Koreans might have left on an exodus for their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday, or Seollal, before the COVID-19 era. But the growing concerns about the rapid spread of the omicron variant and the upsurge in the number of infections may lead many Koreans, expats and travelers to scratch their heads as to how to spend their Seollal weekend, without leaving their homes. Though you may not ...

The Lunar New Year or Seollal is one of the two most important and celebrated traditional holidays in South Korea. But, though both halves of the peninsula share many aspects of culture, nearly 77 years of division between the two Koreas have led to divergent holiday traditions. In North Korea, the significance of socialist holidays, including the birth anniversaries of the late leaders Kim Il-...

The Seollal holiday is usually one of the busiest times of the year at movie theaters with many new works being released. It is also the time when local broadcasters present special films for viewers who are staying home during the holidays. Despite the plethora of options on offer, there are times when it feels like there is nothing to watch. For those people, it might be a good idea to check ...

Exports of South Korean instant noodles hit a record high of over $670 million, the highest figure to date. Last year’s exports stood at $674.41 million, data from the Korea Customs Service and the food industry showed on Sunday. Exports of instant noodles, also known as “ramyeon” in Korea, have risen for seven consecutive years. When broken down by country, China was the biggest market for So...

President Moon Jae-in has said that North Korea’s launch of an “intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM)” on Sunday morning amounts to a “breach of UN Security Council resolutions" and a “challenge” to the international community’s efforts to ensure peace on the Korean peninsula. In an emergency National Security Council meeting, Moon made the remarks as he called on Pyongyang to stop adding ...

BEIJING , Jan. 30, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- More than 30 lawmakers from over 20 countries across the world have expressed their wishes for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics and voiced opposition to the politicization of the Games. A special program of CGTN dedicated to Beijing 2022. /CMG The lawmakers made the remarks at a special program of CGTN dedicated to Beijing 2022, which was broadcast...

North Korea fired one apparent ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea's military said, in the recalcitrant regime's seventh show of force this year. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the northern province of Jagang bordering China at 7:52 a.m. It did not elaborate. Jagang Province is where the North conducted the launches of its self-proclaim...

"For our family, eating a bowl of tteokguk together signals a start to the New Year. We skipped tteokguk once, and I had a strange feeling that we were not welcoming the new year,” Lee said. Lee offered a tip on making jidan decorations, stressing that one should make them first before starting to cook the main tteokguk because it can take more time than expected. “I recommend you make jidan fi...

The Qilu-Shengli Oilfield CCUS will reduce carbon emissions by 1 million tons per year BEIJING , Jan. 29, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (HKG: 0386, "Sinopec") has completed the construction of China's first megaton carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) project, the Qilu-Shengli Oilfield CCUS (the "Project") on January 29 , which will reduce carbon em...

Songpa Book Museum, situated in eastern Seoul, is an establishment dedicated to reading. The museum, which opened in 2019, is the first public book museum in Korea. At the museum, visitors can learn more about the practice of reading through various exhibitions. Some exhibitions explain how Korean ancestors read books during the Joseon era (1392-1910) or during the Japanese occupation (1910-194...

“Korean society is very sensitive to trends and people care a lot about others. To feel a sense of belonging, people choose to follow others to be involved in a group. Also, to achieve superiority over others, they tend to wear expensive items to show off,” the expert told The Korea Herald. “But since they cost too much, some choose to buy fake items. They may even feel a sense of joy in deceivi...

Aqua Planet Gwanggyo, an aquarium in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, celebrated the Lunar New Year ahead of schedule on Jan. 24. For this eye-catching ceremony, divers wearing traditional Korean clothing called “hanbok“ swam with stingrays. Stingrays are closely related to sharks, and feed on clams, shrimp, and mussels. Aside from stingrays, there are over 30,000 sea animals of 210 unique species in...

Continuing the matriarchal tradition, Koh’s youngest daughter and her daughter-in-law have decided to become haenyeo. Koh‘s youngest daughter Jwa Geum-ok, 41, recently joined her mother as an intern haenyeo upon graduating from a haenyeo school. “I’ve been out in the sea about eight times and oftentimes returned with less than 5 kg of harvest. I once collected less than one kilogram. When my ea...

Having a dish full of spicy Korean rice cakes, or tteokbokki, recently in a busy Korean street market brought me a lot of nostalgia. The chewy rice cakes with mildly spicy gochujang sauce … mmm! It was like a taste of my childhood. I recently went to Korea to visit my family. The two weeks of mandatory quarantine upon arrival was well worth the effort. After the quarantine was over, I was thrill...

Basic ingredients - 400 grams rice cake slices (tteokguk tteok) - 130 grams minced beef - 2 green onion stalks - 2-3 eggs For beef seasoning - 1 tablespoon soy sauce - 1 tablespoon sesame oil - 1 teaspoon minced garlic - 1 teaspoon sugar - pepper to taste - a little cooking oil to coat frying pan For soup - 5 cups of dried kelp (dashima) broth - 1/2 big spoon soup soy sauce - 1 sma...