2017년 12월 19일 화요일

Actress Hwang Jung-eum donated KRW 100 million for sick children


Actress Hwang Jung-eum donated KRW 100 million(usd 90,000) for sick children on Dec 18.

Hwang Jung-eum (32) donated KRW 100 million to an international relief and development organization, NGO Save the Children for medical expenses for children of low-income family.

Donations will be used for childcare support projects.
Save the Children has supported surgery and treatment costs to low-income family children who are diagnosed but unable to get treatment due to high cost.
There is also a project to support outpatient examination expenses for children who are not even given a chance for health checkup because of their family circumstances.

Hwang Jeong-eum has been practicing sharing through diverse activities such as donating gifts to help children with incurable diseases at the time of the drama 'She Was Beautiful'.
She had a series of hits from the comic to the melodrama, including a sitcom 'Highkick Through the Roof' and 'Kill me Heal me'.
  
She decided to donate for the children ahead of her upcoming birthday before Christmas.





2017년 12월 5일 화요일

10 years since Taean oil spill incident, 1.23 million people gave hand to create miracle


December 7, 2007 at 7:06 am. Hebei Spirit of Hong Kong national oil tanker collided with crane of Samsung Heavy Industries on the offshore of Manipo Beach in Taean-gun, Chungnam Province.
The accident caused a hole in the tanker oil tank and 12,547 pounds of oil hit the coast of Taean, the only coastal national park in Korea.
It was the worst marine pollution accident that the sea of life turned into the sea of death.

The hearts of the Korean looking at the black Sea were despair and anger itself. But the desperate mind that they could not leave the oiled sea could lead people their way to Taean.
People from all over the country who ran to Taean, even in cold weather, pumped oil up on the seashore.
There were many volunteers who put down their daily routines on weekends and holidays and had a fight with black oil in Taean.




At an international forum held a year after the Taean oil spill, environmental experts around the world were worried that long-term ecological and environmental destruction would occur in the waters of Taean.
Experts pessimistically predicted that it would be difficult to get back to the pre-crash stage even after decades.
Offshore of Taean has overtaken the expectations of experts and recovered to the original state at a rapid pace.
Since the end of 2009, two years after the accident, a green light for restoration of ecosystem emerged.
The clam-shell mortality rate fell to 4.7% from 24.6% in 2008. The concentration of seawater oil in the Taean coast has been reduced to half of the previous year.
In June 2016, more than 100 endangered species swam around Taean.
The headache inducing odor of oil disappeared as well.

World environmental experts also said, "If this were not for volunteers who ran across the country after the accident, this change would have been impossible."
Taean has become a holy place of hope that symbolizes the efforts and spirit of volunteers.
At Manipo Beach, people set up a memorial for overcoming the oil spill that recorded the epic of hope that the great Korean people made with sweat and tears.

In January 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) upgraded the Taean Coast National Park Protected Area rating from 'Category V' (landscape protection area) to 'Category II' (National Park). IUCN classifies protected areas of the world into six types, I to VI. Upgrading from a landscape protected area to a national park grade 2 means that the area has excellent ecological value and excellent management and preservation.





















2017년 12월 3일 일요일

Night view of Korea and Japan from space


Randy Bresnik (50) NASA astronauts unveiled a photo of a night view of Korea and Japan taken on a space station on the Nov,19th.

Bresnick said in his tweeter account on the same day, "The fishing boat between Korea and Japan is floating in a magnificent flow like a firefly caught in a bottle."

Bresnik frequently uploads photos of the Earth taken from the space station and life inside the space station on social media. In October, he made direct video calls with the pope Franciscan.

Fall foliage in Yeosu city with colorful leaves in late autumn

On the last days of the November, maple trees turn red and yellow at Mt.Bongwha in Yeosu city.
Yeosu is a city located on the southern coast of Korea in South Jeolla Province, South Korea.



Survey of Korean's ideal beauty standard for woman 2017


The most beautiful female face that Koreans think as comparison by part is eye of Kim Tae Hee, nose of Han ga in and lip of Song Hye Kyo.

