Family reunions are the most important part of Lunar New Year traditions. A family, donned in hanbok gowns, heads for their hometown in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, to spend the holidays with their relatives. (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald) Tens of thousands of Koreans will hit the road Thursday, the official start of the Lunar New Year holidays, to head for their hometowns to spend ti...

A family gathers around a traditional breakfast table laden with special dishes to celebrate the Lunar New Year, including tteokguk. (Korea Tourism Organization) Tteokguk, that steaming bowl of hot broth studded with slices of white rice cake, is a classic Seollal staple. “In Korea, placing a bowl of tteokguk on the ancestral table for rites on Lunar New Year’s morning is tradition,” said Dadam...

A customer shops for hanbok for her children at Lotte Mart Seoul Station ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday. While fewer adults wear the traditional Korean clothes, the demand for children’s hanbok continues. (Yonhap) Han Hyun-young, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul, had a hanbok custom-made for herself when she got married in 2011. But she has worn the traditional Korean clothes only twice...

Seollal, which falls on Jan. 31 this year, involves a lot of hectic food preparations and family gatherings, but Koreans are not the only people observing it. Though practices differ, a version of Seollal is celebrated across Asia: millions of Chinese, Vietnamese and Mongolians meet families and friends on the first day of the Lunar New Year. Here in South Korea, Seollal demands intensive prepa...

Visitors tie together their talisman fortunes at Namsangol Hanok Village as part of Lunar New Year actitvities. (Korea Herald file photo) Seollal, the Lunar New Year, is one of the most celebrated holidays in Korea: It is not only a time to pay respects to one’s elders and ancestors, but is also an opportunity to spend time with family and friends to celebrate the New Year immersed in tradition...

Dokdo (Korea Coast Guard) In A.D. 512, Gen. Kim Isabu was on a mission to conquer an island country off the east coast of the peninsula. To defeat the tribesmen, who were notoriously ferocious and aggressive, the shrewd commander used a trick. He erected wooden figures of fire-breathing lions on his vessels and threatened to let the prides loose unless they surrendered. The frightened islanders ...

A statue of An Yong-bok in Busan (The Korea Herald file photo) Everything about the Dokdo islets is common knowledge among older Koreans: their history, marine life, climate, rainfall and even exact latitude and longitude coordinates, all of which are mentioned in the lyrics of a popular 30-year-old song titled “Dokdo is Our Territory.” Not simply some remote outcroppings in far-away waters, t...

Postage stamps designed by the South Korean NGO VANK to commemorate “Dokdo Day” (The Korea Herald file photo) With its unique location and natural history, Dokdo boasts ample fishing grounds, untapped resources and a potential for environmental, geological and cultural research. Dokdo is the product of underwater volcanic eruptions in the East Sea about 4.6 million-2.5 million years ago. It is...

Yuji Hosaka (Yoon Byung-chan/The Korea Herald) Yuji Hosaka, born in Japan, harbored good feelings toward Korea from childhood when he was charmed by its singers, sports stars and the friends of his father, who ran a plastic lens factory in Tokyo. The fond curiosity developed into academic enthusiasm during his college years after he was struck by the 1895 assassination by the Japanese Empress M...

CJ Korea Express’ hub terminal in Daejeon is the nation’s largest logistics center. (CJ Korea Express) There are few things that cannot be delivered in this short-tempered, fast-moving and tightly networked country. Overnight parcel services are taken for granted. Fully cooked meals and snacks may be ordered around the clock. Even McDonald’s Korea uses a motorcycle fleet to make home deliveries...

“Quick service” messengers in Seoul. (The Korea Herald file photo) On a Saturday morning, a middle-aged man in a black leather jacket cuts between vehicles on a motorbike to reach the head of the queue at a red light. When the light turns green, he whizzes past other vehicles, riding off with a big pile of packages loaded on the back of his bike. “I like Saturdays. There’s less traffic and I ca...

A delivery locker in Guro district of southern Seoul. (Seoul Metropolitan Government) On a Saturday night, I felt a sudden urge for instant noodles, a pack of frozen dumplings, tofu and some other trivial groceries, but didn’t feel like going out ― it was freezing and around midnight, and the idea of having to get dressed for an outing was unbearable. I picked up the phone and called a delivery...

South Korean students, office workers, singles and especially those who find it frustrating to stand in queues see home-delivered food as a blessing. Only a couple of years ago, they used to reach for flyers to place an order. Now, things have become smarter. Suh Jeng-hoon, for instance, is a student who enjoys food delivery and uses mobile apps specializing in this to read reviews, browse menus...

U.S. retail giant Amazon is developing a prototype of a drone for its “Prime Air” delivery system. (Bloomberg) A drone-based delivery system currently under development has raised hopes for faster, more efficient services, but concerns over its feasibility linger due to legal and technical limitations. A series of major global firms such as Amazon have recently revealed their prototype services...

Racehorses compete at Seoul Race Park in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi Province. (KRA) While the horses are used for leisurely riding in modern Korea, people on the peninsula have had a relationship with the animal since prehistoric times. For Koreans, the horse has been a stable source of nutrition, a dear friend, an efficient means of transportation, and a symbol of power. From Jan. 13, 2014, to Feb. 1...