Category: Korea-General Topics

To me this is not surprising because not only does Korea have beautiful mountain scenery, but the trail infrastructure is really outstanding:

Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young, left, hikes a trail on Mount Bukhan in Seoul, Sunday, alongside famed mountaineer Um Hong-gil, right, and members of France’s trekking organization Fédération Française de la Randonnée. Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism

Overseas visitors to Korea are increasingly choosing mountain peaks over historic palaces.

On Sunday, the trend was highlighted when 11 members of France’s Fédération Française de la Randonnée hiked in Bukhansan National Park with Culture Minister Chae Hwi-young and renowned climber Um Hong-gil.

The visit is part of a larger group of about 40 association members currently touring Korea in three separate 11-day trips, hiking not just Mount Bukhan, but also Hahoe Folk Village in Andong, Mount Nam in Gyeongju, Mount Geumjeong in Busan, Suncheon Bay and a temple stay at Hwaeom Temple near Mount Jiri. The Korea Tourism Organization arranged the trip as part of its marketing push for Korean walking tourism.

The timing lines up with a campaign the tourism agency launched in July with the Korea National Park Service, aiming to draw a combined 3 million visitors to national parks by 2028.

Under the initiative, foreign visitors can borrow hiking boots and trekking poles for free and receive a keychain souvenir at participating parks, lowering the barrier for tourists who arrive in Korea without gear or a plan.

That barrier has already been falling on its own. Foreigners accounted for roughly 2.05 million of the visits to Korea’s national parks last year, according to the Korea National Park Service, with Mount Halla on Jeju Island drawing the largest share at more than 270,000, followed by Mount Seorak and Mount Bukhan.

In Seoul specifically, foot traffic data from the Seoul AI Foundation showed foreign visitation climbing fastest not at palaces or shopping streets but at hiking spots, up 11.8 percent at Mount Acha and 10 percent at Mount Gwanak year-on-year.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It just goes to show that if you have enough money that it doesn’t matter how much your reputation is in tatters people will still flock to see you:

TerraPower founder Bill Gates arrives at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul on Aug. 13, 2026. (Yonhap)

American billionaire and founder of TerraPower Bill Gates arrived in South Korea on Thursday to meet with political and business leaders to discuss cooperation on next-generation nuclear reactors. 

Gates, who also chairs the Gates Foundation, landed aboard a private jet at Gimpo International Airport in western Seoul at around 9:20 p.m., according to people close to the matter. He last visited Seoul just about a year ago. 

While in Seoul, Gates is expected to have a string of meetings with key figures in political and business circles for discussions on expanding partnerships in small modular reactors (SMRs) and other areas. 

He is expected to meet Prime Minister Han Seong-sook on Friday and top business leaders, including SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won and HD Hyundai Chairman Chung Ki-sun.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Modern eating habits are definitely changing in South Korea:

Koreans are consuming significantly less kimchi than in the past despite the surge in global popularity of the country’s signature side dish, data showed Sunday.

According to a joint study by researchers from Chung-Ang University, Jeju National University, and the World Institute of Kimchi, the proportion of Koreans who reported eating no kimchi within the past 24 hours jumped from 11.7 percent in 2010 to 22.7 percent in 2024.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Dried reservoir

The Hagok Reservoir in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, is seen nearly dried up, with most of its bed now exposed, on Aug. 2, 2026. (Yonhap)

Even without the small stones in it, this burger doesn’t sound to appetizing:

McDonald’s Korea ended sales of its new burger featuring locally produced corn after multiple customers reported biting into what they claimed to be small stones.

The global hamburger chain said on Sunday that it stopped selling the Chungju corn cheese croquette burger nationwide as of Thursday at 8 p.m.

Launched on July 9, the burger featuring a deep-fried cheese croquette filled with glutinous corn kernels from Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, was originally scheduled to remain on sale through Aug. 12.

A McDonald’s Korea official said company policy required sales to be suspended once three or more similar complaints had been received, adding that there were no plans to bring the burger back.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It is currently scorching hot in Korea:

Temperatures soared to a record high of 42.5 C in the southeastern city of Yangsan on Sunday, as a scorching heat wave continues to grip South Korea, the state weather agency said.

