Volunteers from the Red Cross make kimchi at the Seoul branch of the Red Cross in Nowon District, northern Seoul, on June 17.YONHAP
Happy Hump Day! Here are the stories you need to know in Korea.
In today's news, we found out why Tesla sales keep growing in Korea despite falling in other global markets. In other stories, we try out a renowned traditional oxtail soup restaurant, and we find out more about Yongin city's AI system for detecting and repairing potholes.
Why are Tesla's sales growing in Korea? While Tesla sales are declining in other major markets, the opposite is happening in Korea. The company's Model Y became Korea's best-selling car so far this year, with sales jumping over 250 percent from the January to May period in comparison to last year. The brand is viewed, particularly by younger Korean men, as a symbol of innovation and modernity.
What are Koreans' perceptions of Tesla? Younger Korean men see Tesla as being associated with technology, style and the future. “I chose Tesla because it stands apart as a brand with its sophisticated, youthful image,” said Lee Geun-young, a Seoul-based salesman who purchased a Model Y in 2021. The car beat sales of the previous best-selling model, the Kia Sorento, by almost 1,000 units.
Model Y in high demand Demand for the car is also a factor for its continued popularity, with wait times for the vehicle being roughly six months — in some cases, as long as a year. With oil prices rising in recent times due to the Middle East crisis, the popularity of electric vehicles has picked up, also adding to the demand for Tesla's Model Y.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Restaurant preserves rich tradition over three generations
What is this dish? This meat in thick and sticky broth is known as kkorigomtang — oxtail soup. While making soup from oxtail is not anything new in the Western world, Jinjujip's version is differentiated by its use of the five thickest, meatiest cuts from the base of the tail, known as tomak. The version pictured here is from a restaurant in the heart of Seoul that has been in business for more than seven decades, known as Jinjujip.
What makes Jinjujip unique? Jinjujip is special in that it is located in the middle of market known for its fish restaurants. Its unassuming location in a narrow alley adds to the mystery, along with its reputation for a genuine bowl of oxtail soup made from a recipe passed down over three generations.
What should one order at Jinjujip? The restaurant has a few versions of its signature dish. Tomak No. 1, which has the most amount of meat, tends to be the version most young customers go for. Other versions, known as No. 4 and No. 5, are popular with those who have more experience with the dish. They have less meat, but a chewier texture.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Technology helps reduce repair times for Yongin roads
What is happening here? This is a road in Yongin, Gyeonggi, repaired after a potholes were detected by an AI-based road hazard monitoring system introduced by the city government. On the morning of May 29, a bus ran over a pothole, which was detected by the monitoring system, prompting repair crews to arrive within hours to patch up the road.
How does the system work? The system utilizes real-time kinematic positioning technology, AI-powered video monitoring devices and global positioning system equipment to analyze road surface damage. Devices are installed on public buses and city-operated vehicles to report issues, which then notify the government to commence repair operations.
How has the system helped make roads better? Since the system was introduced, complaints from the public regarding potholes have fallen by 19 percent on year — from 2,260 cases in 2024 to 1,824 last year. Compensation payouts given to those who suffered damage from road defects also declined from 880 million won ($581,700) in 2024 to about 660 million won last year.
