The national flower of South Korea

The national flower : A Rose of Sharon.

A rose of sharon is a common flower in Korea. You can find easily everywhere over the Korean peninsula. And there are several reasons to choose it as the national flower. First, it's growing really well in Korean peninsula. You can find it any place in Korean. Second, this flower is always struggling with harmful insects. Korean people think this is really similar with Korean history because through a long history, Korea has been invaded by many countries. And they considered blossoming of this flower surrounded by the insects as valuable thing they had to learn. For these reason, they chose a rose of sharon as their national flower.
 

Welcome to Busan

The most famous city in South Korea is of course Seoul, the capital of South Korea. However, If you are going to visit South Korean, I want to recommend Busan for traveling. Welcome to Busan.

Busan is the second large city in South Korea and has many nick names such as the second capital of South Korea, Harbor city and the city of romance. I think you might get some idea of Busan from these nick name. That's right. Busan is near the sea and a really famous place for summer vacation.

Busan is the biggest harbor city in South Korean. It did a great role during South Korea's developing processing. And also, it was city which had a lot of fundamental structures of industry in Korea. However, it's now turing into the city for traveling.

The most famous place in Busan is of course Haeundae beach. It's one of most famous and beautiful beach over South Korea. Millions people visit here every year not only Korean but also lots of visitors. 

And also near Haeundae, you can find a beautiful bridge called Gwangan. This bridge is kind of symbol of  Busan.

Of course, you can't miss the food here. You can enjoy a variety of sea foods here. The most popular one is row fish. People in Busan really enjoy row fish because it's easy to get fresh fish and also it's quiet cheep. And also there are several foods you can eat only in Busan. This is Milmyun, kind of Cold Noodles but the ingredient is different. Actually, cold noodles is originated from North part of Korea, Hamhueng. During Korean civil war, Busan was a temporally capital of South Korea. In that time, South Korea only had Busan. The other land of the Korean peninsula was belonging to the North. So, many people from many different places were getting together in Busan. Of course, there were people from Hamhueng. they wanted to make their hometown food, Cold Noddles, however, it was hard to find the original ingredient, buckwheat powder, during the war. Instead, they just used flour which was relatively easy to get. And this one has left until now as one of unique foods of Busan.

Different type of Kimchi

Kimchi is one of most famous Korean food over the world. Most people just think Kimchi is  paper sauced cabbages. However, Kimchi is not just that. It has many different types according to ingredients and processing.

Most common Kimchi is of course cabbage Kimchi.

Many people enjoy this cabbage Kimchi their every meal. it's really hard for Korean to imagine their meals without cabbage Kimchi. 

The second famous one might be Kkakdugi. It's made by a cut white radish with paper powder. 

People enjoy this one especially with Seolleongtang, a beef soup. 

Next is Chonggak Kimchi. Chonggak means a unmarried man in Korean. 

And there is Kimchi without paper power. It's Dongchimi. 

It's also made by a white radish but people also enjoy it's soup differently from Chonggak Kimchi. And people usually eat this one during winter.  

Jeju Island, New 7 Wonders of Nature

Jeju Island was chosen as New 7 Wonders of Nature a months ago. 

Jeju Island is the biggest island in Korea and it's really famous for it's beautiful landscape. In addition, it has  the highest mountain in South Korea, Mt. Halla. 

Mt. Halla is a only dormant volcano in South Korea and its height is 1950m. Many people visit this mountain to enjoy its unique and grand scenery. And climbing this mountain is not really hard compared with other mountains in the land. For theses reason, many people including foreign visitors visit this mountain. 

Jeju also has a famous doll called Dol Haroobang. It's a kind of a stone statue and its size is diverse from a really big one like human size to small one like a small doll. And there is a story about Dol Haroobang. if a women who is pregnant would touch the nose of Dol Haroobang, then she will give a birth to a son. For this reason, there are some Dol Haroobangs which have worn nose. 

New Trend of Comics in Korea

Originally, the world's famous country is Japan in comics. Korean comics market has always been under the shadow of Japan's. However, there now is new trend in comics market in Korea. This is WEBTOON.  Webtoon is a mixed word among Web and Cartoon. This means web-based cartoon. And Korea is one of most powerful and developed country in this field.

Webtoon is a possible replacement of a ordinary comic book. Actually, Korean comics market has always been struggling with business because people usually don't buy a comic book. Instead, they just rent a books as lower price than it's original cost. Because of this, the market couldn't success quiet long time. However, Webtoon service is absolutely different with original one because this is free. you don't need to pay even a cent for watching it. Many companies just offer a lot of Webtoons to public as free. In addition, the quality of them is really good and even better than just comic books. For theses reason, lots of people enjoy watching them. And it's now kind of daily routine to young generation.

This has also a great impact on economy, especially on film industry in Korea. A lot of Korean movies have been made from Webtoons.

 These movies were made from famous Webtoons and also got a lot of audiences. Also, many Webtoons now are being made into movies. From this fact. we can imagine how strong their impact on the society and industry is in Korea