Seven stories for the Korean summer soul The N Seoul Tower, on Namsan, central Seoul (123rf) At 11 a.m. Monday, Seoul was placed under its first heat wave advisory of the season.Summer has officially arrived.The Korea Meteorological Administration expects a hotter-than-average summer this year, with heavier rainfall. The monsoon has not fully settled in, so weeks of rain are likely before the summer heat takes over in July.However hot, sticky or humid it gets, every Korean summer seems to leave behind a story worth telling.To mark the start of the season, we’ve gathered seven of them. Some may inspire your own summer plans. Others may simply make you glad they happened to someone else.Let’s dive in. A scene from tvN drama “Reply 1994." (tvN) Forever the hottest summer: 1994For many Koreans old enough to remember it, every spell of above-average summer heat brings back memories of 1994, a season that has become the benchmark for unbearable temperatures.“I watched 'Reply 1994', and it had an episode where characters sleep in front of their house to beat the heat. It brought back memories of when I was pregnant with my second daughter,” said 60-year-old Kim Mi-suk, from Gyeonggi Province.“Air conditioning wasn’t common back then. Instead of staying indoors, people spread straw mats in the evenings and stayed outside to escape the heat, just like in the drama. Hangang Park and even our apartment corridor were full of people.” Rear view of marching soldiers in full uniform. (1234rf) Military training under the sunFor many South Korean men, some of their strongest memories of summer are made during mandatory military service.Nearly all able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve, often spending long hours training outdoors through the country's sweltering summers."When I think of summer, the first thing that comes to mind is my first weapons exercise after enlisting," said Kim Woo-kyung, 25, from Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province."The sun was relentless that day, and I still remember the sand whipping through the air," he said. "Looking back, it wasn't a particularly special training exercise, but because everything was new to me that summer, the atmosphere of that day has stayed with me ever since." Cheonggyecheon in Seoul at night (123rf) Soaking feet in CheonggyecheonFor Julia Bellaflores, a Puerto Rico-born American in her 60s, one of her favorite summer memories was made not in her hometown, but in Seoul.Last July, she came across a restaurant’s social media post inviting people to learn about traditional Korean liquors.“I went by myself, not expecting much beyond spending an evening with a few strangers, but I had taken a class on making makgeolli and thought it would be interesting,” she said.“It ended up being one of my most cherished moments in Seoul.”After dinner, and generous rounds of liquor tasting, the women at the event, who were from Puerto Rico, Indonesia, China and Mexico, wandered to the Cheonggyecheon stream. There, they soaked their feet in the water and sang along with buskers late into the night.Bellaflores said what struck her most was how the stream was filled with people of all ages, families with children, couples, and groups of friends, all spending a leisurely summer evening together.“In such a big city, it felt like a village. Cheonggyecheon at night in the summer is magical,” she said. Rain and strong winds flip a passenger's umbrella near Myeong-dong in Seoul on June 19. (Yonhap) When the rain wouldn’t stopSummer in Korea is remembered not only for its heat. For many, the monsoon leaves the deepest impression.For Kim Ka-yeon, 24, from Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, the memory that lingers most is escaping rising floodwaters with her father during last summer’s torrential rain.“As soon as we left the parking garage, about one-third of the car’s wheels were underwater,” she said.“The first thing that came to mind was the record-breaking downpour in Seoul in 2022, when parts of Gangnam were submerged and subway stations and cars flooded.”She said having her father by her side helped keep her calm.“My dad could tell how anxious I was, so he canceled his dinner plans and stayed with me instead.”A few hours later, the floodwaters receded and the neighborhood began returning to normal. The experience made her realize how dangerous Korea’s monsoon season can be. Misutgaru (The Korea Herald) One sip, and she was homeFor Lee Sun-mi, a 48-year-old teacher, summer tastes like misutgaru, the traditional Korean multigrain drink.“These days, iced drinks are everywhere and coffee shops on every corner,” Lee said. “But when I was growing up, neither my school nor home had air conditioning. After walking home in the summer heat, nothing tasted better than a cold glass of misutgaru with ice.”Recently, she stumbled upon that childhood taste at a neighborhood café.After spotting misutgaru on the menu, she ordered a glass. Since she was cutting back on dairy, she asked the owner to make it without milk.“The owner joked that he was worried I’d never come back because it would taste so bad,” she said.Instead, it tasted exactly as she remembered.“I actually preferred it that way,” she said. “It reminded me of the simple misutgaru I drank as a child.” Cover art for SM Town's "Summer Vacation" album. (SM Entertainment) Summer, on cassetteFor Kim Hyun-woo, 30, summer is inseparable from K-pop.“When I was young, SM Entertainment used to release a summer album featuring artists from across the label every year,” he recalled.“I loved listening to it on cassette. In elementary school, I’d secretly steal my older brother’s cassette player and listen to the songs at night.”One summer, while attending camp, the organizers played his favorite track from the album “Summer Vacation” by SM Town.He started doing the techno dance that was popular at the time, and one of the camp instructors gave him a prize voucher.“Ever since then, whenever I think of summer, I think of SM Town’s summer songs.” A silhouette of an elderly man and woman sitting on chairs by a window. (123rf) Grandparents’ loveFor Jo Su-min, 25, summer begins with the sound of a suitcase rumbling up the hill to her grandparents’ house in Doksan-dong, Seoul.Growing up in China, she spent every summer vacation in elementary school with her grandparents in Korea.One of the memories that remain most vivid is of her grandmother’s rooftop garden.“She even grew aloe vera, which she would cut open and rub on our skin,” Jo recalled. “She’d pick garlic chives and perilla leaves to add to our instant ramen. She’d even freeze bananas, stick wooden chopsticks into them and make us homemade popsicles.”Her grandfather left behind a different kind of summer memory.“My grandfather would be in his room listening to the radio, while my older sister and I watched TV in the living room,” she said.He would often tell the girls to keep the noise down."We would cover our mouths and try to hold our laughter in for a while, but before long we would burst out laughing again.”