When her daughter turned 18 months a few years ago, Lee Ji-seon faced a totally unexpected situation. Her daughter only wanted to spend time outdoors -- all day, every day. She’d sit on her stroller and cry nonstop until Lee would take her outside, even if it was two o’clock in the morning.“So I’d take her on a stroller walk at 2 a.m., and just walk around the neighborhood until she fell asleep,” said Lee, a former teacher who now raises two children. “And I’d very carefully take her back to her

Korean tea recommendations to keep hydrated, for enjoyment or health

BOSEONG, South Jeolla Province -- While nearby tropical nations like the Philippines and Indonesia have their hanging rice terraces in Banaue and Tegalalang that serve as major tourist attractions, Korea also has its own natural green splendors for tourism. 　Located at the southern tip of the peninsula is the Daehan Dawon Tourist Tea Plantation -- more often known as Boseong Green Tea Plantation -- in Boseong, South Jeolla Province.  　The lusciously vibrant green tea fields of Boseong is the nat

Korean tea is returning to the cultural spotlight amid growing interest in healthy and balanced lifestyles

Kim Eui-jung, whose family has dedicated itself to tea for generations, explains the philosophy behind traditional Korean tea etiquette

Brands reinterpret tea as modern, therapeutic drink, experiment with new, fruity flavors

Central bank pushes scheme to cut costs and improve transparency

As bank consumers embrace digital payment methods, they are gradually turning their backs on automated teller machines, as cash machines on the street here have fallen to decline.Korea’s leading five banks ran a total of 29,611 ATMs as of the end of last year, down 4.4 percent, or 1,378, from a year earlier, according to data from the industry.The banks are Shinhan Bank, Kookmin Bank, Woori Bank, KEB Hana Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea.  Kookmin Bank has shut some 571 ATMs in the past three y

Mobile payments accelerate transition toward cashless society

As people carry less cash, wallets shrinking and becoming more card-centric

Only two out of 10 payments now made with physical money

Lee Soo-yeon, a 27-year-old office worker in Seoul, can’t get enough of “Descendants of the Sun,” the ongoing Korean drama series that features a military romance between a solider and a surgeon. 　“I think the series has many things that I can’t really see or achieve in my real life, such as the sense of justice, responsibility and altruism,” she told The Korea Herald. “And on top of all that, it is just very romantic.”　The 16-episode series takes place in a fictional war-torn Mediterranean coun

It was almost a no-brainer for Park Na-hyun, a 26-year-old female student, to join the military.Having grown up in a family with a “disciplinary” father who served in the military for 20 years, military uniform was the norm. The scholarship provided by the military school was also a merit hard to pass up.However, eight months into her first year at military school, she decided to quit. As one of the two exclusive female cadets out of 30 cadets in her squad, she said she experienced implicit disa

On an ordinary weekday morning, throngs of executives line up by rank at the lobby of a sprawling glass building in Seoul that houses the headquarters of one of the country’s biggest family-run conglomerates. They are awaiting the chairman, who is about to make his entrance in about half an hour. As he emerges through the door, a vacuum-like, fleeting stillness sweeps through the pack, followed by waves of deep bows from the waist. In the evening, on the other side of town, a group of college st

Former Brig. Gen. Yoon Han-doo recalls the day when South Korean corvette Cheonan was struck by a North Korean torpedo on March 26, 2014. The retired general had been serving as the head of the Armed Forces Capital Hospital, which attended to the wounded sailors after the incident that left 46 dead.“Right then, I thought ‘this is a war, these are casualties of war,’” he said. Nearly 63 years have passed since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, but the occasional skirmish with the comm