Most Popular
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Tensions heighten ahead of first president-opposition chief meeting
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Seoul to provide housing subsidy to married couples with newborns
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Doctor group's incoming head renews call for govt. to scrap medical school quota hike for dialogue
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NewJeans pops out ‘Bubble Gum’ video amid troubles at agency
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The ultimate bathing experience
For travelers who have a bit of time to check out Hungary, thermal baths, the biggest and most famous in Europe, are the snapshot of society and the people there. Asian countries like Korea and Japan also share the culture of thermal bathing. While taking a hot spring bath is now more favored by elderly people for special occasions in Asia, there are no age, gender or social barriers at Hungarian baths. During my weeklong stay in Hungary, I visited two most famous thermal baths in the country: t
TravelOct. 24, 2014
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Hidden treasures of Hungary
Aside from the bustling capital city of Budapest, Hungary is still little known to many Asian tourists who are frequent travelers to European cities.With the aim to reveal the country’s hidden treasures, the Hungarian Embassy to Korea recently offered a group of Korean journalists a rare opportunity to look around several small cities there. In reflection of the agency’s strong will to show more about the country, the weeklong schedule was packed with diverse but brief programs, but it was long
TravelOct. 24, 2014
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Finnair offers ‘extra comfort’ economy seats
Finnair announced it would offer “economy comfort” seats with an extra 10 centimeters of legroom, a more comfortable headrest, higher-quality headphones and an amenity kit of socks, a sleeping mask, a toothbrush and tooth paste. The seats with extra room will be available from Dec. 15 on international flights for an additional 40 to 60 Euros ($50 to $76) for a one-way ticket. Finnair will have eight economy comfort seats on flights between Incheon and Helsinki. Seats with extra room are availabl
TravelOct. 24, 2014
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Pyongyang races to complete new airport
PYONGYANG (AP) ― Pyongyang isn’t exactly an international travel hub. But attracting more tourists is one of North Korea’s top agenda items, so thousands of soldier-builders are working feverishly these days to give the capital a fancy new airport. The new airport, which is now in its final stages, is the latest of North Korea’s “speed campaigns,” mass mobilizations of labor shock brigades aimed at finishing top-priority projects in record time. Dressed in hard hats and brown or olive green unif
TravelOct. 24, 2014
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Korean travel mobile app for Chinese tourists
The Korea Tourism Organization released a Korean travel mobile application for Chinese tourists traveling independently in Korea. The app features a Korea map in Chinese, directions, and public transportation and shopping information such as the opening hours of major shopping places as well as discount coupons.The mobile app targets the growing number of Chinese tourists in Korea, which are expected to reach some 5.8 million by the end of the year. Chinese arrivals have already reached 42 perce
TravelOct. 24, 2014
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Stuffed popovers and blue velvet cake at Melting Shop
Expect the unexpected at Melting Shop, a brand-new restaurant helmed by the duo who created the restaurants Tastingroom and Miki Creole. Situated in Seoul’s Sinsa-dong near Dosan Park, Melting Shop held its soft opening on Oct. 15 and is slated to hold its grand opening on Nov. 1.At the new establishment, popovers, flatbread and cake are remixed into fresh, fun eats that are as tasty as they are unconventional. “We decided to do something completely new,” said Melting Shop director Kim Ju-young,
FoodOct. 24, 2014
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Around the hotels
Lotte Hotel Seoul invites Michelin-starred Korean chef Lotte Hotel Seoul’s Mugunghwa is hosting Hooni Kim, owner-chef of the Michelin-starred Danji and the acclaimed Hanjan in New York. The celebrated chef has been invited to present the creations he serves at Danji and Hanjan. The lunch menu, priced at 95,000 won, includes New York-style cold spicy sea bream soup with seaweed and fumet sherbet, Korean beef tartar with natural pine mushroom, butterfish simmered in soy sauce or Hooni Kim-style sp
FoodOct. 24, 2014
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A pie to remember
Sunday mornings other Minneapolis families went to church; we picked up bagels at the Lincoln Del. That’s how I knew we were Jewish.Dad ordered a baker’s dozen, sliced lox and cream cheese. Also Max’s half dills, whitefish wrapped in paper and a block of gritty halvah. I helped by gazing into the glass case. It was cold, bright and packed with astounding confections. I was mesmerized by the frog cakes, cut to reveal raspberry smiles.Once, the woman behind the counter lifted out a chocolate-cover
FoodOct. 24, 2014
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2NE1 Minzy’s sister debuts
Gong Min-young. (Sony Music)Gong Min-young, the older sister of 2NE1’s Minzy, debuted Friday as a singer with her first album “Rebirth.”The album consists of eight tracks, most of them self-composed contemporary Christian music. Gong tried an unconventional music style by mixing religious songs with contemporary genres such as jazz, hip-hop and rhythm and blues, her agency Sony Music Entertainment said. Track titles such as “Let’s Party,” “Go!” and “Turn It Up” contain her modern take on Christi
Oct. 24, 2014
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First-generation K-pop idols reunite for EP
S (SM Entertainment)Group S, a trio of first-generation K-pop singers, released an EP on Friday after an 11-year hiatus.The group, which debuted in 2003, consists of vocalists of popular boy groups of the late 1990s: Kangta of H.O.T, Shin Hye-sung of Shinhwa and singer Lee Ji-hoon. Their latest EP “Autumn Breeze” has five songs, which are composed and produced by Kangta. The title track “Without You” is an acoustic pop ballad sung in harmony by the three vocals. The song tells the story of a cou
