Bright lights showered Gangneung’s most famous lake Thursday evening as a moonlight-inspired spectacle captivated those attending the Olympics. The light art show “Moonlight Lake” took place at Gyeongpo Lake in Gangneung, Gangwon Province as part of the 2018 PyeongChang Cultural Olympiad, a series of cultural events taking place during the Olympics.Visitors will be able to witness the light show thrice every day for 10 minutes at 7 p.m., 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. until Feb. 25. The show features a gigan

Shinhan Bank will offer a 0.5 percent bonus rate to clients participating in the “Sunfull” clean Internet campaign, the bank said in a ceremony held at its Seoul headquarters Tuesday.The Sunfull Internet Peace Movement involves leaving positive comments online to encourage support and consideration among online users, Shinhan Bank said in a statement.The campaign is jointly hosted by the Sunfull Foundation, which aims to spread peace through non offensive online comments and educate

According to English YouTuber Emil Price, the way to Korean viewers’ hearts is through their stomachs. 　As a foreign YouTuber living in Korea and creating content about the country mainly for a Korean audience, Price, 25, is keenly attentive to the tastes of local viewers. When food is visible in a video’s thumbnail image, the number of views soars, he noted at a talk with foreign YouTubers at Google’s Campus Seoul on Wednesday. 　The internet has seen a rise in foreign social media influencers l

South and North Korean pair figure skaters shared the ice for the first time during a practice session at the Gangneung Ice Arena on Monday. The two pairs from each half of the peninsula, Kim Kyu-eun and Kam Kang-chan from the South and Ryom Tae-ok and Kim Ju-sik from the North, practiced side by side ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, which start Friday. It was the first time the Kim-Kam duo practiced at the Gangneung Ice Arena. Ryom and Kim arrived in South Korea last Thursday and began

Both local and global media predict that PyeongChang could be the coldest Winter Olympics witnessed in recent decades. The northeastern Gangwon Province, where Pyeongchang county is located, is generally considered the coldest region in South Korea. This year is seeing a particularly cold winter, with ice sheets in rivers and lakes freezing some 25 centimeters thicker on average than last year, according to reports.The following are several tips for braving the cold and ingenious heat-trapping i

The PyeongChang Winter Olympics is revving up for its opening night on Feb. 9. A rehearsal for the opening ceremony took place Saturday, while the PyeongChang Cultural Olympiad, a program of cultural events, also began. A rehearsal for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics opening ceremony took place at 6 p.m. at the Gangneung-Wonju National University, featuring Korean traditional performance teams and bands.Gangwon Province Gov. Choi Moon-soon and actor-singer Jang Keun-suk, honorary ambassador for

Each generation of South Koreans seems to cherish a different type of soul food that reflects the socio-economic mood of its respective era.The Korea Herald spoke with people from various walks of life to find out what constitutes soul food for them. The conversations resulted in a wide selection of memory-triggering snacks, and a surprisingly revealing journey spanning the nation’s modern history from 1945.Budding economy, sticky riceFor 58-year-old economic researcher Park Sung-il, chalbap, or

A handful of Korean Instagram users have gained popularity for their inspiring content. The following are three Instagram influencers with distinctive personalities garnering global followers on the photo-sharing platform. Longboarding to freedom  Ko Hyojoo(@hyo_joo)님의 공유 게시물님, 2016 5월 10 9:54오후 PDTGliding on the pavement, hair flipping in the wind and arms weaving through the air freely, Ko Hyo-joo grabbed attention on social media in 2016 through her longboarding videos. The 29-year-old former

For choreographer May J. Lee, K-pop dance comes off as a mix of two conflicting features.It’s complex, incorporating all different genres of dance depending on a song’s concept, but still simple enough to be catchy, says Lee, the co-creator of the dances for Twice’s “Knock Knock” and Jay Park’s “All I Wanna Do.”Choreography has become inseparable from K-pop, from Psy’s easy-to-follow “Gangnam Style” gallop to BTS’ vigorous on-stage performances, where its members showcase complicated routines in

Nearby residents have been sharing eye-witness accounts of the fire that broke out Friday morning at a hospital in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, both on social media and through news interviews. “There was so much smoke that it was hard for people to approach (the building),” said one passerby in an interview with a local television news outlet. “Even from 10 meters away, it was frightening.”A firefighter evacuates patients from the Sejong Hospital in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, on

