[HanCinema's Digest] Culture Corner

Get the best K-beauty advice from some of the country's top YouTubers, browse the most popular stories of last year from the hard-hitting Korea Expose, Quartz looks at the power political memes in Korea, and avoid committing these cultural faux pas.

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"Top 10 Korean beauty YouTubers of 2017"

Along with the country's films, dramas, food and music, South Korean cosmetics have become a very lucrative export industry. Pair the rise of 'K-beauty' with Korea's incredible ability to self-promote, as well as their digital sophistication, and we find a growing number of highly successful YouTubers, online stars who act as "ambassadors to the complex world of ever-expanding K-beauty products". In this post on the Korea Herald you'll find a list of the top ten Korean YouTubers who are waiting to give the best K-beauty advice around.

...READ ON THE KOREA HERALD

"Korea Exposé's Top 10 Korea Stories in 2017"

Korea Expose is a hard-hitting online news and commentary site that prides itself on being critical, independent, and unbound. The website started as a small blog three years ago, but in just a few years the site has become bigger and more diverse as they continue their aim of becoming the "go-to English-language source" for Korea-related stories. In this post, Korea Expose looks back at 2017 and reveals some of their most popular stories of the year.

...READ ON KOREA EXPOSE

"The memes that took over Korea's internet in 2017 show people are done with elites and corruption"

Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term "meme" in his popular science book "The Selfish" as a potential mechanism for how ideas circulate in society. Since then, however, the internet has run away with the idea; now, most are familiar with the term "meme" as, say, a single image that gets circulated, usually with a comedic or political bent. In this post on Quartz, Hailey Jo and Isabella Seger have compiled an interesting list of some of the memes that emerged in Korea as a result of the tense political climate that characterised 2017.

...READ ON QUARTZ

"What are Some Cultural Faux Pas in South Korea?"

If you're visiting South Korea for the first time you'll most likely be unaware of all of the social norms at play. Fear not, however, because Korea Expose has you covered. "Koreans will often overlook any minor faux pas you make", the article begins, but, "there are nevertheless some actions that you'll need to avoid". If you're looking to make a good impression in The Land of the Morning Calm, or you're just curious about other culture's norms, this post will be of great interest. Do you know of any useful dos and don'ts? Share them with us and others in the comment section below.

...READ ON KOREA EXPOSE