When lost on the streets of Seoul, there is one foolproof way to find your way home: just keep walking in one direction on a main road until you hit a subway station.　Sprawled underneath the mega city with over 300 stations on a dozen different lines in the metropolitan area, the subway system acts as a way to navigate the city with ease. There are no major destinations in Seoul that cannot be reached via subway, making it the prime mode of transportation for many Seoulites and tourists.(123rf)　

Wearing stab-proof vests over their uniform shirt, they patrol underground during duty hours. Their mission is to help secure safety of people and keep peace.Policemen? No, they are Subway Guards helping prevent crimes and incidents and establish order at more than 300 subway stations in Seoul. A Subway Guard patrols inside a train. (Jo He-rim/The Korea Herald)As Seoul’s metro system transports more than 7.5 million commuters a day, more and more security-related violations are taking place at s

When Kim Yu-ri came back from her monthlong European trip last summer, the first thing that welcomed her was clean, speedy and comfortable subways.“I still cannot forget the combination of garbage and pee wafting up through the subway grates in Paris,” said Kim, adding she hadn’t realized how good Korean subways were. Besides the Korean subway’s cleanliness and reasonable cost, it is also evolving from simply being a place for transportation to one of multipurpose cultural venues."Book Stairs,"

Seoul subway is the easiest way to discover city’s cultural gems

When 23-year-old Filipino Reyshenne Layug moved to Seoul in 2015, she was most worried about how to find her way around the city, especially since she could not speak Korean. But her concerns were soon eased by the subway, which she quickly found was easy to navigate. She said, “I was pleasantly surprised when I saw English signs in the stations. I thought that was very helpful and they put me at ease straightaway.”Layug, who studies at a language institute, was impressed by the subway’s extensi

Beverage and sweets industries face challenges in lowering sugar usage

In the world of sugar, frankly speaking, color makes no difference at all. The misconception may stem from some generalized ideas that brown rice is healthier than white rice, and wheat bread over white loaves. But brown sugar is not healthier than white sugar -- they are basically similar both nutritionally and in calories, experts say.The reason why they look different is because their manufacturing processes are different. After the extracting juice from sugar cane, the original sugar soup is

About two years ago, Park Hyung-jun was told by his doctor that he should stop drinking coke. The 32-year-old used to have three cans of coke a day – one after every meal. “I loved the sensation of carbonation and the sweet taste,” he told The Korea Herald. “It felt like drinking coke helped digestion. It was just a nice way of finishing meals, especially heavy ones. ”Kim developed his love for coke while he was serving his military duty about five years ago. Coke became a daily necessity for hi

It seems almost like the world has turned against sugar. In March, the U.K. announced a plan to impose a new tax on sugary drinks. (123rf)In 2014, Berkeley city council in California introduced a “soda tax,” becoming the first jurisdiction in the U.S. to pass penalty taxes on the sugar-sweetened beverages. South Korea has also joined the move to reduce sugar intake. In April, the government said that it aimed to cut down on the amount of sugar consumed by Koreans to 10 percent of their daily die

Earlier this year, local food columnist Hwang Gyo-ik made headlines by arguing that Korean cuisine culture was “uncivilized.” He said Koreans used too much sugar in almost every dish including kimchi, stir-fired anchovies and even the famous Korean barbecue.“It’s hard to find other countries that use sugar in almost every dish,” he said in a recent radio interview. “Sure, they have desserts, but they also have plenty of other dishes that do not contain sugar.” He argued that the “less civilized”

Children’s Day, which to some may just be a day off to catch up on sleep or binge watch their favorite TV shows, has a rich history indebted to the efforts of one man -- Pang Chong-hwan.The late children’s advocate and political activist was a pioneering figure in children rights and literature, introducing the country’s first children’s magazine in 1923. He made efforts to improve children’s welfare, especially during Japan’s colonial rule of the peninsula.However, to modern day Koreans, Pang’s

 For Kim Young-eun, a 39-year-old office worker in Seoul, her priority this week was to secure a box from the latest Lego series “Nexo Knights” for her 7-year-old son as a present for Children’s Day. “It’s around 140,000-150,000 won,” she said, adding that it’s almost her duty as a parent not to disappoint her kid, who often compares his presents with those of classmates.“The problem is that we have too many occasions to celebrate. … Apart from Children’s Day, we also have Christmas, birthdays,

Life is full of hope and dreams for Lee Seo-hyun, a 9-year-old child attending a primary school in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province. She wants to be a painter, teacher, owner of a big supermarket, florist, designer, scientist, and more.Every day, she wakes up and goes to school by 8 a.m. When school finishes at around 2 p.m., she briefly plays with her friends in the playground until she goes to her private lessons for piano, computer classes and English.“When the lessons are over at around 4 p.m. I

Kang Ji-hye, 34, the mother of a 4-year-old boy, runs a wedding shop in Gangnam, Seoul. Her business requires her to work during weekends and even on national holidays. Her husband goes to work at a manufacturing firm six days a week.After Kang heads to work at 8 a.m., her son Dong-woo is taken care of by a nanny she hired three years ago.For Kang, this year’s Children’s Day will not be so different from any other day. She asked the nanny to come in despite it being an official holiday, as she f