Food & Drinks
In April 2008, South Korea’s first astronaut, Yi So-yeon, brought a specially modified version of this dish to the International Space Station
What is Kimchi?
Founded in 1938 as a small trading company selling noodles and this dried good, the firm later became a global tech giant.
What is dried fish?
Meaning “south of the river,” this Seoul neighborhood became shorthand for luxury consumerism.
What is Gangnam?
From 1910 until its surrender in 1945, this nation ruled Korea as a colony before losing control at the end of World War II.
What is Japan?
First recognized as an Olympic sport in 2000, this Korean martial art emphasizes head-height kicks and spinning techniques.
What is Taekwondo?
Now listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, chimaek blends “chicken” with this drink to describe Korea’s favorite pairing.
What is beer?
Developed in 1999 by former Samsung engineers, this search portal controls more than half of the domestic search market—well ahead of Google.
What is Naver?
This seven-member boy band addressed the UN in 2018 and became the first Asian group to top the Billboard Hot 100.
Who is BTS?
Before becoming UN Secretary-General in 2007, this South Korean diplomat helped negotiate the 1992 Joint Declaration on denuclearization.
Who is Ban-Ki Moon?
Deep and Elias are not the only two PLA OSL colleagues with a Korea connection.
Who is Adrian Gran Von Hall?
Modern Korea now leads Asia in per-capita consumption of this beverage.
What is coffee?
With over 90 % penetration and 45 million active users, this mobile “super-app” handles messaging, banking, ride-hailing, and even government ID services.
What is Kakao Talk?
In 2020, Bong Joon-ho’s dark satire became the first non-English film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.
What is Parasite?
This 250-kilometer strip of land separating North and South Korea is one of the most fortified borders in the world, and yet also a protected nature reserve.
What is the DMZ?
Many Korean buildings skip this floor number because the word for it sounds like the word for “death.”
What is the fourth floor?
Traditionally distilled from rice, this clear spirit was the largest selling branded spirit in the world in 2023.
What is Soju?
Following U.S. steel tariffs in 2018, this sector—responsible for roughly one-fifth of the nation’s total exports—helped keep its trade balance positive.
What are semi-conductors?
One of Squid Game's most recreated challenges involved carving shapes out of this brittle Korean honeycomb candy.
What is dalgona?
The Korean Peninsula was divided after World War II along this line of latitude chosen overnight by U.S. officials using a National Geographic map.
What is the 38th parallel?
In 2018, this South Korean city hosted the Winter Olympics — not to be confused with North Korea’s capital, which differs by only two letters.
What is Pyeongchang?
On April 14, known as “Black Day,” single Koreans traditionally eat this black-bean noodle dish to commiserate together.
What is jjajangmyeon?
Launched in 2004, this high-speed train travels over 300 km/h, linking Seoul and Busan in about two and a half hours.
What is KTX?
This term, meaning “Korean Wave,” describes the global spread of the country’s pop culture, from music to film to skincare.
What is Hallyu?
During the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, citizens lined up to donate this personal possession in a nationwide campaign that raised over $2 billion to help pay off the country’s debt.
What is gold?
In this year, millions of Koreans suddenly became one or two years younger overnight after the government standardized how age is calculated.
What is 2023?