When I arrived in Korea seven years ago, there were many non-specialized coffee shops that served beer, soda, and not so great coffee. Today, it’s completely different story. There are great coffee shops on every corner. My little neighborhood has no less than 10 coffee shops within a 3 to 4 minute walk. Koreans prefer local food over foreign food but not for soft drinks.
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The South Korean government will invest $1.5bil to develop the technology for a 5G network that’s 1,000 times faster than 4G LTE. A trial service is planned for 2017 and the service is shooting for a 2020 launch.
While it’s getting more difficult for the international community to adopt from Korea, it’s even harder for mixed couples residing here. The Korea Times shared a story about the hardships of adoption faced by an American husband and Korean wife couple living in Gyeonggi Province.
Korea-based airlines will dramatically reduce the number of flights to Japan in 2014 as less passengers choose this as their destination. The number of people traveling between Japan and Korea fell 15% in 2013. Continue reading
Tteokbokki, odeng-tang, and bungeo-bbang are popular snacks found at street food shops. While they taste great and warm you up, they are also high in calories.
The global Android phone market continues to bloat with Lenovo’s purchase of Motorola from Google. China’s Lenovo, is quickly becoming a direct competitor to LG and Samsung. With the purchase of Motorola mobile, Lenovo becomes the third largest global smartphone maker, pushing LG to fourth place.
Lenovo’s purchase of Motorola from Google set them back $2.91-billion. Seems that Google had purchased Motorola simply to retain their phone patents. Interesting timing as Google recently announced a cross-licensing agreement with Samsung for 10-years.
It should come as no surprise to those who live here – measured in shots of spirits per week, not including beer, Korea tops the list of the heaviest drinkers in a list of 44 surveyed countries. The average Korean, based on the survey results, drinks 13.7 shots in a week, 97% of which is soju. Russia came in second and the US was ranked tenth. Survey by EuroMonitor.
Summary here.