Biopharmaceutical company Hugel and professors from the plastic surgery department of the Il san Hospital of Dongguk University, Lee Seung-chul revealed the results by conducting survey.

40.7% of respondents in the question about beautiful face shape ranked actress Kim Tae Hee as the top. Followed by Jeon Ji-hyeon (21.4%), Song Hye-kyo (21.0%) and Moon Chae won (20.3%).

In the question about beautiful eyes, Kim Tae Hee (35.9%) got the most vote while Han Ga in (42.8%) was selected as Korean female with most beautiful nose.

Song Hye-kyo ranked first with 26.2% in beautiful mouth, followed by Jeon Ji Hyun (20.7%) and Kim Tae-hee (19.3%).

For most beautiful skin, Kim Tae-hee is ranked first (35.5%) followed by Moon-chae won (31.0%).

2017년 11월 12일 일요일

Seoul ranked 21st in Smart City Index 2017 among 500 cities around the world.


Seoul ranked 21st in 'Smart City'index among 500 cities around the world.
"Digitization" is excellent, as smartphone penetration ranks second in the world, but seoul ranked sluggish in "eco-friendly" measurement such as clean energy.

According to the '2017 Smart City Index' announced by EasyPark in Sweden on the 12th, Seoul ranked 21st on average with 7.13 points out of 10.

This index is based on the following criteria: △ transportation (smart parking, car sharing, traffic congestion, public transportation) △ sustainability (clean energy, smart building, (Business ecosystem), digitization (4G LTE, Internet speed, WiFi deployment, smartphone penetration rate), living standard, and expert evaluation.

Seoul was noted for its digitization. In particular, the point for penetration rate of smartphones was 9.91, second only to Luxemburg. In addition, establishment of WiFi ranked 9.74 (3rd place), 4G LTE penetration rate 8.8 (11th), and Internet speed 8.44 (18th).

However, sustainability evaluation criteria such as clean energy (2.69 points), environmental protection (2.04 points), and urban planning (3.24 points) stayed at the bottom of ranks.

In addition to Seoul, Daejeon ranked 63rd with an average of 5.48 points, including two Korean cities in 100th place.

Copenhagen, Denmark, with an average score of 8.25, was ranked first. Copenhagen is investing heavily in the clean energy sector with a goal of 100% carbon neutrality by 2025. It was followed by Singapore (7.83), Sweden (7.82), Zurich (7.75) and Boston (7.7).

Japan ranked seventh with 7.59 points, followed by San Francisco with 7.55 points, Amsterdam with 8th place with 7.54 points, Geneva with 7.53 points and Melbourne with 7.5 points. .

By country, Germany was prominent. Ten cities including Berlin (13th), Munich (25th) and Frankfurt (33rd) were ranked in the top 100.
Seven cities including New York (24th), Washington DC (28th) and Philadelphia (35th) of USA were among the top 100 as well.

American economy media, Business Insider evaluated "The concept of Smart City is expanding to include the environment, transportation, education opportunities, new technology ecosystem and local economy, Smart City Index shows which is the best prepared city for the future."







2017년 11월 11일 토요일

Naver's simultaneous interpretation wireless earphone 'Mars' won CES Best Innovation Award

On November 10, Korea's largest portal site, Naver announced that Bluetooth earphone MARS was selected as the best innovation award in the headphone field at the world's largest consumer electronics exhibition 'CES 2018'.

Mars is a fully wireless Bluetooth earphone that works with Naver's AI platform Clover.

It features simultaneous interpretation function using 'Papago', Clover's AI translation and interpretation service. One pair of earphones is worn separately, which can be interpreted to different language in real time.

It supports 10 languages including Korean and English, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, French, Vietnamese, Thai and Indonesian.

It also features external noise cancellation and voice recognition.

Mars will be released first in Korea in the first half of next year.


2017년 10월 30일 월요일

Han Ji Min with new look at the '12th Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign' event

Actress Han Ji-min attended the '12th Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign' event held in Seoul Dragon City, Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 27th.
She wore leather skirt with colored lens which is new appearance never seen before.
Other actresses such as Kim Sa Rang, Ahn So Young and Lee Min Jung attended the event as well.







