Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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Speaker floats dual citizenship as solution to falling births
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Enjoy culture for free on Wednesday
Jan. 29 is the nation’s first “indulge-in-culture” Wednesday, when public cultural establishments, such as museums, concert halls and palaces, offer free admission or whopping discounts. Dubbed “Culture Wednesday,” the program is part of a government plan to enrich the lives of Koreans, notorious for being workaholics, with arts and culture. It runs on the last Wednesday of each month.“We hope that people from all walks of life will be able to enjoy culture on Culture Wednesdays, to say the leas
Jan. 28, 2014
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[Weekender] Redefining meaning of Seollal
Tens of thousands of Koreans will hit the road Thursday, the official start of the Lunar New Year holidays, to head for their hometowns to spend time with parents and relatives. Among them will be Lee Yeon-ju, a 42-year-old housewife living in Seoul. As always, her family will spend the first two days of the holidays with her husband’s parents in Gangneung, Gangwon Province. What is usually a three-hour drive could easily turn into a tedious five- to six-hour journey, but that is not what Lee dr
Jan. 24, 2014
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[Weekender] Korea strives to revive fading interest in traditional clothes
Han Hyun-young, a 29-year-old office worker in Seoul, had a hanbok custom-made for herself when she got married in 2011. But she has worn the traditional Korean clothes only twice ― on her first visit to her in-law’s house after her honeymoon and on her sister-in-law’s wedding day. “I wore it because I had to. I wouldn’t wear it if I didn’t have to,” she said. Han is not the only one feeling reluctant to wear a hanbok on special occasions. As hanbok are no longer a daily outfit for most Koreans,
Jan. 24, 2014
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[Weekender] Celebrating Seollal in old Korean fashion
Seollal, the Lunar New Year, is one of the most celebrated holidays in Korea: It is not only a time to pay respects to one’s elders and ancestors, but is also an opportunity to spend time with family and friends to celebrate the New Year immersed in tradition. With the colorful hanbok (traditional Korean costume) and the traditional food and folk games, Seollal gives people the chance to experience some real Korean culture. Whether it be traveling to the countryside to reunite with extended fami
Jan. 24, 2014
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Capturing sublime nature
Sitting in front of a large table in the second-floor library of photographer Bae Bien-u’s studio in Hyeri, an artists’ village near the DMZ in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Bae’s passions ― aside from the obvious, photography ― are apparent. Several thousand books ― on topics ranging from art, photography and history to cookbooks, all arranged alphabetically by title ― fill the bookcases lining the walls, and the marble-top kitchen counter and the professional-grade stainless steel pots that sit ato
Jan. 24, 2014
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Over 500 artifacts discovered in undersea trove near Jindo
Off the southern coast of Korea near Jindo Island, a team of Korean archaeologists have discovered a cornucopia of relics that they hope will provide a glimpse into the country’s rich history of cultural assets. Among the artifacts are a pair of ceramic jars believed to date back to the Three Kingdoms era (57 to 668 AD) and two items that look like yogo, an ancient prototype of janggo, the traditional hourglass-shaped double headed drum. “The waters off Oryu-ri, Jindo, are an underwater treasure
Jan. 23, 2014
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Italy’s art spooks show off stolen masterpieces
ROME (AFP) ― Italy’s cultural police, who have taken a leading role in the fight against the smuggling of antiquities, put on show a trove of recovered stolen art in Rome from Etruscan funerary urns to Renaissance paintings.Dozens of works are being displayed in the presidential palace in the Italian capital in a special exhibition also intended to show off a police force that is called in to consult on art thefts around the world.The force said it has the largest database of stolen works around
Jan. 23, 2014
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[Eye on English] For Korean moms, family separation is sometimes ‘necessary’ sacrifice
A 39-year-old housewife surnamed Shin recently decided to apply for a visa to Canada for herself and her children. She plans to stay for up to two years so her kids can go to local schools. She will also have to take on the “father role” as her husband will be staying in Korea to financially support them. “I am taking my kids to Canada for my children to get an English education. I plan to stay in Canada just long enough for my children to master English,” she told The Korea Herald by phone. Stu
Jan. 22, 2014
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Former Louvre chief to head preparations for 130th anniversary of French-Korean ties
The former president of the Louvre Museum and Cho Yang-ho, the chairman and CEO of Korean Air, will head up a joint organizing commission to prepare for the 130th anniversary of Korean-French diplomatic relations in 2015 and 2016.Henri Loyrette, former president and general director of the Louvre Museum, announced his appointment as he wrapped up a week-long visit to South Korea with a press briefing at the French Embassy, Tuesday. Cho is well-known as an avid supporter of the arts here and abro
Jan. 22, 2014
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New NYC doorman duty: Spotting elder abuse
NEW YORK (AP) ― New York’s doormen are being enlisted as an army of eyes to look for signs of elder abuse: a stranger picking up the mail, the sudden presence of a rarely seen relative with an attitude, a bruise. “Doormen know everything that’s going on,” Joy Solomon said before conducting a training session for doormen, porters and other apartment workers, fittingly held over the din of whirring dryers in the laundry room of a Manhattan building. “They know who’s going in, who’s going out. They
Jan. 22, 2014
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Solution still out of reach?
More than 40 years have passed since prehistoric engravings were found on the surface of a rock cliff in Ulsan, about 305 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Over the years, the etchings have been submerged repeatedly because of a nearby dam, but Korea still hasn’t figured out what steps to take to preserve them. The Bangudae Petroglyph, measuring 3 meters in height and 10 meters in length, was discovered in 1971, six years after Sayeon Dam was built to secure drinking water for Ulsan and prevent flo
Jan. 20, 2014
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S. Korea, China agree on closer cooperation on TV, radio programs
BEIJING (Yonhap News) -- South Korea and China agreed to forge closer cooperation in television and radio broadcasting, including the joint development of technology related to ultra-high definition TVs, Seoul's top media regulator said Friday.The agreement was reached after a meeting in Beijing earlier in the day between Lee Kyeong-jae, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, and Cai Fuchao, head of China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, Lee said.The memorandum of
Jan. 17, 2014
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Famed Argentine poet Juan Gelman dies
MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Juan Gelman, a renowned Argentine poet and left-wing activist who was awarded the prestigious Cervantes Prize, has died in Mexico. He was 83. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez on Wednesday announced three days of mourning in his native country, where writers paid homage to him as one of the most brilliant writers in Spanish of the 20th century. “Gelman worked with words like they were plastic, he modeled them,” writer Vicente Muleiro told reporters. He was widely mourned
Jan. 16, 2014
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Why so many churches in Korea?
Aaron Tan, a renowned architect based in Hong Kong, once described Seoul as “A city full of glowing church crosses.” And that seems to be an impression shared by many foreign visitors to Korea, as crosses atop high-rise church steeples, illuminated white or red at night, dot the skyline of Seoul. Has Korea been transformed into a Christian nation after hundreds of years of cultural domination by Confucianism and Buddhism?Professor Chung Byung-joon of Seoul Jangshin University in Gwangju, Gyeongg
Jan. 15, 2014
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London’s new theater offers tragedy by candlelight
LONDON (AP) ― Shakespeare’s Globe in London is adding a couple of innovations in its quest to give audiences a sense of theater as it was 400 years ago: a roof and candles. Hundreds and hundreds of candles.They flicker in sconces and chandeliers inside the Globe’s brand-new indoor venue, which stands alongside its Elizabethan-style open-air playhouse beside the River Thames. The oak-framed, wood-paneled theater will allow the Globe to stage plays year-round for the first time ― starting with a p
Jan. 15, 2014
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Last call for the hotel minibar?
The quintessential “Me Generation” hotel amenity, the minibar, may be fading away like disco music, transistor radios and bell-bottom jeans.Upscale resorts today seem lukewarm, at best, about providing and maintaining the self-service, in-room liquor caches, where guests can crack open a miniature bottle of tequila or vodka or perhaps even enjoy cookies and soft drinks.Never a huge moneymaker due to chronic petty larceny and the high labor costs of monitoring and restocking liquor supplies, the
Jan. 15, 2014
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Korean wrapping cloths showcased in Japan
A collection of traditional Korean wrapping cloths, called bojagi in Korean, is being showcased in Japan, where the garments are often used in everyday life.About 40 Korean bojagi on loan from the Museum of Korean Embroidery, along with 25 traditional pocket bags, are on view in a special exhibition at Koryo Museum of Art in Kyoto until March 30.It is the third time for the Korean museum to be invited to present its collection in Japan, reflecting a growing interest in Korean bojagi. “In Japan,
Jan. 14, 2014
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China designates Korea’s Yut Nori as its cultural heritage
A Chinese province added Yut Nori, a Korean traditional board game, to its list of regional intangible assets, local media outlet MBN reported. Yut Nori, along with the six-holed bamboo flute Tungso and sword dance, was included on a list of intangible cultural assets posted on the official website of Heilung-chiang province, where ethnic Koreans living in China are concentrated.The popular Korean game was recognized as provincial cultural heritage, not at the national level. However, speculatio
Jan. 14, 2014
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Cologne Phil to present rarely performed ‘Alpine Symphony’
Richard Strauss’ “Alpine Symphony” is rarely performed because of the demands it makes on an orchestra ― for starters, it requires 125 players. So far, no foreign orchestra has played the grandiose 50-minute piece here. That is why so many Korean music fans are thrilled about the upcoming concert by the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra.The Germany-based orchestra will hold its first concert in Korea on Feb. 15 at Seoul Arts Center, with the program consisting of the “Alpine Symphony” and Mozart’s
Jan. 12, 2014
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Calendar
Exhibitions“Re-Atta, Part 1: On-Air Project”: Photographer Atta Kim, whose innovative, striking photographs have received much attention in the global art community, returns with a solo exhibition in Seoul. Kim presents new images to wrap up the “On-Air” project that won him worldwide attention, as well as his previous works such as city images taken with long exposure and introduce another ambitious, philosophical project that overlaps 10,000 snapshots of a city into one. The extensive survey o
Jan. 10, 2014