ISPA CEO David Baile says Korean arts scene ‘progressive’ The month of June will be an exciting month for Korea’s performing arts scene as the International Society for the Performing Arts (ISPA) Congress will held in Seoul for the first time. The six-day event will bring some of the most influential performing arts figures together here, including Sydney Opera House’s chief executive Richard E...

Translation institute’s new director Kim stresses importance of international promotion of Korean literature More international networking and aggressive marketing are needed to better promote Korean literature overseas, said the newly appointed director of Korea Literature Translation Institute on Wednesday. “What local critics consider as an exceptional piece of literary work here may not be ...

Former Uzbekistan coach aims to help Korea win boxing gold in London He can’t speak a word of Korean, and knows little about this country, but former Uzbekistan boxing coach Mars Kuchkarov says his current goal is to take the Korean national boxers to the London 2012 Olympics. His name may not be familiar to most people here, but the former Uzbekistani national team coach is one of the biggest ...

Translation institute’s new director Kim stresses importance of international promotion of Korean literature More international networking and aggressive marketing are needed to better promote Korean literature overseas, said the newly appointed director of Korea Literature Translation Institute on Wednesday. “What local critics consider as an exceptional piece of literary work here may not be ...

‘Nameless Gangster’ star says every character is complex, especially the bad guys It’s quite fascinating to meet Choi Min-sik in person. For those who have never met this prolific actor off-screen, it’d be hard to imagine him as someone so down to earth and “normal.” On top of everything else, his face is that of the gruesome serial killer in “I Saw the Devil,” and the child murderer in “Sympat...

Biz association chief says FTA would make bilateral economy stronger Business cooperation between Seoul and Tokyo is getting stronger and closer as more and more Japanese companies are setting up operations in Korea, a top Japanese business leader said. “We thought that in Japan, our supply chain was perfect, but the earthquake and tsunami made our perfect supply chain a disaster. So Japanese c...

For Song Inho, an architecture professor of the University of Seoul, the most propitious place in the capital is an area extending from the peak of Mount Inwang to its northern ridge. On the summit of the mountain behind the presidential office, he can get a clear aerial view of the ancient fortress wall that encircles Seoul. In the fortress wall, he also sees a thick layer of the 600-year hist...

Irish musician Rice is Jan. 11 concert soldout With Guinness and Westlife among the very few Irish things that have made it to Korea, and the singer’s face rarely shown on TV, a fan of Irish singer Damien Rice may pride him/herself on being “a classy minority.” Minor fandom, however, is hardly a suitable term for a musician who sold out some 1,600 seats in just a few hours, despite modest promo...

Rep. Bae Eun-hee This is the fourth in a series of interviews with first-term lawmakers. ― Ed. Politics is about turning theory into policy and thus dreams into reality, says a biologist-turned-lawmaker. Rep. Bae Eun-hee, before joining the ruling Grand National Party in 2008 as a representative chosen by proportional representation, was chief executive officer of Regen Biotech, a biotechnolog...

HAIKOU, China -- The chief organizer of the World Cup of Golf believes the event’s popularity will take off in the years to come. “The World Cup is not as popular as other sports. For instance golf in China is only 25 years old. But it means there is a lot of room to grow,” said Ken Chu, chairman of Mission Hills Group. The biennial global competition started in 1954 in Canada with seven nation...

There is a new and positive feeling in the air at the Colombian Embassy, not only because of the Colombian president’s visit but also because of plans to heighten overall relations with Korea. The once-small embassy has doubled in size to welcome three new attaches who will work to promote science and technology, education, culture and sports, and tourism. “The focus of the embassy was very dif...

First foreign coach trains Korean national team for Sochi 2014 It’s a Thursday morning in Taeneung, northern Seoul, and the 10 a.m. training session is well under way. A group of figure skaters are working out at the national ice skating rink. “Come on, let’s move,” their instructor Sergei Astashev urges them. The 46-year-old Russian, wearing a dark hoodie and baseball cap, makes the group stan...

Korea’s growing technological prowess and the business community’s brisk participation in standardization works will help expand global markets for smart grids, executives of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers’ Standards Association said. The standards body is a unit within the IEEE, the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. The U.S.-based n...

DAEGU -- Korea’s first ever World Championships in Athletics, which concluded on Sunday after nine days of competition, will provide a “bright future” for Korean athletics, according to athletics legend Sergey Bubka. In his pole vaulting career, Bubka won six Worlds titles, set 35 world records, and also won gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The Ukranian’s world record 6.14 meter leap in Ita...