Most Popular
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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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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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Rapper jailed after public street fight with another rapper
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[KH Explains] No more 'Michael' at Kakao Games
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Nominee for chief of anti-corruption body pledges 'independence, effectiveness'
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Woman gets suspended term for injuring boyfriend with knife
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Med schools expect 1,500+ new admission slots next year
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Samsung chief bolsters ties with Germany’s Zeiss
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KT launches new mobile plans for foreign residents
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New books
Seven authors and rainRain in Seven ColorsBy Kim Mi-wol et al.(Yolimwon Publishing Group, 12,000 won)Seven female writers, all in their 30s, together have published an anthology of short stories under one theme: rain.The book, “Rain in Seven Colors,” contains seven short stories written by the seven writers: Jang Eun-jin, Kim Soom, Kim Mi-wol, Yoon Yi-hyeong, Kim Yi-seol, Hwang Jeong-eun, and Han
Feb. 25, 2011
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[Korea steady seller] Living in the post war period
Living in the post war periodA Toy CityBy Lee Dong-ha(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Written from the perspective of a young boy in elementary school, “A Toy City” shows what it was like to live in the post war period of the 1950s.An obvious version of author Lee Dong-ha’s younger self, the protagonist, a young boy from Daegu, is overwhelmed when his family moves to Seoul only a few years after the Korean
Feb. 25, 2011
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A sunny move for New Yorker Jonathan Lethem
On a typical winter day, the Bard of Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill steps out onto the sidewalk to go to work. He wears only a light jacket; walks by eucalyptus trees, not delis; past charming suburban yards, not gritty subway stops. It’s Jonathan Lethem, one of New York’s most high-profile novelists, and he’s far from Brooklyn’s snow-filled sidewalks: he’s transplanted himself to Southern California.“I d
Feb. 25, 2011
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Poetry books listed as cultural heritage
Four volumes of “Azaleas,” a collection of poems by Kim Sowol (1902-1934), one of the most famous poets in early modern Korea, have been added to the nation’s cultural heritage list, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Thursday.The four volumes were first published in 1925, containing a total of 127 poems written by Kim. Beautifully poignant in style, a lot of Kim’s works are known to be rem
Feb. 24, 2011
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Jefferson’s books found in U.S. university library
ST. LOUIS (AP) ― Dozens of Thomas Jefferson’s books, some including handwritten notes from America’s third president, have been found in the rare books collection at Washington University in St. Louis.Now, historians are poring through the 69 newly discovered books and five others the school already knew about, and librarians are searching the collection for more volumes that may have belonged to
Feb. 23, 2011
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Research institute to launch Dokdo sovereignty events
Northeast Asian History Foundation is to launch various programs to promote Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo, rocky islets in the East Sea that Japanese have claimed as part of their territory. The government affiliated research institution said its Dokdo programs would include educational workshops, promotional exhibitions, and symposiums that will discuss Japanese history textbooks that do not tak
Feb. 22, 2011
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Portrait paintings of Joseon reflect Confucian standards
What makes portraits different from other paintings?The substance of its subject, scholar Cho Sun-mie answers.An English edition of Cho’s book on Korean portrait paintings and their stylistic development ― mainly of the ones from the Joseon Dynasty (1392―1897) ― has been published. The book, “Great Korean Portraits: Immortal Images of the Noble and the Brave,” introduces portraits of 50 prominent
Feb. 18, 2011
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Korea Best seller
A modern Korean novelThe WingsBy Yi Sang(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Author Yi Sang (1910-1937) is regarded as one of the most innovative writers in modern Korean literature. Having trained as an architect, Yi blurred the boundaries between poetry, fiction and essay, while breaking the rules of language and its forms.One of Yi’s short stories, “The Wings” exhibits Yi’s inventive literary techniques as w
Feb. 18, 2011
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New Books
Sentimental but trueThe Old RomanticBy Louise Dean(Riverhead Books, $25.95)It’s easy to imagine readers being scared off by the all-saturating Englishness of Louise Dean’s novel “The Old Romantic,” published last year in the U.K. and this month in America.Start with unfamiliar references to Selfridges, Wade Whimsies, Maltesers and the Krankies (which are, respectively, a department store, porcelai