Oct. 24, 2014
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Shin Hae-chul still in coma
After collapsing from a sudden cardiac arrest on Wednesday, rock star Shin Hae-chul remains in critical condition at the Seoul Asan Hospital’s intensive care unit after undergoing surgery. According to representatives from the singer’s agency, KCA Entertainment, Shin’s three-hour operation to resuscitate his heart went well. However, it remains to be seen whether he can pull through. “His blood pressure has returned to a safe level, but his pupils are unresponsive and he still remains unconsciou
PerformanceOct. 24, 2014
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Steinbeck heirs fight over control of movie rights
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― John Steinbeck’s heirs say a literary agency is wrongly cutting them out of negotiations over movie deals for the late Nobel Prize-winning author’s books. Steinbeck’s surviving son, Thomas Steinbeck, and the wife of another son, Nancy Steinbeck, filed a petition Oct. 10 with the California Labor Commission claiming the RSWG Literary Agency and agent Geoffrey Sanford were negotiating Hollywood deals without consulting them. They also allege that the agency isn’t licensed in C
PeopleOct. 24, 2014
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Bernhard Schlink: Two Koreas should be the victors
The biggest mistake Germany made during reunification is that one side was the victor, while the other was the defeated, according to a prominent German writer and thinker. German novelist Bernhard Schlink, the writer of the award-winning 1995 novel “The Reader” and many other works that shed light on the theme of the past, guilt and postwar generation of Germany, says if he could give advice on Korean reunification, it would be to respect each other. “You two (North and South Korea) will be the
BooksOct. 23, 2014
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[Herald Interview] Deriving 21st-century questions from classic masterpiece
Continuing on the Shakespeare theme after the much-hailed production earlier this month of Gounod’s “Romeo et Juliette,” the Korea National Opera is presenting another Shakespeare play-turned-opera ― Giuseppe Verdi’s “Otello.” For the production, which will be staged next month at Seoul Arts Center, the state-run company has brought in British stage director Stephen Lawless, who in previous works has displayed a balance between traditional and nontraditional approaches to the classic opera reper
CultureOct. 23, 2014
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‘Healthy’ Zellweger broaches storm over new-look face
LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Renee Zellweger hit back Wednesday at the online furor triggered by her new-look face, saying she was simply older and happier. The 45-year-old Oscar-winner, whose first film in five years is out next year, told People magazine she had not been “taking care of myself” and was exhausted, but is now back to health.“I’m glad folks think I look different! I’m living a different, happy, more fulfilling life, and I’m thrilled that perhaps it shows,” Zellweger said, calling the stor
FilmOct. 23, 2014
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Victor Hugo’s play to get Korean premiere
French author Victor Hugo is best known for “Les Miserables,” a literary masterpiece that has been adapted into various forms including a film and a stage musical. What is little known here is that he wrote a series of extremely enjoyable plays that defy many conventional rules of a theater play. One such work will get its first Korean premiere this week by the award-winning original French production. The Theatre National de Toulouse production of “Mille Francs de recompense (A Reward of 1,000
PerformanceOct. 23, 2014
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Annie Lennox embraces jazzy ‘Nostalgia’
LONDON (AP) ― How do you follow in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles without sinking in the footsteps of Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles? The answer, for Annie Lennox at least, is to throw out, to the greatest degree possible, the work of these giants and tackle some of their classics anew: no use of their phrasing, their arrangements, their orchestral sheets allowed.The former Eurythmics star sat down ― slowly and deliberately ― with songs like “Mood Indigo” and “Georgia on My Mind”
PerformanceOct. 23, 2014
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[Herald Interview] Mraz says ‘Yes!’ to return to Korea
After performing in Korea for the first time at the 2006 Incheon Pentaport Rock festival, American folk-pop star Jason Mraz is making his way back to Korea next month, marking the start of his seventh concert performance in the country in eight years. Mraz is slated to hold his first nationwide acoustic concert tour here, where he will be performing in Daejeon and Daegu for the first time, before concluding his tour with two performances in Seoul. However, unlike in the past when the singer held
Oct. 23, 2014
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Search for world’s funniest person moves to Las Vegas
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― An international search to find the world’s funniest person is moving to Las Vegas, where people will get to see five finalists square off in an Olympics of comedy that pits France, Finland and other countries against one another.The finalists were determined by online voters who saw 10 comics take the stage at the Laugh Factory in Hollywood during a Monday night joke fest that was streamed on the club’s website.The finals will take place Friday at the Laugh Factory’s sister c
PerformanceOct. 23, 2014
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Lena Dunham connects with her many ‘awesome’ fans in Seattle
When she is standing before you, in the still eye of the pop-culture hurricane she has inhabited for several years now, you realize Lena Dunham is just like any young woman who fusses with her hair, loves her sister and can’t resist cheese.But then you hear the steady hum of a sold-out crowd just beyond the door; notice the table stacked with signed copies of Dunham’s new book, “Not That Kind of Girl,” for which she was reportedly paid $3 million; and hear her mention a visit to the Facebook cam
BooksOct. 23, 2014