Most Popular
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Exports to US reach all-time high, widen gap with China
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Trump rekindles criticism: US forces defending 'wealthy' S. Korea 'free of charge'
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Opposition-led Assembly unilaterally passes bill to probe Marine's death
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[Music in drama] Rekindle a love that slipped through your fingers
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Inflation eases in April, continues bumpy ride
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Golden chance to liquidate babies’ gold rings?
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Seoul Metro to seek legal action against malicious complaints
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Illit, mired in controversy, remains on Billboard charts for 5th week
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[New faces of Assembly] Architect behind ‘audacious initiative’ believes in denuclearized North Korea
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On May Day, labor unions blast Yoon's foreign nanny proposal
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Korean culture under spotlight during K-Culture Week in France
A variety of events that highlight Korean traditional and contemporary culture, ranging from traditional dance to K-pop, are taking place this month in France. “K-Culture Week,” from June 1-7, was designated by the Korean and French governments. Its highlights include dance performances, exhibitions, food events and a literature event. Dancers perform at the biennial French dance competition Danse Elargie. (2015-16 Korea-France Year) It seeks to boost the ongoing two-year-long series of cultura
June 2, 2016
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Proust‘s personal archives sell at auction for $1.3m
PARIS (AFP) - Intimate letters, personal photographs and rare manuscripts that once belonged to French writer Marcel Proust have sold at auction for 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million).The sale at Sotheby‘s in Paris on Tuesday far exceeded expert estimates for the collection of 520,000 to 740,000 euros. The trove of about 120 documents was sold by the writer’s 41-year-old great-grand-niece Patricia Mante-Proust and included a hand-corrected proof of one of Proust’s well-known works.The collection a
June 2, 2016
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Britain‘s oldest hand-dated document found in Roman trove
LONDON (AFP) -- The earliest dated handwritten document from Britain has been unearthed in the heart of London, archeologists announced Wednesday, among a trove of Roman writing tablets revealing the city’s commerce-driven beginnings.The wooden tablet, a notice of debt owed dated Jan. 8, 57 -- less than 14 years after the Roman invasion of 43 -- was found deep beneath what is now the City of London financial hub.The 405 tablets also contained the earliest surviving written reference to London.Th
June 2, 2016
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KCON France to kick off amid diplomatic anticipation
The world's largest K-pop festival will kick off in Paris, its first European destination, on Thursday with South Korean President Park Geun-hye attending.The line-up for KCON France includes the likes of Bangtan Boys, Block B, SHINee, F.T. Island, f(x) and I.O.I, CJ E&M, a South Korean entertainment company, said. I.O.I is a girl group created from cult reality series "Produce 101," which narrowed 101 candidates down to 11 finalists who now comprise the act.Park, who is in France to celebrate t
June 2, 2016
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Anthropologist follows trail of century-old hobo graffiti
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Anthropologist Susan Phillips had spent a career examining the graffiti that covers urban walls, bridges and freeway overpasses. But when she came across an unrecognizable collection made not of spray paint but substances like grease pencil and apparently left there for a century, she was stunned. Phillips had uncovered a peculiar, almost extinct form of American hieroglyphics known as hobo graffiti, the treasure trove discovered under a nondescript, 103-year-old bridge spann
June 1, 2016
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Christie's fined over elephant ivory sale
LONDON (AFP) - Christie's auction house has been fined 3,250 pounds ($4,770) for selling a piece of elephant ivory without the correct documentation, London police said Tuesday.The silver-mounted tusk, put up for auction last year, did not have the right documentation under wildlife protection laws, a police statement said.A representative for the auction house pleaded guilty in London to selling the ivory, in contravention of an article in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Spe
June 1, 2016
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Seoul to provide 180 mln won on renovation of 'hanok'
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Wednesday it will provide up to 180 million won ($151,200) worth of subsidies for the renovation of traditional houses, in line with its bid to preserve traditional buildings remaining in the city.The announcement came as Seoul designated 550,000 square meters of area in five districts, including Bukchon and Seochon, two of the oldest neighborhoods in the capital, as special zones for the conservation of hanok, or traditional-style housing.The houses in the
June 1, 2016
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A palace walk with Hamlet, Jeongjo
In honor of the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death, Changdeokgung Palace opened its doors to a Hamlet-inspired Secret Garden tour on Sunday.“A Walk with Hamlet and Jeongjo,” a tour that is part of the annual series of performances of traditional music in Seoul’s royal palaces, features a recitation of the Shakespearean tragedy “Hamlet.” On Sunday, visitors listened to excerpts from “Hamlet” in unison with the tale of King Jeongjo while taking a brisk morning walk in Changdeokgung P
May 31, 2016
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[Foreigners Who Loved Korea] George Lewis Shaw, an active supporter of Korean independence movement
George Lewis Shaw was born as the eldest son of an Irishman, Samuel Lewis Shaw, and a Japanese woman, Ellen O’Sea Shaw in 1880 on Pagoda Island of Fuzhou, Fujian province, China. He married Saito Fumi, a Japanese woman, and the second of his two sons, Samuel George Shaw, also married a Japanese woman. Despite his father, son, and George L. Shaw himself taking Japanese wives, George L. Shaw, was far from being pro-Japanese. Instead he actively supported the Korean independence movement while runn
