South Korean trends
South Korea, which is the part that from Seoul occupies the southern half of the entire Korean peninsula, is today one of the most appreciated and trendy Asian countries. An avant-garde state: from beauty to technology, passing through online games, sports, and the world of cinema, a reality in continuous growth and expansion.
Indeed, Korea, especially in recent years, has been recognized even in different places, reaching a consequent and evident success. Talking about movies, for example, South Korean movies such as “A taxi driver” and “Parasite” have allowed this cinema’s growth in the last twenty years. As a result, South Korea is, in fact, one of the most exciting and prolific foreign markets for movies at the moment.
The survival of traditional games in the age of the internet
It is fair to say that traditional pastimes change quickly and sometimes disappear entirely in today’s world, which flows faster than in the past.
Television and internet connections often cause these elements that push young people to become more and more sedentary, almost enchanted by those screens that transmit thousands of colorful images in a few seconds.
In Korea, however, we could say that something unimaginable is happening. Many young and older adults cultivate with a certain nostalgia ancient games almost forgotten or devote themselves with interest and constancy to sports that require an impressive effort to reach the total mastery of movements.
Among the most common Korean traditional games and pastimes, we find baduk and hwatu.
The first one is a game disputed by two competitors who take turns in placing black and white stones of ellipsoidal shape on a wooden board with a 19 x 19 grid to see who can occupy more territory to win.
Hwatu, most commonly known as Go-Stop nowadays, is a female game, in which cards are painted on a surface with images of flowers, leaves, and animals that symbolize the 12 months of the year; here, players pair cards belonging to the same set or month, and whoever reaches 600 points first wins.
But online games, just like the traditional ones, have also become very popular in Korea, mainly since Koreans cannot access physical casinos in their country, which are only open to tourists visiting the country.
There are 23 casinos in the whole of Korea, but the country’s laws prohibit Korean citizens from entering 22 of them. In simple terms, Koreans can only play at Kangwon Landa Casino & Hotel, located about 55 miles from Pyeongchang.
So, those who live far away from this town and want to play casino games must find a way to do so.
For this reason, there are websites such as asiabet.org, accessible to everyone (Koreans included), from where you can access the best online casinos and play any gambling, such as roulette, poker, blackjack, and slot machines, right as you would be in a land-based casino.
You can be sure that here you will find only safe online casinos with an excellent reputation and many promotions such as welcome bonuses, free spins, and free bets on this website.
For those more particularly interested in sports, it is also possible to access sports betting in an easy, fun, and safe way on websites like this one.
The best South Korean movies not to be missed
South Korean movies
Since the beginning of the 21st century, South Korea has been a constant source of extraordinary films in a wide variety of genres. Thanks mainly to directors such as Bong Joon-Ho, Park Chan-Wook, and other innovative auteurs, South Korean cinema crosses real and imagined boundaries and gains fans internationally.
Although these films have found acceptance and popularity, casual cinema and film festival-goers are rarely exposed to foreign films. But with such great movies, it’s worth it for moviegoers to seek them out and expose themselves to this new film culture.
So if you’re interested in South Korean films but don’t know where to start, our advice is to start with movies like “A Taxi Driver,” “Parasite,” “Peppermint Candy,” “Along With The Gods: The Two Worlds,” and “A Tale Of Two Sisters,” to begin to get a feel for Korean film culture.
Famous Korean skincare expands to an international scale
South Korea is renowned for being a country that is innovative when it comes to the sphere of cosmetics and beauty products. However, in recent years, many videos or information related to skincare routines, the famous Korean skincare, to call it by its English name, are depopulating on different platforms such as YouTube.com, TikTok, or Instagram.
In fact, because of the acne caused by masks, Koreans have created a system to prevent and eliminate facial impurities fast and straightforward, which became famous in a short time internationally, also thanks to its effectiveness.
Typically, Korean skincare is based on a routine consisting of ten steps: cleansing oil, water-based cleanser, exfoliation, tonic and face mix, essences, serums, ampoules and boosters, masks, eye contour, face cream, and sunscreen. Some of them are optional or periodic and are performed both in the morning before leaving the house and at night before sleep.
Moreover, in Korea, as in the rest of the world, the pandemic caused the expansion of online shopping. Therefore, online cosmetics purchase transactions in Korea reached $10.6 billion in 2020, according to Korea’s Office of National Statistics.
Last year, internet transactions accounted for 43.8% of total retail sales of cosmetics, implying that more than four out of ten Korean consumers purchased cosmetics online.
This is also why the domestic cosmetics industry actively adopts social network services as an essential tool in local and international business processes.
WO