The mercury reached 42 C in Yangsan, about 310 kilometers southeast of Seoul, at 1:16 p.m. and further rose to 42.5 C at 1:26 p.m., according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

It marked the highest reading since modern weather observations began on the Korean Peninsula in 1904, based on records from the KMA’s 97 long-term observation stations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if San Francisco cleaned up the city for President Lee like they did when President Xi visited?:

President Lee Jae Myung wrapped up a two-day visit to San Francisco aimed at promoting artificial intelligence (AI) cooperation on Saturday and departed for Brazil as part of a three-nation South America tour for summits with regional leaders.

During his visit to San Francisco on Friday and Saturday, the South Korean president met with the chiefs of four global tech giants, including OpenAI Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman and Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang, calling for closer partnerships with South Korean firms in AI.

At a separate high-level meeting attended by Lee, global tech giants and South Korean tech conglomerates agreed to pursue a series of cooperation projects worth a combined US$950 billion.

The projects include a long-term deal under which SK Group will supply $750 billion worth of high-performance semiconductors to Nvidia and others.

As part of the South America tour, Lee will first pay a four-day state visit to Brazil from Sunday, which will include a summit with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the capital, Brasilia, on Monday, followed by a business roundtable in Sao Paulo on Tuesday.

After Brazil, the president will travel to Chile and Argentina through Aug. 1.

The South America tour is expected to focus on strengthening cooperation in critical minerals and supply chains.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest twist in the Trump administration’s tariff war:

This file photo, released by Reuters, shows U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer arriving for U.S. President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Feb. 24, 2026.

 U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration on Thursday announced its final decision to impose up to 12.5 percent tariffs on South Korea, Japan and other trading partners over forced labor concerns.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) unveiled the new tariffs ranging from 10 percent to 12.5 percent on dozens of countries after conducting investigations into 60 economies under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act to determine whether they had taken sufficient steps to ban imports made with forced labor.

The announcement came as the administration’s temporary 10-percent global tariffs were set to expire on Friday. The across-the-board duties were rolled out after the Supreme Court struck down the Trump administration’s country-specific “reciprocal tariffs” in February.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but apparently this forced labor angle is a way to get around the ban the Supreme Court issued on the Trump administration’s sweeping global tariffs earlier this year.

Fortunately firefighters were able to get the Coupang warehouse fire under control before it spread to the floor with the lithium ion batteries:

A massive fire at a Coupang logistics center in Incheon was brought under control at around 8 p.m. Monday, about 61 hours after it broke out Saturday morning.

Incheon Fire Headquarters said the blaze at Coupang’s No. 32 logistics center in Seoknam-dong, Seohae-gu, had been contained. The fire began at 6:54 a.m. Saturday on the sixth floor of the eight-story facility, which has a total floor area of about 299,000 square meters, before spreading to the seventh floor.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Has anyone seen the new Korean blockbuster Hope yet? The article is claiming that it is getting very mixed review, either you love it or hate it:

Everyone is talking about “Hope.” Nobody seems to agree on it.

Na Hong-jin’s big-budget creature farce blew past 2 million admissions Sunday afternoon, five days into its run and faster than any film released this year, according to Korean Film Council data. Its running total stood at 2,129,723 as of Monday morning.

That pace beats “The King’s Warden,” which opened earlier this year and went on to sell 16.9 million tickets, becoming the highest-grossing Korean film ever made. It also outruns Yeon Sang-ho’s “Colony,” which took until the evening of its fifth day in May to reach 2 million. (…….)

ut whether audiences actually like the movie is a different question. So far, the answer depends entirely on whom you ask. Reactions have split into two camps, with little in between, making “Hope” the most polarizing Korean release in recent memory.

Naver’s audience score, drawn from ticket-verified viewers, splits down the middle, with 53 percent of raters handing out 9s and 10s while another 23 percent went with 1s and 2s. On the review platform Watcha, ratings are just as divided, averaging out to a middling 3.1 out of 5.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.