with great pizza. But they should. Enter SOL (which stands for "Slice of Life," not the other thing) Taphouse. Located on the fourth floor of a building across from Gwangalli Beach, it offers stunning views of the beach, Gwangan Bridge and the revelries that occur at street level below. The atmosphere inside is a cross between cozy, Victorian factory and neo-industrial chic, and somehow it works. This is a great date spot for these reasons alone, but let's get into the main attraction shall we? I’ve had a lot of great pizza in Korea and I even sang the praises of “Best Pizza on the Peninsula” at Spill Out in Seoul's Yeonnam-dong a few years back. SOL Taphouse is just as good. I couldn’t believe it when I’d uttered these words out loud to myself, sitting

Jun 14, 2026By Kevin Grabb

[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] No bad luck at SOL Taphouse

RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK Namsan Deli keeps reinventing itself

Something is different with the menu at Namsan Deli every time I come back. It's been a wild ride since its soft opening last October. It's always been in flux and ready to reinvent itself, and I'm starting to get the impression that that's its permanent identity: a work in progress. I was cautious at first about this deli-slash-bakery-slash-cafe, because sandwich places in Korea can be extremely hit-or-miss. But the more I've explored the menu, the more Namsan Deli has grown on me. Located at the top of a steep road leading up from the Seoul Station area into central Seoul's cozy, quiet Huam-dong neighborhood, with N Seoul Tower looming above, Namsan Deli is in a strange spot. I've had many chances while waiting for orders to observe the foot traffic passing by, and it's certainly much less lively than similar places over the hill, like Haebangchon or Itaewon. This isn't a place where many people walk — it's more of an intersection where cars race by, only stopping if they have to at a red light. The owner, who suitably goes by the English name Sandi, assures me that business is bri

Jun 9, 2026By Jon Dunbar

[RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK] Namsan Deli keeps reinventing itself

French experimental band Meule to kick off Asia tour in Seoul, Busan, Daegu

Somewhere between the mechanical and the human, between the precise and the chaotic, are the French experimental trio Meule. With a giant modular synthesizer, two drum kits sharing a single bass drum and a frantic wall of genre-smashing sound, their live shows have become an absolute must-see. They plan to bring their eccentric mix of krautrock, garage rock and psychedelia to Korea this weekend with live shows in Seoul, Daegu and Busan. Meule are made up of guitarist, vocalist and modular synth player Valentin, and drummers and vocalists Dorris and Marine. The trio already developed a fan base in Korea after their surprising performance at DMZ Peace Train Music Festival in 2024 became the most talked about of the weekend. It was a night that left an impression on both the audience and the band. “We found the circle pit really inviting,” Valentin told The Korea Times. "That's one of the main reasons we wanted to come back." This time, they are arriving with new music, new collaborations and a live show that has grown since the band’s first visit here. Their origins were accidental.

Jun 8, 2026By Jamie Finn

French experimental band Meule to kick off Asia tour in Seoul, Busan, Daegu

German, Russian visual artists explore Korea through art and everyday experience

A group of international artists studying and living in Korea recently came together to present "Sweet Bread," a group art exhibit currently on display at KOTE in central Seoul's Insa-dong neighborhood, inspired by their experiences as foreigners navigating life in Korea. The exhibition is a collaboration between four art students from Germany and a photographer from Russia, who display a visual reflection of everyday life encounters in Korea, resulting in shifts in perception, habits and attention. Their collective perspective as outsiders allows them to reread everyday visual and digital stimuli as simultaneously seductive, soothing and excessive. Laila Kamil from the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig, who came to Korea on an exchange program with Chung-Ang University, said their group was formed from friendships through university studies. Several of the artists met in sculpture classes at Chung-Ang University, while others had known each other previously in Germany. “Our group initially applied to several open calls for exhibitions but received little response. Eventually, through con

Jun 7, 2026By Bereket Alemayehu

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