''Haps Magazine'', also known as "HAPS", is an English online magazine located in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

that focuses on lifestyle, entertainment and expat life on the

Korean peninsula Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic ...

. It was founded in 2009 and has become one of Korea's most popular English resources for news and information. While the focus of the magazine is mostly on events and happenings around the Busan and southeastern areas of Korea, the magazine has claimed some international fame for some of its articles. Editor-in-Chief Bobby McGill's report on

K-pop K-pop (), short for Korean popular music, is a form of popular music originating in South Korea as part of South Korean culture. It includes styles and genres from around the world, such as pop, hip hop, R&B, experimental, rock, jazz, g ...

singer Psy 's past anti-American actions saw numerous international media outlets including

TIME Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

, ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' and the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'' help break the story which made the "

Gangnam Style "Gangnam Style" ( ko, 강남스타일, ) is a K-pop song by South Korean rapper Psy, released on July 15, 2012, by YG Entertainment as the lead single of his sixth studio album, ''Psy 6 (Six Rules), Part 1'' (''Ssai Yukgap Part 1''). The term ...

" legend apologize for his actions. HAPS also received more international attention when a report about South Korean baseball player Kim Tae-kyun made insensitive remarks towards African-American pitcher Shane Youman. The report helped contribute to the

National Human Rights Commission of Korea The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (abbreviated to NHRCK) () is the independent commission for protecting, advocating and promoting human rights. This commission, by law, is guaranteed the independent status regarding all human rights ...

demanding sensitivity training education to prevent similar racial discrimination remarks among sports professionals in Korea.

History

''HAPS'' was established in June 2009 in the

Haeundae District Haeundae District ( ko, 해운대구) is a district ( ''gu'') of Busan, South Korea. Haeundae has a population of about 423,000, the most populous district of Busan with 11.6% of the city population, and covers an area of 51.44 km² (19. ...

in Busan. The print publication ceased to exist in November, 2016 and now focuses only on online content, including adding a Korean language section. The site changed from busanhaps.com to its new domain a
hapskorea.com
in May, 2017.

Awards

''HAPS'' was voted the "Best City Magazine" in Korea at the 2014 K-blog awards held by the ''Korean Observer''.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
2009 establishments in South Korea City guides English-language magazines Lifestyle magazines Local interest magazines Magazines established in 2009 Magazines published in South Korea Bi-monthly magazines Mass media in Busan