Lee Kwang-soo injured in car accident

South Korean star actor and entertainer Lee Kwang-soo has been injured in a traffic accident and will cancel all of his scheduled activities, his agency said Tuesday. According to King Kong by Starship, Lee was hit by a car violating traffic signals on Saturday last week. "He underwent a thorough examination at a nearby hospital and was diagnosed with a right ankle fracture," the company said. "He is now being hospitalized and receiving medical treatment." As a result, L

Feb. 18, 2020

Samsung SDI employee gets credit for giving blood more than 200 times

With the coronavirus scare dragging down the amount of blood donations in South Korea well below average, exemplary cases of devoted blood donors are receiving spotlight. Battery company Samsung SDI employee Cho Hyun-su was acknowledged by the Korean Red Cross for donating blood more than 200 times over the past 20 years, according to the firm this week. Cho, 38, started giving blood from highschool years and have now drawn an accumulated 85 liters of his blood for others, which is equivalent

Feb. 18, 2020

[Herald Interview] Web-serial writer Lee Nak-joon juggles three jobs

Lee Nak-joon, 35, balances three jobs -- web-serial writer, YouTuber and ear, nose and throat specialist. “At first I did not have much problems. I write fast. It usually takes around an hour and a half for me to write one episode (for my daily update). For YouTube, I only spent around 15 minutes shooting a video that is around 10 minutes,” Lee said in an interview with The Korea Herald. It became tougher to manage last year after his web serial “Trauma Center: Golden Hour&

Feb. 14, 2020

Hollywood legend Kirk Douglas dead at 103

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- US silver screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood's biggest-ever stars, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 103. One of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema and the father of Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Michael Douglas, the "Spartacus" actor was renowned for the macho tough guy roles he took on in around 90 movies over a six-decade career. "It is with trem

Feb. 6, 2020

Yi Sang Literary Award organizer cancels this year’s awards, modifies contract terms in response to protests

Munhaksasang, the publishing company that confers South Korea’s prestigious Yi Sang Literary Award, apologized Tuesday for the controversy that emerged when three of this year’s runners-up refused to accept their awards to protest contract terms they deemed unfair. “We apologize to everyone who was hurt and disappointed by this issue,” Munhaksasang CEO Lim Ji-hyun said in a statement. “We now realized that the biggest problem was our lack of awareness of copyright

Feb. 5, 2020

Interviewers outshine star guests on YouTube

The norm of interviewers having limited roles in front of the camera no longer holds true, as more South Korean interviewers are starting to shine on YouTube. Interviewer and producer Lee Eun-jae of variety show “MMTG,” a program that kicked off on SBS’ YouTube platform in February 2018, is one such example. The program, which features interviews with stars in different fields, has a separate YouTube channel with more than 40,900 subscribers as of Sunday. Lee, also known as Jae

Jan. 19, 2020

[Contribution] What the Korean War Wall of Remembrance means to me

With the world anxiously waiting to see if North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will resume intercontinental ballistic missile testing, to include potentially testing a missile capable of reaching the eastern United States, it is well to remember the conflict that is the root of the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula. On June 25, 1950, the Korean War began when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army invaded South Korea. Following the North Korean invasion, the Unite

Jan. 19, 2020

Actor Joo Jin-mo apologizes to women mentioned in his hacked text messages

Actor Joo Jin-mo, in trouble after his personal mobile text messages were leaked by hackers, apologized Thursday to his acquaintances and the women mentioned in the messages."Following the incident, I am leading a life in which I can't even breathe. I am sorry to everybody," he said in a message released through his legal representative."I bow deeply and ask for forgiveness from (them) ... but I have never committed the immoral act of taking secret photos of women or circulating t

Jan. 16, 2020

Popularity of Korean music to go beyond K-pop in next decade: columnist, jazz musician

US-based K-pop columnist Jeff Benjamin and renowned jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun, the two winners of the Korea Image Awards given by the Corea Image Communication Institute, said Tuesday that global attention to Korean music is expanding beyond K-pop as the country boasts the world’s sixth-largest music industry.“It is really special to think how much Korean music has grown for the 10 years,” said Benjamin during a press event at InterContinental Seoul Coex on the sidelines of CI

Jan. 15, 2020

CICI recognizes SK Telecom, K-pop writer Benjamin, jazz singer Nah for contributions to Korea’s image

Mobile carrier SK Telecom, K-pop columnist Jeff Benjamin and jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun were awarded the Corea Image Communication Institute’s Korea Image Awards on Tuesday for their contributions to building a positive image of South Korea at home and overseas. At the awards ceremony held at the InterContinental Seoul Coex, SK Telecom Vice President Yoo Young-sang received the Korea Image Stepping Stone Award on behalf of the mobile carrier for its efforts to commercialize 5G technology w

