Korea Now: Seoul Events, K-pop & Local Guide | NowHitz · 21

Nurungji and sungnyung

Nurungji is the firm, golden layer that forms at the bottom of a pot as rice cooks. It can be lifted out and eaten or boiled with water. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture distinguishes the crust, nurungji, from the boiled rice, nurungjibap, and its liquid, sungnyung.

The order of a stone-pot meal

With stone-pot rice, the rice is first transferred to a bowl and hot water is then added to the crust left at the bottom. The Korea Tourism Organization describes this sequence in its hot stone-pot rice guide. The water draws out the flavour left in the pot, giving the meal a different texture from crisp nurungji.

Origins of sungnyung

The encyclopedia’s sungnyung entry links the drink’s development to the fixed cauldrons of older kitchens. Boiling water over the stuck rice produced a drink and helped clean a pot that was hard to wash. The entry also records the custom of ending a meal with sungnyung.

KT 12, Samsung 3

KT took the lead with two runs in the second, then added three in the third, one in the fourth and six in the fifth for 12 runs through five innings. KT outhit Samsung 14 to nine. Samsung scored once in the first and twice in the eighth. KBO credits Ko Young-pyo with the win and Jurado with the loss.

Lotte 4, KIA 1

The game in Gwangju was scoreless through five innings before Lotte scored four runs in the top of the sixth. KIA got one back in the bottom of the ninth but lost 4–1. Each side had six hits. Kim Jin-wook was the winning pitcher and Oller took the loss.

Source of the results

The results are based on the official KBO scoreboard, which dates both games October 11, 2026 and marks them as finished. Both started at 2 p.m. KST, in Daegu and Gwangju. The photograph is a 2017 archive view of the Daegu ballpark, not an image from either game.

Korean Culture Month at Foyles

Foyles’ Korean Culture Month page features translated books alongside Korean-language editions, with author conversations and a drama screening. The festival is part of Curated Korea 2026, announced by the Korean Cultural Centre UK on October 7, whose wider programme runs October 1–21 at venues across London.

Kim Choyeop interview

Foyles has published a Q&A with Kim Choyeop in Korean and English side by side. She says she trusts translators’ judgement about how her writing reaches readers in another language.

Sohn Won-pyung and Su Scott

Sohn joins Ela Lee on October 15 to discuss Almond and Counterattacks at Thirty. On October 21, London-based Korean food writer Su Scott joins Jenny Lau to talk about Seoul’s pocha culture through her cookbook Pocha. Both events start at 7pm London time in the Level 6 Auditorium at Foyles, 107 Charing Cross Road. Ticket conditions and availability are on the official event pages under Sources & context below.

Forming the hood

At an October 7–8 event in Goyang, Hyundai presented the development of the fifth-generation Tucson. The company says the long hood must form its central area and raised sides in a single panel, and that steel which will not remain in the finished part also helps shape the surface.

Forming a convex shape in surplus areas that are later cut away keeps neighbouring areas prone to waviness from touching the die too early. Hyundai says this reduces unwanted surface undulations as the hood takes shape.

Forming the side panels

The side outer panel must create a deep contour around the rear wheel without wrinkling or cracking the steel. Hyundai says it first forms an intermediate shape, then refines the complex contour in two further forming stages.

Rear doors open to 83 degrees

According to Hyundai’s October 11 release, the rear-door opening angle has widened from 73 degrees in the previous generation to 83 degrees. The company uses wide-opening hinges to make getting into and out of the back seats easier.

Goyang display

The hood and side outer panel display runs at Hyundai Motorstudio Goyang through October 25. The official venue page lists general hours of 9 a.m.–8 p.m., closed Mondays. Access conditions and hours for the special display are in the official Goyang information under Sources & context below.

Around 15 titles in development

At New York Comic Con on October 8, HAYATE, LINE Digital Frontier and Crunchyroll announced a partnership to co-produce webtoon anime, covering around 15 titles under consideration for adaptation. Production and release dates have not been confirmed for every title.

The Remarried Empress in 2027

TROYCA will animate The Remarried Empress, with HAYATE producing, for a planned 2027 broadcast. The Boxer’s adaptation is newly announced, and Teenage Mercenary has released new key art and a promotional video. Crunchyroll’s exclusive streaming covers selected territories; the announcement did not address availability in Korea.

A 300 g pack for cooking

Announced on October 6, the tenderloin product comes in a 300 g pack and adds a third cut to the breast and thigh versions. Despite the serving image on the package, it is not a ready-to-eat meal and should be stored and cooked according to the pack’s instructions.

