Digital businesses dealing in used goods are enjoying sharp growth in South Korea, as coronavirus fears have influenced consumer preference in favor of online secondhand stores over other e-commerce platforms. Market research conducted by Nielsen Korean Click showed that a quarter of domestic smartphone users -- approximately 10 million people -- use secondhand market services. Popular services including Carrot Market, Bunjang and Joonggo Nara are expanding rapidly as they target

Popular webtoon, or digital comic, writer Kian84 apologized and revised his latest work “Bokhakwang,” as controversy over the latest episode posted Tuesday sparked online protests. “Bokhakwang,” which means king of returning to school, is the most popular work by Kian84 that is uploaded at around 11 p.m. on Tuesdays on web portal Naver. “I am very sorry for causing concern with inappropriate depictions in my work,” Kian84 wrote on his webtoon page on Thursd

Leading figures in cultural communication from around the world will join offline panel members to discuss the changes in how cultural contents are delivered in the post COVID-19 era at the 11th Cultural Communications Forum being held from Aug. 26-27. The two-day forum will feature speakers from the EU in the evening of the first day and speakers from North America in the morning of the second day, due to the time difference of the countries from where the speakers will join via video call. E

In celebration of the 75th anniversary of Korea‘s liberation from Japanese colonial rule this Saturday, the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is putting the country’s oldest Taegeukgi, the national flag, on display in its Korean Empire Hall through Aug. 23. The oldest known extant Taegeukgi is held by the Smithsonian museum. Gojong, the last Joseon king and and the first Emperor of Korea, presented the flag to his diplomatic adviser Owen N. Denny from the US when Den

Face masks that tightly cover mouths and noses are a vivid symbol of how the world is combating the COVID-19 pandemic. Masking up in public is mandated in more than fifty countries to guard their citizens against getting infected. And masking may stay for quite a while, according to experts. But face coverings in troubled times have hindered facial expressions of all kinds. Understanding and displaying feelings through closed layers are baffling for the majority to interpret emotions. Likewis

The Korea Foundation, K-pop powerhouse Big Hit Entertainment’s education business unit Big Hit Edu and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies are working together to develop and provide Korean language learning programs. As their first project together, they will provide a program for KF‘s e-school lectures for universities overseas, including Middlebury College in the US, Ecole Normale Superieure and EDHEC Business School in France this year. The organization has been providing con

When students from Uijeongbu High School parodied Ghana’s famous dancing pallbearers, South Korea-based Ghanaian television personality Sam Okyere took to social media to criticize the students for painting their faces brown. A few days later, Okyere apologized after people said it was inappropriate to post a photo of the students without permission. They also took exception to his use of the hashtag “#teakpop,” which is typically used in a derogatory way about K-pop. Many K

The National Intangible Heritage Center in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, is holding the K-Intangible Heritage Festival from Thursday to Saturday. Under the theme of “Re:Heritage Connect,” the inaugural festival will offer one-day classes for foreigners living in Korea to learn and experience intangible heritages of Korea. Performances of “Daechwita,” a genre of traditional Korean music that was performed at parades of kings and other military ceremonies, and Korean t

The National Gugak Center is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its Gugak Museum by revealing yet undisclosed archival materials on North Korean music. On Monday the center will open the doors to a library and exhibition venue on the third floor of the Gugak Museum in Seocho-gu, southern Seoul. Titled “Gong-gan E-um” -- meaning “connecting spaces” in Korean -- the cultural complex will display some 83,000 documents and materials concerning the Korean traditional perf

Korean Cultural Center India aims to get Korean test included in university entrance exam

Time seems to have stopped at the 70-year-old Choseong-ri Station in Yeoncheon County, Gyeonggi Province.  Having started out as a logistics center for the United Nations military forces in October 1950, the station had its heyday when US soldiers and local merchants flocked there. But after a unit of United States military engineers left town, the volume of passengers dropped off significantly. Now, no trains stop here.  When the American soldiers and engineers were around, peopl

As the police investigation of Lim Seul-ong’s car accident continues, a local newspaper released traffic camera footage of the Aug. 1 accident, turning public opinion against Lim. Actor and singer Lim Seul-ong hit and killed a pedestrian crossing the road around midnight Aug. 1 while driving his white SUV in Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul. The pedestrian light was red when the man was crossing the street on the rainy day and Lim was reported to not have been under the influence of alcohol, causin

Myung Won Cultural Foundation said Wednesday it is holding its world tea festival this week, during which it will also celebrate the 100th birthday of the late Kim Mi-hee, who pioneered the restoration of Korea’s tea culture. According to the foundation, the 25th tea festival, dubbed “K-Tea Festival,” will be held at Coex in southern Seoul for four days, starting Thursday. The event will comprise of a photo exhibition commemorating the birth of Kim, and booths where particip

“I am using YouTube Premium to skip advertisements. Little did I know back then that I was only avoiding the advertisements to watch another 10-minute-long advertisement video,” a subscriber to popular YouTube channel Eat With Boki commented. “I’m beyond disappointed. Here, I thought she’s a nice genuine person,” another subscriber wrote. These comments were posted after Moon Boki, the YouTuber behind the self-titled Eat With Boki meokbang channel, which

Seoullo 7017 is an overpass-turned-sky garden situated on a disused highway ramp at the heart of Seoul. The name translates to “Seoul Road,” with the number “7017” coming from two symbolic years. The overpass was first built in 1970, and was reborn in its current form in 2017. The city took a cue from New York’s glorious High Line as part of its urban redevelopment project. The effort was put into action in 2015 and the bustling cosmopolitan capital revamped into