By Elena Luo
A defector’s story represents the two Koreas’ struggle to reunite. Some Koreans think the price of reunification is too steep, in terms of both money and lives.
K-Pop Sets Out To Conquer New Markets
By Dana Austin
K-pop is currently blowing up the international market as one of South Korea’s biggest exports. As it continues to grow in popularity yearly and more international fans search for ways to connect to their idols, global businesses have jumped on the K-pop bandwagon.
Cram Culture Still Alive for South Korean Students
By Taylor Beglane
Over 95 percent of South Korean students have attended a “cram school” before graduating high school, sometimes juggling three or four at a time. Most children continue to study in what little free time they have after school and hagwons.
Young Koreans Live For The Moment
By Kiki Sideris
Young South Koreans are attempting to break free from the set standards of the older generation, which believes that people must have a stable job with a high salary in order to be successful and happy.
Shopping Mall Doubles As Amusement Park
By Charles Hamma
Jae Kim and Anna Sohn could’ve celebrated their big anniversary with expensive wine and filet mignon. Instead, they chose to scream their heads off on roller coasters.
In Korea, Coffee May Come With Cats and Dogs
By Dana Austin and Simon Ahn
In a room of dark brown brick walls and wooden floors, two raccoons frolic within their miniature houses atop two platforms, waiting for visitors who eagerly interact with them. A Korean customer approaches the raccoons and says, “Son juseyo,” which means, “Please give me your hand.” The raccoons place a paw in the visitor’s palm.
A Divided Korea Struggles With The Idea Of Unification
By Kiki Sideris
Red crowned and white naped cranes glide over the lush green valley of rice paddies that constitute the demilitarized zone that has separated the two Koreas for more than 70 years. But they are the only living creatures that can bridge this divide, which is armed to the teeth.
Tourists Are Killing Last Traditional Village in Korea
by Simon Ahn and Taylor Beglane
Bukchon is the last of its kind, an ancient, traditional network of neighborhoods protected as a residential area despite the constant flow of tourists cramming its tight, winding streets. But its days as such are numbered; Kim and other villagers are begging South Korea’s government and Seoul Metropolitan Government to designate Bukchon a tourist area so that their village can be legally protected from foreign visitors.