Buy-one-get-one offer

Sales began at GS THE FRESH on October 7. Harim’s buy-one-get-one offer runs October 7–13 and covers the three Chicken Steak varieties and other selected marinated-chicken products. The offer period is separate from the product’s sales period. Eligible items, prices and stock may vary by store.

Label photos and search

In its October 6 release, Foodlab described reading information by photographing a food label or searching by product name. The app gathers the origin statements listed in brackets beside ingredients but does not independently verify where a product comes from.

Access and scores

The app is available on iOS and Android, with scanning and analysis currently free. Dietary-suitability results are based on the listed ingredients and are not official certification.

Not a medical service

The official website states that Foodlab is not a medical or diagnostic service and advises people with medical conditions or allergies to put their clinician’s judgment ahead of the app’s score.

Two scent pairings

Milk Blanche pairs cotton with musk, while Vanilla Musk pairs vanilla with musk. The brand describes the first as a soft cotton scent and the second as a sweeter vanilla one.

Wash and lotion

The body wash is rinsed off in the shower; the lotion launched alongside it is a separate product applied afterward. The brand says the wash contains goat-milk ingredients, shea butter and coconut oil.

It is sold through Coupang and major Korean online and offline retailers. The bottles look similar, so buyers should check both product type and scent.

01

“산티아고 북쪽 길 순례” follows the couple’s 35-day pilgrimage during a sabbatical in 2015, from Irún, Spain, to Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre.

The publisher says the book describes knee and shoulder pain, changing weather, unfamiliar lodging and encounters with strangers, and ties those experiences to living with less and reconsidering relationships. The authors are a pastor and his wife, and Christian pilgrimage frames the account.

02

According to the publisher, the couple decided at the end of the walk to retire early and did so in 2017. They now work in forest welfare in Jeju. That link between the pilgrimage and their later life is at the center of the book.

The Korean edition runs 368 pages and lists at KRW 18,000. Its cover also carries the words “Camino del Norte.” Because the journey dates from 2015, current accommodation costs, transport and route conditions need to be checked separately.

01

Mandrake is familiar from fantasy scenes, the rose from love stories. 초록마법 sets those associations beside another question: how do plants survive? Its subtitle links plants, mythology and people through chemical ecology.

The publisher says the book moves between plant science and the cultural stories surrounding mandrake, mistletoe, roses and other plants. Classics, cinema and music appear alongside plant metabolomics and chemical ecology, and each chapter includes a mind map. The author’s bookseller biography lists food-web ecology and chemical ecology as his main research areas.

02

The book pairs each plant’s role in stories with its biology as a living organism, starting from familiar symbols and moving into less familiar scientific terms.

Published in Korean by Geobook, it runs 248 pages and lists at KRW 22,000. The bookseller records October 2 as the publication date; the publisher’s announcement followed on October 8. The ISBN is 9788994242576.

01

Hanbat Arboretum sits between the Government Complex Daejeon and Expo Science Park, with Daejeon Museum of Art and Lee Ungno Museum nearby, making it easy to pair a walk with an exhibition. Visitors can also choose just one side of the arboretum.

The East Garden has themed areas including pines, rocks and medicinal plants. The West Garden’s official plan marks a pine grove, a sensory garden and a wetland garden. The walk alternates close details such as bark and branching with wider views and reflections.

Both pine photographs were taken on October 24, 2020; the East Garden waterside photograph dates to July 18, 2021. Their foliage and fountain are archival and do not show today’s colors, flowers or fountain operation.

Only Here

1. Build a short route from the East Garden’s themed areas or the West Garden’s woodland. 2. Move from a broad landscape to the texture and shape of a single tree. 3. Pair the gardens with the nearby museums; check museum schedules separately.

Best Time

Morning or late afternoon suits a look at the trees and paths. To include the Tropical Botanical Garden, arrive after 09:00 and enter by 17:30. The operator schedules its 2026 autumn-flower display for October 2–18 around the East and West entrance plazas; actual flower conditions have not been checked on site.

How Long

Allow 60–90 minutes for an unhurried visit to one side, or at least two hours for both. The Tropical Botanical Garden and museums need extra time. These are estimates, not measured walking times.

Getting There

Address: 169 Dunsan-daero, Seo-gu, Daejeon. The operator gives a 15–20-minute walk from Government Complex Daejeon Station, Exit 3, heading toward Dunsan Police Station and turning right. City buses 606, 618 and 911 stop at Hanbat Arboretum. Check current transport information and the official location map before setting out.

Before You Go

The official notice waives regular East and West Garden closing days during the October 2–18, 2026, autumn-flower display. However, the entire West Garden closes on Saturday, October 17, from 16:00 to 21:00 for safety during a drone event, ending West Garden visits at 16:00 that day. The Tropical Botanical Garden’s Monday closure is unchanged.