Team Syn-K!
Syn-K started with a simple annoyance:
why do so many Korea travel pieces feel like the same copy-and-paste?
All of us have lived abroad as international students, and we’re based in Korea now. We travel whenever we get the chance, inside Korea and outside it, and we kept running into the same thing: plenty of “information,” but not much that actually helps once you’re on the ground. Lots of famous-name lists, soft vibes, and generic lines, but not enough real detail or decision-making help.
So instead of complaining, we built what we wanted to read: travel material that’s useful in motion and honest about how places actually feel.
Hayne S (Founder): Hayne is the one who hit “start.” Syn-K began as a push to write Korea in a way that’s practical without becoming sterile. Hayne sets the editorial direction, builds the framework for each piece, and keeps the bar high: bring the details that matter in real life, but don’t manufacture emotion just to sound poetic.
J.K Lee (Co-Founder): J.K is the internal reader who keeps interrupting with the questions everyone else is thinking: “Why should I care?” “What do I do here?” “What choice saves time and regret?” J.K takes raw experiences and reshapes them into something navigable: clear routes, real options, and the kind of judgment calls that help first-timers move confidently. The job isn’t to make travel sound dreamy, but to turn it into decisions you can actually use.
Harin C (Guest Writer): Harin brings fresh field notes. With frequent trips around Korea, Harin is good at catching the in-between details guidebooks skip: pacing, small frictions, what’s worth detouring for, and what’s not. The writing leans practical and specific, focused on helping readers do the trip with fewer wrong turns.
If you’ve ever felt like Korea travel content gives you names but not a plan, that’s basically why Syn-K exists. We’ll keep writing the kind of guides we wish we had: specific, on-the-ground, and built for people who actually want to move through Korea, not just look at it.