Latest news with #Koreans
![[Kim Seong-kon] Metamorphosis: Painful but worthwhile](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwimg.heraldcorp.com%2Fnews%2Fcms%2F2025%2F07%2F29%2Fnews-p.v1.20250729.7cfdc75070f04e3ea8f76ec9f49bed19_T1.jpg&w=3840&q=100)
![[Kim Seong-kon] Metamorphosis: Painful but worthwhile](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fall-logos-bucket.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fkoreaherald.com.png&w=48&q=75){kind=small}
Korea Herald
22 minutes ago
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
[Kim Seong-kon] Metamorphosis: Painful but worthwhile
Children are fascinated by the metamorphosis of an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. They are also amazed by the sight of a cute baby bird hatching from an egg. Watching these marvelous processes, children dream about their own metamorphoses that could turn them into an enchanting prince- or princess-like figure someday. The transformations that take place inside a cocoon or an eggshell occur over a prolonged waiting period. When the time comes, the gorgeous butterfly or cute baby bird comes out and eventually soars into the sky. Though a newborn chick cannot fly, it still brings the utmost pleasure and awe to those who watch its birth. However, some human beings choose to stay inside their cocoon or shell for good, and thus never experience a metamorphosis in their lifetime. Some are stuck in a hard shell of self-centeredness, inflexibility and dogmatic ideology. Others feel so snug and comfortable inside their shell that they do not want to come out. Metaphorically speaking, such people are hypnotized, drugged or paralyzed in their cocoons or hard shells. They just don't realize it. In her insightful poem, 'Life in an Egg,' Poet Kim Seung-hee compares the predicament of modern man to that of eggs in the refrigerator. Inside the fridge is a nice, cool environment, just as we might feel in an air-conditioned room. But eggs in the fridge have lost all hope of hatching and bringing forth new life. So have those of us who are helplessly trapped in the cool, refrigerator-like present reality, losing our original fresh vision of metamorphosis. The poet's profound insight into and powerful criticism of contemporary society primarily centers on those who choose to live inside the hard shell of egotism and isolation, rapidly losing contact with others. For example, many Koreans live in inhumane apartment complexes resembling chicken coops, completely cut off from their neighbors. Appropriately, they say that eggs laid in a chicken coop cannot hatch. Comfortable in an air-conditioned apartment, people become self-centered and do not care about what happens outside anymore. In his short story, 'Entropy,' Thomas Pynchon reminds us that we are now living in a hothouse where we are so warm and comfortable that we do not care what happens in the street outside. For Pynchon, the hothouse could be inhumane and even deadly because it is a closed place where entropy reaches its peak. When Henry Miller, another American novelist, returned from his long exile in Europe, he made a journey across America to search for the meaning of his country. Returning from his trip of discovery, he called America "an air-conditioned nightmare" and "a cancer of sameness." One might ask, "What does he mean by a cancer of sameness? America is a country of diversity and multiplicity." However, no matter where you go in America, you encounter the same shopping malls, department stores, chain stores, supermarkets, gas stations, convenience stores and motels. This was precisely what Japanese novelist Murakami Haruki discovered after his trip to California. He wrote, "It was scary to find the same thing everywhere in America." In Antonia Susan Byatt's intriguing novel, 'Angels and Insects,' she compares the behaviors of insects to those of human beings. The author tells us that some people remain like insects for the rest of their lives, unable to break out of their cocoon, while others succeed in transforming themselves into a lovely butterfly. Metamorphosis is not an easy thing to do. Anyone who has watched the process of metamorphosis from a caterpillar to a butterfly knows how painful and difficult it is; it takes patience, endurance and perseverance. Poet Kim Seung-Hee is aware of the pain of metamorphosis. But through her poems, she urges us to keep dreaming of a successful hatching and eventual transformation. It is precisely in this sense that she presents a pearl as a metaphor for painful metamorphosis. She tells us that only a wounded shellfish can produce an astonishingly pretty pearl. Breaking the shell of our ego can be painful, but that is the only way to transform ourselves into a butterfly or a bird soaring towards a bright future. In the author's preface to her collection of poems, 'Life in an Egg,' Kim writes the following. It sounds like a poem itself: 'Situated between these two horizons, / what have I waited for, for such a long time? / Crouching inside an egg, / what kind of dream have I dreamed? / Neighbors, you and I may be the eggs / trapped inside the refrigerator, / still dreaming of hatching out, / still dreaming of love. / Are we, then, not the nameless heroes / in a melancholic epic?' Metamorphosis is a painful process, during which one can easily be hurt or wounded. And yet, we need to transform ourselves into a winged Pegasus soaring into the sky, transcending the gravity of the hideous Chimera-like reality. Kim Seong-kon
