SM faces probe over tax evasion

The nation’s largest entertainment agency, SM Entertainment, is currently under investigation for allegedly evading tens of billions of won in taxes, The National Tax Service announced Thursday. According to news reports, the agency is suspected of having established “paper companies” in Hong Kong using famous artists’ names in order to avoid reporting the profits earned from performances overseas. The Seoul tax authorities have now launched a formal investigation into the agency’s finances and

PerformanceMarch 20, 2014

Kim Jang-hoon to hold special exhibit on former sex slaves in Shanghai

South Korean pop singer Kim Jang-hoon will hold a special exhibition of photos depicting Korean women forced into sex slavery by the Japanese military during World War II as part of his upcoming art show in Shanghai, his management agency said Thursday.Kim plans to hold the art show on South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo from April 17-26 at the Korean cultural center in Shanghai to help raise the Chinese people’s awareness that Dokdo is part of South Korea.The singer will add the special e

PerformanceMarch 20, 2014

Composer making name for himself

Given Korea’s thriving classical music scene, it is surprising how little support there is in Korea for composers. With little public interest in contemporary classical music and anemic financial support for composition, composers often struggle to make ends meet with the music they make. Ryu Jea-joon, however, is an exception. The 43-year-old is making a name for himself in the tough field, although he is more recognized overseas than domestically. With an album with Naxos, a leading classical

CultureMarch 20, 2014

Dongdaemun Design Plaza makes debut

The long-anticipated Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park opens Friday with showcases of modern design works and a rare collection of traditional Korean art. To celebrate the opening, the DDP is holding five design and art exhibitions featuring works by high-profile modern designers, including the architect of the building, Zaha Hadid, as well as the prized collection of traditional Korean art of the Kansong Art Museum.“The exhibitions explore the role of design today. It’s the most important discus

Arts & DesignMarch 20, 2014

2 CDs of rarities mark Sheldon Harnick’s birthday

NEW YORK (AP) ― Sheldon Harnick has done some extensive spring cleaning and come up with a two-CD box set of very rare tunes. Harbinger Records said Wednesday it will release “Sheldon Harnick: Hidden Treasures, 1949-2013” on May 1 in conjunction with the Tony- and Grammy Award-winning lyricist and writer’s 90th birthday. The set will include some 53 demos and songs cut from 17 shows featuring such singers as Audra McDonald, Brian d’Arcy James, Hugh Martin, Charlotte Rae and Sheldon’s wife, actre

PerformanceMarch 20, 2014

‘We Got Married ― Global Edition’ Season 2 to air in April

Korean and foreign celebrities have joined hands to show viewers both at home and abroad what it is like to marry a person from another culture.Major South Korean broadcaster MBC and SM Entertainment are jointly launching the second season of “We Got Married ― Global Edition” in April.“We Got Married” is a television show that sets up celebrities in hypothetical marriages and shows how they live as “married couples” over the course of 15 episodes. The global edition of the show will feature both

TelevisionMarch 20, 2014

Introducing Shakespearean language to new generation

William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh BackBy Ian Doescher (Quirk Books)A long time ago in a galaxy far, far ― well, really about a year ago, William Shakespeare (died 1616) teamed up with Oregon author Ian Doescher to adapt filmmaker George Lucas’ “Star Wars” into a peerless 16th-century play.Now there’s a sequel, “William Shakespeare’s The Empire Striketh Back,” and it’s just as much fun.As the original film, “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” was darker and romantic than its predecessor,

BooksMarch 20, 2014

Insightful storytelling by Martha Grimes

The Way of All FishBy Martha Grimes (Scribner)Martha Grimes is best known for her novels about British police detective Richard Jury, his aristocratic friend Melrose Plant and other residents of the postcard town of Long Piddleton. Those 22 novels meld the traditional village mystery with the police procedural, giving the plots a hard edge balanced by satire and humor.Jury and friends are absent in “The Way of All Fish,” Grimes’ 31st novel, but they won’t be missed in this witty satire on the pu

BooksMarch 20, 2014

‘Life Is a Wheel,’ across America on two-wheels

Bruce Weber claims that traveling by bicycle isn’t “the contemplative, mind-meandering activity that it is generally presumed to be.”And the New York Times writer, whose “Life Is a Wheel” chronicles his 79-day, 6,600-kilometer pedal from Astoria, Oregon, back to his apartment in Lower Manhattan, has a point: riding 70, 80, 90 kilometers a day, sometimes on busy blacktops with tractor trailers rocketing alongside, on county roads that suddenly dissolve to gravel, through endless prairies wonderin

