Korea's press freedom slips to new low

Media freedom in South Korea has slipped to its lowest ranking ever, with the government “heavily influencing” public broadcasters and online censorship increasing dramatically.

Freedom House’s annual Freedom of the Press survey downgraded Korea’s media freedom rating from “free” to “partly free” for the first time as it condemned Lee Myung-Bak’s administration.

Karin Karlekar, Managing Editor of the Freedom of the Press Index for Freedom House, said: “The Lee administration had influenced the politics within the three public broadcasting companies heavily.” She cites the example of ex-MBC President Ohm Ki-young, who eventually resigned after intense government pressure. He was asked to leave by two of Lee’s closest aides, while MBC shareholders belonging to a government-controlled group refused to back Ohm’s appointments. His resignation was seen as a protest against government interference.

This is not an isolated case, according to the Freedom House report, which claims Lee-Myung-bak has appointed his “allies” at a number of large media companies, despite journalists’ protests.

Such direct interference is a threat to media neutrality, and Jang Jang-soo, English editor of the Hankyoreh newspaper, believes that is already a serious problem. He said: “major media outlets… appear to be willing to cooperate with the Lee Myung-bak administration to distribute inaccurate information.”

He claims that the government’s “possible concealment and fabrications”, supported by a subservient media, makes truthful reporting very hard.

This extends as far as last year’s big news event, the sinking the Cheonan warship. While most major newspapers unquestioningly accepted the official report, the Hankyoreh has raised some serious concerns, in light of conflicting claims from both eyewitnesses and the Russian investigation. Jang-soo wants an independent investigation, saying: “We don’t have enough information to determine the truth.”

He stressed that The Hankyoreh, as with most small, independent publications, is free to report as it chooses. The conflicts arise for the big corporations, who must compete in a market over which the government holds great power.

A perfect example of this arose late last year, when the government personally selected news organizations to run lucrative new TV channels. Through the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) it awarded contracts to five corporations, who together will dominate the TV news agenda.

The result was that, as Kwon Eun-kyoung, English editor of thedailynk.com, told us: “The KCC inclined to major newspaper companies, which are conservative and friendly to the Lee administration.”

Censorship

The Freedom House report states that: "North Korea–related content has been heavily and explicitly filtered under the provisions of the National Security Law, which classifies content that ‘praises, promotes, and glorifies North Korea’ as ‘illegal information.’” The report claims there are now 65 sites blocked under these terms.

Within days of their appearance the government had blocked the facebook and twitter accounts of Uriminzokkiri, a website run by the North Korean government targeting South Koreans. The government also, according to Eun-kyoung, monitors any pro-North Korea websites. She claims that such actions will continue as long as North Korean espionage activities, such as, potentially, the recent crippling of Nonghyup bank, continue. 

North Korea continues to influence many groups in South Korea, such as the National Teachers’ Union and the Democratic Labor party, as well as a multitude of leftist organizations. In late May it emerged that 70 soldiers were members of a pro-North Korea website, the owner of which is now in jail. In this fractious environment, Eun-kyoung believes censorship to be to be “inevitable”.

Less inevitable is the recent case of Samsung pressuring Naver into removing a blog post critical of their Galaxy 2 smartphone, when the company used vague defamation laws to their advantage. One official said that they receive many similar requests every month, suggesting that online opinion is being shaped in the corporations favor.

Unsurprisingly, the report placed media freedom in North Korea among the world’s worst, with independent media “either non-existent or barely able to operate”.

Published in InDaegu http://www.in-daegu.com/PDFs/June2011.pdf

Daegu Casino

Daegu’s first casino opened without much fanfare back in March, and anyone who’s visited it will attest to the spectral silence that haunts it on most nights. Often the dealers outnumber the players, and the huge, glittering space is reminiscent of a Vegas apocalypse movie. The owners, however, are not perturbed.

“Casino’s are rarely profitable in the first 6-12 months,” said Ocean, Director of Marketing at Daegu Casino. “Our plan is to attract high-rollers from China and Japan using package deals, selling them cheap rooms, free flights to Daegu, and offers at various attractions.” A luxury golf course will open soon, and places like Woobang Land and Spa Valley provide added lure.

