Korea

About South Korea

• Language: Korean- 한국어 (“Hangugeo”)
• Currency: Won (₩)
• Exchange Rate: 1280₩- $1USD
• Time Zone: Korean Standard Time (GMT+9)
• High Season: June-August
• Visa Requirements: None for up to 90 days (most countries) K-ETA for others.
• Electricity: 220v plug- 2 prong, like Europe.
• Emergency: 119 for ambulance and fire
• Transportation: Trains are the most popular form of transportation. They are reliable and convenient.
• Accommodations: International hotels, traditional hotels (hanok-style), and AirBNBs are popular.
• For families: Most public bathrooms have an abundance of facilities for babies/toddlers and often have separate parent rooms with changing tables, bottle warmers, and private nursing rooms. In older, less touristy areas, elevators or ramps for strollers can be hard to find.

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Suggested Reading

Human Acts– Han Kang

Amid a violent student uprising in South Korea, a young boy named Dong-ho is shockingly killed.

The story of this tragic episode unfolds in a sequence of interconnected chapters as the victims and the bereaved encounter suppression, denial, and the echoing agony of the massacre. From Dong-ho’s best friend who meets his own fateful end; to an editor struggling against censorship; to a prisoner and a factory worker, each suffering from traumatic memories; and to Dong-ho’s own grief-stricken mother; and through their collective heartbreak and acts of hope is the tale of a brutalized people in search of a voice.

An award-winning, controversial bestseller, Human Acts is a timeless, pointillist portrait of an historic event with reverberations still being felt today, by turns tracing the harsh reality of oppression and the resounding, extraordinary poetry of humanity.

At Dusk– Hwang Sok-yong

Park Minwoo is, by every measure, a success story. Born into poverty in a miserable neighborhood of Seoul, he has ridden the wave of development in a rapidly modernizing society. Now the director of a large architectural firm, his hard work and ambition have brought him triumph and satisfaction. But when his company is investigated for corruption, he’s forced to reconsider his role in the transformation of his country.

At the same time, he receives an unexpected message from an old friend, Cha Soona, a woman that he had once loved, and then betrayed. As memories return unbidden, Minwoo recalls a world he thought had been left behind―a world he now understands that he has helped to destroy.

From one of Korea’s most renowned and respected authors, At Dusk is a gentle yet urgent tale about the things, and the people, that we abandon in our never-ending quest to move forward.

Drifting House– Krys Lee

Set in Korea and the United States from the postwar era to contemporary times, Krys Lee’s stunning fiction debut illuminates a people struggling to reconcile the turmoil of their collective past with the rewards and challenges of their present. Amid the famine in North Korea, the financial crisis of South Korea, and the cramped apartments and Koreatown strip malls of the United States, Krys Lee’s vivid and luminous tales speak to the political and financial hardships of life in Korea and the uniquely unmoored immigrant experience.

In the tradition of Chang-rae Lee’s Native Speaker and Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, Drifting House is an unforgettable work exploring love, identity, war, and the homes we make for ourselves

Lonely Planet Japan

Lonely Planet’s Korea is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore the dramatic landscape of Jeju-do, feast on bibimbap in Jeonju, and wander the streets of Bukchon; all with your trusted travel companion. Get to the heart of Korea and begin your journey now!

The Court Dancer– Kyung-sook Shin

Based on a remarkable true story, the New York Times bestselling author of Please Look After Mom brilliantly images the life of Yi Jin, an orphan who would fall under the affections of the Empress and become a jewel in the late Joseon Court.

When a novice French diplomat arrives for an audience with the Emperor, he is enraptured by the Joseon Dynasty’s magnificent culture, then at its zenith. But all fades away when he sees Yi Jin perform the delicate traditional Dance of the Spring Oriole. Though well aware that women of the court belong to the palace, the young diplomat confesses his love to the Emperor, and gains permission for Yi Jin to accompany him back to France.

A world away in Belle Epoque Paris, Yi Jin lives a free, independent life, away from the gilded cage of the court, and begins translating and publishing Joseon literature into French with another Korean student. But even in this new world, great sorrow awaits her. Yi Jin’s grieving and suffering is only amplified by homesickness and a longing for her oldest friend. But her homecoming was not a happy one. Betrayal, jealousy, and intrigue abound, culminating with the tragic assassination of the last Joseon empress―and the poisoned pages of a book.

Rich with historic detail and filled with luminous characters, Korea’s most beloved novelist brings a lost era to life in a story that will resonate long after the final page.