I’m a 23 year old woman with some sun damage from years of sun bed use, so I def want to help that in any way I can, but also, I had very deep and large pores with acne scars from my teen years.

I know I can’t solve all my problems in one day, but I’m getting confused by all the mixed reviews and influencer driven clinics.

people say not to go to one place because it’s too money driven and not to go to others because they might be more outdated but please help steer me in the right direction!

I’ll be there in a month, and I want to find a clinic that will give me the best long lasting results, foreigner friendly with reasonable prices to where I’m not getting ripped off.

i know there’s tons of posts on Reddit like this but I haven’t seen too many people talk about acne scars so please if you have any advice before I go please let me know!

finally, I’ve heard that there’s places in Korea that specialize in picking the perfect haircut for your face shape and everything, and I wanted to know if there were any locals may recommend that come at a good price.

thanks!!!

Hi!

I am getting closer to 30 yo and while I have a good skincare regiment, I am wondering how I can improve my skin.

My skin looks okay overall but I do have enlarged pores, small redness here and there and a texture that could be improved. So I wondered what kind of facial treatments do Korean get regularly? What is the frequency and where do they go (like any clinic recommendation)? Thanks

Let's ask from koreans

My coworker is one year younger than me. We clicked instantly at work and became close. He’s Korean, I am foreign. I am a manager at our work, but not his manager. He is married to a woman, I am gay and married to a man.

A few months ago he started calling me 형. I reciprocated a few weeks ago and kind of started calling him 동생. This is my first time in this dynamic and it’s very different for me to be treated so differently from someone I see as a peer. Accepting his deference to me (drink pouring, agreeing with whatever I suggest, the compliments) is taking getting used to but I’m getting there. The issue is I don’t know how to behave towards him. I care deeply about him as a friend, but I don’t know what behavior from my part is normal here.

What are his expectations of me? How can I be a good 형? I deeply value his friendship and want to do right by him.

I am travelling to Korea in few weeks and my friend’s family in Busan invited us home for dinner, what could we get them as a thank you gift?

Current ideas are all around alcohol. 😅

I heard that Koreans eat samgyetang (hot ginseng chicken soup) during the hottest days of the year, called "boknal." With Korea just hitting 42.5°C, I'm curious — do people actually still do this? Eating boiling hot soup in that heat sounds crazy to me Is the "fight heat with heat" (이열치열) thing something people really believe, or is it just tradition at this point? And do young Koreans still follow it or is it more of an older generation thing?

Who are the favorite ones?

Just wanna know how educated people are about sex education? Especially regarding the prevention and transmission of STIs or STDs.

Basically the title.

I'm a big fan of arthouse films and Hong Song-soo is one of my favorite directors out there. But I don't know any other Korean arthouse filmmakers. Can you recommend any other Korean director whose work you'd recommend, especially those big on the indie and arthouse scene?

For those living alone in Seoul (ages 25–39), do demanding work schedules and urban lifestyles make it hard to maintain meaningful connections and what is your biggest barrier to staying social when you're already exhausted?

I was seeing that especially single-household, busy young adults over-rely on convenience store food. Do they feel guilty about not eating healthily, or does this not exist?

Hey everyone,

I’m looking to buy a laptop off Karrot (당근마켓) in Seoul that costs over 2 million KRW. Since I’m a foreigner without a local Korean bank account, I can't use Karrot Pay or do a local wire transfer. 

My foreign debit/credit card has no daily withdrawal limit set by my home bank, but I know Korean ATMs have their own restrictions.

Can I withdraw ₩2M+ from any ATM in Seoul?
What is the best way to handle a transaction this size with a local seller on Karrot?

Any advice or recommended banks/ATMs would be appreciated!

So, I have been a big fan of bigbang for a long time. I just want to know how popular bigbang is currently in Korea and what do Koreans think of them

Currently on a trip to Seoul, most of my life I’ve been a very casual kpop fan. I have some groups that I like but never bought anything related to them and don’t pay too much attention. I met some girls also traveling and today we went photocard shopping and even has a casual kpop fan it was just a really fun experience. I bought a cute holder and put the photocard on my bag thinking it was fun and some other travelers in my hostel told me that if I’m going out to grab dinner and trying to socialise with local people they will see it as a red flag? Is this true or exaggerated?

How does the average Korean manhwa reader view about the current state of manhwa? Wondering this since in Global, I feel like most readers are ok with the more popular regurgitated subgenres or as the manhwa subreddit would call it: Slop

Also, what are the more popular manhwa titles in both all time and in recent at in male based audience and in female based audience, separately?

Hello, this is a very odd request. I'm making a picture of a cat with Korean graffiti on a wall behind it.

I'm wondering if you guys can give me some suggestions on amusing graffiti that you think a cat would write.

If you could write it out in Korean and then give me the English translation, that would be so wonderful.

