The Korea Herald

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Festivals“Seoul Fringe Festival”: The Seoul Fringe Festival will provide a showcase of independent artists. Individual artists or groups can freely perform drama, dance, mime, music and arts at the festival, which will allow the performers and the audience alike to enjoy the freedom of expression and selection. A total of 140 individual artists and teams will put on performances in various indoor and outdoor venues like small theaters, live clubs, galleries and streets near Hongik University in

Aug. 23, 2013

Language of design reinterpreted

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea is holding a one-of-a-kind exhibition titled “Design: Another Language,” which attempts to capture and interpret the language behind the concept of design within contemporary art.At the recently opened design exhibition, visitors can see around 100 carefully selected pieces related to the realm of design including graphic design, furniture design, advertisement and fashion design. The exhibition highlights a group of artists and their at

Aug. 22, 2013

Archaeologists race to save Gaza’s ancient ruins

ST. HILARION, Gaza Strip (AP) ― The ruins of this ancient complex sit on dunes by the sea, a world away from Gaza City’s noise and bustle. Up in the sky, birds compete for space with children’s kites flying from a nearby farm.St. Hilarion’s monastery, a reminder of the time in late antiquity when Christianity was the dominant faith in what is now the Gaza Strip, is one of many archaeological treasures scattered across this coastal territory.But Gaza is one of the most crowded places on earth, an

Aug. 21, 2013

Turkish fans of Korean cinema get festival treatment

The first-ever Korea-Turkey film festival will be held in Istanbul next month as part of the upcoming Istanbul-Gyeongju World Culture Expo 2013.Internationally acclaimed Korean director Kim Ki-duk, known for his award-winning films such as “Pieta,” “Arirang” and “Samaritan Girl,” as well as actresses Han Ga-in, Kang Soo-yeon and Ye Ji-won, actor Park Joong-hoon and other notables in the Korean film industry are slated to attend the film fest. The Korea-Turkey Movie Week in Istanbul will highlig

Aug. 21, 2013

Turkish fans of Korean cinema get festival treatment

Artifacts become casualties of Egypt unrest

CAIRO (AP) ― As violent clashes roiled Egypt, looters made away with a prized 3,500-year-old limestone statue, ancient beaded jewelry and more than 1,000 other artifacts in the biggest theft to hit an Egyptian museum in living memory.The scale of the looting of the Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya laid bare the security vacuum that has taken hold in cities outside Cairo, where police have all but disappeared from the streets. It also exposed how bruised and battered the vio

Aug. 20, 2013

Artifacts become casualties of Egypt unrest

Ancient tombs unearthed in far western China

BEIJNG (UPI) ― Archaeologists said Friday they had unearthed a group of tombs in remote western China that date back about 2,500 years.The tombs were believed built by the ancient Zoroastrians and were discovered in the high-altitude Pamirs Plateau near the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said.The Zoroastrian religion is one of the earliest in recorded history and originated in ancient Persia. Scholars consider it a significant influence on the so-calle

Aug. 19, 2013

Slave dwelling project works toward preservation

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) ― Over the past three years, Joe McGill has slept in almost 40 former slave dwellings in a dozen U.S. states, hoping to draw attention to the need to preserve the structures and tell their stories.Now he’s expanding the effort and working to make the Slave Dwelling Project a nonprofit organization, with plans for a national conference next year. He said paperwork will be filed within the next two weeks to make it official.“We tell a lot of our history through the

Aug. 19, 2013

Britons should get a say on car park king’s remains: judge

LONDON (AFP) ― The British public should be consulted on the final resting place of Richard III, the 15th-century king whose skeleton was found under a car park, a judge said on Friday.The bones of Richard, a controversial monarch demonized by Shakespeare, were dug up last year outside a municipal building in Leicester, central England.The University of Leicester, whose archaeologists found the site, have claimed the remains as their own and planned to rebury them at Leicester Cathedral, a decis

Aug. 18, 2013

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Pop music“Hyundai Card Super Concert 19 City Break”: Joining the club of blowout summer music festivals, this year the Hyundai Card Super Concert 19 City Break two-day music festival is bringing some of the hottest bands in the rock music industry. The lineup includes headlining acts Metallica, Muse, Iggy and the Stooges, Limp Bizkit, Rise Against as well as popular local bands Jang Ki-ha and the Faces, Kwon Soon-kwan and much more. The two-day music Hyundai Card Super Concert will be held on Au

Aug. 16, 2013

Nevada petroglyphs the oldest in N. America

PYRAMID LAKE, Nevada (AP) ― Ancient rock etchings along a dried-up lake bed in Nevada have been confirmed to be the oldest recorded petroglyphs in North America, dating back at least 10,000 years.The petroglyphs found on limestone boulders near Pyramid Lake in northern Nevada’s high desert are similar in design to etchings found at a lake in Oregon that are believed to be at least 7,600 years old. Unlike later drawings that sometimes depict a spear or antelope, the carvings are abstract with tig

