Yu-Na Kim Wins Gold

Yu-Na Kim Wins Gold at the Olympics

Korean world champion Kim Yu-na won the gold medal in the women’s figure skating competition in the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics on Friday (KST).

It is the first time that Korea has grabbed the Olympic gold medal in the figure skating and it is the second in Asia.

she gave a stellar free skate performance, dazzling the judges who gave her a score of 150.06, another new world record, and shattering the 200 point mark  with a score of 228.56 points.

Mao Asada, Kim’s arch rival from Japan, scored 205.50 points, winning the silver medal and Canada’s Joannie Rochette got the bronze with a score of 202.64 points.

You can Watch Yuna Kim Skating performance at the link below:
Watch Yuna Kim Video Here

The 'Days'

Valentine’s Day, a day for all couples and people who are in love, may be celebrated all over the world. In Korea as well, of course, but did you know that there are other ‘Day’s every month, too? For those who have been in Korea during November, you might have experienced a day when all the stores were selling choco sticks (or similar) as if were a national choco stick selling day. Actually, those choco sticks are snacks with the name ‘Pepero’ and that day was ‘Pepero Day’, the day when people give pepero to each other. Below are some other days listed.

Kim Yu-na Finishes Short Program with World Record Score

Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na has proved that she is the heavy favorite for a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Kim Yu-na fished first in the ladies’ single short program at the Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday with a new world record of 78.5 points. Performing to a James Bond medley, she scored 44.7 points in executed elements and 33.8 points in factored program components.

Her arch rival Mao Asada of Japan trailed Kim with 73.78 points, followed by Canada’s Rochette Joannie (71.36 points) and Japan’s Miki Ando (64.76 points). Korean figure skater Kwak Min-jung was placed 16th with 53.16 points.

The free skating event will be held on Friday.

You can watch Yuna’s performance at the link below.
Click here to watch Video

The Kingdom of The Winds

Title: 바람의 나라 / The Kingdom of The Winds
Also known as: Country of Wind / The Land of Wind
Genre: Period Drama, Fantasy
Episodes: 36
Broadcast network: KBS2
Broadcast period: 2008-Sept-04 to 2009-Jan-15

Synopsis
The Kingdom of the Wind is a big budget historical thriller that captivated audiences and won multiple KBS drama awards in 2008. This is a no nonsense epic (especially when compared to Strongest Chil Woo) featuring beautiful cinematography and score as well as lots of grand battle scenes, conspiracies, political intrigue, and assassination plots.

The Kingdom of the Wind is a story about Muhyul, and the third king of Koguryeo who was also called the god of wars. Muhyul is the grandson of Jumong but was born with a supposed curse to kill his parents, siblings, son, and destroy the country. His father, King Yuri, was horrified by this prophecy but couldn’t get himself to kill his own child. So he orders his elder son, Haemyung, to take baby Muhyul outside the palace to live as a commoner who doesn’t know anything about his true identity. Through the course of 36 episodes, Muhyul goes through many trials and tribulations to defy his nefarious fate, and eventually emerges as a powerful king.

Cast
Song Il Gook as Prince Moo Hyul / Daemusin
Choi Jung Won as Princess Yeon
Park Gun Hyung as Prince Do Jin
Jung Jin Young as King Yuri

What Makes Jeonju Bibimbap So Special

What Makes Jeonju Bibimbap So Special

Jeonju is considered as the home of bibimbap, the famous Korean dish of rice with vegetables and beef. The rice used for bibimbap in Jeonju is cooked not in plain water but in beef broth so it looks and tastes better.

Bean sprouts, a key ingredient in Jeonju bibimbap, are Rhynchosia volubilis from Imsil, North Jeolla Province. Even if cooked for a long time, they do not get too mushy but retain their crispiness.

Bean sprouts are usually cooked in the last stage of rice cooking, and Jeonju bibimbap is usually served with clear bean sprout soup. Other vegetables like spinach, balloon roots, drop water and shiitake mushrooms are also included along with raw marinated beef and red pepper paste. This makes the dish healthy food, providing all the key nutrients in one bowl.

From chosun.com

Korean Alphabet

Learn Korean Alphabet

Super Junior in Philippines

Super Junior Albums Bestsellers in Philippines

Albums of K-pop idol groups Super Junior is selling quickly in the Philippines, edging out international artists such as Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga.

Super Junior’s live album “Super Show 2” is No. 1 on Astrochart’s top selling foreign albums from February 8 to14.

