Life&Culture
LLG In series
Stories of love, life and growth
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# Human story
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LLG In series
Stories of love, life and growth
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German couple pedals 8,000 km to Busan, discovering humanity one country at a time
When Philipp Springsguth and Maria West set out from their home in Saxony, Germany, in March, they packed lightly but purposefully: five water bottles, two bikes, a tent and the conviction that they could do anything. Eight months and 8,000 kilometers later, the German couple arrived in Busan after cycling through 16 countries, passing through stunning landscapes, including arid plains of Kazakhstan, desert dunes of Afghanistan and bustling cities of China. Speaking to The Korea Herald shortly a
Nov. 13, 2025 - 10:00:00
Meet the man making recycling less ugly in Korea
You had a fun night out. But the next morning, the hangover hits hard. Your sister orders delivery, but after all that drinking, you can barely take a bite. Soon, leftovers, crumpled napkins and takeout containers start to pile up. And like any older sister would, she tells you to clean it up. How would you feel? That was four years ago for Seo Ho-seong, founder of Uglee Lab, the startup behind Oneul Sugeo, a service that picks up your trash from your doorstep and takes care of Korea’s notorious
Nov. 12, 2025 - 10:00:00
'Korean Vegan' whose recipes deliver flavors of life
Over a basin of salted napa cabbage, a woman throws in a handful of spicy red seasoning and mixes it with gloved hands. The sound of leaves rubbing and sauce squelching soon fills the kitchen. Her hands never stop, even as she begins to speak — not about cooking, but about friendship. “You’re gonna get dumped. Not by your boyfriend. Not by your girlfriend or your fiance or your spouse,” she says. The red seeps deeper into the cabbage as she makes kimchi, Korea’s traditional fermented vegetable d
Nov. 5, 2025 - 09:00:00
More real than reality: 'I'm Solo' producer on why the show works
South Korea is awash with reality dating shows. But one program stands out above the rest: "I’m Solo." Unlike most dating shows, "I’m Solo" aired on SBS Plus and ENA does not feature glamorous casts. Instead, its contestants resemble the neighbor next door. They are office workers, small business owners or civil servants seeking actual partners. Through “I’m Solo,” a total of 12 couples have gone on to marry. For viewers, the appeal lies not in romance itself but in the raw, sometimes awkward, w
Oct. 29, 2025 - 11:26:16
Meet the mystery editor behind most of the Wikipedia pages on Korea
When outsiders think of Korea, the image that comes to mind is often limited to BTS, "Squid Game" or North Korea. But behind those snapshots are millions of ordinary Koreans, and much of their history and culture remains invisible online. A Korean American Wikipedian who has spent years editing the world’s largest online encyclopedia says too much of what global readers find about Korea is biased, incomplete or simply missing — and he has made it his mission to change that. Through Wikipedia, he
Oct. 7, 2025 - 16:00:00
[Life in Korea] Double life of Anthony King: dancer and director in Seoul
Anthony King, 33, is a US-born filmmaker and professional dancer based in Korea, but his trajectory began far from studio lights: middle-school sports, anime music videos and an obsession over the arcade rhythm game, Dance Dance Revolution. A friend’s demonstration of a break dancing move called the “turtle stall” lit the fuse. “He showed me that, and I thought it was the most impressive thing in the world,” King said. Little did he know this would be the beginning of a chapter that would take h
Sept. 22, 2025 - 13:56:37![[Life in Korea] Double life of Anthony King: dancer and director in Seoul](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2025/09/24/news-a.v1.20250922.9b5dfddd31c54b45a38f8af84ddb4b4b_T1.png?type=h&h=320)
How a childhood rebel became Korea’s most iconic public campaigner
When other children sang and danced during performance at kindergarten, 5-year-old Yi Je-seok lay flat on the floor. “I wasn’t in the mood,” Yi said. “You need a certain spark to dance. I just didn’t feel it that day. I know dancing regardless of how you feel is important in a group-oriented society. But I just couldn’t do it.” His mother was mortified and took him home. But for Yi — better known today as Jeski — it marked the beginning of a lifelong refusal to conform. A rebel from the start, h
Aug. 20, 2025 - 09:00:00
Tailoring weddings for queer couples that law shuns
