Experts call for government support for cultural exchanges to prevent anti-Korea movement The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday launched an advisory committee of 19 leading figures in the country’s cultural scene to discuss ways for Korea to keep hallyu going and also to introduce the lesser-promoted cultural sectors to the world. The advisory committee will hold monthly meetin...

Seok Tong-youn, former international advisory ambassador of Gyeonggi Province, has been appointed the new secretary general of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, the state-run history research institute announced last week. Considered one of the leading experts on Korea-China relations, Seok served as the spokesperson of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2002 to 2003, deput...

The Culture Ministry has launched an updated version of its online Korean language learning center to promote globalization of the language, officials said on Monday. The website (www.sejonghakdang.org) operated by the state-run The King Sejong Institute is now available in eight different languages, from the previous six languages, including Russian and Indonesian. The institute named after Kin...

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Think of the music that defines Los Angeles and often three words float to the surface: The Beach Boys. Which is why The Grammy Museum’s new exhibition, “Trouble in Paradise: Music and Los Angeles 1945-1975,” has carefully chosen not to overemphasize the group that helped cement L.A.’s reputation as the Land of the Endless Summer, filled with sandy beaches, tricked-out automob...

LONDON (AP) ― A British auctioneer says that a first class menu from the Titanic’s last lunch has sold for 76,000 pounds (about $120,000.) The menu, kept by prominent San Francisco banker Washington Dodge, bears the date April 14, the day in 1912 that the reputedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and fell to the bottom of the Atlantic. Devizes, England-based auctioneer Henry Aldrige & Son says t...

Epic disasters ― the anguished cries, the stories of heroism ― are the central narratives of our age, both enthralling and horrifying. And our obsession began a century ago, unfolding in just 160 terrifying minutes, on a supposedly unsinkable ship, as more than 1,500 souls slipped into the icy waters of the North Atlantic. And the band played on. It was the Titanic. And ever since, we’ve been ho...

Employers looking to ramp up productivity in these dog-eat-dog times might consider letting their staff bring Fido to the office, a scientific study published Friday suggests. Dogs at work can not only bring down stress levels among their owners, but they can also help make work more satisfying for other employees as well, according to the study in the latest issue of the International Journal o...

Two 10-year-old boys and a woman whose bodies were found in northern Mexico were sacrificed to Santa Muerte, the saint of death, investigators say. The Sonora State Investigative Police announced Friday that eight people have been charged with the killings, CNN reported. Most of the suspects are members of a single family and one is only 15. The bodies were discovered in Nacozari de Garcia, a m...

First Lady Kim Yoon-ok offered the spouses of global leaders currently in Seoul for the Seoul Nuclear Security Summit a chance to appreciate both Korean traditional culture and K-pop at an official luncheon held in Cheong Wa Dae, on Tuesday. Kim, a strong advocate of the globalization of hansik, or Korean cuisine, hosted a luncheon at Sangchunjae, meaning “a house used during spring.” Sangchujae...

Korea will shift the focus of cultural exchange from developed countries to Third World countries, said Choe Kwang-shik, minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday. Choe announced plans to enhance international cooperation and exchanges in culture, sports and tourism and promote cultural welfare at a media briefing at the 2012 Nuclear Security Summit media center at COEX, Samseong-dong, ...