Law and Economics of Korean Street Food

Dear Korean,I am living in the southern part of South Korea. One of the things I love about Korea is the street vendors selling food. Do these street vendors get a license or do they just set up shop? Also the 'shops' tend to close in the summer. For instance, I love 붕어빵, but they only sell during the winter. Why? Meanwhile...

Divided Sports Loyalty?

Dear Korean,I am Chinese American, immigrated at 4 years old. I identify very much as an American and while I want China to do well in competition, I will generally root for the USA over China head to head. A Korean American friend of mine shared this article, which I thought was very interesting. It advocates that Korean...

50 Most Influential K-pop Artists: 10. Drunken Tiger

[Series Index]We are finally in the top ten countdown! Because the top ten musicians usually show a huge spectrum of music that is not sufficiently covered by a single "representative song," TK added a "Further Listening" section at the bottom to give additional examples of the artist's work.10. Drunken TigerYears of Activity: 1999-present Members:Tiger JK - rap (1999-present)DJ Shine -...

What Makes a Good Korean Restaurant?

TK has been on a vacation for the last week, during which TK and TKWife made a giant circle driving around Colorado, Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, and visited numerous national parks. Overall, it was an amazing experience. What was not amazing, however, was the one Korean restaurant that TKCouple visited, which inspired this...

Eating on a Train

Dear Korean,Why do Korean eat hard boiled eggs in trains? Every time I took a train with my Korean wife, she always says that we should eat hard boiled eggs. But why? What is it with trains and hard boiled eggs?Damien G.Boiled eggs on a train is a tradition of sorts. Korea operated its first train line in 1899, and train has...

Things TK Noticed in Korea

As some of you may have noticed, TK has been in Korea for the last couple of weeks. One of the pleasures of visiting Korea is to observe the changes. Because Korea is such a fast-changing society, even one year in between the visits (as was the case with TK's) is enough to produce noticeable, interesting changes. Here are three things that TK noticed in his visit:(1) Beer.   Good beer is...

Book giveaway winners!

First, the answers to the trivia:1.  SM Entertainment is the management company of the pioneering female idol star, BoA.2.  Shin Dae-cheol is the guitarist for the band Sinawi, whose bassist at one point was the legendary Seo Taiji.3.  Kim Min-gi is the artist whose best known song is the Morning Dew.Somehow, Question 2 tripped up a big number of entrants. The question asked for the...

Book Giveaway Trivia Time!

Dear readers,The good folks at Tuttle Publishing, one of the best publishers of books on Asia, have sponsored an exclusive book giveaway event for Ask a Korean! readers. The prize? K-Pop Now! by Mark James Russell, which the Korean previously reviewed here. For anyone who needs an introductory overview of the current K-pop phenomenon, it is a great introduction.For the give away, TK has put together...

Sweet, Delicious Eff You

Dear Korean,Reading this article, I was wondering whether the statement "The popular pumpkin toffees have become a shorthand for an insult in South Korea, where 'Go eat toffee' means a ruder version of 'get lost'" is true. Is there even a "tradition" to throw toffee? In my culture we throw sweets and candies as a sign...

Korea was never a Part of China

Dear Korean,I’m from Singapore and visited Korea for the first time last week. I went to the National and National Folk Museums in Seoul, and noticed that the Koreans talked mostly of their early relations with China as one of “international exchange” or “cultural exchange”, seemingly having forgotten that Korea was a vassal...

World Cup Thoughts

Yes, the Korean realizes that he is far overdue for a post. In his defense, how can one write a lengthy post when there are so many excellent games to watch?!I mean, just look at this amazing Van Persie goal. I could watch this all day.Actually, forget that. I could watch THIS all day.Every flying man deserves a cape.Which brings us to Team Korea, which takes the pitch tomorrow against Russia. Unlike...

The Sewol Tragedy: Part III - The Fallout

[Series Index]The capsized Sewol(source)One cannot get away from events in this age; the 24-hour news coverage and the Internet would not allow it. The Sewol disaster unfolded in real time in front of a horrified nation. When more than 300 lives--vast majority of them children--senselessly perish in an entirely preventable...