“Concrete Utopia” opens with a riveting visual narrative, tracing Seoul’s remarkable journey from post-war ruins to becoming one of the costliest real estate markets in the world. This frenzied period of phenomenal economic growth allowed many Seoulites to get rich overnight just by buying and selling their precious apartments. This backdrop sets the stage for…
The Best Manicure of My Life Before living in Korea, I rarely got my nails done. Rarely. I would go to the nail salon only on special occasions or when I wanted a “spa day” with my friends. However, since living in Korea, I’ve become obsessed with Korean nail art. The designs and the creativity…
Seollal (Lunar New Year’s Day) is one of the largest holidays in Korea, and in 2024 it is celebrated on February 10. There are many wonderful Seollal traditions to experience, such as eating delicious tteokguk, wearing hanbok, and playing games like yutnori, but perhaps the one tradition that is most loved and easiest to try…
And so it goes, the start of 2024 glimmers with prospects of new beginnings and new opportunities. But how far can resolve go without some hope and inspiration to bolster it? Luckily, a few recent K-dramas deliver just that in the form of a K-pop superfan, an unlikely rookie doctor, a suddenly 7-year-old prosecutor, and…
Even after twenty years of living in the US, I call my annual trips to Korea “going home.” My teenage daughter, however, describes the same trip as “visiting Korea.” Herein lies the difference in our attitudes – mine is to reconnect with family and friends while hers is to explore new places and experiences. Luckily,…
What Every Child Deserves The door of the children’s home opens. It is still thirty minutes before KKOOM’s Spring Scavenger Hunt, but as you walk in, curious and eager eyes of kids are already staring up at you. As the event starts, you find yourself in a swirl of children excitedly dashing around here and…
The year 2023 has been the single most productive year for Korean American fiction in its entire history. In my previous roundups of KA novels and books of short stories published in a given year, the average has been five to seven volumes. Astoundingly, this year saw the appearance of no fewer than eighteen novels…
It is up to the government to shut down anyone who would flood the streets with [drugs]… But is there enough capacity or resources to both effectively stymie drug traffickers and have time to spare to investigate individual users? * South Korea lost a special actor when Lee Sun-kyun died last week from apparent suicide. …