These plans remain embryonic at the moment, and the casino must make do with locals, particularly westerners, who, Ocean says: “gamble for fun, not for serious money. That is why we do not target those markets.” Whatever, they have made the place attractive to those of us who only know Blackjack and Texas Hold’em. Minimum bets are 10,000W (while that may seem high, the odds are not weighted heavily in the dealers favor in these games), and as long as you are playing free drinks and food will flow all night long. They also run poker tournaments two or three times a week with varying buy-ins.

The other major clients are Koreans who trick their way in using ‘passport residence’ in another country. Many will travel to places, particularly South America, where they can pick up a green card in about 30 days. They can then use this to claim residency, for work purposes, in that country, and with it be considered foreign enough for the casinos. Recently two men, with passport residence but living in Korea, cheated the Seoul casinos for 8 billion won, sparking calls to close this loophole.

A Foreign Ministry official explained the difficulty of this to the Chosun Ilbo: "It takes about two months to verify suspicious residence permits, but we’re required under present laws to issue a residency passport within eight days, so we have to hand out the passports without being able to verify the applicants."

So, Daegu Casino will be relying on westerners and the odd cheeky native for the time being, and it faces an uphill battle to gain recognition outside this fair city.

It is illegal even to advertise casinos in China, though it can be mentioned as a feature of the hotel. Most worryingly, Daegu casino is in direct competition with Seoul, Macau and a host of other well-known cities for the elusive high-rollers. However, Ocean says, it does have one ace up its sleeve: “Daegu is already a very popular hub for medical tourism, and we’re working with people to see if we can tie the two into each other. This has the added bonus of making it much easier for the Chinese to secure visas.” 

Published in InDaegu http://www.in-daegu.com/PDFs/June2011.pdf

Seonyudo

Gulls and fish and gnarled old islanders greeted us off the boat, and one such character, more wrinkle than man, pointed us in the direction of the minbaks. Sharp, jutting peaks of serrated granite sprouted rich forests above us, while in the distance the long, sweeping beaches and huge monoliths that made this place famous beckoned. A ten minute stroll, hectored by the ubiquitous golf carts, found us in Seonyudo’s urban sprawl: two dozen discordant blocks cluttering a rare flat along the coastline. A couple of shops, a few restaurants and the rest minbaks, which I would assume fill up quickly in summer.

A shouty man shouted a price at us and we agreed, paying 50,000W for a tiny room with a bed, fridge and TV. After checking for bizarre porn channels, as you must, we discovered that the island only got about five channels, and seemingly no internet whatsoever. Well bucolic.

By this time it was getting dark, and so we grabbed a beer and wandered down the main beach that stretches away from the centre and to neighbouring Meonyudo, one of the four linked islands. On that sleepy spit we found little entertainment, and so settled for some damn fine hwe deob bap, a raw fish bibimbap that surpassed anything I’ve tried in Daegu.

The next morning we exchanged 10,000W for the two worst bicycles in the world (you don’t need brakes, wimp) and went a’trekking.

It was a grey, muggy day, but from its long strips of sand and shale to its looming summits, emerging from nowhere to become sudden menaces, the island was spectacular. Riding round tree-furnished crags and over functional bridges we came, about twenty minutes ride from our base, to our first fishing village. Simple white sheds lined the coast, and from them hung numerous cords filled with drying delicacies of the sea. Tiny rowing boats meandered lazily while weathered men cast lines to the still ocean. We climbed upwards and around the island and back past the beaches, to watch the ajumma hordes collecting snails from the freshly-exposed rocks. A morning exceptionally well spent.

Lunch was a cheap and tasty jjam bbong bap, a spicy red seafood soup that I’d never seen before, but will look for again. It was too cold for swimming so we debated climbing Mangjubong, the highest peak of Seonyudo, but were put off by our minbak owner staring aghast and muttering at our footwear. We later discovered that it’s actually quite an easy climb, yielding beautiful views.

Our second evening returned us to a familiar problem. There really is nothing to do on these islands after dark. We made fire and we drank, and we decided that two days is enough for Seonyudo.

Certainly, a large group, or a loved-up couple, in the height of summer, could have a great time here, but the islands are small, taking less than hour to cycle, and the hiking options similarly limited. A breathtaking island, but make sure you’re really into breathtaking before you go.

From Seobu terminal take a four hour bus to Gunsan. From there take a short taxi ride to the ferry terminal, and finally a one hour ferry ride to Seonyudo.


Published InDaegu   http://www.in-daegu.com/PDFs/June2011.pdf

The penis restaurant

Opposite the main gate of Keimyung University is a lovely little place that welcomes you with twinkling Christmas lights and carvings of naked women and giant penises. It’s great.

