In a world where the international mainstream hip-hop beats of Flo Rida meet the old-fashioned sounds of “janggu,” a Korean traditional drum, local fusion pop band SOREA is striving to take its amalgamation of traditional Korean instrumentation and modern music to new heights. Founded on a musical base of “gugak” (Korean traditional music), SOREA takes traditional Korean instruments such as the ...

South Korea should embark on some soul-searching into its education system and find ways to address some of its problems instead of just praising its own accomplishments, said the head of an international group of teachers’ unions. During her stay in Korea to attend the World Education Forum 2015 last week, Susan Hopgood, head of the Education International, pointed to the forum as an example, s...

Often when countries strive for economic prosperity, investments in infrastructure, finance and technology spearhead their agenda. While those sectors are important, Amina J. Mohammed, the special adviser to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on post-2015 development planning, said investing in education was equally, if not more, crucial. “Education is the absolute backbone (of development). It...

South Korea needs to be cautious about China’s duality in carrying out its external policy, an international relations expert said, noting that Beijing’s diplomacy has increasingly shown an aspect of “realpolitik” and could pose a tricky policy challenge to Seoul. Kim Tae-ho, professor in the department of international studies at Hallym University of Graduate Studies, also stressed that Seoul s...

The Korea-China free trade agreement to be formally signed later this year, provides an opportunity for Korean food products to expand into the world’s second largest economy, said the head of the state-run agency to promote agro-food products. “I am confident that food can form a market as huge as electronic devices and automobiles, not to mention its scope for speedy growth,” Kim Jae-soo, pres...

Forget about the dark and heavy-body image of Rolls-Royce. The British supercar is now enticing the youth with its customized policies, said Michael Alexander Schneider, general manager of Asia-Pacific at Rolls Royce Motor Cars. “We have a history of 120 years, but we are also very fond of our future. We are giving the brand cooler and luxurious appeals within our lineup, and whatever we do will...

A growing demand for diversity and self-expression is creating new trends in many industries in Korea as its economy matures. The nation’s car industry, long dominated by large domestic carmakers like Hyundai and Kia, is no exception. The latest consumer demand is boosting the sales of foreign cars in Korea. Industry watchers forecast the market share of foreign carmakers in the Korean automoti...

Looking to fill the month of May with the varied sounds of comfort and artistic intricacy, conductor Kim Bong-mee is gearing up to lead the newly established Herald Philharmonic Orchestra in its upcoming classical summer performance on Wednesday night. The Herald Phil’s new repertoire will feature a variety of crowd-pleasing musical genres including soulful opera arias to traditional Korean, cla...

JEJUDO ISLAND ― North Korea may not place a nuclear warhead on a submarine-launched ballistic missile, as the underwater launch goes against the principle that only its supreme leader has “central control” of its nuclear arsenal, a U.S. scholar claimed Friday. Peter Hayes, executive director of the U.S.-based Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability, noted that the North’s underwater p...

South Korea has become the darling of global high-end luxury jewelers, with more people being educated about luxuries on top of its very unique celebration culture, said Francis Srun, managing director of Asia-Pacific at the French luxury jewelry house Boucheron. “The celebration of ‘100-days into the relationship’ culture (where men and women buy and wear identical rings) is very interesting an...

Less than five years since its independence, the fledgling state of South Sudan is looking to use education as the driving force on route to becoming a developed country, the country’s top official in education said. “We want to transform our education into a modern system that meets all the requirements of society. Without education, there can’t be development,” said South Sudan’s Education Min...

U.N. Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka does not mince words when she talks about the education of young girls. “It is the right thing to do,” she said emphatically during an interview with The Korea Herald at a hotel in southern Seoul on Monday. Mlbambo-Ngcuka is in Korea to attend the World Education Forum 2015 being held in Incheon May 19-22. For the developing and underdeveloped...

Despite the strained ties between Seoul and Tokyo and other challenges, the South Korea-U.S. alliance is “more resilient, deeper and broader than ever,” former U.S. ambassador to Korea Kathleen Stephens said. Concerns persist over Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s drive for a “normal state” and ongoing attempts to undercut the country’s imperial past and previous apologies for wartime atrocit...

Korea-made online shooting game “Crossfire,” the very game behind its Chinese distributor Tencent’s stunning growth in recent years, is seeking to repeat its success story around the world. And the big push is led by the game’s development chief Jang Ina, who played a key role in its Chinese success. “Gaming trends change fast and there is some skepticism about the future of the 8-year-old ‘Cro...

Beneath its ultramodern facade, Korea is a country with all the trappings of shamanism and Confucianism, a new book says. In “Contemporary Korean Culture: the Persistence of Shamanistic and Confucian Values and Practices,” coauthors Kim Eun-gi and Choi Joon-sik seek to explain the social fabric and the mindset of Koreans through the lens of shamanism and Confucianism, examining the origins and m...