Three Asiana flights leaving Incheon Airport on Sunday were delayed because of passengers who had loaded their luggage but did not show up.According to the airline, a flight bound for Beijing scheduled for 8:20 a.m. was delayed for about an hour and 50 minutes, as 50 passengers did not show up at the gate. Unloading the luggage of those 50 passengers led to the delay, forcing the 115 passengers onboard the plane to wait until around 10:10 a.m. for the plane to take off.Another flight bound for O

A range of Korean regional cuisine will be available at K-Food Plaza in Festival Park, located near PyeongChang Olympic Plaza, during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.K-Food Plaza opened Saturday and will operate through Feb. 25. It is set to reopen during the Paralympic Games, from March 8-18.As of Sunday, regional specialties from Wonju and seafood from Korea’s neighboring seas are included in the list of food to be presented at K-Food Plaza.  Peach bulgogi (Yonhap)Visitors can try traditi

In South Korea, university students are emerging as the most active users of Instagram, a photo-sharing app which now has more than 800 million monthly active users worldwide. Its image-based interface and the ‘hashtag (#)’ feature are suited to Korean youths’ desire to express themselves and hunt for hotspots. With around 70 percent of high school graduates going to university here, undergrad students in Korea consist mainly of those in their early to mid-20s. Koreans in their 20s use Instagram

Naver’s live broadcasting service ‘V Vietnam’ saw the number of monthly users reach 3.3 million in January, the Korean portal operator said Wednesday.This means that the Vietnamese version of video streaming app ‘V’ has seen a tenfold growth in the number of users who used the service at least once a month since its launch in January 2016.Launched in September 2015, V is a real-time broadcasting service that allows users worldwide to stream videos of K-pop stars or celebrities. Personal videos t

Video game addiction may be a problem that some North Koreans face along with their South Korean counterparts.North Korea’s state-run newspaper Rodong Shinmun said Monday that “If the world does not put in effort to address the dependence on entertainment (referring to gaming addiction), many more people will suffer from its damaging effects.”The article claimed that “most electronic games pouring out from capitalist nations destroy sound minds of teenagers and are harmful both mentally and ideo

US pizza chain Papa John’s has opened a temporary store in PyeongChang, Gangwon Province, host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics.Located on the first floor of AM Hotel, the pop-up location is set to run until March 18.The hotel is one of the official accommodation sites for the Winter Games. It stands across from the PyeongChang Olympic Plaza, where the opening and closing ceremonies will take place. The pop-up store of Papa John's at PyeongChang (Photo courtesy of Papa John's-Yonhap)An official

Seoul City will hold “Special Welcoming Week” for foreigners visiting Seoul for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.Under the slogan “Welcome to Seoul, Gate to Pyeongchang,” the welcoming week event, usually spanning seven days, has been extended to 52 days for the Olympics, starting from Friday and running through March 18 when the Paralympic Games are set to end.Seoul Metropolitan Government said it will install welcoming booths at Incheon and Gimpo international airports. At these booths, vi

Samsung Electronics has launched the official smartphone application of the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic & Paralympic Games. This screenshot shows the home screen of the official 2018 PyeongChang Olympic smartphone app, as of Jan. 24.As of Wednesday, the app is available via Galaxy Apps, Google Play Store and iOS App Store for free. Information on game schedules, major venues, cultural events, transportation and more are currently included on the app.When the Winter Games kick off, the app will addi

GS Retail said Tuesday that payment in foreign currencies will become available at its convenience store chain next month. Cash payment in US dollar, yen, euro and yuan will be available at GS25, one of the three major convenience store chains in Korea.Payment in foreign currencies will be made according to daily exchange rates provided by Shinhan Bank. Exchange commission will be priced and added to the payment by each branch. (GS Retail-Yonhap)The service will be test-operated at two GS25 stor

The second KPOP Museum is set to open at Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, Seoul, next month.Lotte World Mall said Thursday that prior to the opening, a pop-up event is being held from Wednesday through Jan. 28 at the Atrium on the first floor of the mall. The event titled “Go Back” will feature exhibitions and experiential halls under the theme of music and art popular from the 1950s to 1990s. The first branch of the KPOP Museum opened in April 2015 at Bomun Tourist Complex in Gyeongju, North Gyeongs

