2014년 11월 28일 금요일

South Korea's Best places to bike in late fall

The Korea Tourism Organization presented a list of the best places to bike in Korea for a late fall retreat.

The 42.2km bike ride in Hwacheon, Gangwon Province, is famous for its scenic ride along the “Sanso-gil,” a riverside road that passes the small Bungeo Island to Mireuk rock and other famous local places.
Bicycles can be rented at the entrance of Bungeo Island from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm for ₩ 10,000($10) and you can return it by 5:00 pm. They give you vouchers(₩ 10,000) when you rent bicycle so that you can try speciality foods of Gangwon Province such as buckwheat crackers, chaesojeon and Makguksu for free.



Seonyudo island is about an hour and a half from Gunsan in South Jeolla province. This area is picturesque and Seonyudo is the best of the best. With many beaches, forests and cliffs to explore, there is something for everyone.
Visitors to the island can also see Munyeodo, Jangjado and Daejangdo nearby in one trip as there are bridges linking the four islands.
There are three bicycle courses in Seonyodo island.
Course A is the most popular course which goes all the way to Daejangdo, which you can take a good view of Seonyudo at a glance.
Cars are not allowed on bike paths, enabling cyclists to fully enjoy the unique landscapes.



Bukdo-myeon in Ongjin-gun, Incheon, allows bike rides between islands. The course that goes around three islands takes about three to four hours, offering extensive views of mudflats on the west coast of the Korean Peninsula.


Upo Wetland in Changnyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, ranks as the largest natural marsh in Korea. The wetland, which spans some 2.3 sq.km, has a high ecological value and bears traces of ancient times, with fossils dating back a staggering 140 million years discovered there. At this time of the year, visitors can enjoy the sight of migratory birds, oceans of reeds and stunning scenery.
Visitors can choose to see the sights by walking or cycling along various trails, but the latter is recommended in winter as the sun sets earlier. Riding too quickly can startle the birds, so be careful and go slowly even on a downhill road.

It is important to pick up a map of the area from one of the information offices before setting off in order to have a clear picture of all the tour routes. Regular and tandem bikes can be rented for W3,000 (US$1=W1,061) and W4,000, respectively, for two hours of use.
For more information, visit the website at http://www.upo.or.kr/main.



To find out more about these places on the list, go to visitkorea.or.kr.


According to recent survey, fewer Korean believe that marriage is necessary

Korean appear to have less traditional views on marriage nowadays, with fewer young people believing that marriage is necessary.

According to Statistics Korea's social consciousness survey conducted on 37,000 Korean over the age of 13, only 57 percent said marriage is a must-do thing in life.
It fell more than 10% than in 2008, this is the first time that declined to the 50% range.

The increasingly flexible view on marriage comes at a time when the number of newlywed couples is on the decline. In addition, more people are delaying marriage due to a combination of factors involving financial stress and the emotional burden.

Statistics Korea survey also revealed korean’s perceptions about support for old parents.
The percentage of the Korean who think family should take care parent's last days ceased to 32%.
Also, the percentage of the sons and daughters who is living with their old parent fell to 31% this year from 38% in 2008.


2014년 11월 24일 월요일

Korean drama hook over 18 million viewers in US

Recent online survey conducted by US office of Korea Creative Content Agency revealed that Korea drama has a lot of fan base from a very wide range of ages and races in the United States.

According to survey conducted through the web for 2 weeks from Oct, 16th, 2304 people answered that they watched the Korea Drama (English subtitles) at least once.

Age group of respondents was the highest in the 16 to 20-year-old 35.9% (827 people). Followed by 21~ 25 years old 22.6% (521 people), more than 46-year-old is 10.3% (238 people), 26 ~ 30 years old was 9.9% (227 people).

Among racial group of respondents, Asian (such as China, the Philippines and Vietnam) is the most common in 29% (669 people), Hispanic 18.9% (435 people), African-9.0% (209 people). Korean was only 4.4% (99 people) among the respondents.

