Your key to the South Korean city’s neighborhoods, green spaces, and urban design, as well as its history, museums, pop culture, shopping, and more. From ancient royal palaces and Korean traditional houses to all-night markets, N Seoul Tower, and the club scene, no city combines the ancient and the contemporary quite like Seoul. Local experts weigh in on one of the world’s most dynamic cities, including contributions from Robert Neff, Tracey Stark, Daniel Gray, Kim Young-sook, Joel Levin, Michael J. Meyers, and Mary Crowe. A comedian details the five things you must bring to Korea, a food writer picks five favorite restaurants, and a prominent meteorologist provides the low-down on Seoul’s climate. You’ll also find insider takes on local mountains and ghosts, as well as movies, tea houses, night spots, the economy, cultural treasures, essential reads, Buddhist shrines, and Seoul’s amazing postwar evolution. From the DMZ, the Han River, and Cheonggyecheon Stream to navigating local dining, linguistics, and cultural practices, this completely updated reference will become your go-to book on the “Land of the Morning Calm.”

Two young women of vastly different means each struggle to find her own way during the darkest hours of South Korea’s “economic miracle” in a striking debut novel for readers of Anthony Marra and Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie. Seoul, 1978. At South Korea’s top university, the nation’s best and brightest compete to join the professional elite of an authoritarian regime. Success could lead to a life of rarefied privilege and wealth; failure means being left irrevocably behind. For childhood friends Jisun and Namin, the stakes couldn’t be more different. Jisun, the daughter of a powerful business mogul, grew up on a mountainside estate with lush gardens and a dedicated chauffeur. Namin’s parents run a tented food cart from dawn to curfew; her sister works in a shoe factory. Now Jisun wants as little to do with her father’s world as possible, abandoning her schoolwork in favor of the underground activist movement, while Namin studies tirelessly in the service of one goal: to launch herself and her family out of poverty. But everything changes when Jisun and Namin meet an ambitious, charming student named Sunam, whose need to please his family has led him to a prestigious club: the Circle. Under the influence of his mentor, Juno, a manipulative social climber, Sunam becomes entangled with both women, as they all make choices that will change their lives forever. In this sweeping yet intimate debut, Yoojin Grace Wuertz details four intertwining lives that are rife with turmoil and desire, private anxieties and public betrayals, dashed hopes and broken dreams—while a nation moves toward prosperity at any cost. Praise for Everything Belongs to Us “The intertwined lives of South Korean university students provide intimacy to a rich and descriptive portrait of the country during the period of authoritarian industrialization in the late 1970s. Wuertz’s debut novel is a Gatsby-esque takedown, full of memorable characters.”—The New York Times Book Review (Editors’ Choice) “Wuertz’s masterful novel traces the paths of two friends who come from very different backgrounds, but whose trajectories have taken them to the same point in time. This is a story of love and passion, betrayal and ambition, and it is an always fascinating look at a country whose many contradictions contribute to its often enigmatic allure.”—Nylon

It's like getting a whole extra day in Seoul! [Spring 2015 Edition - Updated March 2015] Planning a trip to Seoul, Korea? Most visitors to Seoul have a wonderful time, but nearly all experience a common problem: Seoul travel books are full of serious errors! It's not the authors' fault. Seoul is over 600 years old, but life moves quickly! Fashion, social norms, laws and even buildings change constantly. The Seoul Survival Guide is published twice a year, and each new edition contains dozens of updates. Typical travel books go years between editions, and can develop serious errors very quickly, sometimes even before they hit shelves. Avoid the frustration of wasted time and money by supplementing your travel book with a copy of the Seoul Survival Guide. With less stress, plus the time and money you save, it's like getting a whole extra day in Seoul! Spend your time enjoying the food and culture, not on the mundane details of getting cash and navigating public transportation. Save Time and Money The Seoul Survival Guide has been mercilessly edited to just 40 pages of useful, relevant information. It's easily read in an airport terminal, and compact enough to carry with you throughout your trip. Follow this book's money-saving tips and the book will pay for itself within your first 12 hours in Seoul. Learn what you should do before leaving the airport; where and when to exchange money; which mode of transportation is best; where to eat and shop; how to get online. Each section includes useful words and phrases, both romanized (so you can say them yourself) and written in Korean (so that you can point to them). If you have a spare hour or two, you can even learn to read Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Contents: Introduction Before You Go General Information Safety & Emergencies Pronunciation Tips Useful Words & Phrases Arrival / Customs Money Phones Internet Access Taxis Subways Buses T-Money Prepaid Payment Cards Food & Dining Shopping Tips Sightseeing Tips Appendix A: Hangul, the Korean Writing System Appendix B: Essential Mobile Apps Appendix C: Useful Phone Numbers & Links Questions & Feedback