 
 
 

2017년 10월 22일 일요일

Most popular mobile apps in South Korea 2017


Koreans are most likely to use smartphones for communication, photography, video recording, and news subscription.

According to a survey by Internet Statistics Service (KISA) last year, 78.3% of Koreans used communication applications such as chat and social network services (SNS) as the most popular applications. Photo and video apps accounted for 62.2%, news apps 54.4%, game apps 22.7%, music apps 18.7%, navigation and maps apps 16.2% and shopping apps 8.9%.

The most popular chat app for communication is KakaoTalk. 99.2% of Koreans used KakaoTalk, Facebook Messenger was second with 29.7%, and the line was third with 13%.
Koreans are using chat apps most often for conversations, sharing photos and schedule or making voice and video calls.

The reasons for using SNS such as Facebook, Instagram, etc., 67.1% said that they are sharing their personal interests. 65.2% for hobbies and leisure activities, 55.4% for recording daily life, and 47.6% said they use it for friendship.

According to Wise App, the most popular video apps that Koreans used in August were YouTube, Naver TV, Video portal, Oksusu, and Africa TV.
The most popular mobile payment app used in September was 'Samsung Pay', which had 6.4 million monthly users.

Koreans use an average of 45 apps a month. Total usage times are Kakaotalk with 4.2 billion hours, Naver with 2.9 billion hours, and Google with 3.20 billion hours.

2017년 10월 20일 금요일

Actor Won Bin has appeared in public for the first time in years


Actor Won Bin (40) has appeared in public for the first time in years and his new unique hair style attracted attention.

Won Bin attended the coffee brand event as advertisement model held at Wonju Han Resort in Gangwon Province on 18th.

Since his marriage to Lee Na Young in May 2015, he has never appeared in public.

His unique new hairstyle reminiscent of a poodle did not cover his outstanding visuals.
Pink suits also boasted a different sense of fashion.

While Lee Na Young has announced plans to return to the film, Won Bin has been resting from his work for 7 years since Movie 'The Man from Nowhere' in 2010.




2017년 10월 5일 목요일

Popular breakfasts in JTBC reality show 'Hyori's Homestay'


Newly opened guest house which is popular for its 'Breakfast' in Jeju Island.
Where is it? It is 'Hyori's Homestay'.

Here are some breakfasts which made Guest house's guest and audience's mouth water
in JTBC reality show 'Hyori's Homestay'.








Broccoli soup + watermelon juice

Simply boil the broccoli with water.

Cut to a good size to eat and put a little bit of salt water to boil a little more and broccoli soup is finished!
Broccoli soup and 100% watermelon juice made with ice puts on a great breakfast.


Banana apple curry

Put potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and other vegetables in a pan, pour water and boil the curry.
put banana and apple specially here to add sweetness, and stir them not to stick on bottome of pan to finish the top curry which everyone praises.


Anchovy kim bap

A special lunch made for guests who can not get breakfast and go out early. It is a simple yet hearty morning meal with dried seaweed roll rice stuffed with beef in sautéed soy sauce and stir fried anchovies inside.


Sweet pumpkin soup + strawberry smoothie, Egg Sandwich

Slice the slightly cooked pumpkin, trim it, mix it with milk, and grind into a hand blender. Put the roasted onion and pour more milk to boil it
Pumpkin soup with strawberry smoothie is perfect for breakfast.

Egg sandwich made by guesthouse boss Sangsoon
First boil the egg well and crush it with the knife. put the mayonnaise in a mashed egg and sprinkle with salt and pepper to put inside bread to make this delicious looking sandwiches.



There were more great breakfasts made by Hyori's homestay such as grilled silver Jeju cutlassfish, sea urchin soup(episode8), potato soup(episode 10), Dried pollack soup, stir fried squid(episode 11) and avocado sandwich (episode 11)

Breakfasts of Hyori's homestay are made with fresh and healthy ingredients and is more mouth-watering.
Would you like to try it out tomorrow morning?








