Obangsaek: How Five Colors Became the Blueprint of South Korean Culture

Writer: Sarah Patel (Pune, Maharashtra, India) Editor: Ankita Panda (Kolkata, West Bengal, India) As you stand under the brightly colored, hand-painted eaves of an old Korean palace, your eyes naturally draw to the beautiful dance of five colors: blue, red, yellow, white, and black. These colors are hidden in the temple ceilings, flowing hanboks, and…

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K-Interview: HUNDRED FINGERS

Interviewer: Nikhat Parveen (Delhi, India) Editor: Prachi Vaid (Delhi, India) HUNDRED FINGERS is a 10-member South Korean manipulation magic project led by Yoo Hojin, built on the concept of many performers working as a single body. They perform a wide range of sleight of hand (kanna), choreography, music, visual staging, and Korean cultural elements with…

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K-Song Review: Criminal by Taemin

Writer: Vedansh Varshney (Delhi, India) Editor: Prachi Vaid (Delhi, India) A renowned name in the K-pop industry, especially applauded for his graceful and captivating choreography and his artistic self-expression through his songs, Taemin has never failed to amaze us with his versatility and authenticity. Nine years into his solo career, he’s been giving us exquisite…

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K-Movie Review: Tune in for Love

Writer: Nikita Punia (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) Editor: Arpita Jena (Baripada, Odisha, India) Anyone who was born in the 90s was too young to remember the IMF crisis of 1997, but that’s what this story reflects. It all starts in the year 1994 when a guy named Hyun Woo visits a bakery straight out of juvenile prison….

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The Rise of Personal Color Analysis in South Korea

Writer: Sarah Athar (Delhi, India) Editor: Arpita Jena (Baripada, Odisha, India) Could the secret to looking your best have less to do with expensive makeup and more to do with the colours you wear? Let’s find out where you stand in the trend of transforming fashion, beauty and self-expression around the world . Introduction Picture…

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What is Korean Trot Music? Origin, Evolution and Best Songs

Writer: Haarini Angappan Balasubramaniam (Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India) and Ankita Panda (Kolkata, West Bengal, India) Editor: Ankita Panda (Kolkata, West Bengal, India) Trot (트롯 ) is a genre of Korean popular music well known for its repetitive, addictive rhythms, special voice inflection techniques known as “kkeokk-ki (꺾기)”, and emotional lyrics. The kkeokk-ki technique is like…

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K-Movie Review: Lucid Dream

Writer: Priyanka Padala (Hyderabad, Telangana, India) Editor: Arpita Jena (Baripada, Odisha, India) ‘Lucid Dream’ is a 2017 South Korean mystery-thriller film. The science fiction was the director debut of Kim Joon-sung. His own experience with lucid dreaming and the 2010 films ‘Inception’ inspired him to write and direct this movie. As the name suggests, the…

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K-Interview: Soyoung Kwon (Contemporary Artist)

Interviewer: Pooja Vishwanathan (Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India) Editor: Prachi Vaid (Delhi, India) Meet Soyoung Kwon 권소영, a contemporary artist based in Seoul, South Korea, who primarily works in ceramics and painting. Her work carries immense profundity, speaking volumes about nature, memory, and sensory experience. In the rush of the modern world, people often overlook small…

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South Korea’s Spoon Class Theory: A Cultural Metaphor

Writer: Ayesha Zamar (Delhi, India) Editor: Prachi Vaid (Delhi, India) Have you ever heard the idiom “born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth” and wondered what does a spoon have to do with someone’s birth? Or listened to BTS’s song “Silver Spoon (뱁새)” and thought why is BTS singing about a type of spoon…

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BTS Love Yourself Series

Writer: Preeti Patil (Mumbai, Maharashtra, India) Editor: Arpita Jena (Baripada, Odisha, India) BTS, a seven-member boy group, debuted under BigHit Entertainment in June 2013. The group consists of three rappers ( RM, SUGA and J-Hope) and four vocalists (Jin, Jimin, Taehyung and Jungkook). The group name is  an abbreviation of the Korean form, Bangtan Sonyeondan (방탄소년단…

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