The number of Korean restaurant companies with stores overseas just hit 203. Bakeries and fried chicken are leading K-food’s overseas push past a handful of big-company success stories and into …
J. Haan
J. Haan
I'm J. Haan, the writer and editor behind KoreaUpClose. I live in Korea and report each story with local sources and on-the-ground context — not just trend recaps.
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K-Food & Dining
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Gaming & Esports
Nongshin Lost the Opening Set to T1 and Still Advanced — What That Reveals About the KeSPA Cup’s Variables
by J. Haanby J. HaanNongshin Is the First Team to Reach the Final It’s easy to assume the regular-season power rankings carry over directly into a short tournament. The 2026 League of Legends KeSPA …
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Movies & Animation
Choi Min-sik Becomes the Office Rookie: What Korea’s ‘The Intern’ Remake Relocates About Generation
by J. Haanby J. HaanA Rookie With a Worn Briefcase and Thirty-Seven Years on the Job Having worked a long time and sitting in the lowest seat at a new job are two facts …
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K-Beauty & Fashion
A Skin Booster Made From Donated Human Fat Is Aimed at ‘Ozempic Face’ — Here’s What to Know Before You Get Excited
by J. Haanby J. HaanIf You’ve Lost Weight But Your Face Looks Different Have you heard people say their cheeks look hollow and their skin looks like it’s sagging after losing weight on an …
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K-pop & Fandom
From ‘Geoje Yaho’ to No. 1 on Melon: How Rescene Rewrote K-Pop’s Comeback Formula
by J. Haanby J. HaanA No. 1 That Arrived One Year and 11 Months Late At 10 p.m. on July 8, Rescene’s “Love Attack” climbed to No. 1 on Melon’s Top 100. It wasn’t …
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K-Beauty & Fashion
Olive Young’s ‘K-Beauty Edit’ Is Arriving at 580 U.S. Sephora Stores — Here’s What’s Changing
by J. Haanby J. HaanJanuary’s Announcement Just Became an August Shelf If you caught the news back in January about Olive Young and Sephora teaming up, you’re probably curious what that partnership actually looks …
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Gaming & Esports
A Single Mobile Game Just Opened Its Tenth World Championship — Starting With Korea’s Qualifier
by J. Haanby J. HaanA Tenth Season That Started With a Korean Qualifier Global esports is usually associated with PC titles like League of Legends or Counter-Strike. But Korean game company Com2uS has run …
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K-pop & Fandom
BTS Is Skipping the Grammys This Year — Over a New ‘Asian Pop’ Category
by J. Haanby J. HaanSeven Members, One Message, Posted at Once On July 29, the same sentence appeared across the social media accounts of all seven BTS members, almost at once. It was a …
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Dating Culture
Korea’s First Bisexual Dating Reality ‘StandBIMe’ Widens the Boundaries of Dating Culture
by J. Haanby J. HaanA Friend Suddenly Asked, “Have You Seen This?” A friend shoved her phone screen in my face and asked, “Have you seen this? It’s a totally new kind of dating …
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Movies & Animation
“I’ve Wanted to Come to Korea Since Interstellar”: Christopher Nolan’s First Visit, and a Day on the Red Carpet for ‘The Odyssey’
by J. Haanby J. HaanA Director’s Long-Held Wish Finally Comes True The time it takes a director to visit a country for the first time is, at times, bound up with the whole of …
