Hongdae Archives | Be Korea-savvy
Save Our Stages: Indie Music Scene Moves to Save Stages, Songs amid Pandemic

Save Our Stages: Indie Music Scene Moves to Save Stages, Songs amid Pandemic

SEOUL, March 9 (Korea Bizwire) — The indie music scene in South Korea has not been spared from the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, more so due to the government’s strict social distancing guidelines and the usually tight budgets for indie musicians. In contrast to mainstream K-pop artists, who have successfully mobilized tens of thousands [...]

COVID-19 Poses Existential Threat to S. Korea’s Indie Music Scene

COVID-19 Poses Existential Threat to S. Korea’s Indie Music Scene

SEOUL, Jan. 11 (Korea Bizwire) — The COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a heavy blow to a number of self-employed South Koreans. Among them, however, indie musicians and the operators of small-sized performance halls have been hit the hardest. With almost all performances having been cancelled due to social distancing regulations, the performance halls have remained [...]

Foreign Volunteers Join Crime Prevention Patrols in Hongdae

Foreign Volunteers Join Crime Prevention Patrols in Hongdae

SEOUL, May 21 (Korea Bizwire) — Seoul’s Mapo District Office reported on Monday that it will operate teams of volunteer crime prevention guards consisting of foreigners. The patrol team consists of 20 people, including Chinese, Nigerian and Vietnamese volunteers. Twice a week, they will patrol the streets in Yeonnam-dong, near Hongik University Station and in the [...]

Hongik University Station Top Location for Illicit Filming of Women

Hongik University Station Top Location for Illicit Filming of Women

SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — More than 80 reports of “molca”, the Korean word denoting the surreptitious filming of women’s bodies, came out of Seoul’s Hongik Univ. Station on Line 2, the subway station servicing the Hongik University neighborhood highly popular with foreign tourists and South Korean youth. Among the undesirable “top ten” subway [...]

VR Theme Park Opens in Seoul

VR Theme Park Opens in Seoul

SEOUL, March 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A virtual reality theme park has opened in Seoul’s popular Hongdae neighborhood, and will serve as a hub of VR content production and distribution. VR Square, a multi-purpose cultural venue, was established as part of the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency’s joint efforts [...]

Giant Coca-Cola Landmarks a Hit

Giant Coca-Cola Landmarks a Hit

PYEONGCHANG, Feb. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – Olympic sponsor Coca-Cola’s giant vending machine in Gangneung is proving to be a hit attraction in its own right, with Korean celebrities making pitstops at the commercial landmark to bid South Korean athletes good fortune. Model Han Hyun-min and archery duo Jang Hye-jin and Choi Mi-sun – two-thirds of [...]

Women in their 20s and 30s Core Customers of Traditional Liquors

Women in their 20s and 30s Core Customers of Traditional Liquors

SEOUL, Feb. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — Recent market analysis has revealed that women in their 20s and 30s comprise nearly half the consumer base for Korean traditional alcoholic beverages. From July to December (2017), women between the ages of 20 and 39 were responsible for 49.7 percent of online traditional liquor sales (9.7 percent by [...]

Seoul’s Taxi App, Late Night Transportation Measures to Alleviate Problem of Taxis Refusing Rides

Seoul’s Taxi App, Late Night Transportation Measures to Alleviate Problem of Taxis Refusing Rides

SEOUL, Nov. 27 (Korea Bizwire) – On November 26, the Seoul Metropolitan Government introduced a new taxi app called “Jibro”1 to be released next month, as well as a list of administrative measures to address shortages in late night transportation options. Seoul’s Jibro differentiates itself from other taxi-hailing services like KakaoTaxi in one key way: [...]

Sunday Stroll Among Seoul’s Hidden Bookstores

Sunday Stroll Among Seoul’s Hidden Bookstores

SEOUL, March 19 (Korea Bizwire) – Strolls around so called bookstore allies, which refer to quaint and exotic areas typically surrounding old bookstores, are fast becoming the next big thing in South Korea. For those who could use a digital detox after a week dominated by the overuse of smartphones and PCs, jumping on the bandwagon [...]