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Rachel Van Dyken comes a standalone new adult romance set in the competitive world of K-pop. It's not all K-dramas and happily ever afters. Intern with Korea's number one record label? Yes, please. Find out there's a huge scandal I need to help "manage"... not so much. Add in the fact that I don't recognize the "superstars" of the label and think they're interns... And my dream job quickly becomes more of a nightmare. But I'm in Seoul, the one place that is beginning to feel more and more like home... Except it isn't home, and the drama surrounding the biggest K-pop group in the world, SWT, is consuming my every moment. Spoiler alert. They hate me. Everything I do is wrong: wrong clothes, wrong honorifics, wrong manners. Till the leader of SWT takes pity on me. But pity is dangerous when it comes from someone as beautiful as him. Every SWT member is gorgeous, perfect, and cultivated to be an idol... lethal to a girl's heart. And sanity. But fame plus a perfect face and voice don't equal an easy life. As their comeback nears, the stakes rise higher. Suicide watch... Angry fans... Threats... All I want to do is survive. But the price for survival might mean losing my heart. And like a character in a K-drama, I'm not sure if there will be an actual happily ever after... Or simply a lesson learned.

When the gentler pace and stillness of the countryside replace the roar of the city, but your editor keeps calling With gorgeously detailed yet minimal art, cartoonist Yeon-Sik Hong explores his move with his wife to a small house atop a rural mountain, replacing the high-rent hubbub of Seoul with the quiet murmur of the country. With their dog, cats, and chickens by their side, the simple life and isolation they so desperately craved proves to present new anxieties. Hong paints a beautiful portrait of the Korean countryside, changing seasons, and the universal relationships humans have with each other as well as nature, both of which are sometimes frustrating but always rewarding. Uncomfortably Happily is translated by American cartoonist Hellen Jo from the acclaimed Manhwa Today award-winning Korean edition.

Pacific Rim meets Korean action dramas in this mind-blowing sci-fi novel set in New Seoul in the year 2199.

Faith is joy is love is hope in this novel of exquisite power and everyday miracles, reminiscent of Barbara Kingsolver's THE POISONWOOD BIBLE.Thomas can see things no one else can see. Tropical fish swimming in the canals. The magic of Mrs. Van Amersfoort, the Beethoven-loving witch next door. The fierce beauty of Eliza with her artificial leg. And the Lord Jesus, who tells him, "Just call me Jesus." Thomas records these visions in his "Book of Everything." They comfort him when his father beats him, when the angels weep for his mother's black eyes. And they give him the strength to finally confront his father and become what he wants to be when he grows up: "Happy."

In no nation on earth has history accelerated with such speed as in Korea. A medieval dynasty at the end of the 19th century, it underwent a traumatic colonization, then, in its hour of liberation was divided by the great powers at the end of World War II. Devastated by a fratricidal war, the peninsula has remained divided ever since. South Korea is the greatest national success story of the 20th century. From the ashes of war, it transformed itself, against the odds - and against much advice - into an industrial powerhouse and thriving democracy. Now a high-tech wonderland, it is undergoing social and cultural transformations that add further layers to its dynamic DNA. North Korea is an economic, social and political disaster, successful only at totalitarianism. Having transmogrified from a blood-and-iron communist dictatorship into a bizarre, neo-fascist monarchy, it is a black hole at the heart of Asia. Engulfed by paranoia, the regime presides over a malnourished populace, a 1.1 million man army and a nuclear arsenal. From nuclear missiles to Samsung smartphones; from assassins to salarymen; from Kim Il-sung to Psy; this is the extraordinary story of the flashpoint peninsula that dominates talk in boardrooms and newsrooms. Korea, the author argues, provides two stark benchmarks for national development: Epic success and catastrophic failure. And its final chapter has yet to be written.

Now available in ePub format. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Seoul guides visitors straight to the best attractions this dynamic city has to offer. This pocket-sized guide is packed with Top 10 lists for great places to stay, the best restaurants to sample Korean dishes, lively nightspots, cultural and architectural highlights, festivals and events, tearooms, and more--all presented in easy-to-reference Top 10 lists. There is even a Top 10 list of things to avoid. Suggested itineraries for each neighborhood take the guesswork out of planning activities in advance and on-the-go, and full-color photographs and illustrations throughout help non-native speakers navigate key sights. DK Eyewitness Travel Guide: Top 10 Seoul also contains a pull-out map and guide that includes fold-out maps of the city metro systems, useful phone numbers, and 60 great ideas on how to spend a day in Seoul.

Written for a young audience, this intense memoir explores the harsh realities of life on the streets in contemporary North Korea. Every Falling Star is the memoir of Sungju Lee, who at the age of twelve was forced to live on the streets of North Korea and fend for himself. To survive, Sungju creates a gang and lives by thieving, fighting, begging, and stealing rides on cargo trains. Sungju richly recreates his scabrous story, depicting what it was like for a boy alone to create a new family with his gang, “his brothers,” to daily be hungry and to fear arrest, imprisonment, and even execution. This riveting memoir allows young readers to learn about other cultures where freedoms they take for granted do not exist.