In South Korea, where marriage is legally defined as a union between a man and a woman, same-sex weddings have existed only in the stories of a few trailblazing couples. Among them are filmmaker Kim Jho Gwang-soo and his partner Kim Sung-hwan, the first openly gay couple known to have held a wedding ceremony in South Korea in 2013. A decade on, such weddings are no longer taboo or something only a few brave outliers dare to pursue. They've now become a viable option for many same-sex couples, al
July 30, 2025 - 12:29:44
Living fully in a land of slim expectations
Three years ago, author Erin Zhurkin moved to South Korea, and her fictional heroine came with her. Abby Allerton, the plus-size influencer at the heart of “Plus Size in Paris”, had already taken on Parisian fashion and cultural expectations in the first book. Now, in a Seoul-set sequel currently in the works, she’s about to face an entirely different set of beauty standards. The push for a Korean story didn’t come from publishers or agents, she said. It came from Korean readers. “It’s a sequel,
June 18, 2025 - 10:02:44
With buoy and camera, millennial diver redefines life as Jeju 'haenyeo'
For centuries, women on South Korea's Jeju Island have dived deep into the sea to harvest seafood to provide for their families. Called "haenyeo," which literally means “sea women,” they rely solely on breath-holding techniques, diving as deep as 10 meters and staying underwater for up to two minutes, without the aid of breathing equipment. Their gear is minimal: a simple diving mask, lead weights around the waist to help them descend and a buoy called a "tewak" — a basketball-sized float with a
May 28, 2025 - 09:11:00
For 15 years, Apple’s Find My app didn’t work in South Korea. This guy changed that
Apple is not the type of company that explains itself. It doesn’t respond to petitions. And it almost never makes country-specific feature changes, especially not for one person. Except in South Korea, where that’s exactly what happened recently. For over 15 years, one of Apple’s most critical device-tracking features, called Find My, was quietly and almost entirely disabled in South Korea. Millions of Korean users owned iPhones, AirPods and AirTags that were, in practice, untrackable if lost or
May 21, 2025 - 08:30:00
The AI artist who refuses to lose himself
When one introduces oneself as an “AI artist,” the question almost always follows: Who is the true creator -- the machine or the human behind it? The recent boom in AI-generated images, particularly those mimicking the look of Studio Ghibli, has made this question become even more widely asked. Yoon Seok-kwan, an "AI artist" who works under the pseudonym Keepkwan, shares this concern. While he believes originality is still possible when working with AI, he worries that much of what is being prod
May 14, 2025 - 10:29:57
'Smile at me': Cancer-fighting senior influencer inspires with strength, grace
Have you ever thought about whether you'd get cancer? We all know someone who has. But many of us walk through life unprepared. Choi Seung-ih, a 59-year-old senior model, was no different. "Never,” she said when asked if the thought had ever crossed her mind. “There was no family history. I exercised regularly. I even trained for a body profile photoshoot. I was strict with my diet. I thought I’d never get cancer. Then, about a year ago, Choi was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. Her wor
May 5, 2025 - 16:00:00
How this 20-year-old landed on J-Hope’s project
If you’re a BTS fan, you might recall the floating house in J-Hope’s recent music video, “Sweet Dreams (Feat. Miguel).” That surreal vision wasn't crafted by a veteran artist with decades of experience, but by Kim Onew, a 20-year-old 3D visual effects artist already making waves in the K-pop industry. Kim has already built an impressive resume at a young age. In addition to J-Hope, he’s created visuals for aespa, NewJeans and Stray Kids. His path is all the more remarkable in South Korea, where
April 23, 2025 - 09:37:39
She reclaimed her mornings and built a brand to help others do the same
Early-bird Youn Jin proved that the quietest hours can be the most impactful At 4 a.m., when most of New York was still asleep, Youn Jin was already awake. She blogged. She practiced yoga. She made breakfast. By the time her coworkers shuffled into the office, she already had accomplished a lot. Early mornings have long been considered a secret weapon of successful people, and stories like Youn’s might seem familiar — until you hear what happened next. Her mornings didn’t just set the tone for h
April 2, 2025 - 11:32:04
