“Do you know how to buy bitcoins from exchanges abroad?” asked my cousin on KakaoTalk, South Korea’s popular messenger app. When I told him he might need an overseas bank account, he asked, “Do you also invest in bitcoins?” I told him about my very first

Earlier this week, South Korea’s KB Kookmin Bank came under fire for a rather unorthodox way of training new employees. Around 400 new recruits marched 100 km from Cheonan, south of Seoul, over a two-day period, in a temperature that plunged to -6 Celsius. KB Kookmin Bank is one of South Korea’s largest banks and the principal subsidiary of KB Financial Group.

Truefitt & Hill, an English barbershop with more than 200 years of history, is the oldest barbershop in the world as certified by the Guiness Book of World Records in 2000. One South Korean branch is located conveniently in Seoul’s Cheongdam district — an upmarket area known for luxury boutiques and the residences of high-profile celebrities.

Just as he was thinking of heading home for the day from his job at a South Korean startup, Marco Kwak’s manager called him over to his desk. He asked Kwak whether he saw other people working and whether he still wanted to go home even after that. Kwak said the manager scolded him for not having passion for the company, and told him to sit at his desk for an hour even if he had no work.

Off the beaten path from Apgujeong, a glitzy and upscale neighborhood in Seoul known for ever-soaring housing prices and neon sign boards of plastic surgery clinics, there’s a burger restaurant, around the corner of which is a narrow stairway leading down to a basement. There are no burgers in this basement.

Black caricatures are surprisingly — or perhaps unsurprisingly — often used without critical discretion in South Korea, deployed as a comic relief on television shows, in K-pop, and most recently, a restaurant selling spicy braised chicken. On Dec. 7, a software engineer from Louisiana was coming out of a subway station in Suwon, a city directly south of Seoul.

Despite fighting aggressive (and cash-burning) battles in many Asian cities, there is one city that Uber Technologies Inc had lost rather quickly in — Seoul. Save some minor services, Uber is illegal in South Korea: In 2015, a South Korean court ruled that the San Francisco-based ride hailing giant was illegally using private vehicles for commercial purposes.

SINGAPORE: When a residential site at Stirling Road in Queenstown was awarded for development following a record bid of S$1 billion in May, the spotlight fell on the winning consortium - Nanshan Group from China and Hong Kong-based Logan Property. Their successful bid continues a trend of Chinese interest in recent land tenders in Singapore.

iFASt unveils a new stockbroking model and platform. And, is Singapore office property on a rebound? Plus, coping with the financial hardships of retrenchment.

SGX is seeing a flurry of IPOs. What are some IPOs to get excited about? And, when divorce happens - how do you cope with the break-up financially?

SINGAPORE: North Korea is potentially an unusual and interesting destination for the intrepid traveller looking for a new experience, but there are some significant risks involved if you do not follow the country's rules and laws. Otto Frederick Warmbier, a 22-year-old student from the University of Virginia, was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour in North Korea for stealing a propaganda poster in January 2016.

Aggressive Chinese developers cause a stir in Singapore's property market. And a push to help Singapore SMEs go digital. Plus - Yangon, a city on the move.

The Asian Financial Crisis erupted in July 1997 - with widespread panic as financial markets collapsed. 20 years on - how has the investment environment changed?

20 years after Handover -how has Hong Kong's economic landscape evolved? And, is a credit bubble brewing in China? Plus, design - and the role it plays in business.

Political and economic risks rise - as Britain heads into Brexit talks with no strong mandate. And using artificial intelligence to hire the right employee. Plus, high speed transportation that rides above the waves.

Making visitor experiences unforgettable - that's Singapore's strategy to boost tourism. And, meet 2 brothers who play their own tune when teaching music. Plus, measuring income inequality with the GINI Index.