!"#$%&'(&)'*+%*+, INTRODUCTION .................................................................... 4 TIMELINE ............................................................................... 9 6,000 Years Ago to Present in 70 Points . The Joseon Kingdom . King Sejong . Choe Kwang-shik’s National Museum of Korea Treasures . .The Olympics and World Cup. ESSENTIALS ......................................................................... 25 The Nitty Gritty . Comedian Sam Hammington’s Things You Must Bring to Korea . You Know You’re From Seoul When . Iconic Seoul . Royal Palaces . World Design Capital . Lars Vargo’s Top Korean Reads . Unique Meeting Venues . Super Convenient Seoul . Medical Tourism . The DMZ . David A. Mason’s Top Seoul Mountains . Getting Around . Elite Universities. WEATHER ............................................................................. 59 Korean Temperatures . Meteorologist Kim Seung-bai on Seoul’s Climate . Extreme Weather . Typhoons . Surviving Summer . Climate Change . Highs and Lows . The Rainy Season. URBAN GEOGRAPHY .......................................................... 73 Geomantic Seoul . A Waterway Reborn . Gwanghwamun Square . Namsan . Department Stores . To Market, to Market: Namdaemun, Dongdaemun and More . Hanok . Odd Museums . Neighborhoods: Itaewon, Insadong, Myeong-dong, Apgujeong and More . Living Natural Monuments . Brother Anthony’s Top Tea Houses . Best Spots for the Changing Seasons . Han River . Green Spaces: Olympic Park, Seoul Forest and More. FOOD ................................................................................. 103 A Korean Food Primer . Five Classics . Celebratory Foods . Mind Your Manners . Andrew Salmon’s Top Places to Eat in Seoul . Kimchi . Side Dishes . Mary Crowe’s Top Korean Meals to Make at Home . Royal Cuisine . Non-Korean Seoul Food . Street Eats . Alcoholic Beverages and Snacks. 6 LANGUAGE AND BELIEFS ................................................ 123 The Korean Language . Hangeul . Essential Expressions . Names and Nicknames . Idioms . Memorable Numbers . Konglish . Shamanism . Top Buddhist Temples . Religion . Korean Culture by the Book . Ginseng, Well-Being and Valentine’s. ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT ................................................. 141 City of Festivals . Traditional Korean Music and Dance . Richard Choi’s Top Nightspots . Western Classical Music . Leading Rock Venues . Nanta . Mark Russell’s Top Korean Films . K-Pop . Big Bang . Art Museums . Hallyu . Top TV Dramas . Worlds of Nam June Paik . Manhwa . Lotte World, Seoul Grand Park and Seoul Land . Take Me Out to the Ball Game . Space Man . Lucky Seven . The Sporting Life. ECONOMY ......................................................................... 177 By the Numbers . Income . Top Korean Companies . Young-Iob Chung’s Five Aspects of the South Korean Economy . The Mighty Jaebol . Motor Vehicles . IT . The Tycoon as Everyman . North Korean Trade and GNP . Charge It . The Crisis of 1997 . Seoul, A Bargain . The Face of Money. THEN AND NOW ............................................................... 197 Population Over Time . Ancient Gates and Walls . Top History and Culture Museums . The American Empress . Transportation Firsts . Colonial Times . The Korean War . The Rickshaw’s Rise and Fall . Andrei Lankov’s Key Changes in Post-War Seoul . Robert Neff’s Ghost Stories . Skyscrapers . Haircuts . Fast Food Firsts . Coffee. POLITICS ........................................................................... 219 The National Scene . Branches of Government and Distribution of Seats . Significant Post-War Leaders . The North-South Divide . President Lee Myung-bak . National Assembly Building . Seoul City Government . E-government. CONTRIBUTING WRITERS ................................................ 230 7.