The owner, Young-Bae, as ebullient towards foreigners as the local ajummas are cold, compliments his restaurant perfectly. He will lavish attention on you and ignore everyone else for quite some time. His chief concern is always our names, and he is ruthless in his quest to pronounce then correctly. These pleasantries dealt with we move onto more worthy topics, which have so far included the composition of the UK and his friend Phil. You will be shown a video of Phil shot on Young-Bae’s camera phone. I’ve seen it twice.

You will also be given an inordinate amount of free food and drink. Last time I went we got free potatoes and 과메기, which is seaweed, fish and spicy sauce wrapped in lettuce, and seems like it should be expensive. Face-reddening quantities of alcohol may be “service” too.

So, the penises. Where to start? Well, crafted from ginkgo wood, they are virile, strong and well-veined, and with good heft. Most have long-haired, enormous breasted women straddling them. Sometimes the women are doing naughty things that I shall not describe here. These romantic vignettes are everywhere, a source of fun and Freudian debate covering a shelf that stretches round the room. Of course they are inappropriate but in a country where most mid-range restaurants are mirthless copies of one another staffed by mirthless, umm, people, Young-Bae’s penis shack is a refreshing alternative.

They exist, according to Young Bae, thanks to an older friend of his who is the penis and naked woman carving game. A niche market.

So, like our Roman forefathers, we dine under the gaze of penises and naked women. The menu is standard mokkoli house fare, and by that I mean at least 50 dishes and not a jot of English on the menu.

The outstanding dish is the kimchi chigae. It is not cheap at W10000, but is served brimming over a huge bowl that is enough to satisfy even the largest parties. Using far more garlic and herbs than most, and not as blow-your-head-off spicy as some, it is many cuts above the norm.

A warning: the hae mul , a mix of seafood, beansprouts and onion is crazily, evilly spicy and none of our group could manage more than a few bites. It is not recommended for those with taste buds.

Myriad pancakes decorate the menu at about 3000W each. Whatever your poison, it will be catered for here. Absolutely essential, if like us, you blithely ignore the worried lady shouting “mae-un!” (spicy!) as you order.

You may be aware that most Korean meals demand a certain alcohol be drunk with them. For those of us with a pancake fetish dong dong ju is the tipple. He once spent an excitable five minutes discovering on his cell-phone that this is made from millet, though my extensive research for this piece seems to reveal that it is made from rice. It’s the thought that counts.

Given the stories of foreigners being turned away, and the understandable nervous giggles and shuffles that often greet us, Young Bae’s place is all the more extraordinary. Just make sure your in effusive mood when you enter.

Getting there: Walk out of exit 2 of the Keimyung University subway until you reach the main gate. From there walk down the road until almost the first set of traffic lights. Young-Bae’s twinkling lights will be on your right, opposite WaBar.

Published by Daegu Pockets - February 2011 - back page

http://www.daegupockets.com/pdfs/Feb2011.pdf

Hidden Restaurants

The freezing winter is almost behind us and, yellow dust permitting, we should be able to explore this glorious city of ours anew any day now. If you’re looking for something a little different, something authentically Korean, or simply something damn good, we might be able to help. These five places showcase the best and the bizarre of Daegu, something for the connoisseurs, something for the crazies. Enjoy.

◆ Hongeo that Melt into Gayageum Melody – 잔치집홍어 (Hongeo Banquet Restaurant) (053-768-6114)

We’ll start with the crazies. Hongeo. Mmm, Hongeo. Fermented skate to us. Not a dish you’ll find in many places due to the skate’s unusual urinary habits. They forgo the passé bladder and kidney route and instead get rid of their ammonic waste through their skin, infusing their meat with the smell of Who’s Bob toilets at 4am. If you’re thinking that maybe the fermentation process somehow lessens the aromas, that surely no one would eat a fish that smells like urine, you’d be very wrong. It stinks.

The dish hails from Jeolla-do, a strange and unruly land, we must imagine, and that is where the restaurant’s owner, Lee Gyeongsook, learned her trade. Hongeo Samhap is the most common way to eat it, wrapping the skate in lettuce and adding kimchi and pork to mix in a futile attempt to hide the smell of wee. Connoisseurs of the dish suggest breathing as little as possible while you eat it, but this is an impractical method. It’s ultimately a dish for hardy old men, eaten to prove their manhood, and not for the taste.

