The Inje Icefish Festival -- one of the most popular winter festivals in South Korea -- will not be held next year as the third wave of COVID-19 pandemic has hit the country. The annual winter festival held in Inje, a mountainous county in Gangwon Province some 165 kilometers northeast of Seoul, is centered around a pond with small ice holes, measuring 20 centimeters wide, made for visitors to try to catch the fish that live in water below. The nine-day festival was scheduled to kick o

The first comprehensive book in English on South Korea’s modern artist Yoo Young-kuk, a pioneer of Korea‘s abstract art, will be published in December by Rizzoli New York, introducing the artist’s philosophy and Korean art history of the time. Known as a “magician of colors,” Yoo devoted himself to pioneering a unique compositional approach to his art. Born in 1916 in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province, he lived through the Japanese colonial era and the Korean War

A Korean entrepreneur has won the business rights to a cable car project in Sri Lanka’s Kandy -- home of the Temple of the Tooth Relic, which is one of the most sacred Buddhist sites in the world. The entrepreneur is 71-year-old Sky Asia Chairman Yoo Sun-ha. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the construction will begin next year and the cable car is expected to open by the end of 2022. It will connect 2.2 kilometers from downtown Kandy and Hanthana Mountain. A total of $35 million will b

After stepping into a completely purple exhibition hall, visitors to this gallery may find themselves a bit confused. On display are metal sculptures with multiple eyes, a line of hands with a string of magnetic beads, the Virgin Mary with minerals attached to her pupils -- each looking quite odd, but also beautiful. Visitors will each have their own interpretations of the objects and find themselves curious about Yangachi, the creator, and what he intended to achieve through these beautifull

A floating museum in commemoration of Korea’s modern art master Kim Whan-ki will be established in the artist’s hometown in Shinan County, South Jeolla Province, late in the next year. “The floating museum is the first-ever floating museum in Korea,” an official from the county office told The Korea Herald on Sunday. “The floating museum is part of our project to build a kind of a theme park dedicated to Kim Whan-ki in his home town.” The floating museum w

As the cold winter approaches, a community organization in Incheon has embarked on a project to share some warmth with the trees.  In the city’s Mansu district, trees lining the streets are clad in colorful patterned blankets knitted by members of the Dream Village Community.  Some feature hearts and flowers, while others draw on winter themes and depict characters such as Olaf, the snowman from “Frozen.” The Dream Village Community reportedly began knitting not on

Coastal county receives attention as winter getaway

This is my interpretation of a traditional Korean dish called chilled shrimp salad with seasonal vegetables. Usually, shrimp is mixed with cut bamboo shoots, Asian pears, cucumbers and jellyfish. Depending on the availability of seasonal vegetables, we add carrots, bell peppers or mushrooms. As shrimp is considered an expensive delicacy, it is a popular dish for special occasions such as birthdays and holidays. As a chilled dish, it is usually served in the summer. But, I like to make this di

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, will screen films starting Friday that shed light on the ordinariness of everyday life that has gone missing due to the pandemic. “Intermission 2020” will run through Dec. 6 at the MMCA’s Seoul venue, presenting seven indie films by French director Philippe Garrel, Lithuanian American filmmaker Jonas Mekas and American director Anne Charlotte Robertson. “Intermission,” launched in 2014, takes place betwe

Michelin reveals Michelin Guide Seoul 2021 restaurants

Picture book “The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story,” released in September, recounts the story of author Thao Lam, who escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War in a small fishing boat with her parents, becoming a refugee at age 2. Known for previous works including “Skunk on a String” and “My Cat Looks Like My Dad,” Lam walks through the pain of her refugee experience as well as the help she received in a foreign country that gave her a normal life once again. The

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Crafts & Design Foundation announced Friday that two local middle schools -- Jakcheon Middle School and Daechang Middle School -- had adopted hanbok-inspired school uniforms on Nov. 16. This is the first uptake of hanbok-inspired school uniforms, which were created as part of a project, led jointly by the Culture Ministry and the Ministry of Education, which began in February last year.   “Along with 53 uniform designs th