2017년 9월 29일 금요일

Endangered species, Blue sea turtles released to the Jeju sea


The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries released 83 sea turtles, which are internationally endangered species on the 28th September at the Jungmun Beach in Jeju Island.
A young blue sea turtles smelled the ocean for the first time and is heading for the blue Jeju sea.

Jungmun Saekdal Beach has been used as a sea turtle spawning ground in the past and the average water temperature is maintained at over 14 ℃ even in winter.

2017년 9월 22일 금요일

Seolhyun vs Sulli, received different reception from Korean cinema audience 2017



Seolhyun and Sulli, actresses from a girl group, have had different screen scores in Korea box office.

The movie 'The Memories of the Murderer, starring AoA's Seolhyun, Seol Kyung-gu and Kim Nam-gil, has been on top of box office since September 6th.
It was not unsettled by the opening of foreign blockbusters such as 'Baby Driver' and 'American Made'.
It scored 157,984 audiences as of September 15th(based on the Integrated Screening System of Cinema Promotion Commission).

The response of critics to the movie is also good. The unique setting and the thrilling story based on the solid original story based on the bestseller of the same name by Kim Young-ha has taken the audience's heart and the actors' hot performances are well received.

It is true that Seolhyun, who has been casted with veteran actors such as Seol Kyung-gu, Kim Nam-gil, and Oh-dal su, has been concerned since casting stage, but has grabbed the hearts of the audience with her passion for the film. "I wanted to break out of the existing image I had,"
Seolhyun puts herself down in a thriller movie that is not easy to challenge, and she was able to go further to the footsteps of the actress Kim Sul-hyun.


Sully, who is considered as representative actress from girl group had to taste a bitter result in the movie she was starring this year. Sully met the audience for a long time with the movie ‘Real’ released in June. ‘Real’ is a big blockbuster with a huge production cost of 11.5 billion invested by Asian stars Kim Soo Hyun and Alibaba Pictures in China.

'Real' also gained great attention for the explicit scenes in which Sulli bravely threw away her idol image and went completely nude.
Unfortunately, the film failed to meet the high expectations and was met with harsh criticism. Netizens are even calling it one of the worst films in Korean history.
It only scored 470,107 audiences, less than half of half of the 3.3 million audience break-even points.

Sully, who acted as a rehabilitation therapist, Song Yoo Hwa, sometimes took a provocative yet sometimes pure character and directed a high level of exposure and truth, but did not attract the charm of the character itself and was only used for male gaze. There are too manyscenes that try to show off the sexual attraction of Song Yoo Hwa.







2017년 9월 10일 일요일

Heart-shaped buckwheat field in Pyeong-Chang, Korea


Tourists are having a good time at the '2017 Hyosuk Cultural Festival' held in Byeongpyeong-myeon, Pyeong chang, Gangwon Province on 9th. 
The festival which named "Buckwheat which are beautiful as novel" will be held until 10th.




2017년 9월 7일 목요일

What are the Most Searched Keywords about South Korea by Foreign Tourists 2017?


What do foreign tourists want to know about Korea?
The Korea Tourism Organization (KNTO) analyzed the search terms related to Korean tourism that foreigners used from eight different languages speaking ​​regions through major search engines such as Google (English and German), Baidu (Chinese) and Yahoo(Japanese).

The most searched word in English and German was 'kimchi'.
The 'Shinchon' was the most searched word in China and 'DMZ' in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
In Japanese was K-pop, and French and Spanish were 'Taekwondo'.
Russian is 'allkpop'(K-pop and Korean wave introduction site)'.

In the English-speaking websites, 'Kimchi' was followed by 'Korean drama' and 'Seoul'.
In Japanese sites, 'K-pop' was followed by 'K-drama' and 'Korean language'.

In addition to 'Shinchon', Chinese searched mainly on tourist attractions such as Cheonggyecheon, Garden of Morning Calm and Namsan Tower while Taiwanese and Hong Kong searched about cities such as Busan and Seoul most.

In the German language, most frequently searched topics related to Korean is food such as kimchi as well as bibimbap.
In addition to Taekwondo, Korean language and Korean culture, such as Kpop, became prominent in French and Spanish.