American credit ratings firm Weiss Ratings said Wednesday it suffered cyberattacks coming from Korean investors prior to its cybercurrency grading, which included bitcoin and Ethereum.On Wednesday, Weiss became the first ratings firm to grade cybercurrencies, issuing a C+ (“fair”) for bitcoin and B (“good”) to Ethereum. Weiss said in a press release that its staff was “up all night last night fending off denial of service attacks from Korea.” Concerned that Weiss would release negative ratings o

For years, foreign tourists have flocked to guesthouses in search of affordable accommodations during their stay in Korea.Nowadays, guesthouses have begun offering more than simple lodging facilities, incorporating quirky themes and eye-catching interiors into their spaces. The very act of staying at a guesthouse is evolving into an experience for travelers, according to Kang Seok-hwan, owner of Uhbu’s Guesthouse located in Dongdaemun, Seoul. Uhbu’s is a traditional Korean hanok structure decora

A wealth of cultural events, encompassing different arts, are set to take place throughout Gangwon Province in celebration of the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.　Dubbed the PyeongChang 2018 Cultural Olympiad, the series of cultural displays will begin on Feb. 3, a week ahead of the Olympics.“The Cultural Olympiad has been planned to let global citizens communicate through culture and includes programs for entertainment, celebration, education and culture,” according to a statement rel

Coco(US) Opened Jan.11Animation, adventure Directed by Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina Despite his family‘s baffling generations-old ban on music, Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez) dreams of becoming an accomplished musician like his idol, Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). Desperate to prove his talent, Miguel finds himself in the stunning and colorful Land of the Dead following a mysterious chain of events. Along the way, he meets charming trickster Hector (Gael García Bernal), and together they set off

North Korea on Tuesday confirmed its participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and agreed to hold military talks with South Korea. The agreement came in the first inter-Korean talks to be held in more than two years.Meanwhile, the North maintained a defensive stance toward denuclearization and did not take up South Korea’s proposal for a reunion of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War.    

Snow-white skin and a round, full-moon face -- these are the elements of a beautifully made-up North Korean female face, according to actress Kim Ah-ra. Kim, who defected to the South in 2009, featured in a YouTube clip by beauty vlogger Min Sae-rom on Friday to give a tutorial on North Korean women’s makeup.The two applied makeup to their faces using a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s wife Ri Sol-ju as a reference.  Min Sae-rom (left) and Kim Ah-ra (YouTube)North Korean music groups l

Fantasy romance series “Guardian: The Great and Lonely God” and medical drama “Dr. Romantic” were among the most popular TV dramas of 2017, according to statistics released by CJ E&M Monday. The two shows nabbed first and second places respectively in content company CJ E&M’s year-end index, which measures popularity based on ratings, online searches and social media posts. The third and fourth most popular drama series were “Defendant” and “The Legend of the Blue Sea,” respectively. In variety

Korea’s landmarks are being increasingly featured in Hollywood films in recent years. Seoul’s Gangnam area and Garak Market are briefly seen in director Alexander Payne’s upcoming film “Downsizing,” which opens in local theaters Thursday. In the sci-fi drama film, scientists discover how to shrink human beings to ten centimeters tall as a solution to overpopulation and pollution.  A scene from “Downsizing” (Lotte Entertainment)Koreans are depicted responding to the jaw-dropping development in th

With his breakout film “Oldboy” in 2003, director Park Chan-wook has led the surge of Korean directors spotlighted in the international cinemascape in the past two decades.For his next work, Park will be helming a BBC television drama series revolving around an international intrigue that involves multiple countries. The series will also air on US channel AMC. The six-episode drama is an adaption of John Le Carre’s “Little Drummer Girl,” a 1983 novel about an actress who, seeking to escape the d

1987(Korea)Opened Dec. 27Historical drama. Directed by Jang Joon-hwan The year is 1987. Former Army Gen. Chun Doo-hwan is in power, and a harrowing series of events follow the torture and death of student activist Park Chong-chul. In an attempt to cover up the crimes that led to the killing, corrupt officials list Park’s cause of death as an unlikely heart attack. Investigator Park Cheo-won (Kim Yoon-seok) staunchly fends off reporters, believing cruelty is justified for the sake of bettering th