Old ramshackle mom-and-pop stores have provided a lasting subject for Lee Me-kyeoung, a 53-year-old painter, from the human life cycle to childhood nostalgia, when no one even showed the slightest interest in them. “When I started to draw small stores back in late 90s, people hated to see outdated and obsolete things,” Lee said during an interview with The Korea Herald. Lee has produced more than 450 pen drawings on mom-and-pop stores in small villages across the nation in the

Self-assessment of one‘s attractive qualities is a critical step to becoming a successful influencer, according to Ryo Chu-hyeop, a 36-year old YouTuber and South Korea’s first professor of “influencer affairs.” In order to make other people follow you online, aspiring influencers need to ruminate on their own ideas and thoughts and what kind of attributes they have to attract others. “Attractiveness does not necessarily mean (physical) beauty. It can be somet

Heavy show fell in Seoul, Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces on Wednesday, prompting authorities to issue alerts over potential traffic disturbances and frozen roads. According to the Korea Meteorological Administration, Seoul received 3.5 centimeters of snow while Gangwon Province‘s Seoraksan and the southeastern Ulleung Island saw heavy snow of 18.5 centimeters and 19.5 centimeters, respectively, as of 2 p.m. The weather agency lifted a heavy snow alert, which indicates that snow of at le

Nearly 400 empty school buildings, chiefly in rural areas, are sitting idle after closing their doors due to lack of students, government data showed Tuesday. The Ministry of Education has a thorny task of giving new life to abandoned classrooms. As of May last year, a total of 3,855 schools have closed across South Korea in nearly 40 years since 1982, according to data compiled by the Ministry of Education, as the number of students declined to just 60.3 percent of 1990 levels. The data on

KF94 masks, the Korean version of an N95 mask, are gaining popularity in the United States, with experts calling for upgraded protective options over cloth masks as the omicron variant of COVID-19 continues to spread rapidly throughout the country. Michael Baym, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School shared his review of using KF94 masks produced by Korean firm Dr. Puri. “They’re very comfortable. I was also happy to see on the CDC/NIOSH testing page that they test at ove

The white peaks of Mount Hallasan on Jeju Island has gained notable popularity this winter, promoting hikers to pay extra cash to get access to the snowy landscape. Dozens of postings seeking to sell, buy or exchange QR tickets to Hallasan National Park have been posted at secondhand online stores. Offered by the national park, tickets are available online for free on a first come first serve basis. One post uploaded on Joonggonara, the country‘s largest online used goods marketplace, sh

Everyone talks about the March 9 presidential election. But the local elections to be held in June are the big day Park Hye-min, 29, has been counting down the days to. Park is the executive director of Newways, a nonprofit organization that she founded about a year ago with a friend she met at a book club. The organization’s goal is to discover rookie politicians who speak the same language they do, and foster them as city or provincial councilors who represent young people’s inte

Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin on Friday continued to express his discontent over Instagram’s removal of his post expressing his hostility toward communism. Chung criticized Instagram for its engagement in political activities by deliberately taking down posts that don’t match the preference of the platform, according to a story by local media outlet Maeil Business Newspaper, which cited an anonymous close acquaintance of Chung. “The value of free expression

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday pledged to establish “workcation” centers in rural areas of the country to allow people working remotely to stay and help struggling local economies. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, over 9 in 10 of the country’s biggest firms have adopted a telework system, according to Lee. “I will support a balanced life between work and rest in line with the changes in the new era and in the

Lee Kyung-ran, who has been working as a therapist for the past 15 years, has ditched face-to-face consultations thanks to a growing demand for phone and virtual sessions after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since late 2019, she has been offering therapy sessions through Naver eXpert, a service launched by the country’s largest portal Naver. Naver eXpert provides a wide range of one-on-one online consultations and classes from experts including lawyers, accountants and asset con

