Recent Blog Posts

Subscribe to Recent Blog Posts feed
URL: https://koreabridge.net/bloglist
Updated: 37 min 3 sec ago

Bukangi Is Free! Busan's Celebrity Shark Returns to Sea After 34 Days

5 hours 40 min ago

After more than a month in a narrow canal at Busan's North Port, the shark known as Bukangi (북항이) has finally been freed. On Wednesday, October 21, a rescue team successfully guided the three-meter-long shark out of the artificial waterway on its third attempt, ending a 34-day ordeal that had attracted national attention.

Korea's Exports Double as AI Chip Demand Fuels Record Sales

6 hours 19 min ago

South Korea's exports more than doubled during the first 20 days of October, driven by extraordinary global demand for semiconductors. New figures from the Korea Customs Service show that the country exported $61.6 billion worth of goods between October 1 and 20, an increase of 105.4% compared with the same period last year.

North Korea Says Border Loudspeakers Will Be Back by the End of October

6 hours 45 min ago

North Korea says it will reactivate propaganda loudspeakers along its border with South Korea before the end of October, reviving a form of psychological warfare that has repeatedly contributed to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, announced the plan in a statement reported by North Korean state media on October 21. She said loudspeakers would operate along the entire border and described the decision as a response to South Korean military activities.

Korea in Motion Brings AI Subtitle Glasses to Theater

Sat, 2026-10-17 14:22

Korea in Motion, a tourism campaign running from October 16 to November 30, promotes Korean live theater to foreign visitors through discounted tickets, hands-on workshops and AI subtitle glasses that translate spoken dialogue in real time. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) and the Korea Performing Arts Tourism Association announced the campaign on October 15. Promotions run through online travel agencies aimed at China, Japan, Taiwan, the United States, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Vietnamese Grad Student Wins 1000+ Foreigner Speech Contest

Sat, 2026-10-17 14:21

A Vietnamese graduate student won the grand prize at the 28th World Korean Language Speech Contest for Foreigners on October 15 with a speech about 것 같다, a common Korean grammar pattern roughly meaning "it seems" or "I think." Tran Thi Huong Ly (짠티흐엉리), 25, received 1.5 million won after judges gave her the highest score. The contest drew 1,046 applicants from 35 countries, and 16 finalists from 14 countries spoke at Kyung Hee University's Crown Hall in Seoul.

Korea’s First National Sports Museum Opens in Seoul

Fri, 2026-10-16 11:30

South Korea opened its first national museum devoted to sports on October 15, 2026, at Olympic Park in Seoul's Songpa District. The National Sports Museum of Korea (국립스포츠박물관) holds roughly 70,000 objects and records, from early international victories to the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The opening gives the country a permanent place to examine how athletics became part of its modern history.

Korea’s NEONSAT Microsatellites Send First Images Back

Fri, 2026-10-16 11:30

Five South Korean Earth-observation microsatellites sent their first images back just 14 hours and 29 minutes after launching on October 7, 2026. The Korea AeroSpace Administration announced the result on October 15 as early confirmation that the satellites and their cameras work. It is one stage in a plan to monitor the Korean Peninsula far more often from orbit.

New Yalu River Bridge Finally Opens After 12 Years

Fri, 2026-10-16 11:29

North Korea and China officially opened the New Yalu River Bridge on October 15, 2026, about twelve years after construction was completed. The four-lane crossing links Sinuiju (신의주) in North Korea with Dandong (단둥) in China's Liaoning Province. For more than a decade the bridge stood without serving its intended purpose, so its delayed opening is a story about infrastructure and about cross-border relations.

Korea’s Oldest Gunpowder Weapon Found in Naju Mountain

Fri, 2026-10-16 11:28

A bronze gunpowder weapon found during landmine-detection work on a mountain in Naju has been identified as Korea's oldest known gunpowder weapon. Researchers announced the findings on September 21, 2026, after nearly three years of study, and international coverage renewed attention in October. The writing engraved on its surface matters as much as the weapon itself.

How to Get Natural Korean Intonation

Fri, 2026-10-16 00:15

Korean intonation can be tough – it’s nothing like we do in English. Typical Korean intonation sounds much flatter, but it’s not actually completely flat and monotone. Korean speakers add intonation on sentence connectors, at the start of their sentences, and also at the end depending on the type of sentence (statements or questions). We share tips for how you can improve and fix your intonation to sound more natural.

AI Saju Websites Go Viral in Korea

Wed, 2026-10-14 09:59

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.

Bongeunsa's Moktak Keyring Sells Out Repeatedly

Wed, 2026-10-14 09:49

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.

KBO Sets a Third Straight Attendance Record

Wed, 2026-10-14 09:47

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.

BIFF 2026 So Far: A-List Status, Michelle Yeoh and AI at the Market

Mon, 2026-10-12 09:49

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.

Photographing Autumn in Ulsan and Beyond

Fri, 2026-10-09 10:31

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.

Could You Read Korean From More Than 500 Years Ago?

Fri, 2026-10-09 08:12

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.

The Korean I Learned Wasn’t the Korean I Heard | Into Korean

Fri, 2026-10-09 00:50

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.