Skip to main content

'Rest assured, South Korea is still a dynamic, delicious – and very safe – destination'

Operators
24 December 2024

Travel writer, university lecturer and street food guide Chris Tharp, who has made South Korea his home for the past 20 years, is InsideAsia’s Busan insider. After recent events in the country made headline news around the world, Chris tells TTG why agents and their clients have nothing to worry about.

Seoul's Deoksugung Palace is a highlight of InsideAsia's first small group tour of South Korea (Credit: Inside Travel Group)

It’s amazing to think I’ve been living here in South Korea for 20 years now, and what’s even more astounding is the transformation that’s taken place here.

All those years ago, when I told people back home in the United States or other Westerners I met while travelling that I was, indeed, a resident of Korea, their brows would furrow as they tried to comprehend what they had just heard.

That’s all changed, and the country I’ve called home for so long is now very much in the global spotlight thanks to the hit films, dramas and pop music this little Asian country exports, along with its cars, semi-conductors, smartphones, ships, and so many other products.