To oust the taste and burn away shameful memories the dish will leave they provide accompanying Jeolla-do liquor, Hongju, which at 50% alcohol should cleanse your palette, at least. Other dishes they provide (though be aware that the stench from the skate permeates the atmosphere completely) include byeongeo jorim, known as “summer medicine”, a dish of sliced radishes, spring onions, pine mushrooms, water celeries, enokitake mushrooms, and loads of other vegetables that could well be an essential vitamin blast as your system tries to comprehend why you’ve forced so much waste product into it. Maesaegiguk, a soup made from seaweed and cockles, is another Jeolla-do specialty on offer here.

Unsurprisingly, the owner has her idiosyncrasies. As the Hongju is savored and the urine fish

struggled with, she may well begin to strum her gayageum, and the crowd start up that old classic: “Sarang sarang nae sarang (Love love my love)”. “Saega naradeunda (The bird is flying in)”. She has reason to be cheerful; prices for this delightful meal, designed to be shared between about four, start at 60,000 won.

If you turn right at the first crosswalk of KT direction from Deuran-gil in Suseong-gu, you’ll find the Hongeo Banquet Restaurant down an alley.

◆ The Chicken Noodle Restaurant with No Phone Number and Doorplate

From a tenderly strange lady to two outright mad ones. This is not a restaurant like any other; its ajumma owners do their best to ward off all customers by making the place almost impossible to find, only opening from midday until 2pm, and even if some grand miracle allows you to happen upon it you’ll be treated to a Gaddafi-esque barrage of foul-mouthed vitriol for even the slightest error in seating or manners. They get away with this inimical attitude solely because their chicken noodle soup is so good.

It is very aromatic and very spicy - not one for the faint-hearted, to be sure. The intensity is the work of a slow cooking process, while stuffed cucumber pickles, shredded white radishes, garlic, chili, and spinach ally a wonderful freshness to the richly flavored soup. You can refill your noodles and rice as often as you like, and the price is paradoxically reasonable 6000 won.

The soup is good enough that the place is usually jam-packed with people, and as they only serve one dish, foreigners should not have too much trouble ordering. You will undoubtedly incur the wrath of the women at some point, but try to think of it as their way of showing affection.

To get there, walk from the Daegu Dalseong Elementary School intersection in the direction of Wonde Underpass, it’s down an alley on your right.

◆ The Meeting of Janchi Noodles and Sweet Jjinpang - 철규분식 (Cheolgyu Restaurant) (054-276-3215)

This one requires a trip to Guryongpo in Pohang, about an hour from Daegu. The restaurant is small and unkempt, with the focus clearly being on the quality of the food rather than aesthetics. They specialize in jjinpang, steamed buns which must be ordered with janchi noodles (if you try to order just the jjinpang, the owner will tell you that they have sold out despite the constantly refilled plates of the other customers providing concrete evidence to the contrary). There are many varieties of noodle on offer and the best in our opinion our those cooked with the strongly-flavored anchovy soup.

The jjinpang is the real highlight of the restaurant, packed with a sweet and flavorsome red bean sauce that makes the 7/11 offerings look decidedly meek. For mere 1000 won you can order a red-bean porridge that provides the perfect accompaniment to the soft, airy buns. The noodles and buns themselves are cheap too, one serving of each totaling just 5000 won.

◆ Mother and Daughter’s Make Young Branded King Sundae - 일경식당 (Ilgyeong Restaurant) (053-753-4778)

This place is out east, near Dongbu Market. They make sundae, the ubiquitous Korean blood sausage, and through painstaking dedication to the traditional process this mother/daughter team have created a real artisan delicacy. Into the pig’s intestines go pork, sesame leaves, mung-beans sprouts, onions, outer leaves, ginger, carrots and other vegetables. Each ingredient is minced individually by hand to ensure that some texture and crunch remains. The King Sundae is simply the sausage wrapped in sesame leaves, whose lively freshness provides the perfect accompaniment to the rich sundae.

The owners are Jo Jeongja (77) and her daughter, Jeon Soonok (52), and both have been making sundae all their lives. Their philosophy is to use quality, fresh ingredients every time and make everything by hand, stating that machines and mechanization lead to bland products. Both women are incredibly passionate about their work, saying that sundae runs in their blood, and both possess an adamant desire to protect the laborious traditional methods. Given the quality of the product prices are very reasonable, with King Sundae at 15,000-20,000 won and sundae gukbab (rice soup) at 7000 won. The passion of these women certainly augers well for the future of Daegu’s sundae aficionados.

