Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Doctors' group picks new leader amid tense standoff over increased enrollment quota
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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[Kim Seong-kon] The April 2024 election will decide our future
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[Hello India] Corporate Korea sees new growth drivers in India
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Seoul’s bus union prepares for strike
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Annals of Joseon Dynasty to be translated into English
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty, or the annual records of the Joseon Dynasty of Korea, will be translated into English by the year 2033, according to the National Institute of Korean History.The government-affiliated organization, who in 2010 announced their initial idea for the grand project, recently secured a budget of 500 million won for the starting phase of the venture this year. According to one of its officials, a total of 40 billion won will be needed until the completion of the projec
Jan. 9, 2012
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‘Uigwe’ historian’s biography for children published
The biography of late Korean-born French historian Park Byeng-sen, who contributed enormously to the return of Korea’s looted ancient royal texts “Uigwe” from France, has been published in the form of children’s book.The book is the first authorized biography of Park. According to the book’s publisher Gloyeon, Park approved the project as she liked the fact that it was going to be written for children. “Park had rejected every offer from many publishing houses before we wrote to her in December
Jan. 9, 2012
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Book depicts tensions between first lady, aides
WASHINGTON (AP) -- First lady Michelle Obama is a behind-the-scenes force in the White House whose opinions on policy and politics drew her into conflict with presidential advisers and who bristled at some of the demands and constraints of life as the president's wife, according to a detailed accoun
Jan. 8, 2012
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Author struggles to accept daughter’s death
Kayak Morning: Reflections on Love, Grief, and Small Boats By Roger Rosenblatt(Ecco)A year after his only daughter died at age 38 of an asymptomatic heart condition, Roger Rosenblatt wrote an essay in The New Yorker titled, “Making Toast.” He describes how he and his wife moved into Amy’s house in Bethesda, Md., to help their son-in-law care for the couple’s three small children, and how the myriad, mundane activities of child-rearing provided a measure of solace for his inconsolable grief.His l
Jan. 6, 2012
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‘Karaoke Culture’: An original essay on unoriginality
Dubravka Ugresic does not like karaoke. That doesn’t stop her from trying it, just as her resistance to celebrity doesn’t stop her from putting her head through a cutout on a Hollywood studio tour so that she can be photographed with Clark Gable. Ugresic, a game and inquisitive critic, looks at culture from all angles, which sometimes means picking up the mic.Karaoke recycles rather than creates, she argues in “Karaoke Culture,” the 100-page essay that lends its name to the title of her new coll
Jan. 6, 2012
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Easy guide to Korean Buddhist practices and Templestay
The Essence of the Korean Buddhist Practices: 6 Ways to the HeartBy Seong Jae-hyeonTranslated by Hong Hee-yon(Bulkwang Publishing)Ever wondered why Korean Buddhists bow the way they do, or recite the name of the Buddha?Though Korea’s Templestay ― in which participants can lead the life of a Buddhist monk for a few days at a local temple ― have attracted many foreign visitors, there haven’t been a lot of English-language resources on Korean Buddhist practices and their meanings. For anyone who wa
Jan. 6, 2012
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Late author’s lost work published after 47 years
‘Green Zone’ by Park Kyung-ni explores ‘Korean Beat Generation’ in the ’60sLate prominent writer Park Kyung-ni is largely remembered for her famous historical sagas, including her 16-volume novel “Toji (The Land)” and “The Daughters of Pharmacist Kim.” She created her masterpieces mostly by exploring the turbulent history of Korea during the 20th century, from the Japanese colonial period to the Korean War.Yet readers will discover the late author’s relatively unknown flair for contemporary fict
Jan. 4, 2012
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New Books
A poignant reliving of a teen’s first romanceWhy We Broke UpBy Daniel Handler(Brown) Most of us have been there, experiencing the unprecedented high of a first love followed by the debilitating low when it crumbles. But few of these tragic trajectories have been written about as poignantly as in “Why We Broke Up.” The young-adult debut from Daniel Handler, better known as Lemony Snicket, is an illustrated novel that is its own series of unfortunate events, chronicling a brief but intense teen re
Dec. 30, 2011
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Rocker-poet-artist-mother’s many facets seen in slim volume
One thing I’ve always admired about Patti Smith is her refusal to be characterized. Rocker, poet, artist, mother: She seems to inhabit each of these roles almost effortlessly, moving among them as if the only difference was in our heads. And why not? For Smith, they all come out of the same impulse, a kind of ecstatic self-engagement, in which the line separating life and creativity, the mundane and the mystical, is an illusion, a border we create to bound ourselves. “Oh, God, I fell for you,” s
Dec. 30, 2011
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Crushingly beautiful, achingly sad slice of a Chinese nightmare
