Recent Blog Posts

Saju (사주), the Korean tradition of reading a person's fortune from their birth year, month, day and hour, has a new format: websites built with AI coding tools. A saju site made by an influencer the Korea Herald identifies as Roro gained traction on Wednesday, Oct. 7, and was unavailable because of high traffic by the time the Herald reported on it on Oct. 9. The Herald says she built it with the large language model Claude, which makes it one of several AI saju projects drawing attention in Korea this autumn.

• Read more about AI Saju Websites Go Viral in Korea
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Bongeunsa (봉은사), a Buddhist temple in Seoul's Gangnam district, sells a keyring that clicks like a keyboard key and then sounds like a moktak (목탁), the wooden percussion instrument used in Buddhist rituals, and its stock keeps selling out within hours. The latest case was Oct. 2, when a restock of 2,000 pieces sold out in two and a half hours despite a limit of three per customer, the Hankook Ilbo (한국일보) reported on Oct. 13. The product, called the gongdeok keyring (공덕 키링), has become a draw for visitors in their 20s and 30s.

• Read more about Bongeunsa's Moktak Keyring Sells Out Repeatedly
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The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) closed its 2026 regular season on Monday, Oct. 12, with a record 12,770,551 spectators across 720 games, and the postseason opens Wednesday, Oct. 14. The total is the third consecutive single-season record and exceeds last year's 12,312,519. Eight of the 10 clubs drew more than 1 million fans, and all three stadiums in use on the final day sold out, according to Herald Business.

• Read more about KBO Sets a Third Straight Attendance Record
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The 31st Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has passed its halfway point, with 316 films from 59 countries, major international filmmakers and thousands of industry professionals in the city. The festival opened October 6 and runs through October 15, so the competition awards are still to come.

Several of this year's biggest stories have already emerged: a first-ever A-list accreditation, Michelle Yeoh's return after 15 years, honors for Ann Hui and BIFF founder Kim Dong-ho, and a film market preoccupied with generative AI and shrinking investment.

• Read more about BIFF 2026 So Far: A-List Status, Michelle Yeoh and AI at the Market
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If you’re planning to photograph autumn around Ulsan, give yourself a few outings. The pink muhly, mountain grasses, city ginkgo trees and metasequoias all have their own timing. You can find a good photograph in October and return to the same area in November for a completely different scene.

• Read more about Photographing Autumn in Ulsan and Beyond
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Hangul Day on October 9 marks 580 years since the promulgation of Hunminjeongeum, the 1446 document that introduced Korea's new writing system, and 100 years since the first public commemoration of the script. Modern Korean readers can recognize the letters in early Hangul texts, but the language written with them has changed enough that reading them fluently is another matter.

• Read more about Could You Read Korean From More Than 500 Years Ago?
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A lot of the Korean I learned before I went to Korea wasn’t the Korean I ended up hearing there. Not just the pronunciation and the dialect (which was completely a mystery to me), but basic grammar and words too. I share some of my frustrations with learning Korean as a beginner, and talk with a fluent Korean speaker about his experiences with the language.

• Read more about The Korean I Learned Wasn’t the Korean I Heard | Into Korean
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Newer Korean slang such as 밤티 (bamti), 늙크크 (neulk-keukeu) and 느좋 (neujo) spreads through short video, idol songs and TV comedy, and many of the words are hard to decode without knowing the specific game, song or clip behind them. The topic is drawing attention ahead of Hangeul Day on October 9, which Korean media are marking as the 100th observance.

• Read more about When Korean Slang Becomes a Generational Language
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Regional souvenir T-shirts have become a domestic travel trend in Korea, turning chestnuts, oysters, potatoes and even an ancient Buddhist grotto into wearable jokes. Travelers are lining up for deliberately kitschy local merchandise and wearing it while sightseeing, which makes the souvenir part of the trip itself.

• Read more about Why Quirky Local Souvenirs Are Suddenly Cool in Korea
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South Korean financial authorities issued a consumer alert at the "caution" level on October 6 after suspected AI-assisted cyberattacks exposed data at seven financial firms since the start of the month. Regulators have also opened a monthlong special response period aimed at scams that use the stolen information. The incidents differ sharply in size and in who was affected, so the details matter more than the headline.

• Read more about Consumer Alert Issued after AI-assisted Cyberattack on Korean Banks
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Korea is preparing to make separate collection of beverage cartons mandatory in covered apartment complexes from January 1, 2027, following a voluntary rollout this October. For residents, the practical change is to keep empty milk, juice and similar cartons out of the ordinary wastepaper collection and use the designated carton collection point.

• Read more about New Milk Carton Policy Adds to Korea's Recycling Complexity
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Korea's short-form drama industry is moving from niche mobile apps toward cinemas and major studios. On September 9, director Lee Joon-ik's My Father's Table opened at Lotte Cinema as a 146-minute feature, re-edited from a 61-episode vertical series with episodes of about two minutes each. It is the first theatrical release of a short-form drama in Korea. Separately, Vigloo's 2026 Short Drama Festival accepts entries through October 11.

• Read more about Korea's Short Drama Boom Reaches Theaters and Studios
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You’ll occasionally see ~대다 attached to the end of a regular Action Verb – it’s the same verb with an added meaning. It shows that something is happening repeatedly and too much.

• Read more about 먹다 vs 먹어대다? The 대다 Verb Ending | Korean FAQ
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A shark of about 3.5 metres has stayed in an artificial canal at Busan's North Port Waterfront Park (북항 친수공원) since September 18, and two attempts to guide it out to sea have failed. Authorities are now monitoring the animal without further intervention while crowds continue to fill the park.

• Read more about Busan's Canal Shark 'Bukangi' Outlasts Two Rescue Attempts
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From October 29, Korea's resident-registration records will show foreign residents' names in both Hangul and Roman script. At present a foreign resident's name appears only in Roman letters on the resident-registration record and only in Hangul on the family-relations register (가족관계등록부), which makes it harder to confirm that two documents describe the same person.

• Read more about Korea Adds Hangul and Roman Names to Foreigners' Records
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Busan began a three-month cashless-bus pilot on October 1, covering 542 buses on 35 routes. Riders are being asked to use transit cards or other non-cash payment methods, but the city has provided a fallback for passengers who arrive with cash alone: board first, then pay by bank transfer. The arrangement is described in Busan’s English-language announcement.

• Read more about Busan’s Cashless Buses: What Happens If You Only Have Cash?
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The Korean Film Council's Busan Gijang Studios (부산기장촬영소) will run a five-month trial from November 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, before a formal opening planned for the first half of 2027. Until October 6 at 11 a.m., the council is accepting applications for the one feature film that will launch the facility with its rental fees waived.

• Read more about Busan Gijang Studios Seeks Launch Film for Nov. 1 Trial
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If you lose an item on a Seoul Metro train, tell station staff immediately. Give the train time, car location and a clear item description. If it is not found that day, search the police found-property portal and contact the center responsible for your line.

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For a few hours of luggage storage in Seoul, start with a subway locker near the station you will return to. Choose a staffed T-Luggage counter if you need help or your suitcase will not fit an available locker. Before paying, check three things: the compartment size, the total charge for your stay, and the last time you can collect your bag. Storage is only useful if you can reach it before your next train.

• Read more about Seoul Luggage Storage: Subway Lockers vs T-Luggage
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If Korean phone verification is not working, first identify where it stops: your details are rejected, the text message never arrives, PASS fails, or only one website has a problem. Each points to a different next step. Receiving a code proves you can receive a message; it does not necessarily mean your line supports Korean mobile identity verification.

• Read more about Korean Phone Verification Not Working? A Guide for Foreigners
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