HANOI, Vietnam – Located a five-hour flight from Seoul is a country where the Korean language's popularity is second only to its homeland of South Korea. Here, kids as young as 8 -- or elementary school third grade -- are learning Korean at school, although not as a compulsory subject. This is the same age when they start learning English. Another indication of the Korean language boom in Vietnam is the number of those who take the Test of Proficiency in Korean (TOPIK), an exam for

Hello Hangeul April 23, 2023

As the train rolls toward the platform, a familiar tune begins to play. An announcement, first in Korean and then in English, follows soon after. It's a simple melody, yet one that is instantly recognizable to not just Seoulites but anyone who has spent some time in the city. It is the sound of the Seoul subway. Recently, it seems there has been a newfound appreciation for the subway platform music. Jonah Aki, an American choreographer who has lived in Seoul for a decade, owes much of his r

Hashtag Korea April 22, 2023

On a recent Tuesday morning, a sense of calm pervaded Black Hawk Village, a remnant of the Yongsan Garrison, the old headquarters of the US Forces Korea. Once home to American soldiers and their families, the village of 18 buildings is a relic from a time when the foreign military had its headquarters right in the heart of Seoul. For Hwang, a bride-to-be in her 20s, however, it is the perfect backdrop for her pre-wedding photo shoot. “The hues of the brownish-red buildings, green lawns and

Travel April 11, 2023

Javin Rukia, a 49-year-old English teacher at a middle school in the Solomon Islands, used to teach Hangeul, the writing system for the Korean language, about a decade ago. It was when two provinces in the island country -- Guadalcanal and Malaita -- chose Hangeul as their official alphabet for transcribing their indigenous languages which had been passed down orally but did not have a writing system. The southwestern Pacific archipelago, made up of 992 islands, is one of the most linguistically

Hello Hangeul April 9, 2023

In Seoul’s Yeonnam-dong, a trendy neighborhood for young hipsters, a particular trend has taken over an entire street: instant self-photo studios popping up almost next to each other. “Nine new self-photo studios have opened within just a few months in this area,” shared a person surnamed Hong who runs another such studio near Hongik University Station. It was a Tuesday afternoon and the freestanding photo studios inside stores like “Life Four Cuts” or “Haru F

Hashtag Korea April 8, 2023

In South Korea today, school bullies are public enemy No. 1. On TV screens nationwide, viewers are enthralled by the meticulously plotted revenge of a high school bullying victim. In real-life politics, President Yoon Suk Yeol’s initial pick for the head of the National Office of Investigation, former senior prosecutor Chung Sun-sin, has been under scrutiny for weeks following revelations his son verbally abused a classmate years ago. It has been some time already since the TV and sports i

Social Affairs April 4, 2023

Yoon Jae-hyuk, a member of the K-pop boy band Treasure, suffered burns to his hand while performing on stage in Bangkok, according to local news reports on Monday. The incident occurred during the act’s concert, held on April 2 at the IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center in the Thai capital city, with over 10,000 fans in attendance. According to footage and pictures circulating on YouTube and social media, in the middle of the band’s performance, stage equipment near Yoon suddenly

Social Affairs April 3, 2023

Following an increasing number of reports of vomiting and stomach pain after consuming cherry tomatoes, local health and agriculture authorities on Thursday pointed to a substance in tomatoes called ‘tomatine’ as the main cause of the gastric distress. Naturally produced as the tomato plants grow, tomatine normally decomposes when tomatoes begin to ripen. The substance is a chemical that allows the plants to resist negative changes in the environment, such as attacks by insects or

Social Affairs March 31, 2023

Keeping foreign nationals subject to deportation in detention centers for long periods of time is incompatible with the Constitution, South Korea’s Constitutional Court ruled Thursday. The clauses of the current Immigration Control Law that allow the authorities to prolong physical custody of foreign nationals slated for deportation until their departure must be amended to eliminate their unconstitutional elements, the court said in a 6-to-3 majority decision. "The statutes that impos

Social Affairs March 24, 2023

"History through The Korea Herald” revisits significant events and issues over seven decades through articles, photos and editorial pieces published in the Herald and retell them from a contemporary perspective. – Ed. Aug. 15 is a national holiday marking Korea’s liberation from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule in 1945. But the historic day for South Koreans turned into a nightmare 48 years ago in 1974, when then-first lady Yuk Young-soo was killed by a bullet meant fo

Hashtag Korea March 22, 2023

A suspected slingshot vandal behind the smashed windows of three homes in a high-rise apartment complex in Incheon’s Songdo district has been apprehended. The suspect, a 60-something-old man living in the same apartment complex, said he “just wanted to see” how far his slingshots could shoot. According to the Incheon Yeonsu Police Station on Sunday, multiple slingshots and iron balls, all with a radius of 8 millimeters, were found at the suspect’s home where he appears to

Social Affairs March 19, 2023

In Netflix's hit drama “The Glory,” the mother-in-law of the main villain, Yeon-jin who led the bullying against protagonist Dong-eun in high school, dressed her newborn granddaughter in a red Gucci onesie. Even though the baby would grow out of the clothes in a matter of weeks, she swaddled her grandkid with luxury clothes, saying, “You need to stand at a different starting line to get ahead of others.” While not to the extreme of the fictional character, the same b

Hashtag Korea March 19, 2023

Seoul, Korea’s bustling capital full of gridlocked streets and mile-high concrete buildings, is in fact the perfect city to bask in nature without having to travel very far. Covered with 6,685 hectares of forests, the heart of Korea boasts various urban parks surrounded by forests with sprawling trees and colorful flowers, most of which can be reached by subway. The following are some of the forest parks popular among Seoulites who crave a detox from the city. Seoul Forest A five-minute wa

Hashtag Korea March 13, 2023

The following series is part of The Korea Herald’s “Hello Hangeul” project, which consists of interviews, in-depth analyses, videos and various other forms of content that shed light on the stories of people who are learning the Korean language, as well as the correlation between Korea’s soft power and the rise of its language within the league of world languages. -- Ed. When John Tae-shik Ha, a Korean adoptee to Sweden, first learned his Korean name some three decades ag

Hello Hangeul March 12, 2023

A pig farm owner in Pocheon, Gyeonggi Province, has been arrested on the suspicion of disposing of the dead body of a Thai farm worker earlier this month, according to local police Wednesday. According to the Pocheon Police Station, the farm owner is alleged to have buried the body of the 60-something Thai man on a nearby hill on March 2 at around 8:00 a.m. The deceased had lived and worked at the farm for nearly a decade and a post-mortem autopsy suggests he likely died of underlying health pro

Social Affairs March 8, 2023