Articles by Choi Jae-hee
Choi Jae-hee
cjh@heraldcorp.com-
Check out farmers' markets this fall
A farmers’ market popped up at a corner of a street in Seoul’s Seongsu-dong neighborhood on Sunday. Among the vendors at the touring market dubbed Marche@ were Lee Ji-sun, 42, who brought herbs, vegetables, and eggs from her family’s farm in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province. “Our farm does not use any synthetic chemicals and we hatch chicken eggs naturally,” she said proudly. Marche@ is not an ordinary farmers’ market. Started by a group of city farmers committed t
Food Sept. 23, 2022
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Free cooking classes for the kimchi-curious
For those unacquainted with Korean cuisine, kimchi can taste and smell a bit strong. But don’t let that first impression scare you off from the amazingly rich, versatile and savory world of kimchi, says Son Jong-won, executive chef of L’Amant Secret, a Michelin-star restaurant at L'Escape Hotel in Seoul. At a cooking demonstration on Tuesday with 20 foreign guests, the chef showcased how the fermented cabbage, which has a varying mix of pungent, sour and spicy tastes, can ta
Food Sept. 22, 2022
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[Herald Interview] Miss Bhutan shares story of coming out, self-love
Tashi Choden, a Bhutanese social media influencer who was crowned this year’s Miss Bhutan, was 15 when she first realized she was "different." “I first came out as a bisexual person to my friends, but soon realized that my affection tilted more towards women,” Choden, now 23, told The Korea Herald in an exclusive interview. “After doing some research on gender identities, I found out that I was a genderfluid lesbian.” Being gender-fluid means that one&rs
People Sept. 19, 2022
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[Weekender] Built to inspire awe
In Seoul's southern district of Banpo, an apartment complex recently won a prize at the international iF Design Award 2022 in Germany, not for the design of its main building, but for its grand and magnificent front gate. Standing 8 meters tall and 70 meters long, the large curved entrance gate is the first impression of “the H Banpo La Class,” the apartment complex built by Hyundai E&C last year. At night, the massive structure is illuminated with more than 12,000 LED lights,
Social Affairs Sept. 17, 2022
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Liquor shops beckon sophisticated drinkers
From wine and beer to liquors like soju and whiskey, numerous alcoholic beverages fill the display shelves at an E-mart24 convenience store in Cheonho-dong, southeastern Seoul. More than 700 varied options await liquor lovers, especially those who enjoy a tipple at home after work. Oh Jin-song, a 29-year-old office worker, said he drops by the specialist convenience store at least twice a week after work, which spares him the hassle of visiting the kind of busy supermarket where most Koreans b
Food Sept. 13, 2022
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Koreans’ two all-time favorite snacks named among Asia’s 50 best street foods: CNN
Two popular on-the-go meals in South Korea, gimbap and tteokbokki, have been named on CNN’s list of the top 50 street foods in Asia. Gimbap, the seaweed-wrapped rice roll stuffed with vegetables, eggs and various meat sliced into bite-size discs of goodness, has long been Koreans' go-to soul food along with tteokbokki, a dish made of white rice cakes in a thick, fiery red sauce. Stressing gimbap’s portable size, the US news network said “not unlike Japan's makizushi (
Food Sept. 11, 2022
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Civic group pushes to erect statue honoring late US Korean War veteran
A South Korean civic group is pushing to erect a statue to honor the late US Army Major Gen. John K. Singlaub to mark the 70th anniversary of the Seoul-Washington alliance next year, the group said Monday. The Korea-US Alliance Foundation, which was established in 2017, is in talks with the deceased general’s bereaved family in the US, as well as officials from the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs in Seoul for the project, officials at the group said. Details on the envisioned m
Social Affairs Sept. 10, 2022
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Have a 'booknic' in the middle of Seoul
On a recent Friday morning, the plaza in front of Seoul City Hall had a group of children browsing through books, lying on bean bag chairs, picnic mats, or swinging benches under the warm sunlight. Brightly colored bookshelves were scattered across the plaza’s open lawn space, beckoning passersby to grab one and join them. Nearly 5,000 volumes of various genres and topics, from children’s picture books to novels and essays, were available for on-site reading. There was a separate e
Culture Sept. 8, 2022
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[Photo News] Mudslide strikes Buddhist temple site in Gyeonggju
A Buddhist temple site in the historic city of Gyeonggju, North Gyeongsang Province, has been struck by a mudslide triggered by heavy rains of Typhoon Hinnamnor, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Wednesday. The hillside Gulbulsa Temple site, not to be confused with the city’s more famous Bulguksa Temple, had its wooden structures and trees knocked down, but its most precious treasure – the Stone Buddhas in Four Directions – appears mostly intact, the agency
Social Affairs Sept. 7, 2022
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Personality tests for finding love match?
