In 1961, at age 25, Faye Pinchbeck crossed the Pacific Ocean to be with her beloved, a Korean man 15 years her senior. The American woman from Connecticut met Stephen Moon (Moon Tong-hwan), well-known pastor and social activist, while studying to be a social worker at Hartford Seminary in the U.S., where Moon was working on his doctorial thesis in Christian Education as an international student. ...

This is the fifth installment in a series of interviews with chiefs of United Nations offices in Korea. ― Ed. With Korea’s advanced information technology, its know-how in e-government services could provide a key tool for developing countries to help achieve good governance and effective public administration, the head of the U.N. Project Office on Governance said. “E-government is one of the ...

In their teen years, the three sisters Maria, Lucia and Angella Ahn, a.k.a. the Ahn Trio, graced the cover of Time Magazine as “Asian-American whiz kids.” In their 20s and 30s, this classical trio built a reputation in the classical music world and beyond, with genre-crossing programs, collaborations with a variety of artists ― not just musicians but dancers, visual artists and many others ― and ...

The future of Korea’s hotel industry lies in “going upscale” to establish global and premium-brand hotels satisfying the needs of the spiraling number of business travelers to the country, an expert on the hospitality industry said. Despite the plethora of budget hotels targeting holidaymakers, the key will be to capture the business travelers who are less sensitive to economic ups and downs, sa...

As U.S. President Barack Obama had once pointed out, South Korean’s zeal for education is second to none. But English language education author Patrick Jackson said effort alone is not enough when vying to become a polyglot. For young language learners, the key is to keep the work interesting, enjoyable and connected to the real world. “The amount of content (Korean) students go through in a ye...

The Global Green Growth Institute is committed to crafting low-carbon development strategies for emerging countries by harnessing innovation and fostering public-private cooperation in line with Seoul’s drive for a creative economy, its new chief said. Yvo de Boer, former executive secretary of the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, also expressed his resolve to remake the Seoul-based ...

Korean-American rapper Snacky Chan, 33, has always been an independent artist. From his start in the Boston underground hip-hop scene in the late ’90s to his move to Korea in 2008 and up to today, he said he’s never been out to get signed. Instead, he relies solely on himself. “When I first started ― first debuted ― the whole system kind of changed. People were doing stuff independent and build...

Kang Yosep seems to be a hot commodity in Europe’s opera scene. Last December, he sang the leading role in Puccini’s tragic opera “La Boheme” for 17 days in three different productions staged by top opera houses in Berlin, Mannheim and Vienna. His schedule for this year and the next looks much the same. He is to perform in the German cities of Munich, Leipzig and Dresden, and in Warsaw and Vien...

To most modern women, shoes do more than merely cover one’s foot for protection. “Shoes have become an important fashion item, in particular, for women who want to express themselves,” said Diana Kang, chief executive of GRI Korea, in an interview with The Korea Herald. “Riding on the trend, a growing number of Korean women are seen with growing shoe collections that are meant to match their da...

This summer, a series of Korean concerts, plays and performances will be held in London, competing for the limelight at the city’s major arts festival ― the City of London Festival. Five or six other Korean performance groups will take the much-coveted stage at the famous Edinburgh Festival next year, continuing what Angella Kwon hopes to be “the Korean culture bash” at high-profile internationa...

The music of composer Ryu Hyeong-sun has an appeal that crosses strikingly different genres and attracts a diverse range of fans. To young or expecting moms, he is best known for a series of pregnancy music, lullabies and children’s songs. Christians know him as a gospel musician. Among fans of gugak or traditional Korean classical music, he is regarded as one of the country’s most promising gug...

T’way Air may be the nation’s smallest budget carrier with just seven short- and midrange aircraft, but it is quickly building a reputation as an innovative player in a market which is reaching a fever pitch of competition. The carrier, for instance, moved faster than other low-cost carriers to become the first to launch a route between Daegu and Jejudo Island in March. The same month, the carr...

The success story of “Jam Boy” Fraser Doherty, founder of SuperJam, has almost become legend. At the age of 10 he was a door-to-door sausage salesman. By the time he turned 14, he had become a jam maker after learning his grandmother’s secret recipe that replaced sugar with highly reduced fruit juice. In 2013, more than 1 million jars of SuperJam were sold in 20 countries grossing 3.4 billion w...

Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, said Wednesday at a press conference in Seoul that the group will actively support Renault Samsung Motor’s new vision for 2016. Ghosn said he believes RSM will head Renault Group’s current global strategy, “Renault ― Drive the Change,” and play a more vital role in the group’s future. As reflected in the chairman’s words...