Guenego Limamou, a 34-year-old French chef whose favorite Korean food was dak galbi (spicy stir-fried chicken), visited Itaewon on Oct. 29 to explore local eateries in the back alleys of Seoul's popular nightlife district. His anticipated trip to learn about the world of Korean cuisine, however, came to a tragic end when the neighborhood became the site of a disaster. He was among the 156 people who died in the fatal crowd crush in Itaewon. “He planned to create some French dishes ble

Social Affairs Nov. 7, 2022

프랑스 국적의 셰프 게네고 리마무(34)는 지난 29일 평소에 관심 있던 한국 음식을 체험하기 위해 이태원을 찾았다가 참변를 당했다. 유가족에 따르면, 그는 올해 파리에서 레스토랑을 오픈하려 준비 중이었고, 프랑스 요리와 한식을 접목시킨 퓨전 메뉴를 개발하기 위해 한국에 와 있었다. 열흘간 이태원을 비롯한 다양한 도시에서 한국 음식을 체험하고 현지 요식업 종사자들의 자문을 구할 예정이었지만 갑자기 벌어진 참사로 그는 하늘의 별이 됐다. 리마무의 시신 운구 절차를 위해 한국을 찾은 그의 사촌 아이작 페레이라(28)은 7일 코리아헤럴드 기자를 만나 리마무는 “전도가 유망한, 유명한 셰프 였고, 한식 중 특히 닭갈비를 좋아했다”고 회고했다. 리마무와 함께 자라 친형제와 다름 없다는 페레이라는 그에게 한국 음식을 처음 소개시켜준 것도 자신이라며 “함께 하기로 한 일들이 많은데 갑자기 이런 일이 생기다니 믿을 수 없다”고 했다. 7일 오후 페레이라는

한국어판 Nov. 7, 2022

Mourners form a long line near Itaewon Station Exit 1, just a few meters from where over 150 people died on a horrific Halloween night out on Saturday. One by one they get a white chrysanthemum from a makeshift table, which they lay down at a memorial altar for the victims set up nearby. The flowers have been brought by Kim Seo-joon, a 31-year-old man who runs a flower shop in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. He brought more than 300 white chrysanthemums to Itaewon on Wednesday morning to give aw

Social Affairs Nov. 2, 2022

Paula Nascimento, a 31-year-old Brazilian female office worker, is suffering from depression and anger after witnessing the nightmarish scenes in Seoul’s Itaewon Saturday night. “My mind kept straying back to when I saw emergency rescuers and citizens performing CPR on people lying unconscious on the street. What terrifies me the most is the faces of teenagers in the crowd screaming for help,” she said. Psychological trauma affects many people, in-person witnesses like Nascimen

Social Affairs Nov. 1, 2022

The news of a horrific crowd crush in Seoul’s foreigner-friendly neighborhood of Itaewon has left foreign communities here in shock and grief. Many interviewed by The Korea Herald spoke of receiving calls from worried families and friends back home, while others said they were trying to be of any help to the victims who were killed or injured in this foreign land. “My family members were all shocked when they first heard about the incident. I called them and said I’m doing okay

Social Affairs Oct. 31, 2022

Restaurants and cafes near the site where over 150 people died in a fatal stampede in Seoul’s Itaewon on Saturday night will close for a three-day mourning period for the victims, a police officer said Sunday. “Some stores have already stopped operations. Whether the temporary closure will extend depends on how the situation unfolds,” a police officer who wished to remain anonymous told The Korea Herald. The closures are voluntary and some businesses have opened as usual. On Sa

Social Affairs Oct. 30, 2022

The area around Itaewon in Yongsan-gu, central Seoul, full of excited Halloween partygoers on Saturday night, turned into a catastrophic scene in an instant. At least 153 people died and dozens were injured in a crowd crush that took place in a narrow alley near the neighborhood’s famous Hamilton Hotel. The celebratory scene quickly turned into a nightmare as screams and cries for help erupted from the crowd, and the sounds of ambulance sirens mixed with thumping music that continued to fl

Social Affairs Oct. 30, 2022

When KakaoTalk was down and suffered extended service malfunctions last month, rumors quickly swept through social media platforms that the messenger app’s multi-profile function had gone haywire, exposing users’ profile photos to groups which were not intended to be shown. People with secrets to keep, such as extramarital affairs, became particularly concerned about the rumor. A blog post on Daum acted as a warning to other adulterers who created a secret relationship profil

Hashtag Korea Oct. 28, 2022

Tattoos were once considered a badge for gangsters in Korea, but they have become a medium of self-expression or a fashion statement among younger generations. Many are not reluctant to show off their inked skin in public or on social media, but there still persists a societal stigma surrounding the body art. A sports center in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, has recently put up a notice that restricts entry of tattooed members. The no-tattoo policy was introduced after complaints from nontattooed member

Social Affairs Oct. 25, 2022

  The following is part of Seoul Subway Stories, a Korea Herald series exploring the subway stations and surrounding areas across the city. -- Ed.   A roughly five-minute walk from Exit No. 7 of Mullae Station on Seoul subway leads you to a village with two faces. Greeting visitors first are the boisterous sounds of machinery and workers cutting and welding iron bars and slabs inside small factories and metal workshops. But soon, one can hear jazz and classical music being played somew

Hashtag Korea Oct. 23, 2022

Alarmed by a rapid rise in drug offenses, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said Tuesday it supports a legislative proposal to ban references to narcotics in food advertisements as something irresistibly good. “Using drug references to promote food can have a negative effect on children or adolescents,” a ministry official said. “Once the proposed bill gets passed by the National Assembly, the ministry will take measures, including drawing up an enforcement ordinance to curb

Social Affairs Oct. 18, 2022

Dance cover videos, created by fans to imitate idols’ moves on stage and in music videos, have been an essential part of global K-pop fandom culture. On platforms like TikTok, YouTube Shorts and Instagram Reels, one can easily find short clips where amateur dancers from both here and abroad replicate the choreography with incredible attention to details. These videos are often shot in places such as on the street or in a public park. Recently, one particular locale in Seoul has risen a

Culture Oct. 14, 2022

  Over 30 percent of international schools in South Korea have been using textbooks that refer to the East Sea, a body of water between South Korea and Japan, only as the Sea of Japan, a lawmaker said Tuesday. As of August 2020, 12 of 38 international schools were using textbooks that solely use the Japanese name. The number of those textbooks with the Sea of Japan reference marked 24, according to the office of Rep. Ahn Min-seok of the opposition Democratic Party of Korea. The office refer

Social Affairs Oct. 11, 2022

South Korea needs to bring in more professional foreign workers to cope with a continuous decline in the working-age population, a think tank said Friday. According to a report published by the Korea Institute for Industrial Economics and Trade, educators, researchers, engineers, artists and highly-skilled workers accounted for a mere 10 percent of last year’s total 406,669 foreign nationals with employment visas. The rest were mostly low-skilled workers in agriculture, construction and

Social Affairs Oct. 7, 2022

On Sept. 18, a teenager’s cartoon satirizing President Yoon Suk-yeol won a top prize at a local cartoon contest. No major news outlets gave it major coverage. The work was displayed for three days until Monday at the Bucheon International Comics Festival. It drew some attention, and mixed comments, on social media. Then on Tuesday, a day after the exhibition’s end, the work was thrust into the national spotlight when the Culture Ministry issued a “strong warning” against

Social Affairs Oct. 7, 2022