Korea Herald
8 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Chinese nationals caught using fake IDs to take Korean language test for others
Several Chinese nationals have been caught trying to take the Test of Proficiency in Korean, or TOPIK, on behalf of others using fake foreign resident registration cards. According to police on Tuesday, a Chinese woman in her 30s was caught while taking the TOPIK exam at Soongsil University in Seoul on July 13. She showed a forged residence card to the test supervisor and was immediately arrested. Police said her smartphone contained evidence that she had arranged to take the test as a proxy through a broker. TOPIK is a test that measures the Korean language skills of overseas Koreans and foreign nationals who are not native speakers. It is administered by the National Institute for International Education under the Ministry of Education and is commonly used for university admissions, job applications and visa procedures in Korea. Similar incidents were reported the same day at Hansung University and Inje University, where other Chinese nationals were caught trying to take the test with fake IDs. Since all the forged IDs were issued on the same date by the same regional immigration office, police are now investigating whether the cases are linked to an organized proxy test operation.
Hamilton Spectator
19 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
‘It's pretty wild': How Toronto's Maggie Kang created global smash ‘KPop Demon Hunters'
Growing up as a Korean immigrant in 1990s Toronto, Maggie Kang kept her love of K-pop to herself. 'I remember hiding my K-pop albums from my white friends because they thought it was weird and silly,' recalls Kang, who moved from Seoul to Canada at age five and was raised in the North York area. 'But I was like, 'No, this is great.'' In a neighbourhood with few other Koreans, she rarely saw her culture reflected around her. Now, she's helping amplify it worldwide. Her debut animated film 'KPop Demon Hunters' — produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix — has become a global smash, pulling in massive streaming numbers while its songs top Billboard charts. Last week, Netflix said the musical fantasy — which follows a K-pop girl group that moonlights as demon slayers — was the first of its original movies to hit a new viewership peak in its fifth week. Its soundtrack also became the highest-charting of the year, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in mid-July. 'It's pretty wild. You don't ever know what the reaction is going to be, really, when you're making these things,' Kang says in a video call from Los Angeles. 'We were very hopeful it would find its audience. It feels like it has and they really latched onto it. Now it's spreading to other areas that we didn't think it was going to get to…. We're very happy and excited and overwhelmed.' Written and co-directed by Kang, 'KPop Demon Hunters' centres on K-pop trio Huntr/x — pronounced 'Huntrix' — who fight demons by night and dominate charts by day. When band members Mira, Zoey and Rumi face off against demon boy band the Saja Boys, Rumi is forced to confront her true identity. 'I think the themes of hiding parts of yourself and being afraid to show your true self to people, these days they're more relevant than ever,' Kang reflects. 'We tend to hide behind our online personas as well, and so I think even young kids can resonate with that.' Kang studied animation at Sheridan College and was recruited to DreamWorks in her third year, working as a story artist on films including 2011's 'Puss in Boots' and 2016's 'Kung Fu Panda 3.' When the opportunity came to direct her own film for Sony, she knew she wanted to tap into her roots. 'I was like, 'Okay, let me think of something that's Korean because I haven't seen that before,' says Kang, who spent her summers back in Korea growing up. She considered exploring Korean mythology and demonology, but also had another concept involving K-pop. 'My husband was like, 'Why don't you just put those together?'' she says. 