Theme Week South Korea – Busan

30 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

Seomyeon © flickr.com - Carey Ciuro/cc-by-2.0

Seomyeon © flickr.com – Carey Ciuro/cc-by-2.0

Busan, formerly known as Pusan and now officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea‘s second most-populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.5 million inhabitants. It is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern Korea, with its port—Korea’s busiest and the 9th-busiest in the world—only about 120 miles (190 km) from the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu. The surrounding “Southeast Economic Zone” (including Ulsan and South Gyeongsang) is now South Korea’s largest industrial area.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Incheon

29 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

© Jr55662/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Jr55662/cc-by-sa-4.0

Incheon, officially the Incheon Metropolitan City, is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. Today, about 3 million people live in the city, making it S Korea’s third most-populous city after Seoul and Busan. The city’s growth has been assured in modern times with the development of its port due to its natural advantages as a coastal city and its proximity to the South Korean capital. It is part of the Seoul Capital Area, along with Seoul itself and Gyeonggi Province, forming the world’s fourth largest metropolitan area by population.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Daegu

28 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  9 minutes

Dalgubeol Grand Bell at National Debt Repayment Movement Memorial Park © Timber Tank/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dalgubeol Grand Bell at National Debt Repayment Movement Memorial Park © Timber Tank/cc-by-sa-2.0

Daegu is the fourth-largest after Seoul, Busan, and Incheon, and the third-largest metropolitan area in the nation with over 2.5 million residents. Daegu and surrounding North Gyeongsang Province are often referred to as Daegu-Gyeongbuk, with a total population over 5 million. Daegu is located in south-eastern Korea about 80 km (50 mi) from the seacoast, near the Geumho River and its mainstream, Nakdong River in Gyeongsang-do. The Daegu basin, where the city lies, is the central plain of the Yeongnam region. In ancient times, there was a proto-country named Jinhan, to which the current Daegu area belonged. Later, Daegu was part of the Silla Kingdom which unified the Korean Peninsula. During the Joseon Dynasty period, the city was the capital of Gyeongsang-do, which was one of the traditional eight provinces of the country.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Suwon

27 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Fortifications of Suwon © flickr.com - Richard Mortel/cc-by-2.0

Fortifications of Suwon © flickr.com – Richard Mortel/cc-by-2.0

Suwon is the capital and largest metropolis of Gyeonggi-do, South Korea‘s most populous province which surrounds Seoul, the national capital. Suwon lies about 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Seoul. It is traditionally known as “The City of Filial Piety”. With a population close to 1.2 million, it is larger than Ulsan, although it is not governed as a metropolitan city.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea – Daejeon

26 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  6 minutes

Dunsan prehistoric settlement site © Yoo Chung/cc-by-sa-2.5

Dunsan prehistoric settlement site © Yoo Chung/cc-by-sa-2.5

Daejeon is South Korea’s fifth-largest metropolis. Daejeon had a population of over 1.5 million in 2010. Located in the central region of South Korea, Daejeon serves as a hub of transportation and is at the crossroads of major transport routes. The capital Seoul is about 50 minutes away by KTX high-speed train.   read more…

Theme Week South Korea

25 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  13 minutes

Changdeokgung Injeongjeon in Seoul © flickr.com - eimoberg/cc-by-2.0

Changdeokgung Injeongjeon in Seoul © flickr.com – eimoberg/cc-by-2.0

South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and lying to the east of the Asian mainland. The name Korea is derived from Goguryeo which was one of the great powers in East Asia during its time, ruling most of the Korean Peninsula, Manchuria, parts of the Russian Far East and Inner Mongolia, under Gwanggaeto the Great. South Korea lies in the north temperate zone and has a predominantly mountainous terrain. It comprises an estimated 51.4 million residents distributed over 100,363 km² (38,750 sq mi). The capital and largest city is Seoul, with a population of 10 million.   read more…

Joint Security Area between North and South Korea

15 October 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Military Demarcation Line © Kallgan

Military Demarcation Line © Kallgan

The Joint Security Area (JSA) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. It is often called the Truce Village of Panmunjom in the media and various military accounts. The JSA is used by the two Koreas for diplomatic engagements and, until March 1991, was also the site of military negotiations between North Korea and the United Nations Command (UNC). The Joint Security Area is lying within the village of Panmunjom.   read more…

2018 Winter Olympics and Winter Paralympics

8 February 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Sport Reading Time:  6 minutes

© pyeongchang2018.com

© pyeongchang2018.com

Winter Olympics
The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018, is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Korea. These will be South Korea’s second Olympic Games and its first Winter Games; Seoul hosted the Summer Games in 1988. Pyeongchang will be the third Asian city to host the Winter Games; the first two were in Japan, at Sapporo (1972) and Nagano (1998).   read more…

The Lotte World Tower in South Korea

1 October 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, House of the Month Reading Time:  9 minutes

© Neroson/cc-by-sa-4.0

© Neroson/cc-by-sa-4.0

Lotte World Tower is a 123-floor, 555-metre (1,821 ft) supertall skyscraper located in Seoul in South Korea. It opened to the public on April 3, 2017 and is currently the tallest building in the OECD, and is the 5th tallest building in the world. After 13 years of planning and site preparation, the tower gained final approval to start construction by the government in November 2010 and the first groundbreaking activities of piling and frame assembly were observed at the construction site in March 2011. At New Year 2016 the LED-pixels of the facade showed “2016”. On April 2, 2017, Lotte shot off fireworks to celebrate its official opening. The Building is part of Lotte World recreation complex. The opening of the tower took place on April, 3rd 2017, the 50th birthday of Lotte Confectionery Co., Ltd. The company got it’s name after the character Lotte (“Charlotte”) from the novel The Sorrows of Young Werther by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.   read more…

Return to TopReturn to Top