Most Popular
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Hyundai Motor eyes 80,000 jobs, W68tr investment at home by 2026
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Seoul bus drivers go on general strike, cause morning rush hour delays
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Korea enters full election mode
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Official campaigning kicks off for April 10 elections
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Dialogue hopes fade as doctors pick hard-liner as new head
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Coupang pledges W3tr to expand Rocket Delivery nationwide by 2027
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[Election Battlefield] Political novice to face off star politician in ‘swing district’
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Immigrant woman stabbed to death by Korean husband
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[Kim Seong-kon] The April 2024 election will decide our future
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Seoul’s bus union prepares for strike
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Korea to turn hallyu into industry
Culture Ministry plans to create fair business environment for artists, large concert hall and support content developersThe Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Wednesday a set of comprehensive plans for hallyu, such as building infrastructure for better content development, facilitating a support system for less popular Korean cultural genres, and promoting cultural exchanges to prevent anti-Korean sentiment.“Concerns are rising that the Korean Wave will fade away in just four
April 17, 2012
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Small but diverse, Muslim community carries on its worship
Shariq Saeed carries an unconventional status symbol with him everywhere he goes: a calloused indentation on his forehead. The weathered bump, called a zabiba, was caused by friction between his head and a prayer mat.Muslims are instructed to pray five times a day, and a zabiba is generally viewed as a sign of piety and devotion caused by deep, repeated bows.Saeed is a nine-year resident of Seoul from Pafkistan, and a practicing Muslim. The scar tissue on his forehead is evidence of dedication t
April 15, 2012
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Korea’s international awards show highlights best in TV dramas
Park Eun-mi has been watching TV almost all day for months. As a television programmer, she is among those responsible for sifting through scores of submissions to create a list of candidates for the Seoul International Drama Awards.Now in its seventh year, the awards ceremony recognizing the best in television dramas will be held in August in South Korea, a country increasingly known worldwide for producing top-notch programming.“It is our way of giving back,” said Min Young-dong, last year’s p
April 15, 2012
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A Seoul hanok getaway
Traditional accommodation offer rare experience in urban SeoulTucked away in a corner of the artsy district of Samcheong-dong, central Seoul, guesthouse Soriwool is a rare place to be.Located near Gyeongbokgung, the main Joseon palace, the hanok guesthouse offers a unique “gugak” ― traditional Korean music ― experience, on top of its serene traditional architecture. Whether you are a Seoulite who is used to the city where apartment complexes dominate the landscape, or a tourist visiting Korea f
April 13, 2012
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America’s history told through iconic objects
WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Benjamin Franklin’s walking stick, a piece of the first transatlantic telegraph cable and a Kermit the Frog puppet will join other artifacts Thursday in an exhibition recounting U.S. history.More than a hundred iconic objects ― both from pop culture and older pieces dating back to the the Pilgrims’ 1620 arrival in Plymouth, Massachusetts ― will take visitors on a “journey through the centuries,” National Museum of American History chair and curator Bill Yeingst told AFP.In its
April 12, 2012
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Lotus Lantern Festival designated as intangible cultural heritage
Yeondeunghoe, the lotus lantern festival that accompanie Buddha’s Birthday, has been designated as an intangible cultural heritage by the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday.The first form of the festival dates back to Korea’s Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-935 A.D.), and has been held on the day of Daeboreum ― a Korean holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the lunar calendar. The religious ceremony now takes place annually in Seoul on the nearest Sunday to Buddha’s Birthday.“Though Ye
April 10, 2012
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Georgia’s Stalin museum to focus on his atrocities
GORI, Georgia (AP) ― A museum that has honored Josef Stalin in Georgia since 1937 is being remodeled to exhibit the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator’s rule.Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua said Monday that his nation, which became independent in 1991, can no longer host a museum “glorifying the Soviet dictator.’’Stalin was born Josef Dzhugashvili in the central Georgian town of Gori in 1879, and the museum opened here in 1937, at the height of purges that were later
April 10, 2012
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Austerity hits Italy’s crumbling cultural heritage
ROME (AFP) ― After slashing arts budgets and with its most famous monuments badly in need of repair, Italy’s government is increasingly looking to private investors to help it preserve a priceless cultural heritage.The biggest initiative so far, however, is faltering after billionaire Diego Della Valle said he might pull his 25 million euros ($33 million) to restore the Colosseum following union protests and investigations into the project.Fragments of the 2,000-year-old Roman amphitheater ― now
April 9, 2012
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KOCIS to draw foreign eyes to Korean culture
Director Woo stresses role of foreign media and opinion leaders in promoting KoreaIn the eyes of the foreign media, South Korea has been seen mainly as confronting the militant North Korea or an economic success story. It is time to divert their attention from the country’s complicated political issues to its amazing, yet relatively unknown culture, the new head of Korean Culture and Information Service said.“The new era will soon come with culture leading the country’s economy, not industries.
