Wearing face masks, Korean girls now invest in elaborate nails, nail polish, manicure with detailed drawings. Despite the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on most industries, many nail salons are still doing well, with a sharp increase in revenue. From being unpopular, Korean girls are now willing to spend tens to hundreds of thousands of won for a nail job. Photo: Stock. Pleasure during quarantine “Since I started working from home, I spend a lot of time painting my nails, trying on colors and drawings that I have never done before,” said Kim Gyu Ri (22 years old) from Daejeon. Lee Ji Eun, 23, from North Gyeongsang, said, “Whenever I look at my pretty nails, I feel so beautiful and well-groomed.” Lee has a hobby of doing his own nails and spends an average of 300,000 won ($270) on essentials every month. Yoon Chae Hyun used to be a regular customer of nail salons, but recently she started making her own to save money. “It will be cheaper on its own in the long run. I can add as many details as I want without worrying about spending extra money,” she said. A set of gel polish usually costs 20,000-50,000 won at Seoul nail salons. Photo: KoreaBoo. “But for those who can afford it, going to work is still worth the experience. Talking to the workers is quite relaxing, they are professionals after all,” she added. Nail art products at home, serving girls who like to tinker by themselves are equally expensive. Nail polish sales at popular Korean beauty stores such as Olive Young and Lalavla both increased by 30-40% last year. “Investing in nail art is like spending money to buy clothes” Nail salons are ubiquitous on the streets of Korea today, but this beauty demand and service only really took off about 10 years ago. According to the Korea Statistical Information Service, the number of nail salons has increased from 10,382 stores in 2016 to 16,464 stores in 2020. “The concept of beautifying nails didn’t exist until the early 2000s. The first nail salon in Korea opened in Itaewon in 1988, but mainly caters to foreign customers,” said Cho A Ra, a nail technician. Professional since 2002, used to be a nail artist for the group Wonder Girls, said. The original nail salons in Korea only used regular nail polish, which peeled off easily and needed frequent repainting. The rise of gel polish, which lasts longer, started gaining popularity after 2012, and is currently the most popular. By 2018, with the promotion of K-pop girl groups like Mamamoo, the trend of adding fake nails is so popular. Korean gel polish is not only popular in kimchi but also in other Asian countries. Photo: Insider. According to Cho A Ra, nail art is not just for beauty. Gel polish provides a protective layer to the nails, preventing them from biting or breaking. “Recently, I see more and more elementary and middle school children being taken by their parents to get their nails done for this purpose,” she said. But before being recognized, she faced many objections about her work. “Many people think that these colorful nails are untidy, only for indecent girls, working as a hostess in a bar. Even my mother did not dare to tell her friends about her daughter’s work, until she was proud of me working with the Wonder Girls.” On the other hand, spending tens of thousands of won on 10 fingers initially shocked many people. Gel polish at nail salons in Seoul ranges from 20,000-50,000 won for simple, one-color coats. The price just keeps getting higher when painting other textures, adding decorative details, especially since crystal nailing is so popular. “A client of mine spent 320,000 won for a manicure. While this may seem absurd to some people because our nails are only a small part of our body, investing in a manicure is like splurging on clothes.” “At the end of the day, you are the one who looks at your own nails the most. Beautiful nails bring self-satisfaction,” said Cho.

The causes of extinction come from population growth, pollution and deforestation. Therefore, in the past time, the “apocalyptic vaults” to store the seeds of the world began to be built. In South Korea, the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum Seed Conservation Center currently preserves nearly 100,000 seeds from 4,751 plant species to ensure they are not affected by “apocalyptic events”. Outside the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum Seed Conservation Center, North Gyeongsang Province. Photo: AFP. Mr. Lee Sang-yong, head of the center, said that this is one of two places to store seeds in the world today. Unlike conventional seed banks, where samples are regularly taken out for different purposes, the seeds in the vault will stay there permanently, only to be used for the purpose of preventing extinction. The safest place in Korea The seed vault was designed by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service as a heavily guarded security facility, surrounded by a wire fence and dozens of cameras. Police regularly patrol the area and filming and photography are limited. Inside, an elevator will lead underground with a depth of about eight floors, to the concrete tunnel in the cave, where heavy steel doors guard the storage room. The storage room will be kept at -20 degrees Celsius with 40% humidity to preserve seeds. Mr. Lee said the bunker was built in “the safest place” in South Korea, designed to withstand a 6.9-magnitude earthquake and even a nuclear attack. “Geographically, it’s very safe,” Mr. Lee said. “We have opened a tunnel 46 meters deep underground to ensure the seed is safe from war and nuclear threats.” The seed samples in the cellar were mostly plants from the Korean peninsula. In addition, with a capacity of 2 million seeds, many countries such as Kazakhstan and Tajikistan also accept requests, sending seeds to this reserve. Countries that send seeds here will have title to those seeds and can receive them back when needed. A researcher is doing experimental planting at the wild plant seed research department. Photo: AFP. However, Mr. Lee said: “The purpose of the seed vault is to prevent their extinction. So the best-case scenario is that the seeds never have to be brought out.” “Run with time” The conservation of the seeds of wild plants – the original source of the crops we eat today – should not be overlooked, the researchers say. However, according to a recent United Nations report, many plants that help people ensure food security are “lacking effective protection.” The report warns against crops that are less resilient to climate change, pests and pathogens, and emphasizes: “The biodiversity of ecosystems, where humanity lives, is declining faster than any other any time in human history”. In its 2020 report, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK, said many species of plants in the wild hold promise for future medicine, fuel and food. However, about two-fifths of them are threatened with extinction, largely due to habitat destruction and climate change. It is a “race against time” to determine which seeds are in danger of extinction before they completely disappear from the world, the report added. However, Na Chae-sun, a senior researcher at the Baekdudaegan National Arboretum, said studies on seeds of wild plants were “very much lacking”. “One might ask why riverside wildflowers are important,” she says. “In fact, the crops we eat today may have descended from this unnamed flower.” A researcher is examining a ‘black box’ containing seeds in a storage room. Photo: AFP. Besides the vault in South Korea, another seed warehouse was also built in the heart of the mountain near the city of Longyearbyen on the island of Spitsbergen in Norway’s Svalbard archipelago, about 1,300 km from the North Pole. Dubbed the “Noah’s Ark” of food crops, the Global Seed Vault is the largest and most famous vault in the world. The facility is focused on preserving agricultural crops and related crops, storing more than a million seed samples from nearly every country on the planet.

Mr. Kim Boo-kyum (left), a former four-term congressman and former Interior Minister, was nominated as the new Prime Minister of Korea. (Source: Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in’s selection of this figure in a reform of his cabinet seems to be aimed at giving new momentum to his leadership, which has been affected by the ruling Democrats’ defeat in the Mayor election Seoul and Busan on April 7.

If approved by the Korean National Assembly, Mr. Kim Boo-kyum will replace Mr. Chung Sye-kyun, who has resigned after 15 months in this position. Chung is expected to participate in the presidential election of South Korea next year.

Mr. Kim held the position of Interior Minister from 2017-2019 and ran for MP in Daegu city, 302 km southeast of Seoul, as a candidate for the ruling party.

Mr. Kim was born in 1958 in Sangju town, North Gyeongsang province, the stronghold of the main opposition People’s Power Party (PPP).

Political observers see President Moon’s choice of Mr. Kim as a political message towards national unity.

Both Mr. Chung and Mr. Lee Nak-yon, the first Prime Minister in the Moon administration, are from Jeolla Province, the southwestern province, the longstanding power base of the Democratic Party.

(According to Yonhap)