The Rape of Nanjing is foreground and backdrop of Ha Jin’s novel “Nanjing Requiem.” A fictionalized yet faithful portrayal of events during that nightmare time, “Nanjing Requiem” is two tragedies in one, a vast tragedy for the human race and a terrible misfortune for a good person, repaid for selflessness with disregard and mental breakdown.Despite the screams of pain and chatter of machine guns, despite the clash and conflict, “Nanjing Requiem” remains muted in memory. What you most remember, o
Dec. 30, 2011
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In digital age, coffee-table books still catch eye
When architect and design firm owner Steve Kadlec was asked recently whether bookshelves were becoming obsolete in the iPad age, he wisecracked: “Who reads books? We buy them for pretty!”He was only half-joking. With digital competition, hardcover books are being judged by their covers more than ever before, some earning their keep in the home and heart by doubling as objets d’art.“It’s sort of a trite phrase, but when you have people over, you don’t show off your iPad library,” said Josh Baker,
Dec. 23, 2011
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A quest to make new friends
MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best Friend, By Rachel Bertsche (Ballantine Books)Making friends shouldn’t be complicated. We’ve been doing it since we were kids, right?But for many of us, as a new book points out, “friend-making is not the natural process it used to be.” Chicago transplant and journalist Rachel Bertsche discovers this the hard way when she finds herself without close friends to speak of, two years after moving. She comes up with a game plan to change her situation
Dec. 23, 2011
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New Books
A quest to make new friendsMWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search for a New Best FriendBy Rachel Bertsche(Ballantine Books)Making friends shouldn‘t be complicated. We’ve been doing it since we were kids, right?But for many of us, as a new book points out, “friend-making is not the natural process it used to be.” Chicago transplant and journalist Rachel Bertsche discovers this the hard way when she finds herself without close friends to speak of, two years after moving. She comes up with a game plan
Dec. 23, 2011
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Chamber publishes book on French eateries
The French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry launched the First Guidebook on French Restaurants in Korea this week, the first publication of its kind. “The 72 restaurants and bistros in this Guidebook will surprise you by their succulent dishes, their decoration mixing French and Korean styles, and their variety; you will find the right place to go out with friends, for a business lunch or dinner, or with your family,” said FKCCI President David-Pierre Jalicon.To reach a wider base, 24 res
Dec. 22, 2011
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Rare documents burned in Egypt clash
CAIRO (AP) ― Volunteers in white lab coats, surgical gloves and masks stood on the back of a pickup truck Monday along the banks of the Nile River in Cairo, rummaging through stacks of rare 200-year-old manuscripts that were little more than charcoal debris.The volunteers, ranging from academic experts to appalled citizens, have spent the past two days trying to salvage what’s left of some 192,000 books, journals and writings, casualties of Egypt’s latest bout of violence.Institute d’Egypte, a r
Dec. 20, 2011
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Hwang Sok-yong’s novel published in Sweden
Author Hwang Sok-yong’s novel “The Ancient Garden” was published in Sweden last month, according to the Korea Literature Translation Institute.The novel, which Hwang published in Korea in 2000 after many years in political exile and five years in prison, was translated into Swedish by translators Anders Karlsson and Park Ok-Kyoung. The duo previously translated Hwang’s 1998 novel, “The Chronicle of a Man Named Han,” in 2007 and the edition was published in Sweden that same year. Both of the nove
Dec. 20, 2011
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Charlotte Bronte manuscript sets record at auction
LONDON (AP) ― An unpublished Charlotte Bronte manuscript has sold for a record 690,850 pounds ($1.1 million) at auction, more than double the expected price, Sotheby’s auction house said Thursday.The Young Men’s Magazine, Number 2, was written in 1830 ― when the author was 14, 17 years before she wrote “Jane Eyre.’’ It is set in Glass Town, the earliest fictional world created by the Bronte siblings.Sotheby’s had predicted the manuscript would sell for between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds, but sai
Dec. 18, 2011
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British writer Christopher Hitchens dies aged 62
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The renowned British writer and polemicist Christopher Hitchens, whose targets ranged from God and Mother Teresa to Henry Kissinger, has died after an 18-month battle against cancer. He was 62.Hitchens began his career in London but he moved to the United States in 1981 and enjoyed great success both as a writer and speaker, with his outspoken views and swaggering demeanour attracting much controversy over four decades.Vanity Fair, for whom Hitchens worked for the past 19 year
Dec. 18, 2011
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Dec. 18, 2011
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NEW BOOKS
A young Vietnamese girl’s migration to Alabama in the 1970sInside Out & Back Again By Thanhha Lai(HarperCollins)The United States prides itself on being a melting pot, but the many immigrant stories that make up our uniquely American stew aren‘t always known or published by the mainstream press. Take Thanhha Lai, who, in her recent National Book Award winner, “Inside Out & Back Again,” chronicles her family’s move to the U.S. from her native Vietnam in 1975.This novel in verse, based on Lai‘s ex
Dec. 16, 2011