April 8, 2012
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$4.76 sketch turns out to be a Warhol
A British man who bought a handful of sketches at a Las Vegas rummage sale for $4.76 said one of them turned out to be an Andy Warhol worth $2.06 million. Andy Warhol`s "Marylin" -- This photo is not directly related to the story. (AFP-Yonhap News)Andy Fields of Tiverton, England, said he bought a few pieces of art from the sale in 2010 and later learned one of the pieces was an original sketch be
April 6, 2012
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Seniority biggest communication problem: foreigners
Foreign nationals see hierarchy in organizations such as companies and school as one of their main obstacles in communication, a survey showed on Thursday.Fifty-nine percent of the 209 foreigners who have some experience living or working in Korea said the lack of communication is most serious between higher and lower level positions in schools and offices, according to a survey by the Corea Image Communication Institute. Thirty-six said lack of communication among different generations is also
April 5, 2012
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Mali clashes threaten Timbuktu architectural ...wonders: U.N.
PARIS (AFP) ― The “outstanding architectural wonders” in the fabled city of Timbuktu could be damaged in the fighting that has engulfed northern Mali as rebels push forward, the U.N. cultural agency warned Tuesday. “Timbuktu’s outstanding earthen architectural wonders that are the great mosques of Djingareyber, Sankore and Sidi Yahia, must be safeguarded,” said UNESCO director-general Irina Bokova in a statement.She called on the Malian authorities and on the warring factions to respect the dese
April 4, 2012
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Multi-tasking comes easier to bilingual kids: study
Children who grow up learning two languages are better at multi-tasking but slower at building vocabulary than their monolingual peers, two Canadian psychologists have found.Raluca Barac and Ellen Bialystok tested a total of 104 six-year-old public school children, then compared the results of monolingual anglophones with their Chinese-English, French-English and Spanish-English counterparts.In a test of their ability to pay attention, plan, organize and strategize, the children were all asked t
April 4, 2012
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Ministry launches panel to get advice on hallyu
Experts call for government support for cultural exchanges to prevent anti-Korea movementThe Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Tuesday launched an advisory committee of 19 leading figures in the country’s cultural scene to discuss ways for Korea to keep hallyu going and also to introduce the lesser-promoted cultural sectors to the world.The advisory committee will hold monthly meetings to share ideas on developing high-quality and consistent cultural products, revising the legal framewo
April 3, 2012
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Sex change might not bar wannabe beauty queen
The Miss Universe Organization announced Monday that it might reverse an earlier decision and allow a transgender woman to enter the Miss Universe Canada pageant.Jenna Talackova, 23, was born male, leading organizers to disqualify her last month as a finalist in the 61st Miss Universe Canada pageant in May.The rules of the contest run by Donald Trump’s New York City-based organization say entrants
April 3, 2012
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Seok named secretary general of regional history institute
Seok Tong-youn, former international advisory ambassador of Gyeonggi Province, has been appointed the new secretary general of the Northeast Asian History Foundation, the state-run history research institute announced last week.Considered one of the leading experts on Korea-China relations, Seok served as the spokesperson of Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2002 to 2003, deputy chief of mission at the Korean Embassy in China from 2003 to 2006, and consulate general in Hong Kong
April 2, 2012
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Turkey asks museums to return antiquities
LOS ANGELES (AP) ―The government of Turkey has asked the J. Paul Getty Museum and several other American museums to return artifacts that it believes were looted.The Turkish government has contacted the Getty, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Cleveland Museum of Art and Harvard University’s Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection to present evidence that objects in their collections may have been illegally excavated from the country’s archaeological sites, the Los Ange
April 2, 2012
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Culture Ministry revamps Korean language-learning website
The Culture Ministry has launched an updated version of its online Korean language learning center to promote globalization of the language, officials said on Monday. The website (www.sejonghakdang.org) operated by the state-run The King Sejong Institute is now available in eight different languages, from the previous six languages, including Russian and Indonesian. The institute named after King Sejong of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), who invented Hangeul, the Korean writing system, has been
April 2, 2012
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Grammy Museum show reflects L.A. music’s darker side
LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Think of the music that defines Los Angeles and often three words float to the surface: The Beach Boys. Which is why The Grammy Museum’s new exhibition, “Trouble in Paradise: Music and Los Angeles 1945-1975,” has carefully chosen not to overemphasize the group that helped cement L.A.’s reputation as the Land of the Endless Summer, filled with sandy beaches, tricked-out automobiles and beautiful women. Think such songs as Surfin’ USA,” “Little Deuce Coupe” and “California Girls
April 1, 2012
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Menu from Titanic’s last lunch sells at U.K. auction
LONDON (AP) ― A British auctioneer says that a first class menu from the Titanic’s last lunch has sold for 76,000 pounds (about $120,000.)The menu, kept by prominent San Francisco banker Washington Dodge, bears the date April 14, the day in 1912 that the reputedly unsinkable ship hit an iceberg and fell to the bottom of the Atlantic.Devizes, England-based auctioneer Henry Aldrige & Son says the menu is one of the “rarest items of Titanic memorabilia to be sold in recent years,” adding it made it
April 1, 2012