Feb. 18, 2011
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Oates grapples with husband’s death after 47-year-marriage
When, at 6:15 a.m. on Feb. 11, 2008, Joyce Carol Oates saw her 77-year-old husband, Raymond Smith, eating breakfast, she did not ― could not ― know that he would be dead within a week. Still, she acknowledges in “A Widow’s Story,” her memoir of his death and its aftermath, she had the feeling that all was not right. “There is an hour, a minute ― you will remember it forever ― when you know instinc
Feb. 18, 2011
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New thriller lifts veil on villainous state
No author in his right mind would kill off a main character in the prime of a promising new series. Intellectually you know this. How, then, does David Ellis, author of the compelling new legal thriller “Breach of Trust” (Putnam), pull it off?How does he write a scene in which Jason Kolarich ― the two-fisted, headstrong hero of a crime novel set in a city that’s a dead ringer for Chicago ― looks t
Feb. 18, 2011
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Author Kim quits online world after heated debate
Popular tech-savvy novelist Kim Young-ha quit Twitter and blogging after a series of controversial online debates with literary critic Cho Young-il.The debate centered around the systemic problems in Korea’s literary scene and the tragic death of aspiring screenwriter Choi Go-eun, Kim’s former student at Korea National University of Arts (KNUA). Kim on Monday closed his Twitter account, which had
Feb. 16, 2011
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[Korea best seller] Under the subconsciousness
Under the subconsciousnessThe Other Side of Dark RemembranceBy Lee Kyun-young(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)Unlike many other novels written on the Korean War (1950-1953), author Lee Kyun-young’s “The Other Side of Dark Remembrance” does not hold ideological conflicts of the two Koreas at its front.Instead, it follows the mundane life of an office worker with a low salary living in Seoul. The man had lost
Feb. 11, 2011
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New Books
Memoir of U.S.–Korea FTAKim Hyun-jong talks of U.S.―Korea FTABy Kim Hyun-jong(Hongsungsa, 19,000 won) Kim Hyun-jong is the former minister for trade in the late President Roh Moo-hyun administration. Being one of the central figures in the administration’s trade policy from 2003 to 2007, Kim initiated numerous free trade agreement (FTA) plans with Mexico, India, Canada, Singapore, MERCOSUR, EFTA,
Feb. 11, 2011
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Questions for author Sabar
Winning the National Book Critics Circle Award for one’s first published book promises a loyal readership and an eventual body of work that one can look back on with well-earned pride. That’s exactly what Ariel Sabar achieved with his first book, “My Father’s Paradise” (also deemed a “Best Nonfiction Book of 2008” by the Christian Science Monitor).Sabar wields his storytelling talent again in the
Feb. 11, 2011
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‘Eat Pray Love’ writer back to marriage
At the end of “Eat Pray Love,” Elizabeth Gilbert found herself, against all odds, in love again. This time, though, she was determined not to marry. It was the difficult collapse of her first marriage, after all, that sent her on the yearlong odyssey that resulted in that book (and, later, the blockbuster movie).But visa problems forced her hand. After 9/11, her Brazilian lover, “Felipe” (his real
Feb. 11, 2011
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French poet Andree Chedid dies in Paris
PARIS (AP) ― Andree Chedid, an Egyptian-born French poet and writer known for giving lyrical expression to everyday experiences and celebrating cultural diversity, has died, her publisher said.She was 90.Chedid died in Sunday in Paris, where she settled after the end of World War II, the Flammarion publishing house said.The prolific Cairo-born writer of Lebanese descent wrote volumes of poetry, no
Feb. 8, 2011
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Chicago-style romance powers Christine Sneed’s new stories
Love is a many hindered thing.It’s thwarted at every turn, imperiled every second, and the fact that it works out for anybody anywhere for any length of time whatsoever is an absolute miracle ― yet here we all are, fools for love, chasing the emotion as if it were a runaway puppy heading for the highway at rush hour.While it can produce pain and frustration, love also produces something else: grea
Feb. 7, 2011
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The unknown wartime celebration
The unknown wartime celebrationImperial Japan at its ZenithBy Kenneth J. Ruoff(Cornell University Press, $39.95)In spite of its war with China along with deteriorating relationship with the U.S., Japan was more than excited to commemorate the year 1940. It was the 2,600th anniversary of the founding of the Empire of Japan. There were new public monuments, visual culture, and carefully choreographe
Jan. 28, 2011
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[Korea steady seller] Love, life and death
Love, life and deathBetween Heaven and EarthBy Yun Dae-nyeong(Jimoondang, 5,000 won)The winner of the Yi Sang Literature Prize in 1996, Yun Dae-nyeong’s “Between Heaven and Earth” delves into themes of life and death through a story of two strangers. The protagonist, who is on his way to attend his aunt’s funeral, runs into a young woman. Somehow feeling the “shadow of death” on her face, he decid
Jan. 28, 2011