◆ The Restaurant with Strong Atmosphere of Country House - 향촌칼국수(Hyangchon Kalguksu) (053-811-0984)

This place is really impressive, its design an obvious labor of love. You enter through a bamboo gate into a garden lined with large dwenjang jars, rice jars, farming tools and all manner of other such bygone paraphernalia. It’s a very escapist place, absolutely a little slice of the countryside nestled in Daegu. Inside the restaurant the theme continues with old paintings, plates and decorations; the ambiance of the old Korea, the time of our forefathers, when men were men and King Sejong was but a glint in the milkman’s eye.

The specialty is kalguksu, a noodle soup served here without seasoning and with barley rice served in an iron bowl that is, according to the restaurant’s owner Jo Gwangmun, the authentic taste of the countryside. You are free to add as much spicy soybean paste and kimchi as you desire, creating a wonderfully filling and healthy soup. Kongbiji, made from beans, peanuts, black sesame, meat broth and kimchi, is the other must-try dish. It is absolutely exquisite and, when followed by a bowl of cool dongchimi (radish water kimchi), it’s a surefire cure for even the most serious soju hangover. Both soups are cheap enough, at 5000 and 6000 won respectively.

To find the restaurant head from Gyeongsan market towards Namcheon. It is located down an alley to your right just before Gyeongsan Elementary School.

Vocabs:

홍어 Hongeo: Skate (Kind of fish)

가야금 Gayageum: Korean zither with twelve strings

병어조림 Byeongeo Jorim: Butter fish boiled in spiced soy sauce

홍주 Hongju: Traditional red liquor

매생이국 Maesaengiguk: seaweed fulvescens

잔치국수 Janchi noodle: Korean banquet noodle soup

찐빵 Jjinpang: Steamed bun with red-bean paste filling

국밥 gukbab: boiled rice served in soup

한옥 Hanok: Korean traditional house

된장 Dwenjang: soybean paste

사랑채 Sarang-chae: the men’s part of a house

풍로 Pungno: a portable cooking stove

칼국수 Kalguksu: chopped noodles

콩비지 Kongbiji: bean-curd dregs

동치미 Dongchimi: radish water kimchi

수제비 Sujebi: clear soup with dumplings

보리밥 Boribab: barley rice

콩국수 Kongguksu: Cold bean-soup noodles

Published May 2011 by InDaegu - page 13. 

http://www.in-daegu.com/PDFs/May2011.pdf

Daedongkang

While dining upon caviar and unicorn tears aboard the Daegu Pockets yacht it had seemed like a hilarious caper to jaunt off to see how the other half live. A North Korean restaurant, you say? How frightfully absurd!

Suffice to say, once the gold-leaf brandy had worn off and we were wandering the desolate streets around Bongdeok Market to find Daedongkang restaurant, our moods had turned. The uninspiring venue, nestled down an inconspicuous alley, did little to dispel our fears. A bland white sign, a rickety door and two dirty windows greeted us. We crossed ourselves, and marched in.

As we were being seated (an uproarious soju party in the main room forced us into the slightly dingier one) the chef, Seok Inseop, told us that his refugee parents had opened the restaurant in 1965 for North Korean immigrants: “who come for a taste of their home-towns”.

Asking our animated chef for the specialties of the house turned into quite the history lesson/rambling story, depending on your opinion. He recommended Omok jaeng ban (King’s deli plate) - created, so the tale goes, to satisfy the gastronomic demands of a vain King. Servants! He bellowed one day, I demand meat that will make me slender!

And so was born this rich concoction of beef, mushrooms and vegetables, which they served, slyly, in a dish resembling their fat King’s belly.

Unfortunately, the restaurant was loyal to the belly’s enormous size, and as our party was small and 33.3% vegetarian, we had to forgo it. We turned instead to house specialty two: naeng myeon - considered a Northern specialty, apparently, because buckwheat is so hardy, making it perfect for their harsh winters.

Inseop had rustled up a great version - attractive to palate and eyes – a simple, clean affair accompanied by thinly sliced cucumber and good quality beef. Our group’s herbivore, manfully ignoring the seared cow floating above the noodles, was most impressed. Lucky, really, because this was as vegetarian as this slice of North Korea got.

