Stories: South Korea

Stories connected to South Korea.

A tree-cutting operation backed by military force.After American officers were killed in the Korean Joint Security Area in 1976, Operation Paul Bunyan removed…
“I can pitch a 24-person tent by myself.”A former soldier in South Korea made the claim online. People doubted him, so an event was arranged to put it…
The coin-shaped bread got the central bank's attention.South Korea's 10 won bread is a cheese-filled snack shaped like a coin. The Bank of Korea once asked sellers…
How did they know it was an ancient toilet?At South Korea's Wanggung-ri site, researchers identified three ancient toilets. A high concentration of para…
A missing park monument lay in the grass.After Seoul's Hanyang Park disappeared, its stone monument was moved around and lost from view. It was found…
He helped care for over a thousand children.Japanese social worker Soda Kaichi and his wife ran an orphanage in Korea under Japanese rule from 1921 to 19…
A palace to project imperial power. Annexation came months after it was finished.Seokjojeon in Seoul's Deoksugung Palace was a Western-style building intended to display the Korean Empire's…
In 1586, a wife wrote to her dead husband. The letter surfaced in 1998.A pregnant woman in Joseon-era Korea wrote to her deceased husband, Yi Ŭngt'ae, grieving and worrying about t…
A Seoul building opened as apartments. Then it changed jobs repeatedly.Completed in 1937 under Japanese rule, Chungjeong Apartment became a hotel in 1940, then a restaurant selling…
He began with hair clips. Then he sold records others avoided.Korean immigrant Wan Joon Kim started trading at Los Angeles swap meets and opened a stall at the Compton Swa…
Built in 760, then lost. A Korean bridge reopened in 2018.Gyeongju's Woljeonggyo was first built in the Silla period and disappeared during the Joseon era. After archa…
Five members in one boy band. Two came from North Korea.South Korean group 1Verse debuted in July 2025. Members Hyuk and Seok are North Korean defectors, making it t…
No ticket for the bridge concert? Watch from the river.Seventeen premiered 'Thunder' on a Seoul bridge in May 2025. Seats on the bridge were allotted by lottery. So…
Ordinary soldiers stayed outside. Women with swords guarded the king.Ryukyuan envoys to Korea reported that fifteenth-century king Shō Taikyū had an all-female royal bodyguard ar…
They wanted greener music streaming. So fans danced in Seoul.Climate group Kpop4planet pressed music platforms to switch to renewable power. In February 2023 it held a da…
LG's round face logo traces an idea to an old roof tile.A Silla-era roof tile found in Gyeongju, South Korea, bears a smiling face known as the Smile of Silla. LG sa…
A mud festival began with cosmetics marketingSouth Korea’s Boryeong Mud Festival began in 1998. It was conceived partly to promote cosmetics made with loc…
An Olympic halfpipe run without the big tricksRepresenting Hungary in 2018, Elizabeth Swaney completed women’s halfpipe runs without the tricks spectators…
Four wooden pieces determine the moveKorean yunnori uses split sticks rather than dice. Combinations of the flat and rounded sides determine how f…
A Dragon King legend became a five-person danceKorea’s Cheoyongmu is a masked dance based on the legend of Cheoyong, described as a son of the Dragon King o…
Korea’s seventh-evening festival also has a seasonal menuChilseok falls on the seventh day of the seventh month of Korea’s lunisolar calendar. Alongside the cowherd-a…
Chuseok rice cakes are steamed on pine needlesFor Korea’s harvest celebration Chuseok, families prepare songpyeon: rice cakes filled with ingredients such…