Aug. 15, 2013

Nevada petroglyphs the oldest in N. America

Six decades of coverage and growth

Korea’s first president, Syngman Rhee, makes an address to the U.S. Congress in 1954.The April 19 Revolution in 1960President Park Chung-hee meets U.S. President John F. Kennedy in 1961.Kim Jae-kyu, chief of the intelligence agency, stands trial for assassinating President Park Chung-hee in 1979.Soldiers clamp down on the Gwangju Democratization Movement in 1980Hyundai Motors rolls out the 200,000th Pony in 1980. The company began manufacturing the nation’s first mass-produced car in 1975.Pres

Aug. 13, 2013

Cultural icons reflect spirit of the times

The Korea Herald revisits the past six decades through the lives of iconic cultural figures and examines how their professional and personal development reflect the nation’s complex and often tumultuous history. 1950s: Choi Seung-hee, dancer (1911-1969)The life of legendary dancer Choi Seung-hee (1911-1969), lauded as one of the best dancers in Asia in the late 1930s, was entwined with Korea’s complex post-colonial politics, the Korean War and national division.Of aristocratic birth, Choi traine

Aug. 13, 2013

Cultural icons reflect spirit of the times

Jane Austen museum in bid to buy author’s ring

LONDON (AP) ― Jane Austen’s House Museum says it has received a 100,000-pound ($155,000) donation to help it buy the “Pride and Prejudice” writer’s ring back from singer Kelly Clarkson.Earlier this month the British government placed a temporary export ban on the gold-and-turquoise ring in the hope money could be found to keep it in Britain.The museum said Monday it had raised 103,200 pounds of the 152,450 pound asking price, most of it from a single anonymous donation.Clarkson, an Austen fan, b

Aug. 13, 2013

Herald steps beyond media

Growth from humble beginnings to biggest English newspaperThe Korea Herald has been providing English news to South Koreans and Korean viewpoints to people outside of the country for the past 60 years. Its sister paper, The Herald Business, and other units of Herald Corp. are also leading the local media market. It all started with a four-page tabloid called The Korean Republic, the forerunner of The Korea Herald.In the early 1950s, then-President Syngman Rhee sought the creation of an English

Aug. 13, 2013

Sleepless summer in Seoul

As summer is in full swing, many Seoulites are finding it hard to sleep at night without the air conditioner on.But the city offers a number of ways to escape the heat outside the house at night, from outdoor concerts to film screenings by the Hangang River. Here are some events and spots to check out to help you cool down, have fun, and relax. Outdoor concerts Seoul Arts Center is throwing free night concerts this month every Saturday at its spacious outdoor property. The four concerts feature

Aug. 9, 2013

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Festivals“The Great Battles of Hansan Festival”: A reenactment of a heroic sea battle during the Hideyoshi Invasion of Korea more than four centuries ago will be conducted from Aug. 14-18 in the waters off Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province. In the Hansan Daecheop, or Great Battle of Hansan, Korean naval ships led by Adm. Yi Sun-sin destroyed an invading Japanese armada. Over 100 ships will take part in the reenactment, which will be the highlight of the commemorative Hansan Daecheop Festival.

Aug. 9, 2013

Heritage office lifts travel ban on ‘Pensive Bodhisattva’

The Silla-period gilt-bronze Buddha statue “Pensive Bodhisattva” will be traveling to New York for an upcoming show after the Cultural Heritage Administration on Friday rescinded its ban on the National Treasure No. 83 from being taken out of the country. The reversal came 11 days after the National Museum of Korea was notified of the travel ban on July 29. With the green light from the state-run heritage agency, “Pensive Bodhisattva” will take its place as the highlight of the “Silla, Korea’s G

Aug. 9, 2013

Heritage office lifts travel ban on ‘Pensive Bodhisattva’

Spanish dig seeks prehistoric ancestors of Europeans

ATAPUERCA, Spain (AFP) ―With trowels and paintbrushes, dozens of archaeologists in white hard-hats patiently sift the reddish-brown earth in the caves of Atapuerca, searching for remains a million years old.From under strata spanning hundreds of millenia at this site in northern Spain, they unearth ancient mouse bones and the teeth of horses ― but what they most hope for is a sign of prehistoric humans that could write a new chapter in our evolution.“The site covers a very long period of time, p

Aug. 6, 2013

Debunking the French myth, one chapter at a time

PARIS (AFP) ― You think French women don’t get fat, their kids never throw food, couples have lots of good sex and families eat gourmet dinners every night? Think again.A new book by British writer Piu Marie Eatwell seeks to debunk “myths” about a country that is sometimes idealised abroad, but leaves some visitors sorely disappointed when they realize it is actually ... normal.In “They Eat Horses, Don’t They?” the author goes against a tide of popular books that depict France as the land that s

Aug. 5, 2013

Bahrain history slowly rises from sands

SAAR, Bahrain (AP) ― More than 4,000 years ago, Dilmun merchants traveled from Mesopotamia to the Indus River, titans of trade and culture before rise of the empires of the Persians or the Ottomans.Over a millennia, the civilization that Dilmun created on the back of trading in pearls, copper and dates as far as South Asia faded into the encroaching sands. It wasn’t until an excavation by Danish archaeologists in the 1950s that its past was rediscovered.Now, with Bahrain in a deepening political

Aug. 5, 2013