The Korea Herald

New Sejong head to foster public participation in arts

Mar 12, 2012

Activist-turned-CEO calls hallyu a product of cultural imperialism Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, with three major concert halls, two art galleries and nine art companies under one roof, has long been touted as one of the most prestigious art venues in Seoul. Bagh In-bae, new president of SCPA, wants to turn the center that has been pursuing high-level, professional arts for many years i...
Artist Heizer’s big rock rolls to California

Mar 12, 2012

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― Rock stars are a common enough sight in Los Angeles but it’s not often when a rock is the star. Los Angeles residents are coming out to catch a glimpse of a massive boulder that arrived at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art before dawn Saturday, after lumbering across Southern California for the past week and a half. It will become the centerpiece of acclaimed earth artist ...
Czech Info Center to bring modern arts, literary works

Mar 11, 2012

The Czech Info Center is on the third floor of Castle Praha in Hongdae in Seoul. (Lee Sang-sub/The Korea Herald) T his is the sixth of the series introducing cultural centers of different countries in Seoul. ― Ed. Czech culture is quite well known in Korea, at least more than one might think. From classical music to a number of Korean musical productions with music composed by Czech musicians,...
Stone cold curling

Mar 9, 2012

Participants play the stones during the National Curling Championships in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province on Feb 26. (Yonhap News) Slowly spreading in Korea, curling is a sport for all On a Sunday afternoon inside the Taeneung ice rink in Seoul, a group of boys stands in line on the ice wearing rubber-soled shoes. Nine-year-old Yang Ji-min squats with one hand on the ice and the other clutching a ...
Korean traditional culture to highlight Seoul summit

Mar 8, 2012

Hallyu stars join PR campaigns, cultural events Korean traditional arts are the highlight of cultural events planned for the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Summit slated for March 26-27. “Foreigners still don’t really know the difference among cultures of China, Japan and Korea. I hope this upcoming event will help them to understand the uniqueness of Korean traditional culture,” Sohn Jin-chaek, general di...
Latest malady of the tech-obsessed: "no-mobile-phobia"

Mar 8, 2012

Do you panic if you're caught without your mobile phone? In a British survey released last week by mobile phone tech company SecureEnvoy, two thirds of 1,000 people polled said they feared being phoneless, up from 53 percent four years ago. Those aged 18-24 suffered the most (77 percent) followed by those aged 25-34 (68 percent). Women were nine percent more likely to be what is now dubbed nomop...
2013 Nordic festival in U.S. capital

Mar 7, 2012

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― The renowned Kennedy Center venue in the U.S. capital will next year host dozens of artists and performing companies from Nordic countries to celebrate the region’s theater, dance, music, and food. The “Nordic Cool 2013” festival in February and March next year will feature visiting artists from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Faroe Islands, the center an...
Quake researchers warn of Tokyo's 'Big One'

Mar 5, 2012

A year on from one of the biggest earthquakes in recorded history, Japanese scientists are warning anew that Tokyo could soon be hit by a quake that will kill thousands and cause untold damage. Greater Tokyo, home to 35 million tightly packed people, has seen a three-fold increase in tectonic activity since the magnitude 9.0 undersea quake that unleashed a killer tsunami last March. Every day, ...
Joseon royal wedding reenacted

Mar 5, 2012

Actress Chae Si-ra (left) and actor Park Sang-won reenact a royal wedding held at National Museum of Korea on Monday. ( Yonhap News) The Presidential Council on National Branding on Monday reenacted a royal wedding of Joseon based on the royal books retrieved from France last year. Titled “Joseon Reawakens,” the event presented royal court costumes, traditional dance performance, music and food ...
44 arrested in Greece for antiquities trafficking

Mar 5, 2012

Ancient artifacts sit arranged for photographs at Polygyros police station some 80 km north-east of Thessaloniki on Sunday, March 4, 2012. (AP) Greek police arrested a total of 44 people for illegal antiquities trafficking after they investigated the group's moves for months, officials said Sunday. Police said they confiscated 9,200 silver and bronze coins dating from the 6th century B.C. to By...
Greek antiquities reburied for lack of funds: report

Mar 4, 2012

ATHENS (AFP) ― Lack of funding in crisis-hit Greece has stymied archaeological research and leads experts to rebury valuable discoveries to better protect them, a Greek daily reported on Friday. “Mother Earth is the best protector of our antiquities,” Michalis Tiverios, a professor of archaeology at Thessaloniki’s Aristotelio University, told Ta Nea daily on the sidelines of an annual archaeolog...
Blast from the past

Mar 2, 2012

People wait in line to enter K-pop Music Club last Saturday in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. (Park Min-young/The Korea Herald) Music bars take older crowd down memory road The familiar tune of Turbo’s 1999 hit “White Love” boomed out the doors of K-pop Music Club in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. The song that should have seemed outdated for the streets of Gangnam in 2012 was fresh for being so un...
Blast from the past

Mar 2, 2012

People wait in line to enter K-pop Music Club last Saturday in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. (Park Min-young/The Korea Herald) Music bars take older crowd down memory road The familiar tune of Turbo’s 1999 hit “White Love” boomed out the doors of K-pop Music Club in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. The song that should have seemed outdated for the streets of Gangnam in 2012 was fresh for being so un...
Government to open K-arts, ballet and musical academies

Feb 28, 2012

(Yonhap News) Culture Ministry to spend 54.4 billion won this year to further expand hallyu The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will form a 12 billion-won ($10.7 million) fund to support original South Korean musicals and establish a K-Arts Academy to help create new sources of cultural products. The Culture Ministry announced plans on Tuesday at Culture Station Seoul 284 to further ex...
Wealthy more likely to lie or cheat: researchers

Feb 28, 2012

Maybe, as the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald suggested, the rich really are different. They're more likely to behave badly, according to seven experiments that weighed the ethics of hundreds of people. The "upper class," as defined by the study, were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse...