Most Popular
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First-ever meeting of president, opposition chief set to finally happen
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Blinken calls on China to press N. Korea to end its 'dangerous' behavior
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Naver’s Line ownership in jeopardy as Japan ups pressure
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South Korea to launch space security center under spy agency
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More med professors to take day off each week while govt. urges them to stay
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Hybe refutes Ador CEO Min's denial of breach of trust
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S. Korea, Japan could consider simplified entry agreement: Seoul official
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New celebrity-endorsed therapy for face contouring requires only a pair of rubber bands
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[Weekender] How DDP emerged as an icon of Seoul
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[Today’s K-pop] NewJeans' single teasers release amid intrigue
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CNBLUE’s new single hits No. 1 on presale charts
Four-member band CNBLUE’s new single “Lady,” which is slated for release in Japan on July 31, has hit No. 1 in the presale album charts. “Lady,” the band’s sixth single in the country, topped Japanese album franchise HMV’s “Korea & Asia” daily presale charts on July 4. The pop band also rose to No. 2 on its weekly charts, raising fans’ expectations for the upcoming release. “Lady” is to be released along with two other tracks, “Don’t Care” and “Monday,” which were written by member Jung Yong-hwa
July 9, 2013
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Boyfriend battles burden of good looks in Japanese film
K-pop group Boyfriend attended the premiere of Japanese romantic comedy “GOGO Ikemen 5” at United Cinemas Toyosu in Tokyo on Saturday. The members of Boyfriend play leading roles in the film.The group landed the roles six months after their Japanese debut with single “Be My Shine” in August 2012. In “GOGO Ikemen 5,” the five “pretty boys” who excel in sports, academics and looks are tired of girls paying attention only to their looks. When the innocent and pure Kanna, a girl who does not care fo
July 9, 2013
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FT Island’s Lee paints nails to book success
FT Island vocalist Lee Hong-gi’s nail art book has topped a book-magazine pre-order chart in Japan, Tower Records announced Sunday. “Lee Honggi Nail Book” has remained on top since last week. It also topped the Korean online bookstore Interpark’s weekly bestseller chart last week. The 144-page book includes photos of Lee and his self-done nails with some useful tips on how to apply nail polish and accessories on nails. In the book, Lee also talks about his philosophy and recounts a number of ane
July 9, 2013
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Prodigies offer hope for future of Korean classical music
Twelve-year-old Han Yeo-jin won the 18th Biwako International Flute Competition in May, beating much older competitors to become the youngest-ever winner with her performance of complex pieces such as Theobald Boehm’s “Grand Polonaise.” The elementary school student from Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, started playing the flute when she was 5 years old, inspired by her mother who was a flute teacher. Her mother Oh Hyun-suk was hesitant about her daughter’s direction at first, knowing that pursuing m
PerformanceJuly 9, 2013
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Lee paves way for displaying Hangeul on electronic devices
Lee Ki-sung, professor emeritus at the Kaywon School of Art & Design and the director of the eBook Academy in Korea, is considered by some as the modern-day King Sejong for his work in the development of Korean characters for electronic publishing.One of Lee’s greatest academic contributions is the standardization of a communication output code for 11,172 electronic Hangeul fonts. He was the driving force behind the development and implementation of these character fonts in the field in the Kore
PeopleJuly 9, 2013
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[Voice] Is the system for choosing textbooks working?
Who controls the past controls the future; so read the immortal lines of George Orwell’s “1984.” No wonder, then, that the interpretation of complex historical events rarely fails to generate controversy. Not for the first time, the teaching of Korea’s turbulent modern history to the nation’s young has become the subject of bitter division. At issue is the alleged distortion of history by a textbook preliminarily approved for use in high schools by the National Institute of Korean History. Like
Expat LivingJuly 8, 2013
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Kerry’s wife rushed to hospital
NEW YORK (AFP) ― The wife of U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry was rushed to a local hospital Sunday after falling ill and had been transferred and admitted to a larger Boston facility, a spokesman said.Late Sunday afternoon Teresa Heinz Kerry “was taken by ambulance to Nantucket Cottage Hospital accompanied by her husband,” spokesman Glen Johnson said in a statement.Heinz Kerry, a multilingual philanthropist born to Portuguese parents in colonial-era Mozambique, arrived in a “critical but stab
PeopleJuly 8, 2013
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King wants Mandela grandson title revoked
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) ― A South African traditional king will try to revoke the chieftaincy of Nelson Mandela’s grandson Mandla after a bitter family feud over gravesites, South African media reported Sunday.King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, the Xhosa king who rules the Thembu tribe to which the Mandela family belongs, accused Mandla Mandela of disgracing the family after the younger Mandela launched a nationally-televised tirade against his relatives and the king.“Mandla has never been the legitimate h
PeopleJuly 8, 2013
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Korea wins world skills competition for 18th time
Korea took first place overall at the 2013 World Skills Competition in Leipzig, Germany. It was the 18th time for Korea to stand on top in its history of participation in the event. In the 42nd edition, which ended a six-day run on Sunday, Korea won 12 gold, five silver and six bronze medals. Switzerland was second with nine gold, three silver and five bronze medals, followed by Chinese Taipei in third with six gold, four silver and eight bronze medals. Korea first joined the 16th World Skills C
PeopleJuly 8, 2013
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Unlikely partners: Artworks used to create slush funds
