Most Popular
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Harris, Trump face off as North Korea tests US on Election Day
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[Out of the Shadows] Seoul room clubs offer drugs to compete for clientele
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North Korea fires ballistic missiles hours before US Election Day
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Trump wins US election, foreshadows policy shift
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Seoul eyes expanding foreign caregiver pilot program
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Changing K-pop stars: idols begin to speak out
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‘Jang-making’ likely to get UNESCO recognition
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From Bush to Biden: How North Korea sees US elections
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Harris, Trump secure expected wins in reliable states as vote counting proceeds
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[Graphic News] Average lunch over 10,000 won
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Biography of former WHO director-general published in English
Lee Jong-wook: A Life inHealth and Politics(WHO, KOFIH)A biography of the late Lee Jong-wook, who served as the director-general of the World Health Organization from 2003 to 2006, has been published in English.The publication of the book was jointly funded by the WHO and Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH). It was written by Desmond Avery, a former editor of the Bulletin of the World Health Organization, who also worked as Lee’s speech writer during his years as the director-g
May 11, 2012
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Appreciation: Maurice Sendak helped children’s imaginations run wild
LOS ANGELES ― When my son Noah was little ― no more than 2 years old ― his favorite book was “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak, who died on Tuesday at age 83. We used to read it and reread it, every night before bed.The routine was always the same: Noah would stand up against the slats of his crib and stare at the fabulous lushness of Sendak’s drawings, while I not so much recited as intoned the text. Often, Noah would mouth the words along with me; although he couldn’t yet read, he’
May 11, 2012
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Time cover shows mom breastfeeding 3-year-old
Shocking or no big deal? A woman breastfeeding her 3-year-old son is the cover photo of this week's Time magazine for a story on ``attachment parenting,'' and reactions ranged from applause to cringing to shrugs.The photo showed Jamie Lynne Grumet, 26, a stay-at-home mom in Los Angeles who says her mother breastfed her until she was 6 years old. She told the magazine in an interview that she's gi
May 11, 2012
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Shin brings Korea into literary limelight
HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― South Korean novelist Shin Kyung-sook has opened doors for Korean literature to the world audience, marking the start of the Korean wave in the literary community, a critic has said.“(Shin is) a great winner who has brought Korea to the forefront of world literature,” Martin Alexander, editor in chief and poetry editor for the Hong Kong-based Asia Literary Review, said in a discussion with Shin late Tuesday, which was hosted by the Asia Society Hong Kong Center. In Marc
May 9, 2012
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American economist shares his green economic vision
Jeremy Rifkin says Korea can play leading role in ‘third industrial revolution’From renewable energy to world-class IT and shipping companies, Korea seems to “have it all” for the “Third Industrial Revolution,” said a renowned American scholar. Jeremy Rifkin, economist and best-selling author, said South Korea can play a key role in leading the development of a green economic infrastructure in Asia, and urged the Seoul government to take further actions to make it a reality. “I do want to applau
May 9, 2012
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At home with Nobel laureate Toni Morrison
GRAND VIEW-ON-HUDSON, New York (AP) ― The Hudson River extends like the sun from the back of Toni Morrison’s house, illuminated and infinite, undimmed by an unseasonably drab afternoon.“It’s interesting and soothing, and it changes constantly,’’ Morrison says from the comfort of an armchair. “And at night, with the stars and the moon ...’’The Nobel laureate has lived in this converted boathouse since the late 1970s, when she spotted a “For Sale’’ sign while driving by. Her commitment was tested
May 8, 2012
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A look at digital devices overuse
iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming its Hold on UsBy Larry D. Rosen(Palgrave/Macmillan)No matter where we go ― to a restaurant, a movie, a public restroom, and yes, even a funeral ― people are seen clutching and using a slim device that allows them to do just about anything they can do from an Internet-enabled computer at home. Who hasn’t attended a so-called business meeting in which every person is staring at a MacBookPro and talking on a cellphone simultaneou
May 4, 2012
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Fountain offers microcosm of America
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime WalkBy Ben Fountain(Ecco)An embedded Fox News crew has filmed a bloody firefight between Bravo Squad, a 10-member unit of the American army, and Iraqi insurgents. Although suffering two casualties among its badly outnumbered unit, Bravo Squad prevails, thanks especially to the courage of Spc. Billy Lynn, a 19-year-old from a small Texas town.The TV footage has gone viral in the United States, Bravo Squad has been hailed as heroes, and Billy has been awarded the Silver
May 4, 2012
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Alain Mabanckou’s wry novels, written in French, are finally being translated for U.S. audiences
In a UCLA classroom one day not long ago, Alain Mabanckou was teaching a course in post-colonial African fiction, which he instructs in his French mother tongue, one of several languages he speaks.With his easygoing yet focused manner, soccer player’s graceful body language and a way funkier fashion sense than the average college don, the 46-year-old Mabanckou kept his students’ attention, framing moral quandaries for them to consider and regaling them with technical explanations of an African a
May 4, 2012
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American scholar publishes collection of her Korean poems
