[Big News] Have Korean Friends? CNS Korea Launches TODAY!

First things first: If you have Korean friends, you'll want to share this with them...

CNS is entering its fourth year, and along the way, we've launched a whole laundry list of new things. Without getting exhaustive, here are some particular highlights:

• CNS Japanese launched in October 2023.
• CNS upgraded website in July 2025 to support expansion.

And today, that expansion is here, with CNS Korea launching.

The last bureau of statistics yearbook showed that in 2018, the Korean expat population was the second-largest national population in Shanghai, making up about 13 percent of expats in Shanghai. And it's no wonder, major Korean companies like Samsung, LG, Hyundai, SK Group, CJ Group and Mirae Assets all have a significant presence here, with more Korean businesses expanding into Shanghai.

For a while now, we've been paying close attention to the popularity of some of our content that has dipped into Korean offerings in Shanghai, and it's proven to be a justification for the expansion. Here are some of the most popular pieces:

• [Hai Guide] Where to find authentic S. Korean supermarkets in Shanghai?
• [Hai Lights] 7 Places to Eat Korean BBQ in Shanghai
• [Chic & Savory] Elevating Korean Cuisine in the Heart of Shanghai (Hi Chef Ryu!)
  
• [First in Shanghai] Korean Fashion Stores Are Opening in SH

Needless to say, the Korean population in Shanghai makes up a large part of the expat community here, and so we've made the decision to create a dedicated section of the CNS website in Korean.

What will be under the hood?

So what exactly is CNS Korea? In short: everything CNS does, policy explainers, living guides, cultural tips, the works, but in Korean, and built specifically around what Korean expats actually need to know to live well in Shanghai. It lives at citynewsservice.cn/korea, and will also be running across WeChat, Xiaohongshu, Instagram and Naver.

The platform has a name that's worth knowing: CNS Korea 奥扫奥扫. The "奥扫" (ao sao) part is a phonetic nod to the Korean 어서어서, which loosely translates to "welcome, come on in." But here's the fun part: in Shanghainese, 奥扫奥扫 also means "hurry, hurry." So you've got a name that's a little bit Korean, a little bit Shanghai, and exactly the right amount of clever.

It'll be helmed by Bae Yu-jeong, a Korean national who's been part of the Shanghai Daily team, which means this isn't a translated version of what we already do. It's built from the ground up for a Korean audience, by someone who actually is one.

At the event, the Shanghai Tower, Zhangyuan, RT-Mart and The Stage White Magnolia Observatory were noted as official partners, and a few Korean and Chinese social media creators, including Sun Hana, Xu Zhixian, Zhao Minying and Zhang Zhe, were appointed as "Content Ambassadors" by the CNS team.

Representatives from Korean companies and organizations, including the Korea Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, Korean Air, Hana Tour, Nongshim China, Abion, IPMate Culture Creative, also participated in the event.

One thing worth noting, and we thought this was a genuinely cool bit of context: Shanghai Daily's Deputy Editor-in-Chief Gao Xing pointed out at the launch that Shanghai and South Korea have a history that goes back further than most people realize. The former site of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea is still standing, right here on Madang Road. He also mentioned that CNS Korean will serve as a new starting point for people-to-people exchange between China and South Korea. That's not a small thing. So in some ways, this isn't just a new platform... It's a continuation of something that's been going on for over a century.

If you know Koreans in Shanghai, whether they just arrived or have been here for years, send this their way. That's exactly who we built it for.