Incheon: K-pop is huge in South Korea. So big that the nation’s biggest newspaper Korea Herald has launched a dedicated website to provide news and information on Korea’s pop culture trends and entertainment scene for the sake of overseas ‘Hallyu’ (meaning ‘flow of Korea’) fans.
The new website (www.kpopherald.com) includes stories on K-pop, TV dramas, shows, movies, fashion and other interesting cultural information such as the lifestyles of the rich and famous. The website features four sections — music, TV and film, fashion and beauty and features.
Readers can also easily keep up-to-date with news on their favourite stars through an index that lists selected idol groups, singers, actors and actresses.
The feature category is an interesting concept as it helps people learn more about the Korean way of life, as the content ranges from tips on travel to recipes for popular Korean dishes.
Talk about humility
Korean women’s football team coach Yoon Duk-yeo reminded his players to stay humble on and off the field. The hosts have been impressive so far after finishing with a perfect three-match winning record while scoring an amazing 28 goals.
On Friday they advanced to a mouth-watering meeting in the semi-finals against neighbours North Korea with a 1-0 win against Chinese Taipei after Jeon Gaeul had scored the all-important goal for the hosts in the 73rd minute. South Korea got a huge boost after Chelsea Ladies star player Ji So-yun made herself available for the next two games.
But coach Yoon was not getting carried away as his team set its sights on a maiden Asiad women’s football gold medal. “I’ve told them we all need to stay humble and put aside personal ambitions. I do think our players are more skilled overall, but in football, things always don’t go as planned,” he cautioned.
Earlier on Friday, North Korea also beat China 1-0 to set up the semi-final clash to be played on September 29.
Three Nepalese participants missing
Three athletes from Nepal have been reported missing from the Incheon Asian Games. Organisers admitted to watching CCTV footage while confirming that two wushu fighters and one sepaktakraw player had left the athletes’ village. All three have left without their passports, which means that they will be eligible to stay legally in South Korea only till October 19 when their accreditation cards expire. Local police and immigration officials have been briefed on the three athletes.
It was a tit for tat
And finally, did you know that North Korea’s Dan Shin-Geum, the first woman to run the 800 metres in under two minutes, was banned from Tokyo 1964 by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), along with other athletes who had competed in the Games of the New Emerging Forces in Jakarta, an event organised by Indonesia.
But the IOC was unhappy the event had included athletes from China and North Vietnam, who did not have recognised National Olympic Committees, and banned all who had competed. Indonesia and North Korea retaliated by boycotting the first Olympics ever to be held in Asia.