'Oddly, it really fit — the idea of using music to fight demons naturally tied into Korean shamanism.' The animation production was largely handled by Sony Pictures Imageworks studios in Vancouver and Montreal, which played a key role in crafting the vibrant, high-octane visuals. Kang says she and co-director Chris Appelhans didn't just want the music by their fictional groups to be part of the soundtrack — it had to be deeply integrated into the story. It also had to slap. 'We knew the music had to stand on its own and be able to compete with all the pop songs out there, because K-pop is so good,' she says. They enlisted a powerhouse team of producers, including The Black Label co-founder Teddy Park, known for shaping the sounds of Blackpink and Taeyang; BTS collaborators Lindgren, Stephen Kirk, and Jenna Andrews; and Ian Eisendrath, who worked on Broadway hit 'Come from Away.' 'Our songs had to be bops, but they also had to tell a story,' says Kang. 'That added another layer of challenges to the songwriting.' Their work hit all the right notes. This month, Huntr/x's 'Golden' became the first track by a fictional act to top the Billboard Global 200 — edging out summer hits such as Alex Warren's 'Ordinary' and Justin Bieber's 'Daisies.' Meanwhile, Saja Boys' 'Your Idol' hit No. 1 on the U.S. Spotify chart, surpassing BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop act in the platform's history. 'We needed the music to be chart-topping … but now to see it happen is like, 'Whoa, what is happening?'' Kang says. 'I don't think I ever really thought that it was going to happen.' Kang says she'd 'definitely' consider expanding the 'KPop Demon Hunters' universe. 'There's a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of undeveloped ideas in the movie that we had to omit because of length. I know fans really want the fuller backstories of Mira and Zoey, and we did put those in at one point, but ultimately, this movie was a story about Rumi, so we had to take it out,' says Kang. 'We have a lot to show still.' But for now, she's taking a moment to soak it all in: the love, the milestones and the cultural shift she once didn't think she'd ever see. 'I feel very proud, just seeing Korean culture being in the spotlight. I never thought this would happen,' she says. 'As somebody who grew up when Korea wasn't that cool, to see it come this far is really amazing.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2025.
CBC
20 hours ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
How Toronto's Maggie Kang created the Netflix smash hit 'KPop Demon Hunters'
Growing up as a Korean immigrant in 1990s Toronto, Maggie Kang kept her love of K-pop to herself. "I remember hiding my K-pop albums from my white friends because they thought it was weird and silly," recalled Kang, who moved from Seoul to Canada at age five and was raised in the North York area. "But I was like, `No, this is great."' In a neighbourhood with few other Koreans, she rarely saw her culture reflected around her. Now, she's helping amplify it worldwide. Her debut animated film KPop Demon Hunters — produced by Sony Pictures Animation and released by Netflix — has become a global smash, pulling in massive streaming numbers while its songs top Billboard charts. Last week, Netflix said the musical fantasy — which follows a K-pop girl group that moonlights as demon slayers — was the first of its original movies to hit a new viewership peak in its fifth week. Its soundtrack also became the highest-charting of the year, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in mid-July. "It's pretty wild. You don't ever know what the reaction is going to be, really, when you're making these things," Kang said in a video call from Los Angeles. "We were very hopeful it would find its audience. It feels like it has and they really latched onto it. Now it's spreading to other areas that we didn't think it was going to get to. We're very happy and excited and overwhelmed." Producers include known K-pop collaborators Written and co-directed by Kang, KPop Demon Hunters centres on K-pop trio Huntr/x — pronounced "Huntrix" — who fight demons by night and dominate charts by day. When band members Mira, Zoey and Rumi face off against demon boy band the Saja Boys, Rumi is forced to confront her true identity. "I think the themes of hiding parts of yourself and being afraid to show your true self to people, these days they're more relevant than ever," Kang reflected. "We tend to hide behind our online personas as well, and so I think even young kids can resonate with that." Kang studied animation at Sheridan College and was recruited to DreamWorks in her third year, working as a story artist on films including 2011's Puss in Boots and 2016's Kung Fu Panda 3. When the opportunity came to direct her own film for