K-pop girl group Brave Girls. Courtesy of Brave Entertainment ● Fan-generated  YouTube compilations are messing with K-Pop formulas.  ● One girl group spent a decade going nowhere in K-pop world until a YouTube compilation of their heartfelt performances of one of their songs at army camps shot it to No. 1. ● Soldiers in their captive audiences dancing wildly and leaving positive comments on Brave Girls’ video garnered the group a second, or first, lo

Plastic surgeon-cum-novelist Kim You-myung. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul ● Plastic surgeon Kim You-myung has published two novels with medical themes and another is on its way. ● He likens his passion for writing to the force that compels some people to become a mudang, Korean shaman.   SEOUL, South Korea -- The plastic surgeon and writer who goes by the pen name Kim You-myung is no stranger to death.   In fact he witnessed many deaths in

Photojournalist-turned-farmer Lim Young-ju. Courtesy of Lim Young-ju ● Korea used to import all of its coffee. It is growing coffee beans now, albeit with a modest start. ● The homegrown coffee is fresh with an earthy, smooth and acidic taste that leaves a sweet and fruity aftertaste. ● Farmers are optimistic about mass coffee production in the future since non-indigenous green tea trees adapted well to the climate of Korea’s southwest.   DAMYANG