Next up we tried onban soup - more distinctively North Korean, and not to the taste of our South Korean companion. It lacked the spicy, salty kick of a Southern dish, and was a little bland – even reminding me of soup from good ol’ blighty. It had a strong chicken flavor, but little else, and the vast quantity of skin used was a turn-off. Towards the end it was only our vegetarian who continued to brave the intensely meaty soup. We all agreed the highlight was the mung-bean patty floating on top: a new experience for this humble traveler.

For our third dish Inseop excelled himself with possibly the most delicious mandu I’ve ever tasted. It was my first time sampling the North Korean variety (they’re bigger!), however these particular mandu were also far more flavorsome than the bargain offerings to which I’ve become accustomed. With the vegetarian stuffed on chicken and beef she remembered her morals and allowed the carnivores to finish the juicy pork-stuffed dumplings in peace, while she continued to toy with the exceptional sides; kimchi, onions and spiced beans for flavor, radish, cucumber and cold cabbage soup to refresh over-stimulated taste-buds. The three meals and sides totaled 18,000won.

As we were thanking Inseop for his fine hospitality and almost equally fine food, he remarked on how nice it was to see us here because: “Southerners have no appreciation of the North’s culture or food – they only know about the bombs and famine.”

Published by Daegu Pockets December 2010 

http://www.daegupockets.com/pdfs/Dec2010.pdf (pages 16-17)

Dongsungro's revitalization

Daegu’s downtown is revolting. Gone are the old ways, gone are the tiny carts offering bugs and compressed fake-fish dipped in water, gone are the visored ajummas and drunken ajoshis, swept aside by glorious progress; by Da Vinci’s and Starbucks and Hans. With every passing day our numbers grow, and our strength grows, more and more foreign teachers crammed into little ole' Daegu, throwing money at only the chicest of entrepreneurs, creating a new vanguard daily.

And Dongsungro, broadly the area stretching from Banwoldang to Kyobo, is fast becoming our new playground. Running parallel to the maze of streets which play host to all the bars, clubs and shopping of downtown Daegu, the area is already unrecognizable from its jaded past. Since 2008 those who can have widened the streets and ripped out the markets, the street vendors and the cars and manicured the area into modernity.

Let’s face it: this is not the area to go for tradition. The wonderfully sprawling Seomun market lies about a 15 minute walk from Dongsungro, and if even that’s not anachronous enough, then you can get all the reindeer antlers and bear bile you want a stone’s throw away at the herbal medicine market.

Now, the new-wave runs the area. Since 2009, eight international restaurants have opened in the area, and the (albeit Koreanized) cuisine of 16 countries can be sampled here today, with an ever-increasing number of Korean converts. Ms. Jiyeon Jung, 25 of Bonli-dong, said: ‘Two month ago, I ate at an Italian restaurant in this area with my friend and I liked it so much that I’ve kept coming back.”

The nationwide 4D Theater explosion has also found an ally here. In the last year alone seven have opened, with an enormous indoor amusement park ready to join the fray in April.

4D today is a simpler concept than that which mathematicians have grappled with for centuries. Now it involves those red and blue 3D glasses that we all love, a strong safety bar, dramatic images and lots of shaking, rolling and water coming at’cha.

Unsurprisingly, the convenience, safety and excitement attracts hordes of students and families Mr Kang opened his theater a year ago, and business is booming: “There are many different rides on offer, with different levels and types of action, and we often have students trying loads in a day.”

With space in the area now at a premium, the usual boredom of chain stores and eateries have moved in, though gems lie down all of its numerous alleys, and Misoya, located at the Banwoldang end, does better sushi than most in Daegu. One place well-worthy of note is Babwich, a budget kimbab and sandwich shop that sells its own recipe “Maecharm” kimbab, that is spicy, delicious and unlike any you will have tried before. It’s located right by Jungangno exit 2.

There are already over twenty thousand foreigners in Daegu, and the younger generation of Koreans are lapping up the burgeoning international scene. With more money to spend and fewer responsibilities than their parents, these new markets are growing rapidly. An official of the co-op of shopkeepers said, “We’ve seen a 30 percent rise in visitors since Dongsungro was created. The area is aimed at young people, but it’s safe and family-friendly too.

published here: http://www.in-daegu.com/PDFs/April2011.pdf 

April 2011 - InDaegu magazine (front page, main story)