Dosirak (lunch box) with ssamjang sauce and greens to season and wrap the other ingredients One of the most underrated aspects of Korean cuisine is ssam, the act of wrapping food in bite-sized amounts, most often with lettuce, cabbage, perilla, kale or another leafy green. Each bite is flavored with a sauce such as ssamjang, a punchy but not overly spicy mixture of fermented doenjang (soybean paste), gochujang (red chili paste) and other ingredients  (sesame oil, garlic,

Seoul coffee shops are serving beverages in reusable cups like this one. Korea is stepping up its effort to reduce plastic waste, as seen in the recent resumption of a ban on the use of disposable cups and utensils in restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and convenience stores. Supplying them with take-out orders is still allowed. A customer places a single-use cup into the “ecoshop” at a Starbucks for a 1,000 won refund. Korea began to prohibit the use of disposable cu

Lights start to illuminate Sewoon Sangga’s third-floor plaza at dusk, October 2021. What is Sewoon Sangga? The literal translation of its quintessential 1960s name is “ Erecting Good Energy Shopping Mall.”  As Seoul’s downtown core continues its breakneck development, Korea’s long-abandoned first urban megaproject has become the unlikely home to the capital’s young, hip crowd.   When Sewoon Sangga was built in 1967, it was intended to contain a self-sustained

A drone shot of Gyeonghwa Station Park in Jinhae-gu, Changwon, Gyeongsangnam-do Province Spring has arrived and so have the blooming flowers that blanket Korean landscapes with a variety of colors this time of year.   Here are some of the gorgeous destinations to enjoy spring from pink cherry to bright yellow canola blossoms.   Gyeonghwa Station Park, located in Jinhae-gu, part of the sprawling coastal metropolis of Changwon in Gyeongsangnam-do Province, i

A scene from HYBE EDU’s new Korean learning program “Blackpink in Your Korean” / Courtesy of HYBE EDU The global popularity of K-pop has led to a new interest in learning Korean. The latest trend has prompted K-pop entertainment giants to release new learning materials for global fans. SM Entertainment, which has nurtured hugely popular K-pop groups like Girls’ Generation and SHINee, recently revealed that its subsidiary SM Culture Partners has joined hands with local