May 30, 2016
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Korea opens culture booth at Rotary convention
The Culture Ministry and Korea Tourism Organization are jointly running a Korean culture and tourism booth at the 2016 Rotary International Convention, which is taking place at the Korea International Exhibition & Convention Center in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi Province from May 28-June 1. At the booth, visitors are be able to receive information on tourism in Korea and engage in hands-on activities featuring Korean culture, according to the Korea Tourism Organization. Visitors can taste Korean cuisi
May 30, 2016
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Kim Whan-ki's painting fetches 4.56 bln won in H.K. auction
South Korean painter Kim Whan-ki garnered the third-highest price for a Korean painting in a recent auction in Hong Kong, an auction firm said Monday, proving once again that the late artist's unique artworks are in high demand among art collectors."Untitled 3-V-71 #203" painted in 1971 by the country's abstract art pioneer was auctioned off for 4.56 billion won (HK$30 million) in the art event by Seoul Auction, South Korea's biggest art auction company. It was held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in H
May 30, 2016
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Book on colonial labor victims released
A book on a legal battle between the Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. and 300 South Koreans who were forced into labor decades ago has hit the shelves, a civic group supporting the victims said Sunday. The book explains detailed court records of a decade-long battle starting in 1999 when eight S. Korean victims first filed a lawsuit with a Japanese court against Mitsubishi Heavy, demanding compensation for their forced labor during the country's 1910-45 colonial rule. The legal
May 29, 2016
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S. Korea paves way for exporting chicken soup to China
South Korea's agricultural ministry on Sunday said it has reached an agreement with China to start exporting traditional chicken soup to the world's most populous country as early as June. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said it has completed talks on exporting "samgyetang." Samgyetang is a traditional chicken soup made with a whole young chicken stuffed with ginseng, sticky rice and garlic. It is widely recognized in the country as an energy-boosting meal during the summ
May 29, 2016
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Popularity of hallyu drama spurs rush to become special forces NCO
The runaway popularity of the "Descendants of the Sun" TV series has spurred a spike in the number of young men wanting to join South Korean special forces units, a military source said Sunday. The series that ended in mid-April has been a phenomenal success in both South Korea and in places such as China. The TV show highlighted the exploits of South Korean special forces conducting humanitarian operations in a fictitious country and the romance that develops between the male and female chara
May 29, 2016
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Hwajeong Museum, treasure trove of Asian art
Hwajeong Museum, nestled on the edge of Bugaksan Mountain, northern Seoul, is an unexpected place to discover a rare extensive collection of Asian art. It is a treasure trove of more than 13,000 pieces of East Asian artifacts, including Tibetan Buddhist paintings called Thangka, for which the museum is well-known internationally. The comprehensive collection of Asian art was amassed by Han Kwang-ho, the late former president of Boehringer Ingelheim Korea and an avid art collector for 54 years.
May 29, 2016
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Japan’s master of realism gets first overseas exhibition
ROME (AFP) - The works of Ken Domon, an acclaimed photographer whose images of the aftermath of the Hiroshima bomb shocked 1950s Japan, took center stage in Rome on Friday with the opening of the first exhibition of his pictures outside his home country.Domon, who died in 1990, is venerated in Japan as one of the country’s greatest photographers and a pioneer of realism, but relatively unknown internationally.Organizers of the collection on display at the Italian capital’s Ara Pacis museum hope
May 29, 2016
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Native groups protest planned French auction of artifacts
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Native American leaders are protesting the latest plan by a Paris auction house to sell off part of their tribal history, and their demand for the return of their ceremonial objects is getting bipartisan support. Hundreds of religious items and art pieces from the Americas, Africa and Asia are scheduled to go up for bidding Monday at Paris’ EVE auction house, including a Plains war shirt made with hair from human scalps and sacred Hopi objects that resemble masks and are cons
May 25, 2016
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Friends, Romans: Help restore Rome's ruins, monuments
ROME (AP) -- Friends, Romans, countrymen! Oh yes, and countrywomen. And people in far-flung nations. Everyone, basically. Rome is seeking all the sponsors it can find to fund the monumental job of restoring and maintaining its hundreds of fountains, statues, archaeological sites and historic palazzos. Perennially short of funds to properly care for the sprawling, two-millennia legacy of art and history, city officials on Tuesday offered their thanks to corporate sponsors of ambitious restoration
May 25, 2016
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Annual Arab film fest to open in Seoul, Busan
An annual Arab film festival will be held simultaneously in Seoul and Busan later this week, providing a rare chance for a South Korean audience to better understand the Arab world, a co-organizer said Wednesday. The 5th Arab Film Festival will feature 15 films from 10 Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Iraq, Egypt and Palestine, the Busan Cinema Center here said. The event, which runs from May 26-June 1 at Arthouse MOMO in Seoul and the BCC in Busan, consists of three s
May 25, 2016
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Ancient Chinese pottery reveals 5,000-year-old beer brew
MIAMI (AFP) - Residue on pottery from an archeological site has revealed the earliest evidence of beer brewing in China left from a 5,000-year-old recipe, researchers said Monday. The artifacts show that people of the era had already mastered an “advanced beer brewing technique” that contained elements from the East and West, according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed U.S. journal. Yellowish residue gleaned from pottery funnels and wide-mouthed p
May 24, 2016