The interest in the PyeongChang Olympic Games is also growing. In the English language, the number of searches for 'Pyeongchang' last year was 53,339, more than three times the number of the 15,592 in 2015.

The number of people searching for Busan also increased.
Japanese, Traditional Chinese, German, French, Spanish, and Russian all increased significantly in 'Busan' searches. The tourism industry analyzed that the recognition of Busan has increased due to the influence of the movie "Tran to Busan" overseas.

Social media, which has the largest amount of content related to tourism in Korea, is an instagram. The Korea Tourism Organization analyzed 257,000 contents related to Korean tourism, which was uploaded to social media abroad in February.
Instagram was followed by Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blog.

The major keywords of Korean tourism appearing in social media were Seoul, Busan, Jeju, Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP), Korean food, Kimchi.


2017년 9월 6일 수요일

Lee Hyo-ri rejects TV commercials other than public campaign ads and PPL



Lee Hyo-ri is rejecting many CF proposals over popularity with JTBC entertainment program 'Hyori's Homestay' which is close to 10% audience rating.

According to an official of the advertising industry, "I think it's almost impossible to cast Lee Hyo-ri nowadays, considering her popularity and stature, she can get about 500 to 700 million won per commercial but she is refusing to appear on any CFs so far." he said.

Over five advertisers proposed CF to her after her comeback. The advertising industry is speculating that if all the contracts were made, the revenue could be over 3 billion won.
Representative of kiwi media group said, "I know that Lee is not willing to appear in any commercials other than public interest commercials." "Since her determination is firm, our company first decline politely if the ad proposal comes in"

On the other hand, Lee Hyo-ri agrees with the PPL that it gets from program production to lessen the burden of the production team. The agency said, "The vehicles that appear in 'Hyori's Homestay' are the PPLs brought by the production team." He added, "She understands the position of the production team who need to cover production costs with PPL as much as possible."



Seoul City Transformed Abandoned Oil Depot into a New Cultural Park


Seoul's oil reserves, which have been banned from public access for 41 years are transformed into cultural stock bases for Seoul citizens and opened on the first day of September.
Choi Yoon-jong, head of the Seoul Metropolitan City Blue City, said, "The abandoned Mapo Oil Depot, which stands as a historic icon to Seoul's industrial past was banned for public access and use for more than 40 years and now it will be transformed into a multi-cultural space where festivals, performances and exhibitions are held throughout the year.

The Mapo Oil depot was built to provide a stable supply of oil during the first oil shock triggered by the 1973 Middle East War. Since then, it was classified as a dangerous facility when building the Sangam World Cup Stadium to host the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup.


The newly constructed complex cultural space is equivalent to 22 soccer fields (area: 142,000 square meters). There is an open space (Cultural Garden, 35,212㎡) in which activities such as performances, marketplaces, and picnics can be held, and six tanks (T1 ~ T6, 10,410㎡) surround the area.

Tanks that used to store gasoline, diesel, bunker C oil, etc., were recycled while kept intact its original form as much as possible as a facility for culture and space.
Old and rusty oil tanks turned into New York's Apple Store-like glass dome (T1), theater (T2), and the space that makes you feel like you are in the woods (T4).
It is about 7 minutes walk from the World Cup Stadium station of Seoul Subway Line 6.

Since its official opening, various cultural events such as the citizens' market and music festival are held. Seoul has already selected 40 teams to run these programs throughout all year.





2017년 9월 5일 화요일

LEE SANGMIN Takes The Top Spot On Variety Show Stars Brand Reputation Index For September 2017


Lee Sang Min has topped the list of top variety show broadcasters rankings in terms of brand value for September 2017.

According to the Korea Institute of Corporate Reputation, Lee Sang Min was at the top of the September data, followed by Yoo Jae Suk and Park Myung soo.
33,385,505 pieces of data were analyzed from August 1st to September 2nd for 36 variety show stars.
Lee Sang Min had a total of 3,570,287 to rank him at #1 for the month.

The brand reputation index is an index that classifies brand big data into brand value, communication value, media value, and social value according to consumer behavior analysis.
The brand reputation index of variety show broadcasters was analyzed by participation index, media index, communication index and community index.

