The Korea Herald

Thomas Jefferson estate highlights slaves’ stories

Dec 29, 2011

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) ― When Thomas Jefferson died, scores of slaves were sold from his Monticello plantation to settle his debts. Peter Fossett, 11, was among them, recalling that he was “born and reared as free, not knowing that I was a slave, then suddenly, at the death of Jefferson, put on an auction block and sold to strangers.’’ Fossett’s story is one of many included in several new proj...
Several theater festivals fire up cold N.Y.

Dec 29, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Hanging around outside The Public Theater next week could turn you into an unanticipated actor. An hour or so before the group known as the Gob Squad hits the stage with its new offering for the Under the Radar Festival, four members will hit the streets armed with video cameras to create their new work, “Super Night Shot.” They’ll initiate and film some “comic and surreal adven...
More cultural benefits for artists, underprivileged in 2012

Dec 29, 2011

Up to 1.71 million people will receive aid from the government for cultural activities and a foundation for artists’ welfare will be set up next year, as part of efforts to resolve the cultural divide among different social sectors, the Culture Ministry said Thursday. The ministry released its plans for the New Year as Minister Choe Kwang-shik briefed President Lee Myung-bak along with other cul...
‘Forrest Gump’ to be preserved in film registry

Dec 29, 2011

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Forrest Gump’s oft-imitated line, “My momma always said, ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get’” will be immortalized among the U.S. treasures in the world’s largest archive of film, TV and sound recordings. The Library of Congress on Wednesday announced that 1994’s smash hit “Forrest Gump’’ starring Tom Hanks was one of 25 films chosen to be ...
France approves soda tax

Dec 29, 2011

France's top constitutional body on Wednesday approved a new tax on sugary drinks that aims to fight obesity while giving a boost to state coffers. The Constitutional Council approved the new soda tax, announced in August as part of the government's fight against obesity and within the framework of a broader austerity programme, after it was passed in parliament last week. The tax, which works ...
Two Korean musicians honored by Germany

Dec 28, 2011

Korean pianist Shin Soo-jung and baritone Bahk Heung-u will both receive medals from Germany, noted for the contributions they made in spreading German music in Korea, according to the German Embassy in Seoul. Shin, 69, will be receiving the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, while Bahk, 50, will be honored with the Cross of the Order of Merit during a cere...
1st U.S. museum dedicated to Greek culture opens

Dec 28, 2011

CHICAGO (AP) ― Dolls a Greek woman made during World War II. Ice cream bowls and wooden spoons from a 1940s Greek candy store. Thousands of record albums filled with Greek music. These items and many other beloved objects and family heirlooms have found their way from around the country to the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, which has a new place to store and exhibit them all, in a four-sto...
Abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler dies at 83

Dec 28, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Helen Frankenthaler, an abstract painter known for her bold, lyrical use of color who led a postwar art movement that would later be termed Color Field painting, died Tuesday at her home in Connecticut, her nephew said. She was 83. One of Frankenthaler’s most famous works is “Mountains and Sea,” a 1952 painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which she created...
Occupy Wall Street becomes collectible

Dec 27, 2011

NEW YORK (AP) ― Occupy Wall Street may still be working to shake the notion it represents a passing outburst of rage, but some establishment institutions have already decided the movement’s artifacts are worthy of historic preservation. More than a half-dozen major museums and organizations from the Smithsonian Institution to the New-York Historical Society have been avidly collecting materials ...
Japanese designer of arty kitchenware Sori Yanagi dies

Dec 27, 2011

TOKYO (AP) ― Sori Yanagi, whose designs for stools and kitchen pots brought the simplicity and purity of Japanese decor into the everyday, has died. He was 96. The pioneer of Japan’s industrial design died of pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital Sunday, Koichi Fujita of Yanagi Design Office said. Yanagi’s curvaceous “butterfly stool,” evocative of a Japanese shrine gate, won an award at La Triennale d...
Dutch public raises funds to restore Napoleon painting

Dec 27, 2011

THE HAGUE (AFP) ― The Amsterdam Museum has raised more than 50,000 euros from public sponsors to restore a 198-year-old painting depicting Napoleon’s entrance into the city, its spokeswoman said. The public was asked to sponsor different parts on the canvas entitled “Napoleon’s Entrance,” painted by Belgian master Matthieu van Bree in 1813 and which until recently had been rolled-up since 1891. ...
UNESCO cuts funds for Palestinian magazine

Dec 26, 2011

JERUSALEM (AP) ― The U.N.’s cultural agency said it is pulling funding for a Palestinian youth magazine that published an article suggesting admiration for Hitler. The magazine, Zayzafouna, published an article in February written by a teenage girl who presented four role models: a medieval Persian mathematician, a modern Egyptian novelist, the Muslim warrior Saladin and the Nazi leader. UNESCO...
Dig in San Francisco unearths artifacts

Dec 26, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― The big dig for San Francisco’s multibillion dollar transportation terminal has unearthed some artifacts from during and after the city’s heady Gold Rush days, including opium pipes from a Chinese laundry and a chipped chamber pot found in a backyard outhouse. The 70 artifacts have city archeologists eager for more and local residents pondering the ground beneath their feet....
Salvation Army kettles bring in record-breaking 4.48 billion won

Dec 26, 2011

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Salvation Army kettles brought in more than 4.48 billion won (US$3.9 million) for the annual red kettle campaign this year, an all-time high despite global economic difficulties, the charity said on Monday. "We have collected more than 4.48 billion won to date in our street campaign that closed on Saturday," said Hong Bong-sik, managing director of the Sa...
Christmas attacks in Nigeria by sect kill 39

Dec 26, 2011

LAGOS, Nigeria (AP) _ Terror attacks across Nigeria by a radical Muslim sect killed at least 39 people, with the majority dying on the steps of a Catholic church after celebrating Christmas Mass as blood pooled in dust from a massive explosion. Authorities on Sunday acknowledged they could not bring enough emergency medical personnel to care for the wounded outside St. Theresa Catholic Church in...