Korean internet culture

Before Korea Became Always Online

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Vintage Hitel PC communication terminal used in South Korea during the 1990s

Korea was not always a country of instant messages, fast mobile payments and high-speed connections. Before smartphones, fibre broadband and delivery apps, there was another kind of online life. It moved through telephone lines. It appeared on text-only screens. It began with the sound of a dial-up modem. For younger readers outside Korea, it may … Read more

The PC Bangs That Made Korea’s Internet Culture Social

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For many Koreans who grew up in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the memory of a PC bang is easy to recognise. Rows of computers.Keyboards clicking quickly.Friends calling across the room.Instant noodles beside the monitor.The blue glow of game screens late at night. To foreign visitors, a PC bang may look like an ordinary … Read more