Sony, she knew she wanted to tap into her roots. She considered exploring Korean mythology and demonology, but also had another concept involving K-pop. "My husband was like, `Why don't you just put those together?"' she said. "Oddly, it really fit — the idea of using music to fight demons naturally tied into Korean shamanism." The animation production was largely handled by Sony Pictures Imageworks studios in Vancouver and Montreal, which played a key role in crafting the vibrant, high-octane visuals. Kang said she and co-director Chris Appelhans didn't just want the music by their fictional groups to be part of the soundtrack — it had to be deeply integrated into the story. It also had to slap. "We knew the music had to stand on its own and be able to compete with all the pop songs out there, because K-pop is so good," she said. They enlisted a powerhouse team of producers, including The Black Label co-founder Teddy Park, known for shaping the sounds of Blackpink and Taeyang; BTS collaborators Lindgren, Stephen Kirk, and Jenna Andrews; and Ian Eisendrath, who worked on Broadway hit "Come from Away." "Our songs had to be bops, but they also had to tell a story," said Kang. "That added another layer of challenges to the songwriting." Their work hit all the right notes. This month, Huntr/x's "Golden" became the first track by a fictional act to top the Billboard Global 200 — edging out summer hits such as Alex Warren's "Ordinary" and Justin Bieber's "Daisies." Meanwhile, Saja Boys' "Your Idol" hit No. 1 on the U.S. Spotify chart, surpassing BTS as the highest-charting male K-pop act in the platform's history. "We needed the music to be chart-topping but now to see it happen is like, `Whoa, what is happening?"' Kang says. "I don't think I ever really thought that it was going to happen." Kang says she'd "definitely" consider expanding the KPop Demon Hunters universe. "There's a lot of unanswered questions and a lot of undeveloped ideas in the movie that we had to omit because of length. I know fans really want the fuller backstories of Mira and Zoey, and we did put those in at one point, but ultimately, this movie was a story about Rumi, so we had to take it out," says Kang. "We have a lot to show still." But for now, she's taking a moment to soak it all in: the love, the milestones and the cultural shift she once didn't think she'd ever see. "I feel very proud, just seeing Korean culture being in the spotlight. I never thought this would happen," she says.
News18
a day ago
- Health
- News18
7 Korean Lifestyle Habits That Can Transform Your Health And Happiness
Last Updated: Korean culture places emphasis on balance and wellness. These simple, sustainable Korean lifestyle habits can help you live a longer, healthier life. Korean culture has long been admired for its emphasis on balance, wellness, and longevity. From skincare routines to mindful eating, many lifestyle habits in Korea are deeply rooted in traditional wisdom, yet backed by modern science. If you're looking to live your best, healthiest life, here are a few Korean habits worth adopting. Korean Lifestyle Habits For Better Health To Live Your Best Life Fermented Foods for Gut Health: Kimchi, doenjang (fermented soybean paste), and other probiotic-rich foods are daily staples in Korean meals. These not only aid digestion but also boost immunity and support a healthy gut microbiome, which is key to everything from mental clarity to skin health. Warm, Balanced Meals: Koreans prioritise warm, cooked foods over cold or processed ones. A typical meal includes rice, soup, and several vegetable-based side dishes (banchan), offering a balance of macronutrients and minimal sugar or processed fats. Movement Throughout the Day: Rather than relying solely on gym sessions, daily physical activity is woven into Korean life. Whether it's taking long walks in parks, practising taekkyeon (traditional martial arts), or seniors doing light stretching in public spaces, movement is constant and encouraged at all ages. Skin Health as an Indicator of Internal Health: Skincare is not just vanity; it's a reflection of inner wellness. Korean routines often include facial massages, hydration-rich ingredients, and sun protection, all supporting better circulation and reduced inflammation. Respect for Routine and Sleep: A structured daily routine, including consistent sleep and wake times, is common in Korean households. Sleep is considered sacred for beauty, immunity, and mental well-being. Community and Shared Meals: Meals are rarely eaten alone. Eating together fosters emotional bonding, reduces stress, and often leads to slower, more mindful eating – all of which support better digestion and mental health. view comments First Published: July 29, 2025, 17:30 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