Top 20 of brand value list for Korean variety stars for September, 2017 are Lee Sang Min, Yoo Jae Suk, Park Myung Soo, Kim Jong Kook, Seo Jang Hoon, Lee Soo Keun, Park Nara, Kim Gun Mo, Kim Sook, Kim Byung man, Jun Hyun Moo,Lee kwang soo, Lee Young Ja, Haha ,Kim Gura, Cha Tae hyun, Yang Se hyeong.

2017년 8월 30일 수요일

The reason why singer IU confessed "more money than now is meaningless"


IU's interview with fashion magazine 'CeCi' regarding her thoughts on money in September 2015 is attracting attention among netizens again recently.

Q: Compared to the past, as you’re better off financially now, are you happier with your life now too? What does money mean to you?

There’s a saying that goes money can’t buy you happiness. Although it’s not wrong to say so, having more money does slightly increase your probability of becoming happier. As long as you’re not swayed by the numbers (and start to gamble and stuff). The sure thing is that money gives something good like confidence and feeling secure to people but it doesn't guarantee hapiness.
Recently, I had a conversation with mother about the topic of money. Although we’re earning a lot more than before, proportionally, we’re also spending more and it seems we’ve lost the value of money. Even though there was a time when we felt like we could breathe again if we could even get our hands on 100 thousand won (90 USD), seeing how I’m numb to even larger sums of money now, I feel like I’ve been deprived of times which i would have been happier.
So I thought about that. After much contemplation, I came to the conclusion that actually, I don’t need anything above my current assets and my parents agreed with me too.

The netizens who read article responded "I admire her humble mind and want to be like her", "So that's why she donate every year." and so on.





2017년 8월 25일 금요일

SBS travel entertainment program with Park Ji Sung was put on hold due to terror attack in Spain

 

SBS travel entertainment program, which attracted attention with the casting of Park Ji-sung, was either canceled or perhaps postponed.
The reason for this is said to be due to poor local situation in Spain, which was planned to be the main filming location of the program.

A official of SBS media company said, "Park Ji-sung was trying to leave to Spain with the SBS staffs including Lim Hyung Taek PD who directed 'Running Man' but it was called off due to the recent terror attack in Spain and there is nothing I can say about his new SBS program for now since nothing has been decided yet."


Samsung and LG to hold more than a half of the Latin America smartphone market share


Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics swallowed more than a half of the Latin American smartphone market.
The two companies ranked first and second in shipments, accounting for 51% of the total in the second quarter.
In particular, Samsung Electronics overwhelmed Apple, Huawei and Motorola with the highest market share ever recorded.

According to the counterpoint, US market research company on the 21st, Samsung Electronics ranked first in Latin America's smartphone market with the highest market share of 40.9% in the second quarter. It is a 6.7% p increase over the same period last year. Shipments increased 27%, mainly in low-priced models, the Galaxy J series in 2016.

Samsung Electronics' success is attributed to its marketing investment, which lasted more than 10 years, and its rapid launch through the establishment of a local factory.
Counterpoint said, "Samsung Electronics succeeded in shortening time to market by producing smartphones at Brazilian and Argentinian factories." "For example, the Galaxy S8 was launched in Brazil 20 days after the global launch and the Galaxy S7 was launched in Brazil in 40 days."


LG Electronics ranked second with a market share of 10.1%. Shipments fell 5%, losing 1.5% percent market share over the last year but barely kept double digits.
LG Electronics launched a sales strategy focusing on the K series, including the K4 and K10 models.

Motorola, however, grew rapidly as its shipments increased 65% compared to last year, while LG Electronics was stalled. Motorola's market share is 9.9%, which is only 0.2% difference from LG Electronics. Counterpoint added, "If Samsung is the most robust brand, Motorola is the fastest growing brand."

Latin American smartphone market grew 9% compared to last year as economic growth and the launch of LTE services in some countries. "Peru and Chile have grown backwards, but Colombia, Brazil, Mexico and Argentina are growing steadily," Counterpoint said. "While the market is centered on mid to low-end models, demand for premium models is growing, and there is room for companies like Apple to grow."