What is the country known for?

South Korea is known for its unique Korean pop culture and of course Korea’s best known food, Kimchi. 

Heard of 2PM, 2AM, SNSD, Super Junior, Wonder Girls or 2NE1? I am sure you will hear one of these names if you had read or watched any recent entertainment news. These are the few famous Korean groups that were introduced to the music industry recently. They are the representatives of Korean Pop. Korean Pop is also known as K-Pop. It is a musical genre consisting of electronic, hip hop, pop, rock, and R&B music. In addition to music, K-pop has grown into a popular subculture among teenagers and young adults throughout almost the entire of Asia, resulting in widespread interest in the fashion and style of top Korean idol groups and singers.

K-pop is slowly gaining influence in the various foreign markets outside of Asia, most notably in the United States, Canada and Australia. For example, in 2010, solo artist Taeyang and girl group 2NE1 began topping various music charts throughout the United States and Canada with the release of various albums and hit songs. Korean artists are also working with artist all over the world in hoping to globalize this genre.

Below is a music video of one of the Korea’s most popular girl group, SNSD, with their new song Hoot!

 

Next, this is a short video on the K-Pop Night which was held in Singapore around 2 months ago:

 Next, I believe one of the first things that come to people’s mind when talked about Korea will definitely be Kimchi, one of the world’s healthiest foods. The Koreans serve kimchi at almost every meal! It can be served as a side dish as well as being the main ingredient for many popular Korean cuisines.

Kimchi is a traditional fermented Korean dish, made of vegetables with varied seasonings. However, Kimchi may also refer to unfermented vegetable dishes. There are many different varieties of kimchi but the main ingredients to make it are cucumber, napa cabbage, reddish and green onions.

Kimchi has been scientifically proven to be a highly nutritious and recommended as a future food by many nutritionists all around the globe. So the export of kimchi to foreign countries is rapidly increasing. It has gains much popularity not only in Korea, but also in various countries like in America, Japan and even Singapore!