BooksMarch 20, 2014

Moore’s ‘Bark’: Mishaps of love

If you adore Lorrie Moore, as so many of us do, you’ll find much to enjoy in her new collection of eight stories, “Bark.” All the sparkly balls are in play ― puns, politics, pop culture details, sometimes all at once, as when a character confuses an unnamed torture prison with a line from Jabberwocky, “the mome raths outgrabe.” (Abu Ghraib for $500, please.)Every story delivers the classic Moore club sandwich of melancholia and humor, and if none is the equal of the best stories in “Birds of Ame

BooksMarch 20, 2014

Tax agency launches investigation into SM Entertainment

South Korea's tax office said Thursday it has launched an investigation into the country's largest entertainment agency amid rumors of offshore tax evasion by the company that manages some of the top K-pop celebrities. The National Tax Service (NTS) recently sent dozens of auditors to the headquarters of SM Entertainment located in Gangnam, southern Seoul, to secure accounting books and other financial records, according to the NTS and company officials. SM Entertainment is the country's leading

March 20, 2014

Dreaming ‘the ultimate hallyu’

Investing in a country’s image abroad can be a costly wager. While it requires a well-coordinated strategy on various levels and dimensions, an army of skilled and passionate country marketers, and most importantly, sufficient time and money, there is no guarantee of measurable success, given its elusive target: global citizens. Yet, Won Yong-gi, Korea’s chief PR man, has a clear vision and ideas to realize it. “In the past, we may have lacked the substance (to show to the world.) But now we hav

CultureMarch 19, 2014

Apartments, dream home for Koreans

Among many features that define the cityscape of Seoul, one thing makes the capital distinct. That’s the gray skyline along row after row of near identical concrete apartments.The sea of concrete high rises stemmed from a public housing project initiated in the 1970s to accommodate the mounting urban population efficiently. It has now become the type of residence most preferred by a majority of Seoul citizens.An exhibition at Seoul Museum of History takes the audience on a journey through the hi

PerformanceMarch 19, 2014

Old newspapers available via digital archive

Seven of Korea’s oldest newspapers have been made available to the public in an online archive run by the National Library of Korea, the state-run library said Wednesday. “A digital archive of old newspapers published from 1939-1949 is now searchable online,” it said in a press release. At www.dibrary.net, the archive covers a total of 146,736 articles printed in seven dailies ― Kukmin Shinbo, Dongnip Shinmun, Daehan Dongnip Shinmun, Dongnip Shinbo, Minjung Ilbo, Joseon Joongang Ilbo and Joongan

CultureMarch 19, 2014

Award-winning film ‘Han Gong-ju’ to hit local theaters

Filmmaker Lee Su-jin’s first feature film “Han Gong-ju” is finally hitting local theaters after scooping up awards at international film festivals, including Rotterdam and Deauville.The film tells the tale of a traumatized teen sexual-assault victim, who is forced to change schools and leaves her family. It had its world premiere at the Marrakech International Film Festival in November, and won the top prize there, given by a Martin Scorsese-headed jury. It also nabbed the Tiger Award, which is

FilmMarch 19, 2014

Sunye of Wonder Girls to head to Haiti for missionary work

Sunye, the leader of the Wonder Girls, has announced that she will head to Haiti to carry out missionary work there for five years with her husband through their self-established NGO “Whitestone Global.”Sunye broke the news on the group’s official fan website on Tuesday by uploading a personal statement that explained her reasons for moving to the Caribbean nation with her missionary husband James Park.“During a short week that I spent volunteering in Haiti while living abroad, the direction of

PerformanceMarch 19, 2014

Students press professors to open minds to cheaper textbooks

SEATTLE ― In deciding which classes she’ll take every quarter, Alissa Ramberg often applies the textbook-cost-factor test: She figures out which professors require pricey textbooks, and avoids those classes.The University of Washington senior and student-government senator, who is majoring in political science, has also put off taking classes ― and even chosen alternative courses that still fill the requirement ― to try to control how much she must shell out for books.The price of college textbo

CultureMarch 19, 2014

The hearth can sell the home: Fireplaces available in many styles

HACKENSACK, New Jersey ― Vikki Ruisch had a fireplace in her house, but it was in a room her family barely used. So during a remodeling project last year, she had a fireplace built in her heavily trafficked living room, where everyone could enjoy it.Ruisch figured it would add value to her Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, house, but that wasn’t really an incentive. She grew up having a fireplace in her home and just wanted one, or two. She also had one put in the master bedroom.“I don’t know anyone w

CultureMarch 19, 2014

Art magazine expands to Seoul, Busan

Daegu-based art magazine (b)racket has expanded its circulation to Seoul and Busan.Its March edition will be available at four locations in Busan and 11 locations in Seoul, mostly in the Hongdae and Itaewon areas.Magazine co-founder Jess Hinshaw said that increased support from the Daegu Gyeongbuk Design Center had allowed the magazine to double its print run, allowing it to expand to new cities and bolster the supply at its roughly two-dozen Daegu locations.Hinshaw said that there were no immed

Expat LivingMarch 18, 2014