55.7% (1283 people)of respondents used DramaFever, which claims to be the largest importer of prime-time Korean drama, followed by Viki 25.7% (591 people), Hulu 4.2% (97 people), Netflix 1.7% (38 people).

Favorite Korean drama 'Top 5' among respondents was 'Boys Over Flowers" (KBS2), "You who came from the stars (SBS)", "Secret Garden (SBS)", "Coffee Prince" (MBC), "Master's Sun"(SBS).

US office of Korean Creative Content Agency analyzed that over 18 million American viewers are watching Korean drama considering the percentage of American users on Internet streaming sites.

2014년 11월 20일 목요일

Chinese media reported "Kim Soo Hyun succeeded at losing weight."


While the actor Kim Soo Hyun has made his lastest appearance at certain health advertising brand promotion event held in Shanghai, China on 19th, the Chinese media stated that he had succeeded with his diet.

Chinese media, guojizaixian reported "Kim Soo-hyun took photos with fans on the stage wearing a gray suit in the event and he has again regained his sleek look of the original and seemed like he was successful on a diet."

Prior to this, multiple Chinese media captured the look of Kim Soo-hyun's swollen face in previous event and issued a malicious reports, such as "many of his Chinese ad has been canceled due to gain weight.", "diet is an urgent need".



2014년 11월 6일 목요일

81% of foreign tourists and visitor think "Traveling in Korea is Safe"


In a survey of 1218 Korean and 704 foreign tourists carried out from July to October 2014 by the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, 81.4 percent of foreign tourists considered Korea as safe country to travel, while 61% of Koreans responded that traveling in Korea is safe.

Foreign tourists were most concerned about the security of accommodation, pickpocket, theft, etc before coming to Korea, however, after the visit these concerns were reduced significantly.
In contrast, various concerns about traffic accidents such as car, bus, motorcycle, ships, subways, etc, showed a similar rate both before and after the visit.

On the other hand, 61% of Koreans answered that domestic travel is safe, while only 25% of Korean considered traveling abroad is safe.
Among big disaster and accidents that happened recently, 'Ebola virus', 'Japan radiation leaking', 'Malaysian aircraft shot down' had a negative impact on the destination selection for Korean.





2014년 11월 5일 수요일

Korea is the 25th in the Best Countries to Live In 2014 report


South Korea is the 25th most prosperous country out of 142 countries around the world, according to a prosperity index report released by the British-based Legatum Institute on Nov 4th.

Korea ranked the fifth in Asia laged behind Singapore (18th), Japan (19th), Hong Kong (20th place), and Taiwan (22).

This report by Legatum Institute is measured in terms of economy, personal freedom and opportunity, education, health, safety and security, and social capital.

South Korea occupies the upper ranks in six categories, but ranked 59th and 69th in personal freedom and social capital categories respectively.

On the other hand, 72.2% of Korean answered "Yes" to the question "Are you satisfied with the standard of living"

Norway topped the list for the sixth-consecutive year.

2014년 11월 3일 월요일

James von Klemperer, "Lotte World Tower will become new symbol of Seoul"

"Lotte World Tower is the sixth highest in the world and it would be a symbol to show off the competitiveness of Korean economy and technological strength to the rest of world."

KPF design principal james von klemperer described Lotte World Tower as vertical city in a Korean newspaper interview on Oct 30th.
"The building is more than 500m which is rare even worldwide. Lotte World Tower is not just office tower nor building with only office and hotels. It is the vertical city with increasingly diverse elements."

Lotte World Tower is made ​​up of eight parts, such as hotel, office, cultural, commercial and entertainment area and it is virtually multi complex city performing various functions.

Sinkholes in the vicinity of the site had caused concern to developers and residents of the city alike, but it appears that construction will press ahead as the tower climbs towards its total height of 555 meters. work on the ‘lotte world tower’ is currently at the 78th floor, with a further 46 stroreys to be completed before the tower’s scheduled 2016 opening. once finalized, the project will stand as one of the world’s tallest buildings, rising 10 meters above new york’s world trade center.