A fire truck sprays water into a rice field — with a bonus rainbow as perhaps a hopeful sign of cooler temperatures soon — in Eonyang-eup, Ulsan City, as part of emergency water support on Aug. 8YONHAP
Hi Everyone and happy Saturday. If you're somewhere that's extra hot these days (like a lot of places), we hope you're keeping cool.
In this weekend’s longer reads, we'll hear more about how shared listening events are getting people to experience tunes together, how major issues at the KFA mean that some people will be getting the boot and how not being too sweet is a good thing for Korean desserts.
In other news, we'll see why the airport has become a place for many homeless people to try and beat the heat and why power drinks are pumping up the protein food market.
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Listening rooms, headphone concerts turn music back into a shared experience
Listening to music is no longer a solitary act confined to a pair of earbuds. Increasingly, fans are stepping into shared spaces to experience their favorite songs alongside fellow listeners — and sometimes even the artists themselves.
About 30 BTS fans gathered at Tilt, a small listening room tucked into a narrow alley in the Donggyo-dong neighborhood of western Seoul, for a BTS listening session on July 20. “Please refrain from making noise,” Tilt owner Kim Chang-hee said, asking attendees to remain silent for a more precise listening experience. “Feel free to dance in your head.”
KFA apologizes over allegations of providing sexual entertainment to foreign referees more than a decade ago
The Korea Football Association (KFA) apologized Saturday over allegations that it provided sexual entertainment to foreign referees more than a decade ago. The KFA said in a statement that it was “deeply sorry for causing great disappointment and concern” over the controversies.
The association was recently accused of providing sexual entertainment to around 10 foreign referees who officiated seven matches in 2011 and 2012, including Asian qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, the final qualifying rounds for the 2012 London Olympics and friendly matches.
For Koreans, the perfect dessert is ‘not too sweet.’ But what does that actually mean?
Sit down at any cafe in Seoul with a slice of cake between two people, wait for the first bite, and listen for the verdict. It will almost never be that the cake is delicious. The compliment given to the dessert will be that it’s tasty “because it isn’t too sweet.”
Koreans' penchant for less sweet desserts, shared by other Asian countries, may seem peculiar because other foods — such as bulgogi, galbi (marinated meat), japchae (stir-fried noodles) and tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) — are often considered sweet compared to global cuisine. Recipes for such Korean dishes actually call for a significant amount of sugar or sweetened syrup.
So how did the highest compliment a Korean can give to a dessert become "not too sweet"? Does the compliment actually describe the flavor — or something else entirely?
Number of homeless inside Incheon airport grows as heat wave drags on
The summer heat has turned Incheon International Airport into an unlikely refuge for a growing number of homeless people. Airport officials say they have little authority to act, while homeless advocates argue the airport should protect people who have been failed by the state's social safety net.
On Thursday morning, people believed to be homeless lay scattered across benches and rest areas, their faces hidden beneath hats, towels or blankets. Their belongings were piled onto airport luggage carts. Some quietly watched YouTube videos on their phones using the airport's free Wi-Fi.
With protein drink boom, manufacturers flex natural ingredients
Korea's protein food market is on track to reach 800 billion won ($561.4 million) this year, up from 81.3 billion won in 2018, the state food trade agency says. Two groups are driving its growth: younger consumers in their 20s and 30s who took up exercising and started reading labels and older ones who are trying to maintain muscle.
Lee Bo-ra, an office worker, has not touched a soft drink in more than a year. She took up running and swapped sugary drinks for soy milk and other protein drinks. "Soy milk used to taste bland, but these days there are so many flavors that picking one is part of the fun," Lee said.
