Korea News and Observer blog includes IT,entertainment and travel posts, along with pictures and true to original translation
2014년 12월 30일 화요일
Foreign tourists to South Korea surpassed 14 million in 2014.
On Dec 29th, the number of foreign tourists to South Korea surpassed 14 million this year.
Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization held a welcome ceremony on 29th at Cheongju International airport where 14 millionth foreign tourists entering the country.
Official at Korea Tourism Organization said "It is a landmark accomplishments for Korea despite of negatives effects on tourism industry such as Sewol ferry accident and weakening Japanese yen in 2014."
For the 11-month period between January and November this year, number of foreign visitor has increased 16.6 percent from the same period last year, the highest growth rate in ten years.
In terms of nationality of the visitors, Chinese was number 1 with 5.71 million. This is up 40.9 percent from last year. By the end of the year, the number of Chinese tourists is estimated to break the 6-million visitors mark. For Chinese tourists, Korea has become the third most favored tourist destination after Hong Kong and Macau.
Following Chinese tourists, Japan (2.11 million) and the United States (720,000) took the No. 2 and 3 spots respectively.
In terms of growth rate, Hong Kong took the No. 2 spot (500,000) with 39.4 percent, followed by Thailand (420,000, 25.2%) and Russia (200,000, 24.0%). As the number of visitors increases, the Korea Tourism Organization estimated, the tourism income is estimated to be $17.6 billion.
Meanwhile, a competitor in East Asian tourism market, Japan is expected to attract more than 13 million foreign tourists for the first time this year due to weaker yen.
2014년 12월 26일 금요일
Jindo Sea-Parting Festival was awarded as “Most Excellent South Korean Festival” for 2 consecutive years,
On 26th, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has selected the Jindo Sea-Parting Festival as the “Most Excellent Festival” of 2014 from a list of 42 annual top festivals in Korea.
Jindo Island in Jeollanam-do Province presents one of the most miraculous natural phenomena in the world, called the Korean version of the Moses Miracle. The water between the main land Jindo and a nearby island Modo split and expose a causeway 2.8 klilometers long and 40 meters wide. The path lasts for around an hour allowing people to walk through the sea and meet halfway from the both places. Some people go to Modo before the sea road open by boat so that they can cross the sea in a less crowdedness. Walking through the water requires a pair of long lubber boots, a plastic rain coat in case of raining, and a small container to put your clams, small fish, or sea tangle on the way round.
This amazing event was unknown to the western world until 1975, when a French ambassador to Korea, Mr. Pierre Randi visited Jindo, witnessed the miracle first-hand and introduce it as "the Korean version of the Moses Miracle" in the French paper. Since then it became growing popularity from all over the world and the locals organized a festival to celebrate the miraculous event in 1978.
The number of tourists is growing each year reaching around 530,000 including 82,000 foreign visitors in 2014, according to Jindo county statistics.
In the Jindo Miracle Sea Road Festival, one can enjoy display of fireworks, traditional music and a remarkable performance by Korean shamanists.
Next year, Jindo Sea-Parting Festival will be held for 4 days from March 20 to March 23.
2014년 12월 23일 화요일
12 million tourists visited the Jeju island in 2014.
According to Jeju Tourism Association, number of all visitors to the island this year would reach 12 million on 22nd, Monday.
(3.264 million foreign tourists, 8.728 million local tourist until 21st)
This is 13%( 1.4 million people) increase over the same period last year.
Among foreign tourists, Chinese tourists(2.814 million tourists) had especially noticeable growth which saw 57.4% increase over last year.
In 1966 only 100,000 tourists came to the island in one year. By 1983 that had increased to 1 million and by 2005 that number had increased further to 5 million.
Within half a century or so Jeju has seen a remarkable progress in tourism development.
Many factors attributed to Jeju’s global rise in awareness include the UNESCO triple crown (with three UNESCO World Heritage sites, World Network of Biosphere Reserves, and Global Geoparks Network).
Jeju also received a New7Wonders of Nature designation in 2011.
More direct flights and cruises to the island attracted tourists as well.
2014년 12월 18일 목요일
Young ladys between the ages of 16 and 25 are the biggest fan of K-pop in America.
According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Korea Creative Content Agency(Kocca), young woman aged from teenager to 20's were the majority of K-pop fan group in United States.
Kocca has announced survey "K-POP US market consumer research" on 18th.
This internet survey was conducted on Nov 3~13 by the Kocca US Office and 1540 people who visit K-POP community site participated.
In the US, K-pop has a lot of fan base from a wide range of races and regions, and showed a high loyalty.
Age group of respondents was the highest in the 16 to 20 year old(49.4%). Followed by 20-25 years old(27.2%), 26-30 years (7.6%), 31-35 years (4%).
Especially women amounted to 90% of the total respondents. The core consumer groups in the US K-pop market is a young woman in their late teens to mid-20s.
