IKEA opens first store in Seoul.

Posted on April 12, 2025 by easykorean

Seoul’s first IKEA store opens April 17, 2025. Though IKEA entered the Korean market in 2014, this will be their first store in Seoul. This location is in Seoul’s Gangdong (강동) neighborhood within the IPark The River shopping complex. IKEA now has five locations in Korea though all of their other locations here are of the typical large stand-alone blue box type.

As the company tries to cater to the Korean market, the Swedish retailer setup 44 demo rooms for single-person households. They will compete with other furniture retailers, such as Japan’s Nitori and Korea’s Emart, in the same shopping complex.

IKEA is open daily 10AM-10PM.

51, Godeokbizvalley-ro, Gangdong-gu, Seoul

IKEA Gangdong website.

Our article on single person households.

Melting Soul’s Cheeseburger with Melting Sauce.

Posted on March 15, 2025 by easykorean

It’s no wonder that Melting Soul is a championship burger maker. Look at how fun this is.

Located in MyeongDong’s Lotte Department Store food court (B1 level), this is a fun an inexpensive burger to try. They offer both a yellow melting cheese and white-ragu melting cheese among other more standard type burgers. Here’s a walk through their full menu.

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Seoul named as best solo-travel destination.

Posted on March 14, 2025 by easykorean

For 2025, TripAdvisor has rated Seoul as the World’s Top Solo-Travel Destination. The score is based on “a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period. Out of 8 million listings, fewer than 1% achieve this milestone.”

Seoul is clean, safe, has accessible public transportation (subway, bus), and has many tourist-friendly destinations to see.

We have written quite a few articles on Seoul that you can find here. As the Ambassador Team leader for Gangnam District’s Public Relations team in 2011, I wrote a series of 25+ posts in Gangnam News about destinations in Seoul’s Gangnam District. And an interview in Korea Herald about Gangnam, another here.

Changdeok Palace

Posted on February 18, 2025 by easykorean

Changdeok-gung is one of five Grand Palaces in northern Seoul’s Jogno District. Also known as the East Palace, it was the residence of the last king of Korea, Sunjong (순종). While it was originally constructed in the 15th century, only portions of the original structure survive today.

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