Korean Newtro

Korea has become cool. While long seen as a bastion of traditions and customs that go back millennia, the country has now emerged as a playground of hip, trendsetting movements. At the heart of this coolness is, of course, Hallyu, the “Korean Wave” that seems to have penetrated every corner of the planet by now. From K-pop and K-dramas to Korean culinary delights and head-turning fashion statements, the world has taken notice of Korea for something other than the cars and electronics that brought it to the world stage in decades past. And the latest development in this evolution of cool is Korean newtro. Discovering the Past Anew In Korean Newtro: Where Youth Meets Tradition, Seoul-based essayist, broadcaster, and public speaker Colin Marshall takes readers on a trip through everything in Korea that is both new and retro, or as the cool kids say, newtro. This unique phenomenon is all about appealing to those who are too young today to have experienced the products, styles, and media that were once deemed cool twenty or even a hundred years ago, and so find themselves discovering-and not rediscovering-all these things for the first time. For those not in the know, this will also mean learning some of the latest lingo, from cohort monikers like the “1020 generation” and “MZers” to a cornucopia of new terms that cover everything under the sun, including food, fashion, and fun. A New Take on the Old Whether it is the bars and pojangmacha of Seoul’s “Hipji-ro” (Eulji-ro) neighborhood, where you can feast on grilled mackerel, sundae, pork belly, and chicken feet while enjoying some good old-fashioned beer and soju, or the country’s many Starbucks cafés and dabang, where you can try reimagined classic beverages like ssanghwa-cha (complete with egg yolk) or indulge in a makgeolli-flavored cream cold brew, readers will have their senses inundated by so many things they are at once familiar with yet presented in a completely fresh and unforgettable way. A Reimagined Memory Lane This journey down a Korean-style yellow brick road continues into the arts (film cameras and minhwa artworks) and architecture (traditional Korean homes and paper), to the TV shows and movies that have revived bygone portable music players and fashion brands, to the latest styles in hanbok worn by K-pop superstars like BTS and Blackpink. Along the way, readers will also be introduced to the newtro world of paintings, folding screens, fashion, beauty, haendeupon (cellphones), and the once ubiquitous PC bang (internet café). Where Youth Meets Tradition Meets the World Korea has raced into the 21st century at breakneck speed, both looking back and not looking back at the past. Contradiction though that may seem, it encapsulates so much of what sets the country apart today. Or as some have commented, Korea can now be viewed as something of a jjamppong: a seafood noodle stew that is a staple of Korean Chinese cuisine, but also a byword for a mixture of diverse and sometimes improbably combined elements. For those who have never been to Korea-or even those not familiar with much about Korea outside of Hallyu-Korean Newtro: Where Youth Meets Tradition is the perfect guide to all that is hip once again in a country redefining itself as the new bastion of cool.