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East Asia
Euljiro provides window into Seoul’s industrial past
Euljiro industrial supply market, a sprawling web of sheet-roofed shelters nestled within high-rise buildings in downtown Seoul, has seen better days. “Business is bad. Export orders keep falling because other countries can now manufacture parts on their own,” Jeon Yong-sik, 67, a metal spinning craftsman with 50 years of…
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East Asia
Seoul Community Radio celebrates two years on air
Seoul Community Radio (SCR), an online radio station operating out of Itaewon dedicated to promoting underground electronic dance music in Korea, celebrates its second anniversary this month. “Any underground music scene needs a few key ingredients to really come together… you need good clubs, obviously, and DJs, but you also need…
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East Asia
Koreans opting for hotel stays over Chuseok
Jin Hyon-ho, a 41-year-old father of two daughters, is currently busy surfing the internet, looking for better hotel packages for the upcoming Chuseok holiday. “After visiting my parents and parents-in-law, I plan to have a one-night stay in a hotel with my family,” said Jin, who often stays in hotels…
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East Asia
Exhibition gives new views on Chuseok ritual table
With the time-honored Chuseok holiday around the corner, there are new suggestions to update the traditional table set for the ceremony to pay tribute to ancestors. Cultural foundation Arumjigi is holding a display of those ideas. The display has three parts: ritual culture, ritual table and ritual cutlery. Korean families set…
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East Asia
Man fined W6 million over women’s toilet spycam
A man in his 20s was fined 6 million won ($5,360) for secretly videotaping inside women’s toilets in North Chungcheong Province in May. The Cheongju Provincial Court made the ruling on Wednesday, finding the man, 21, guilty of violating the Sexual Violence Act. The court also ordered the accused to…
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East Asia
South Korea: racist book about Filipinas banned
Major book retailers have stopped selling an “obscene and racist” book about Filipinas. Online retailers, including Aladin, Yes24 and Bandi & Lunis, have removed the e-book, “How to Treat Bar Hostesses in the Philippines.” This move came after a tweet about the book was widely spread earlier this month. Many…
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East Asia
Powerful typhoon approaches Korea
Korea is on high alert as powerful Typhoon Soulik is set to batter the country with downpours and thunderstorms over the next few days. It is forecast to become the first typhoon in six years to make landfall on the Korean Peninsula Thursday night and pass through by Friday morning,…
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East Asia
Three Key Figures in the Chinese History
I call three modern Chinese figures as follows: “Mao Zedong is a mountain, Zhou Enlai is water, and Deng Xiaoping is a road.” Why is Mao Zedong a mountain? Why is Zhou Enlai water and Deng Xiaoping a road? Today’s China is a road created by crossing mountains and rivers.…
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East Asia
The meaning of “jeong”
“Coming to Korea as a tourist is vastly different from actually living here.” Some say you can only truly know a country once you’ve passed a tourist’s honeymoon phase. And for Frederic Heng who hails from Singapore, the veil of his first impression of South Korea was gradually lifted over…
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East Asia
Dreaming big
She’s bubbly and energetic; she’s twenty-five. But it’s scary opening up a new chapter in your life. Change calls for courage, especially when you’re young and things are unsure. Still, Lee Young Jae has always been sure of her love for books and writing. She used to look at her…
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