Taylor Swift’s “Fearless” is at No. 2, Lady Gaga’s “The Fame Monster” is at No. 3.

The Astrochart reflects the collective album sales from more than 30 retail stores of Astrovision and Astroplus in the Philippines.

On retail store Music One’s Top 25 albums for February 8 to 14, “Super Show 2” and “The Secret Code” debuted at No. 2 and 3, respectively, beating out “Grammy Nominees 2010” and “Glee: The Music.”

Filipino fans are buying Super Junior’s albums ahead of the boy band’s “2nd Asia Tour: Super Show 2” concert in the Philippines scheduled for April 10 at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

The Super Junior members are currently in Taiwan for their Super Show concert at Taipei Arena.

This is the third time a Super Junior album has topped album sales in the Philippines.

“Sorry, Sorry” was the bestselling K-pop album in the Philippines in 2009.

My Lovely Sam Soon

Title: 내 이름은 김삼순 / Nae I-reum-eun Kim Sam-soon
Also known as: My Name is Kim Sam-Soon / My Lovely Sam Soon
Episodes: 16
Genre: Romance, Comedy
Broadcast network: MBC
Broadcast period: 2005-06-01 to 2005-07-21
Air time: Wednesday & Thursday 9:55 PM
Soundtrack: My Lovely Sam-Soon OST

Synopsis

At 29, Kim Sam-Soon’s career and love life has hit a dead end. She is overweight, unmarried, saddled with an embarrassingly old-fashioned name, and has just lost her job. On Christmas Eve, she catches her boyfriend of three years cheating on her, and promptly breaks up with him. Something has got to give. Enter Hyun Jin-Heon (Hyun Bin), the arrogant 27-year old owner of a restaurant called Bon Appetit, who hires her to put her French-pastry-chef skills to work as the restaurant’s chief baker. Stubborn and opinionated, the two individuals rapidly go head to head, fighting over cooking styles and almost everything else under the sun, but in the midst of all the arguments and ingredients flying around, something warmer starts simmering. When Jin-Heon gets pressured by his family to get married and Sam-Soon needs 50 million won to redeem her mother’s house from debt, Jin-Heon decides to hire her to act as his girlfriend, and the two sign a dating contract. Things get complicated however when Jin-Heon’s ex-girlfriend returns from the U.S. with her sights set on getting him back, and when Sam-Soon’s ex-boyfriend and a new admirer appear in her life.

Cast

Kim Sun Ah as Kim Sam-soon
Hyun Bin as Hyun Jin-heon
Jung Ryu Won as Yoo Hee-jin
Daniel Henney as Dr. Henry Kim

Learn Korean Colors

Colors

English                   Korean          Pronunciations
black                       검정색            Geom.-jeong-saek
blue                         파랑색            Pa-rang-saek
blue                         청색                Cheong-saek
deep blue              남색                Nam-saek
gold                         금색                Geum-saek
gray                         회색                Hwi-saek
green                      초록색            Cho-rok-saek
green                      녹색                Nok-saek
light green           연두색            Yeon-du-saek
maroon                 밤색                 Bam-saek
orange                   주황색           Ju-hwang-saek
purple                   보라색            Bo-ra-saek
red                          빨강색            Bbal-gang-saek
silver                      은색               Eun-saek
sky blue                 하늘색          Han-eul-saek
white                       흰색              Hin-saek
yellow                    노랑색          Norang-saek

Korea Wins 2 Golds in 500

Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa won the women’s 500 meters speed skating Olympic title Wednesday, ahead of Germany’s Jenny Wolf and China’s Wang Beixing.

Lee notched a combined time of 76.09secs for her two runs, 38.24 and 37.85 respectively, just 0.05 seconds ahead of Wolf. Wang’s time was 76.63 seconds.

“I have to say I was very lucky today,” Lee told reporters after the win. “Wolf and Wang are very good skaters and are better than me. It’s hard for me to believe that I got gold today,” she said.

Four years ago Lee left the ice in tears at the in Turin Games at her Olympic debut after missing bronze medal by 17 hundredths of a second.

This year, however, she has been expected to make a big surprise as she has shown consistency in her results, hitting podium finishes in international competitions and standing third in the world rankings, according to the Yonhap news.

She took gold in the women’s 500m speed skating event at the 2009 Winter Universiade in China and won the 2010 world championship tournament by finishing first in the 500m event.

Korea has now won both the men’s and women’s 500 meter races at the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Lee Seung-hoon also collected a silver medal in the men’s 5,000 on Sunday.