Analysis of the most searched shopping items around the turn of the year showed varying results among different age groups.According to social commerce operator WeMakePrice, the most searched key words from Dec. 25 to Jan. 10 differed by age group. The most frequently searched items for teens included six-ring binder journals and study planners. Six-ring binder journals used to be popular in the 2000s, but recently turned trendy again.Those in their 20s seemed to be more into travel. The most po

The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Tuesday that it had made a safety manual for women, who have fewer opportunities to receive related training compared to men, according to a survey. The manual consists of instructions on how to respond to fires, earthquakes, typhoons, floods, subway accidents and building collapses. Instructions on using fire extinguishers, providing first aid and instructions regarding infants and children are also included.According to the survey by the Ministry of Gende

South Korean adults run the risk of chronic diseases due to unhealthy diet, a report from a state-run agency showed. According to the “Public Health Weekly Report” published on Thursday by the Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, Koreans eat much less than the recommended daily intake of nut and seeds, calcium, milk, vegetables and fruits. On the other hand, they eat much more than recommended of red meat, processed meat and sugar-sweetened beverages.A total of 13 foods and nutrients

With a cold snap hitting the nation, the number of patients suffering from hypothermia is on the rise.Korea Centers for Disease Control & Prevention said Friday that a total of 245 people came down with hypothermia and other cold-induced illnesses from Dec. 1, 2017 through Wednesday. Of the reported cases, 194 were diagnosed with hypothermia and seven of them died during the cited period.  (Yonhap)Hypothermia refers to a condition when body temperature falls below 35 degrees Celsius. Symptoms in

Thirty-four people have been identified as uploading and distributing a huge amount of video pornography for profit, local media reported Thursday. Police reportedly referred to prosecutors the cases of 32 “heavy uploaders” along with two operators of an online data storage site on illegal acts. (Yonhap)According to police, the operators set up a pornography section on their website and offered rewards to uploaders when users downloaded their content. One download amounted to 200 won (19 cents),

Jeju Airport said Thursday that its runway would be temporarily closed until 11 a.m. to clean up snow. The airport has faced difficulties in maintaining flight schedules for the past three days due to snowfall.  Jeju Airport on Jan. 11, 2018.(Yonhap)Airport staff said that snow removal is currently under way but progress is slow. An airport official said, “If the snowfall stops, the snow can be cleared from the runway in 20 to 30 minutes. As more snow is falling, the cleanup will take time.”By C

The Korea Manhwa Contents Agency hosts a cartoon exhibition combining Korean cartoons with the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.The exhibition opens in Los Angeles on Wednesday, both at the LA Convention Center and LA Korean Cultural Center.  "Fantasy of Snowland" (Photo courtesy of the LA Korean Cultural Center-Yonhap)The LA Convention Center is opening an exhibition titled “Cartoon meets PyeongChang” through Sunday. The exhibition will show 25 cartoon pieces including eight web-based comics th

A local research team has discovered a form of nanostructure that has potential for later applications in cancer treatment.A joint research team of Yonsei University College of Medicine and Ewha Womans University assembled a phthalocyanine photosensitizer (PcS) with an anticancer drug mitoxantrone (MA) to form uniform nanostructures (PcS-MA). When the nanostructures were injected into a laboratory rat with breast cancer, more than 80 percent of the cancer cells were destroyed, the team said Mond

Australia has declared that it aims to become the world’s largest supplier of marijuana for medical use, which is predicted to reach a market size of approximately 60 trillion won ($56.5 million) by 2025.ABC Australia reported Thursday that Greg Hunt, Minister for Health in the Australian federal government, is seeking make changes in current regulations on the export of medical marijuana products when parliament reopens next month. Hunt claimed that lifting export regulations will increase Aust

Korean hamburger and chicken brand Mom’s Touch has made inroads into the US, the homeland of burgers. The brand announced Thursday that it opened its first North American branch in Concord, California on Jan. 1.The adjacent area is packed with restaurants, but Mom’s Touch is the first one to serve burgers on the main menu. The first Mom's Touch branch in the US (Photo courtesy of Mom's Touch-Yonhap)At approximately 130 square meters, the restaurant can house about 40 customers. It has an outdoor