It was October 1991, and I was teaching English at ELS, a private English language institute in Seoul, when a rather unusual confrontation took place just outside my classroom. One of the institute’s cleaning women stopped at the classroom door and stared into the trash can. For a moment, she didn’t say anything. Then she looked at my students, looked at me and began speaking rapidly in Korean. I understood enough of what she was saying to know that it had nothing to do with cleaning. Her tone alone was enough to send chills down my spine. It was all over a pumpkin. Or, more precisely, what had once been inside it. I was nearing the end of my first year teaching English in Korea, and Halloween was still something of a novelty. Most of my students had never heard of trick-or-treating, carving a jack-o’-lantern or dressing up as witches, ghosts and monsters. For English teachers, that made the holiday a wonderful opportunity to introduce a little Western culture into the classroom while giving everyone a break from grammar drills and pronunciation exercises. As Halloween approached,

Danpyunsun has long been a mainstay of Korea’s underground music scene, celebrated by critics and respected among those in the know. Then came 2024 and the formation of his new outfit, The Moments Ensemble. Their debut album, "Hail to the Music," was such a critical smash that the broader music scene could no longer ignore them. On Oct. 14, the band released its second album, "Lovers," which is both a sequel to the debut and a new direction. Here, the band explores its formation and the unique blend of sounds and approaches that has the scene so enamored. “I think the landscapes I paint through my music have changed significantly,” said Danpyunsun, describing how his work with The Moments Ensemble differs from his previous bands. A significant change shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Danpyunsun has been releasing music for over 20 years. He made his live debut in 2004 and became a much-loved and prolific member of the Hongdae scene, releasing music under a variety of band names. In 2007, right before joining the military, he released a demo tape called "Night of the 20 Year Ol

More than 600 Korean-born adoptees came from countries around the world to visit the nation of their birth, for the International Korean Adoptee Associations (IKAA) Gathering, Oct. 19-24. The Oct. 19 opening ceremony for this year's event featured a historic appearance by first lady Kim Hea Kyung, marking the first time a Korean first lady has attended the gathering. Her visit also marked the third occasion that adoption-related issues have been publicly addressed during President Lee Jae Myung's administration. For many attendees, the gesture was meaningful, but it was also met with cautious optimism and lingering frustration. The triennial IKAA Gathering goes far beyond heritage tourism or giving participants opportunities to reconnect with their roots. It serves as a platform for collective advocacy, bringing together grassroots organizers, legal experts, scholars and adoptees to address longstanding systemic issues. Discussions range from reclaiming citizenship and navigating long-term residency in Korea to birth family searches, DNA testing and calls for greater transparency in adop

The streets of Itaewon have gone through several iterations over the years — not just the place itself but the meaning attached to it. If you ask someone from the early 2000s or even the 2010s, they would paint a completely different landscape from the Itaewon that exists today. Itaewon is going through a period of social reconstruction, fueled by several factors — the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2022 Halloween crowd crush, U.S. military redeployment out of nearby Yongsan Garrison, commercial redevelopment and, the hot issue at the moment, the tightened restrictions placed on Itaewon businesses. Lasting impact Despite the heavy political atmosphere that lays over Itaewon like dark clouds before a storm, there are some local business owners who feel optimistic about its future. Linus Kim, who has operated Linus BBQ for more than a decade, expects the Halloween nightlife to be stronger than in the years immediately after the crowd crush tragedy. “Itaewon’s nightlife has seen a significant resurgence over the past year, driven partly by a new generation that came of age during COVID and