David Chang was making kimchi on national television this week on the Today Show, and we all know that Korea is trying to evangelize the wonders of Korean food.  So there’s a lot of news bits about Korean food overall, but are we taking it a little too far with kimchi donuts?  Really?  I know you all have kimchi on the side next to the turkey at Thanksgiving, but imagine eating kimchi with custard.  Well Dunkin Donuts just launched the kimchi donut in South Korea or kimchi croquette.

The Wonder Girls are Trending Up
The Wonder Girls were in the top ten trending topics on Twitter. Say that 5 times real fast. That’s right, the lovable teen Kpop group from South Korea not only made it to the top 100 on the Billboard charts in the U.S., they became a top tenner on Twitter this weekend. We’re going to guess Rain as the next Korean entity to become a Top Ten Trending Twitter Topic (TTTTT).


There are Three Ways to Say “Thank You” in Korean
According to the Korea Times, there are three ways to say “thank you” informally in Korean, depending on where you live. This is a result of the Korean language evolving as Koreans have spread out across the world.

For North Koreans it is “고마와,” for the Koryo-saram in Central Asia it might be “아슴챠이타” and in standard Korean, based on the dialect of Seoul, it is “고마워.” On top of this, the occasional English “thank you,” can be heard.

I wonder if there are three different ways to say “Can I have your number?”

Korean Wave of Plastic Surgery
Do you want to look like Lee Byung Hun or Hyori? Koreans are famous like Brazilians for plastic surgery. Well, Kpop and Korean dramas seem to be the rage lately and all of Asia is enamored with the singers and actors.  It also helps that we’ve got some good looking Koreans. Anyway, looks like Asians (that are not Korean) are opting for surgery to look more Korean, this according to the Plastic Surgery Channel.

People from China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong are flocking to Korea these days for facial bone contouring and cosmetic surgery on their eyes and noses.

The trend was reportedly spawned by what many are calling the “Korean Wave” – the rising popularity of Korean celebrities.

Asians from other territories want to look more like popular Korean actors and musicians. And they’re willing to travel and pay up to three times more for plastic surgery than they would in China.

Currently, the number of foreign patients in Korea is 33 percent higher than it was in 2008, and they reportedly spend twice as much money as regular Japanese tourists.

So how did hangeul come about?  Well if you’re in New York, then drop by the Metropolitan Museum of Art (AKA The Met) and visit the ‘Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600′ exhibit.

The show, the museum’s first exhibition of internationally gathered Korean work in decades, opens a season of learning about Korea for museum-goers on both coasts. On June 28, a week after the Met show closes, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art will open an exhibition of work by 12 contemporary Korean artists. And before that closes, LACMA plans to open its reinstalled Korean galleries in a location far more prominent than before: directly across the plaza from Wilshire Boulevard.  Read more …