The World On arirang

Koreans still use the lunar calendar. As a result, many people consider Lunar New Year, or Sol, which is January 1 under the lunar calendar, as the start of the year and the country's biggest traditional holiday. With the start of a new year, products that help you achieve your New Year's resolutions such as quitting smoking, dieting and taking care of health, are gaining popularity. Unique nut products that resemble cigarette cases are drawing attention. Sales of sports items, dietary supplements and home decor products have surged by more than double digits. We introduce you to the New Year's phenomenon and what's behind this.

Lunar New Year is Korea's biggest traditional holiday. During the same period, China is also celebrating the Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival. During the seven-day Spring Festival period from February 18 to 24, Chinese tourists are expected to visit Korea. Amid the growing move across the globe to attract Chinese tourists, Korea stands in a more favorable place as the two countries are closely located and Chinese people are largely affected by Hallyu, or Korean wave. Are there any measures to steadily attract more Chinese tourists to Korea? Moreover, we will also explore the tourism policy that has risen as the key issue of the government's recently announced economic stimulus.

In Korea where there is a culture of exchanging New Year's cash gifts on the Lunar New Year's Day, issuance and distribution of new banknotes rise around this time of the year. We will look into Korea Minting, Security Printing & ID Card Operating Corp.'s (KOMSCO) currency producing technology that boasts world's top levels. KOMSCO has been steadily researching and developing minting technology, ranging from technology to make long-lasting paper to technology to prevent falsification and forgeries. Such minting technology has also been exported to dozens of other countries, creating economic effects. We will check out the superiority and economic impact of domestic minting technology.

Lunar New Year's Day is Korea's biggest traditional holiday. Information and communications technology that has deeply penetrated into our lives are also changing scenes of the holiday. Amid the holiday traffic congestion, people use apps to find faster routes in real time to get to their home towns more quickly. They also easily send holiday gifts with just a few touches on their smartphones. We will take a look at the scenes of Lunar New Year's Day changed by ICT services.

The Korean people's major traditional holiday Lunar New Year! But in North Korea where its deceased leader Kim Il-sung's birthday is the biggest holiday, its significance isn't as large as in the South. Despite this, there is food that North Korean people always eat on the Lunar New Year's Day. We will visit a North Korean defector's home to experience Lunar New Year's food and culture in the North.