Korea

Koreatown is right outside of D.C., in Annandale, Virginia. The town reflects the richness of Korean culture. It’s a vibrant community of restaurants, beauty shops, fashion centers, community centers and the like, which harbors thousands of Koreans in the D.C. area every year. The community blossomed in the 1970s, after an influx of Korean migrants. Modern Korean culture has found an additional home in the DMV: Centreville, Virginia. Beltway News reporter Taylor Moore spoke with two residents and professionals in Annandale familiar with the Korean scene in D.C.

Both North Korea and the U.S. have ratcheted up tensions lately, from North Korea’s launch of ballistic missiles to President Donald Trump stating that North Korea will be “met with fire and fury and…power the likes of which this world has never seen before” if they make any more threats to the United States. While the stakes have been considerably increased by the nuclear capabilities of both countries, the tensions have been broiling under the surface for decades.

With tensions rising with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the U.S. announced new and stringent sanctions to tighten the screws on the ‘Hermit Kingdom.’ Executive Order 13810, published on Sept. 20, gives the government the most powerful tools yet to strike economically at North Korea, said Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Sigal Mandelker.

The Korean Culture Center hosted a learning academy in D.C. to allow the public a chance to explore K-pop. The academy offered both dance and singing classes during the month of September.

Americans spend $63 billion a year on beauty products, according to one research firm. A growing part of this market: K-Beauty, or Korean skin care.

In 2017, the Korean cuisine craze in America endures: for one, “bulgogi” has entered the American food lover’s vocabulary. Korean barbecue restaurants are now staples in most major cities, joining the ranks of hibachi grills, sushi bars and taquerias. Co-owner of D.C.’s Korean BBQ Taco Box Stephanie Kim took a spin on the fad by adding American and Mexican fusion flavors.

High success rates in Korean schools may be attributed to parents pushing their children to the edge, according to research from an education policy institute. A study from the National Center of Education and the Economy (NCEE) determined that the value of South Korean education mixed with the pressure of academic success sometimes creates extreme anxiety for elementary, middle and high school students. This eventually resulted in the placement of reforms that are designed to decrease pressure.

Sanctions might never be enough to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear ambitions, experts say. North Korea has been under sanctions for decades, so they’ve developed ways of maneuvering around them which make sanctions unlikely to produce diplomatic results, Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein, an associate scholar at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, said.