Jan. 14, 2020

Korean American included in NASA's future Moon, Mars exploration program

LOS ANGELES -- A Korean American doctor has been included in the list of 11 new astronauts who will take part in the upcoming Moon and Mars exploration program, according to the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration Sunday.Jonny Kim will be joining the Artemis project, which aims to send people to the Moon by 2024. The program will use the knowhow and experience learned to place astronauts on Mars by the mid-2020s to 2030, according to the agency. Born in Los Angeles, Kim is a highly

Jan. 13, 2020

Justin Bieber reveals he has Lyme disease

MONTREAL (AFP) -- Pop super star Justin Bieber announced Wednesday that he has Lyme disease.In a post on Instagram, Bieber said he will address his struggle with the illness, which is contracted through a tick bite, in a YouTube documentary."It's been a rough couple years but getting the right treatment that will help treat this so far incurable disease and I will be back and better than ever," the 25 year old entertainer wrote in the post's caption.He called out critics who he says ha

Jan. 9, 2020

Koreans spend on reading habits

Many Koreans are willing to spend money to achieve their New Year’s goal to read more books.Around 12.25 percent of Koreans said that their top New Year’s goal is to achieve personal development, mainly through reading books, according to online survey platform Now N Survey. Buying a house, at 17 percent, topped the list of responses in the survey conducted among 1,420 people from Dec. 10 to Jan. 7. Setting up a goal is the easy part; good habits are hard to form. In market rese

Jan. 8, 2020

44th Yi Sang Literary Award announcement postponed after writers refuse prizes

Korea’s prestigious Yi Sang Literary Award postponed its announcement of this year’s winners on Monday after three writers refused to accept their awards. “We decided to delay the awards due to writers’ refusals,” a representative of Munhaksasang, the awards’ organizer, said Monday. The Korean publishing company added that a revised schedule for the 44th Yi Sang Literary Award had not been decided yet.  The decision was made after two writers, Kim Geum-he

Jan. 6, 2020

CICI announces Korea Image Awards winners

The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) announced on Monday this year’s Korea Image Awards winners -- SK Telecom, K-pop columnist Jeff Benjamin and jazz vocalist Nah Youn-sun. SK Telecom was awarded the Korea Image Stepping Stone Award for its efforts to commercialize 5G technology worldwide as the nation’s top mobile carrier. SKT CEO Park Jung-ho will be given the award on behalf of the company, according to CICI. The award ceremony will be held Jan. 14 at InterContinent

Dec. 16, 2019

LTI Korea awards recognize excellence in literary translation

The Literature Translation Institute of Korea announced on Monday the winners of its translation awards this year, recognizing their contributions to the promotion of Korean literature worldwide. The 17th LTI Korea Translation Awards went to Yoon Sun-me, who translated Han Kang’s novel “Human Acts” into Spanish as “Actos Humanos”; Sora Kim-Russel, who translated Kim Un-su’s novel “The Plotters” into English; and Li San-lun and Kim Hwan, who transla

Dec. 16, 2019

Police refer BTS' Jungkook to prosecutors for potential indictment

Police have referred BTS' youngest member Jungkook to prosecutors for a potential legal indictment over a car accident in October, police officials said Tuesday.Yongsan Police Station in charge of Jungkook's case said it has sent the case to the prosecution, advising it to lay formal charges of violating the Road Traffic Act and related laws against the K-pop star.A sedan driven by the 22-year-old rammed into a taxi in central Seoul in October, causing minor injuries to Jungkook and the taxi dri

Dec. 10, 2019

[Photo News] Nature conservation project

W-Foundation Chairman Lee Wook speaks at the UN Climate Change Conference COP25 in Madrid on Monday, explaining the eco-friendly HOOXI project, which includes the HOOXI app, designed to help preserve nature, and paper-packaged HOOXI Water. Established in 2012, W-Foundation is a nonprofit environmental organization spearheading nature conservation projects in partnership with state institutions and organizations from around the world. (W-Foundation)

Dec. 10, 2019

Ex-Daewoo Group chief Kim Woo-choong dies at 82

Former Daewoo Group Chairman Kim Woo-choong, once touted as one of the most successful businessmen in South Korea, died late Monday at age 82, an organization affiliated with the now-defunct conglomerate said.Kim, the founder of the trading-to-automobile conglomerate, died of a chronic disease at a local hospital late Monday night, according to Daewoosky Institute, which represents former employees of Daewoo Group.He launched Daewoo Corp. in March 1967 to export textiles to Southeast Asian marke

Dec. 10, 2019

[Feature] Frank penguin becomes new star of year, breaks stereotype of EBS characters

A 210-centimeter-tall penguin walks into a room for an audition at Educational Broadcasting System, insisting he wants to be a star creator. The penguin, who has a strand of seaweed and a seashell on its head, explains that he swam all the way from the South Pole. The 10-year-old’s ultimate goal is to become as popular as BTS.Speaking in a cute -- sometimes husky -- voice, Pengsoo raps, breakdances and even yodels -- a skill he picked up in Switzerland on his way to Korea. When the judges

Dec. 9, 2019