The enduring popularity of Myers-Briggs personality tests among younger South Koreans is changing the way they date. Some people are using mobile applications to figure out which personality types, indicated by a jumble of four letters like ISFJ or ENTP, would be most or least compatible with them. Hwang Da-in, a 25-year-old college student in Seoul and an ISTJ herself, says her ideal match is an ISFJ, based on chats she had with virtual characters of different personality types on an app called
Social Affairs Sept. 6, 2022
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One in five foreigners staying in S. Korea illegally: data
Nearly one in five foreigners staying in South Korea are without a valid visa, latest government data shows. According to the Korea Immigration Service, as of July, a total of 395,068 foreigners were staying illegally, which is 19 percent of the country’s total foreigner population of over 2 million. The figure, which is up 4,665 from a year earlier, was the highest since September 2020, when the country estimated the illegal immigrant tally to be 396,728. The ratio of people overstaying t
Social Affairs Sept. 1, 2022
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Recording of phone calls: Should it be banned?
Kim Jin-ahn, a marketer at a cosmetics company in Seoul, finds his Samsung Galaxy smartphone’s built-in call recording feature very helpful, as his job entails numerous conversations on the phone. “I receive many work-related calls, especially when I work from home. I listen to the recordings whenever I get confused about the tasks,” he said. Recording phone calls is not illegal in South Korea, if the person recording is a party to the conversation. Quite to the contra
Social Affairs Aug. 28, 2022
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Koreans debate which price is right for beloved fried chicken
Supermarkets in South Korea engaging in a price war on fried chicken is a welcome development for consumers like Shin Kyung-ja (not her real name) amid the soaring cost of living. The 64-year-old was among the 40 or so people standing in line outside an E-mart in Eunpyeong-gu, northern Seoul, an hour before its opening on Monday. They were waiting to buy a bucket of fried chicken offered at a special price of 5,980 won ($4.50). Twice a day at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., the superstore has
Social Affairs Aug. 24, 2022
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[Korea Quiz] (17) Animals in myth
Test your knowledge of Korea with our weekly quiz on the language, culture, history or anything K-related. -- Ed. The Dangun myth tells the story of how the first Korean kingdom Gojoseon was founded in 2233 BC. A long, long time ago, a heavenly prince named Hwanung descended on the Korean Peninsula to rule over humans. A tiger and a bear, envious of people living so happily and peacefully together under his rule, prayed and prayed with wishes to become human. Hwanung, mo
Hashtag Korea Aug. 24, 2022
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[Newsmaker] Life-size sex dolls enter home
Late last month, residents of an apartment complex in Incheon were rattled by the discovery of a headless, mutilated torso, which turned out to be a silicone sex doll. It was found in the building‘s parking lot, near a car that had a damaged roof. The vehicle’s owner, suspecting that the mannequin must have fallen from a height and landed on the car, reported it to the police. An investigation to identify the owner of the doll is currently ongoing. The news of the inci
Social Affairs Aug. 23, 2022
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