K-beauty, K-food, K-dramas and K-pop, explained
What is Chuseok in Korea: a 3-day harvest holiday held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, under the year’s fullest moon. Families travel to their hometowns, honor their ancestors, visit graves and eat half-moon rice cakes called songpyeon. If you’re visiting, expect sold-out trains, quieter Seoul streets and some shuttered shops.
A DMZ tour from Seoul is about a 1-hour drive north and needs your passport, booked days ahead. Most tours visit 4 to 5 stops in the Paju area: Imjingak park, the Third Tunnel, Dora Observatory and Dorasan Station. The Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom, where North and South Korean soldiers stood face to face, is a separate and much harder booking that has been suspended for long stretches.
Korean dining etiquette for foreigners comes down to 9 habits, and letting elders go first matters most. Wait for the oldest person to start eating. Pour drinks for other people, never for yourself, and take a glass with two hands. Pay at the counter on your way out and don’t leave a tip.