Theresa Hyun delves into the ordinary lives of Korean peopleImagine writing poetry in a foreign language, and translating it back into your mother tongue.That’s what American scholar Theresa Hyun has done. The French, English and Korean-speaking professor, who had lived in Seoul from the early 1980s to 1992, recently published her first bilingual collection of poems, titled “A Cup of Tea at P’anmunjom (DMZ).”“Mostly I wrote about the things that I experienced living in Korea,” Hyun told The Kore
May 4, 2012
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Fans flock to meet author of ‘50 Shades of Grey’
MIAMI (AP) ― Young school teachers, middle-aged nurses and even the elderly flocked to a Miami book store Sunday for a chance to meet the author of the bestselling erotic romance “Fifty Shades of Grey’’ at the launch of her U.S. book tour.British newcomer E L James drew more than 500 men and women at a morning book signing and spoke later before a sold-out crowd at the historic Biltmore Hotel. It was her second-ever book signing, yet the size of the crowd snaking through the store with mimosas a
April 30, 2012
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Hardship and gloom mingle in Appalachia
The Cove By Ron Rash(Ecco)Setting a story in Appalachia during the dark days of World War I promises a certain gloominess to the tale. And while Ron Rash delivers that in “The Cove,” he also spins a moving tale of the hardships faced by two siblings as they fight for their existence in the hills of Appalachia.Laurel is a young woman of some beauty, marred by a prominent birthmark that leaves the superstitious people of her rural community convinced she’s a witch. Her brother, Hank, is home from
April 27, 2012
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Young survivors face a chaotic landscape
The Drowned Cities By Paolo Bacigalupi(Little, Brown)Whether it’s a conscious or subliminal reaction to U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, war is an increasingly common theme in modern young adult literature. But its horrors are rarely so thoroughly detailed as in Paolo Bacigalupi’s “The Drowned Cities.” One of the more graphically violent young adult titles of late, “The Drowned Cities” reads like a dystopian mash-up of the Vietnam War and modern geopolitics, where survivalism b
April 27, 2012
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Quick and easy guide to home-cooked meals
Simply Delicious One Course MealsBy Kye Kim (Recipe anecdotes contributed by Michelle Kim Vaughan)(Bookhouse Publishers)Living in a city with hot eateries and restaurants, cooking at home may not be appealing to busy Seoulites. But author Kye Kim’s newly published bilingual book, “Simply Delicious One Course Meals,” introduces easy ways to cook the dishes you love when eating out ― such as jajangmyeon (noodles with black bean sauce), sushi rolls and shabu shabu.Kim, who wrote two books on food p
April 27, 2012
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Author Edward Humes enjoys digging through rubbish
Edward Humes is a man of eclectic storytelling tastes. A former journalist awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for a series of stories he wrote for the Orange County Register on the military establishment in Southern California, Humes has written 11 nonfiction books on subjects including how the GI Bill transformed the American Dream, Southern justice and the Dixie Mafia, and the juvenile justice system in Los Angeles County. His latest book, “Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair With Trash” (Avery: 27
April 27, 2012
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Paju Book City wins award in Abu Dhabi
Paju Book City, home to some 260 local publishing houses in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, won a prestigious book award in the United Arab Emirates last month.The Korean book town won the Sheikh Zayed Book Award, one of the most prestigious book-themed awards in the Arab world, for its “contribution to technology in the field of culture.” The book city won 225 million won in prize money. The award was established in 2006 in commemoration of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who served as the presiden
April 24, 2012
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Literary symposium honors late poets
Annual event celebrates work of Baek and 4 other writers born 100 years agoIt has been 100 years since Korea’s beloved poet Baek Seok (1912-1973) was born. “No poet in history holds a comparable position in Korea,” said literary critic Hwang Gwang-soo, who attended a press meeting on Tuesday in Seoul to share his plans for an upcoming event commemorating the poet’s life. “Because he chose to move back to his hometown, which is located in North Pyeongan Province of North Korea, after the Korean W
April 24, 2012
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Shin’s award-winning novel sells over 2 million here
“Please Look After Mom,” a novel of family love and loss by award-winning author Shin Kyung-sook, has sold more than two million copies in her homeland South Korea, the publisher said Tuesday.Lee Sang-Sul, director at publisher Changbi, said only two other novels since the 1990s had sold more than two million in South Korea, “so it’s a rare achievement for a pure literary work.”Shin last month became the first South Korean to win the 2011 Man Asian Literary Prize with the novel, which portrays a
April 24, 2012
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A celebration followed by tragedy
Carry the One By Carol Anshaw(Simon & Schuster)The long shadow cast by the excesses of the 1980s has been the subject of several excellent recent novels, including Michelle Huneven’s “Blame” and Eleanor Henderson’s “Ten Thousand Saints.” How do the survivors of self-induced, self-indulgent tragedies do penance, find wisdom, compensate (or not) in the decades following?Carol Anshaw’s novel “Carry the One” begins at the rural Wisconsin wedding of Carmen Kenney and Matt Sloan in 1983. The final hou
April 20, 2012
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A glimpse of the private Susan Sontag
As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980 By Susan Sontag, edited by David Rieff(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)In the three years since “Reborn,” the first volume of Susan Sontag’s journals and notebooks, was published, at least three more books about the literary titan have appeared, notably Sigrid Nunez’s 2011 memoir, “Sempre Susan.”Although Nunez’s reminiscences ― centering primarily on the brief time she lived with Sontag and her son, David Rieff, in the mid-’70s
April 20, 2012