President Yoon Suk Yeol announces his vision to develop Korea’s digital technologies at New York University’s Digital Vision Forum on September 21. (Courtesy of the Office of the President) With the digital transformation of the world picking up pace, Korea – already a country well known for nurturing digital-related industries – aims to move closer to the forefront of the nations that are driving the digital era.    On September 28, the Ministry of Sc

Jocelyn Clark, a gayageum player from the U.S. (Courtesy of Shelly Lightburn) The first time Jocelyn Clark heard someone play a  gayageum , a Korean 12-string zither, she didn’t get the appeal.     “I didn’t understand the sound. It was very dark and muffled,” said the Alaska-raised  American.  “I just didn’t understand what was going on.”     Its long rhythm patterns, with accents in unexpected places, were hard to appreciate

Children have lunch at an elementary school in Bucheon, Gyeonggi-do Province. Non-genetically modified organisms and other environmentally friendly ingredients were used to make this lunch under the theme “eco-friendly meal.” Meals at school cafeterias are one of the most important – if not critical – elements of education for students who have to spend quite a lot of time at school.    School lunches in Korea are widely viewed as being 

A woman takes a picture of the new Office of the President from a section of Yongsan Park temporarily opened in June. That section and all of the former U.S. military base that has occupied the land since 1945 will be turned into a huge park in central Seoul. The Yongsan-gu District is on the north bank of the Hangang, in the center of Seoul. Yet, most Koreans have never been allowed to see a large portion of Yongsan even though it sits in the middle of their cap

Gim (dried laver), is one of Koreans’ staple foods, usually eaten with rice. / Courtesy of gettyimagesbank Seaweed is one of those things present in many Korean dishes that can strike newcomers as odd. But after trying a few of the dishes that contain bits of seaweed, or come wrapped in crinkly black-green laver, most people are likely to develop a taste, if not a craving, for it.    A wide variety of seaweed from diff

A corgi puppy shakes itself dry after getting soaked. / Courtesy of gettyimagesbank Korea has gone through a cultural shift in terms of public attitudes toward animals. Eating dog meat was once common while keeping pets indoors was considered unusual. Dogs were raised to keep thieves away rather than provide companionship.   Yet, public attitudes have changed dramatically in recent decades, with a growing number of people keeping pets as companions or “family members.

Migrant workers pluck cabbage at a farm in Chungju, Chungcheongbuk-do Province. The Korean government will invite more than 50,000 migrant workers to Korea in the remaining months of this year, as part of its effort to deal with labor shortages in the shipbuilding, manufacturing and service industries.   According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the number of job vacancies stood at 230,000 as of June, the highest since February 2018.   The labor shor