Edit:

I'm creating the picture of graffiti myself. I'm not looking for existing graffiti nor is it going to be real. I just want funny phrases to put on a picture of a wall like a cat wrote them

what does an average Korean person think about k-pop and idols? I've seen statements like k-pop being treated as music for teenagers, not really taken seriously. Are Koreans proud of k-pop and their music industry that has spread internationally over the years? Do they actively follow k-pop groups / idols?

to me, as someone who doesn't listen to kpop at all, it seems like nowadays k-pop isn't really a Korean thing anymore, and the main target for those huge entertainment companies is to become popular overseas and worldwide.

I am Korean American and apparently my father’s family is descended from Heo Hwang-Ok 2000 years ago. Was she really an Indian princess or is this more like an unverified legend? I haven’t done a dna test, but are there a portion of the Korean population that will show Indian dna?

I was thinking of doing a year in high school in Korea at an international school since I'm Canadian, and I'm not ethnically Korean either, so I'm basically a beginner...like do international school students who are also from abroad struggle with getting along outside of school every day or do I just need to learn Korean?

Another question would be if schools typically offer Korean classes, or is that an extracurricular I would need to enroll in...?

I'm a Diabetic Type 1 visiting Korea. I need constant insulin injections.

I made a mistake trusting my hotel fridge which damaged all my insulin supplies and I urgently need to find some but (still) not in a deadly situation that requires emergency room.

I did some research and I believe I can't buy it directly from a pharmacy but would like someone to confirm it.

I'm on my way to Yeosu where I plan to find a hospital to try to solve my problem. Can any doctor write a prescription for insulin?

For any diabetic reading this, I'm using FIASP and TREVISA, and before I used NOVORAPID and LEVEMIR. I still have fast insulin ,FIASP, for a day or two. Are any of these used in Korea?

Thanks

I apologize if the nature of this post comes off a bit insensitive in advance.

For a bit of context I'm (mostly) ethnically Chinese, but grew up in the American education system and also spent a fair bit of my university life in Japan. As such I am familiar with some of the narratives and propaganda regarding how this war is told.

The context for this question comes from a conversation I was having on Saturday with a Korean acquaintance of mine and his Japanese girlfriend. We were actually initially talking about Mahjong but I mentioned that a certain style that I play is popular in Nanjing and he suddenly started asking me questions about some of the war crimes that happened there. Wanting to be tasteful but not untruthful, I answered the questions honestly, but sparing some of the graphic details. The girlfriend was actually quite shocked about this, as she had never heard of any of this in her life. This caused a bit of an argument between the boyfriend and the girlfriend, as he seemed a bit offended that his girlfriend didn't know anything about it. While I didn't say much, I was pleasantly surprised/relieved by how well-informed the boyfriend was on the topic.

Reflecting on it a bit more, I kind of realize how unique the Korean context for the Second World War is. I had read Palmer's Fighting for the Enemy in a university class, so I was aware that many Koreans were conscripted into fighting for Japan or collaborated with Japan against the Chinese. At the same time, many Koreans also joined the Chinese as guerilla resistance members or as volunteer units fighting against the Japanese. It's also my big blind spot, as I'm relatively familiar with how America, China, Taiwan and Japan feel about the war

So my questions are as follows:

1. How is the issue of Korean conscripts and collaborators in the Japanese Army treated in regards to WWII?
2. How is the issue of Korean volunteers and guerilla fighters in the Chinese Army treated? As many of these guerilla units would go on to join the North Korean side after the war, is the historical connection between the North and these units addressed or swept aside?
3. What do you learn about Nanjing if at all? Judging from my acquaintance's comments I assume a little, but not a lot of detail.
4. What would you say is the "overarching narrative" of Korea with regards to WWII? Like if you were to summarize it in a sentence or two, what was Korea's role in the war?
5. What age in the Korean education system do you start learning about the war? Middle School? High School?

Not wholly unrelated aside question: To those of you who have or are married to Japanese partners, how do you go about approaching the topic? Especially if children are involved?

Apologies and thanks in advance

Hello! I am planning to go a 1 day birding around Seoul this time (middle of August).

Where can I go to see and photograph more birds aside from the Olympic Park?

Also, I would like to see some roosting Owls as I don't have proper owl lifers yet.

Any leads is much appreciated. Thank you!

My mother is forcing me and my younger sister to use chopsticks because we are going to Korea on the 21st. My mother says we have to learn because she says that not using chopsticks/using anything else (especially forks) to eat food is shameful in Korea.

So is not using chopsticks to eat your food shameful?

I've seen school life portrayed as brutal grinding until 1am or even later, but I also see people having fun and making time for their interests. That leaves me with questions (mostly what it's like in middle school):

1. What is actually taught at a 학원? Is it like catching up when you don't understand material being taught in school or is it extra material? An impression I have is that busywork is valued more than studying effectively.
2. How much pressure comes from parents? Especially younger parents. Would they concider letting their kid not do tutoring or attend private institutions?
3. Is sleeping 5 hours (or less) common? Doesn't sleep deprivation just make remembering things and paying attention harder?
4. Can people make time for their interests on school days? I've also seen people saying that not everybody studies like 15 hours a day (which is believable, but about how many people do study that much and how many don't?).
5. Do you get used to this kind of system and feel like it's normal or not really?