Among racial group of respondents, Asian (such as China, the Philippines and Vietnam) is the most common at 33.8%, Hispanic 21.4%, Caucasian 20.6%, African 7.5% and Korean was only 2.9%.
81.5% of respondents used Youtube, followed by iTunes 8.3%,, Pandora 3.3%, and other media sources such as apps, downloads 4.3% to enjoy their favorite K-pop songs and videos.
American K-pop fans were sensitive to local music trends as well.
Their top 5 favorite K-pop singers in 2014, Bulletproof Boy Scouts, EXO, Vixx, Winner, Got7 are all groups that debuted within 3 years.
2014년 12월 16일 화요일
South Korea's Daedunsan mountain in winter
Daedunsan mountain(878m) has reputation of being a superb place to observe both autumn foliage and winter snow.
Daedunsan is a small provincial park located in Jeollabuk-do. Its main draws are its elaborate rocky peaks which protrude high into the sky from the land below. This sets the scene for some breathtaking trips up staircases bolted onto mountain sides and a hair-raising bridge suspended over two peaks.
Daedunsan is easily one of Korea's most dramatic and memorable mountains to climb. Its collection of craggy peaks are joined together by a network of steep and narrow hiking trails set amongst almost impossible rock obstacles such as ravines, pinnacles and huge outcrops.
A cable car hastens the trip to (near) the top, providing stunning vistas of the picturesque and intimidating summit Macheondae 마천대. Once you've disembarked, a torturous route takes you to the top (follow our DDN01 course for the shortest trip to the top), passing through two of the most famous hiking obstacles in the country – the shaky Geumgang bridge and the intimidating Samseon stairway.
And yet, Daedunsan is relatively obscure in Korea, and largely unknown to foreigners - bar long term residents or hiking enthusiasts. This is a crying shame given the fact that Daedunsan is one of the best mountains to visit in the Korea.
It can be little dangerous in winter time especially when snow is falling due to numerous dangerous rock obstacles, the slippery rocky paths, and the Samseon stairway so most people are paying extra attention to where they are putting their feet and so accidents here are few and far between.
On the staircase you can see an awful long way down through the metal grid steps. There are enormous views either side.
2014년 12월 12일 금요일
Lee Hyori has once again stated her strong stance against fur.
Singer Lee Hyori conveys the reason to wear faux fur instead of real fur through EBS documentary "Our Sole Earth: your winter coats, alpaca and Raccoon" which will be aired on 12th.
EBS said on 11th "with interview with celebrity like Lee Hyori who declared not to wear fur since several years ago, we want to think the uncomfrotable truth about fur through this program again."
Lee Hyori has spoken out against the torture and murder of animals in the name of fashion several times before.
Also Lee Hyori is well-known for having a soft spot for animals, and has also campaigned for helping abandoned animals
2014년 12월 8일 월요일
Koreans drink 1.3 cups of coffee daily on average.
Korea is one of the biggest coffee-drinking nation in the world according to recent survey.
The staple food of the Koreans is changing from "rice" to "coffee".
Last year, food that Korean adults eat most frequently per week was coffee.
Koreans consume more coffee than rice, according to a '2013 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey' conducted by Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The average Korean drinks coffee 12.3 times a week, or 1.8 times a day. Next is kimchi (11.8 times), followed by multigrain rice (9.5 times) and white rice (seven times).
In 2012, Koreans drank coffee 12.1 times a week, but kimchi and white rice consumption have declined since.
It's change that appeared in 120 years ever since coffee was first introduced in Korea in 1895.
A KCDC spokesman said, "Although it is difficult to evaluate coffee consumption in terms of nutritional benefits, it is unhealthy to drink coffee with too much sugar and cream."
2014년 12월 2일 화요일
U.K singer Connie Talbot delivered message of consolation for the families of sewol ferry victims
U.K singer Connie Talbot visited Korea again and delivered message of consolation and hope for the families of sewol ferry victims on Dec 1st.
Connie talbot recently came to Korea and said in an interview with the YTN "I am at a loss for words but i hope they do not lose hope and courage and something good will happen in future."
On April 23, Talbot held her first successful concert in Korea and donated all of profits from the concerts towards the ferry accident.
Connie Talbot is an English child singer from Streetly, West Midlands. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the first series of Britain's Got Talent.
2014년 12월 1일 월요일
Korea's Top 5 movies in admissions 2014
The film "Interstellar" has garnered more than 8.3 million admissions as of Monday, according to the Korean Film Council's KOBIS database.
It remains at top of Korean box office chart ever since its release on Nov 6th.
This film is likely to hit the 10 million admissions mark in Korea by mid-December.
In financial terms, Interstellar has so far earned more than $58.59 million. This ranks the film fifth this year in Korea in terms of admissions.
Korea's Top 5 movies in admissions 2014 is "Roaring Currents" (17,61 million), "Frozen" (10,29 million),"The pirates'(8.66 million), "Miss Granny" (8.65 million), followed by "Interstellar" ranked in 5th.
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