An online post purportedly written by a street cleaner saying he is “100 percent satisfied” with his salary and working conditions has gone viral Sunday.  The writer of the job review, posted on online community bobaedream.co.kr., introduces himself as a 42-year-old sanitation worker who started work on Jan. 1 last year. “I’m 100 percent satisfied with my job largely due to the salary I receive,” he wrote, adding that his annual wages easily exceed 50 million

Women working at the Seoul Metropolitan Government earn about 11 percent less than their male colleagues, data showed Wednesday, marking a smaller gap than the average figure registered by members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The data found that the gender wage gap, referring to the rate of men’s average pay to that of women, reached 11.28 percent last year, lower than 12.8 percent, the latest average of member nations of the OECD. Female civil servants f

On Sunday, gazaahome.com launched with a list of a few hundreds of restaurants in the country that do not “discriminate against” unvaccinated people. As of Tuesday afternoon, the digital map showing the location of the businesses garnered some 70,000 views, with entry suggestions flowing in from users, according to its developer Goda. “It seems that our society is going through a somewhat chaotic period due to the recently strengthened vaccination pass policy. I have deve

An association of civic groups in South Korea stepped up actions in their campaign to raise awareness for the mobility rights of the disabled, staging simultaneous rallies at subway stations during the morning rush hour. From around 7 a.m. Monday, scores of activists and disabled persons affiliated with the Solidarity against Disability Discrimination showed up at four stations -- Gwanghwamun, Wangsimni, Yeouido and Haengdang -- all on Line No. 5. Some people in wheelchairs deliberately put

We may be heading into the darkest winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Myeong-dong wants us to keep our spirits bright. The once-bustling shopping mecca of Seoul is not busy as it used to be pre-pandemic, but it is twinkling, sparkling and shining brighter than ever before with extravagant Christmas light displays.  Millions of LED lights adorn the exterior of departments stores and other buildings in the district, creating a spectacle at night.  Street trees decked out with Christ

From school pickup and dropoff and supervised homework time to Hula-Hoop practice for gym class, taekwondo academies are playing an expanded role in South Korea. On top of martial arts lessons, the centers -- a sure-fire find near practically any elementary school in South Korea -- provide much-needed help to two-paycheck couples struggling to juggle work and child-rearing responsibilities. Five-year-old Kwon Ye-rin’s after-kindergarten routine hinges on a taekwondo academy, although

In the past 20 years, the number of marriages in Seoul has decreased by 43 percent and the number of births by 64 percent, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday. Marriage registrations in the capital city hit a 20-year low of 44,746 in 2020, down 43.2 percent from 78,745 tallied in 2000. From a year ago, the 2020 figure also represented a drop of 7.3 percent. The average age of first marriages last year was 33.61 for men and 31.6 for women, up 3.96 years and 4.35 years

In Seoul’s affluent neighborhood of Hannam-dong, where top celebrities and corporate big shots live, a bleak and desolate 28,197-square-meter plot of land lies barren and untouched. Fenced off with barbed wires, the land -- the size of four soccer fields -- has been off limits to residents for decades. Records dating back to the 1940s show authorities reserved the land for a public park. In reality, the dusty plot stands as a legacy of the turbulent times Korea has been through, with

The loss of routines in lives of South Korean people caused by COVID-19 appeared to have affected their physical states, including growing muffin top. More than half of South Koreans in their 30s and 40s were found to be obese last year, according to data compiled by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency. The prevalence of obesity was 48 percent for men in 2020, a sharp increase compared to 41.8 percent a year earlier, the data released Monday showed. The rate among women rose 2.7

With daily COVID-19 caseload hitting new records, some 8,000 coffee chain shops and restaurants here are playing in-store audio announcements from one of the top public health officials recommending indoor masking. “Hello. This is the Minister of Food and Drug Safety Kim Gang-lip. Please remind yourself to wear a mask before and after eating or drinking and while talking,” the voice announcement rang out, interspersed every 30 minutes between Christmas jazz licks played at a Star