When I meet Patrick Lee, director of art behemoth Frieze Seoul, the first café he proposes we try has vanished, its façade demolished. You see, this is what happens in Seoul.” Increasingly, the rest of the world is valuing South Korean culture, too. Frieze, the important contemporary art fair that takes place annually in New York, Los Angeles and London, launched in Seoul in 2022. This rapid ascent of Korean culture throughout the world, known as hallyu or the “Korean wave”, is drawing ever more travellers to the country, particularly Seoul.