The chairman of CJ Group, Korea’s largest food and entertainment company, was arrested for alleged tax evasion and the creation of slush funds in late June. Chairman Lee Jae-hyun is under suspicions of dodging millions of dollars in taxes by stashing secret funds and misappropriating company funds. Some of the money was alleged to have been laundered through the purchase of artworks. For years, art transactions have been means for Korean conglomerates to create slush funds or evade taxes. Samsun
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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Poet says he ‘won’t write’ during Park’s presidency
Poet Ahn Do-hyun announced via his Twitter account last week that he “won’t write” during President Park Geun-hye’s presidency.“I will not write a single piece of poetry in a country that’s led by Park Geun-hye, I swear,” he tweeted on July 4. The 52-year-old served as the chairman of the joint election committee for Rep. Moon Jae-in, the Democratic United Party’s candidate for the 2012 presidential election. Ahn was one of some 30 literary figures who served as Moon’s “mentors” during the presi
BooksJuly 8, 2013
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Professor discovers new use for laser in art world
DURHAM, North Carolina (AP) ― A U.S. professor who developed a laser to study melanoma has discovered a new use for it: uncovering what’s underneath artwork without damaging the pieces.Dr. Warren S. Warren was at the National Gallery in London, looking at an exhibit on art forgeries, when he realized that the art world used imaging technologies that were 30 or 40 years old. So he began investigating whether lasers could be used to safely uncover the mysteries underneath layers of paint.So far, t
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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Mexico’s female mariachis defy macho culture
MEXICO CITY (AFP) ― With her hair tied back, large hoop earrings and high heels, Isabel Aguilar stood confidently in front of her five fellow mariachi musicians, all men, and sang to a mostly male crowd in a Mexico City square.Aguilar, a violinist, is among the few female musicians in Plaza Garibaldi, a tourist spot famous for its roving mariachi bands, crowded restaurants and booze-fueled nightlife.For the past 16 years, the 32-year-old mother-of-two has defied the quintessentially macho cultur
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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Drawing traces of light and time
Gallery DOS presents a solo exhibition of artist Choi Eun-hyea this week as part of the gallery’s special exhibitions for up-and-coming artists it selected for this year. Choi, one of the five selected artists, explores a subject that is rarely dealt with in painting ― the journey of light. Light, which largely remained an auxiliary element determining the tone of paintings, has emerged as an independent subject in paintings as contemporary artists explore diverse subjects for their works. The a
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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2NE1, Brown Eyed Girls to go head-to-head on their return
2NE1 has made its much-awaited return as a group with the release of single “Falling in Love” on Monday. Upon its release, the new single topped nine local real-time music charts, giving the track a certified “all-kill” title. The four members of 2NE1 took their first leap into the reggae scene with the tropical-flavored electro pop song in their first group single in a year. Their last single “I Love U” went public on July 5 last year. Although the ladies are currently one of the most iconic gi
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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Sogyumo Acacia Band gets back to the sound of nature
South Korean acoustic band Sogyumo Acacia Band put out its fifth album “Slow Diving Table,” a gesture that departs from today’s hectic electronic music to get back to the raw sound where music started. “People live in a world full of disturbing noises, but we wanted to awaken people to notice the beautiful sounds existing in them,” said group member Kim Min-hong.Kim and fellow member Song Eun-ji wanted to offer healing sounds to fans by featuring sounds of nature merged into the tranquil acousti
PerformanceJuly 8, 2013
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Verdi’s ‘Les vepres’ gaining new attention
KATONAH, New York (AP) ― It’s been called the “missing link’’ among Giuseppe Verdi’s operas, composed right after his three mid-career mega-hits ― “Rigoletto,’’ “Il Trovatore’’ and “La Traviata’’ ― and pointing the way toward the masterpieces of his later years.Why “missing?’’ It’s not as if “Les vepres siciliennes’’ (“The Sicilian Vespers’’), first performed in Paris in 1855, was lost or had to be reconstructed by scholars. Yet, despite its importance in the Verdi canon, the opera has remained
PerformanceJuly 7, 2013
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Actor Namgung Won: A living witness of Korean film industry
Veteran actor Namgung Won joined a highly select group of acclaimed figures in the Korean film industry last week as he became a member of the National Academy of Arts, a state-run organization of Korean artists dedicated to promoting the development of arts in Korea. Namgung is only the second actor to become a member of the organization, after veteran actress Hwang Jeong-soon in 2006. The prestigious group of prominent cultural figures in Korea includes directors Kim Ki-duk, Im Kwon-taek and B
CultureJuly 7, 2013
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Sheryl Sandberg: ‘Gender equality benefits all of us’
Facebook’s powerhouse woman Sheryl Sandberg wants Hillary Clinton to be the first U.S. female president. “I would like the United States to have a female president,” Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, said during a press conference in Seoul last week. “I would like Hillary Clinton to be the female president. I think she is the best hope in the United States for someone to be a female president in the next foreseeable future. And I think she is also really uniquely qualified for t
BooksJuly 7, 2013
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Bieber to hit Korean stage for first time
Canadian teenage pop star Justin Bieber, 19, who rose to superstardom after being discovered on YouTube, will be making his way to Korea for his first local concert on Oct. 10 at Seoul Olympic Park’s Gymnastics Stadium. The concert is part of the young singer’s “Believe World Tour” taking him to 39 different countries including the United Kingdom, Dubai, Germany and Turkey. Bieber is scheduled to perform 151 shows and attract around 1.8 million fans during his world tour. Bieber was first disco
PerformanceJuly 7, 2013