Rep. Bae Eun-hee This is the fourth in a series of interviews with first-term lawmakers. ― Ed. Politics is about turning theory into policy and thus dreams into reality, says a biologist-turned-lawmaker. Rep. Bae Eun-hee, before joining the ruling Grand National Party in 2008 as a representative chosen by proportional representation, was chief executive officer of Regen Biotech, a biotechnolog...

HAIKOU, China -- The chief organizer of the World Cup of Golf believes the event’s popularity will take off in the years to come. “The World Cup is not as popular as other sports. For instance golf in China is only 25 years old. But it means there is a lot of room to grow,” said Ken Chu, chairman of Mission Hills Group. The biennial global competition started in 1954 in Canada with seven nation...

There is a new and positive feeling in the air at the Colombian Embassy, not only because of the Colombian president’s visit but also because of plans to heighten overall relations with Korea. The once-small embassy has doubled in size to welcome three new attaches who will work to promote science and technology, education, culture and sports, and tourism. “The focus of the embassy was very dif...

First foreign coach trains Korean national team for Sochi 2014 It’s a Thursday morning in Taeneung, northern Seoul, and the 10 a.m. training session is well under way. A group of figure skaters are working out at the national ice skating rink. “Come on, let’s move,” their instructor Sergei Astashev urges them. The 46-year-old Russian, wearing a dark hoodie and baseball cap, makes the group stan...

Korea’s growing technological prowess and the business community’s brisk participation in standardization works will help expand global markets for smart grids, executives of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers’ Standards Association said. The standards body is a unit within the IEEE, the world’s largest professional association for the advancement of technology. The U.S.-based n...

DAEGU -- Korea’s first ever World Championships in Athletics, which concluded on Sunday after nine days of competition, will provide a “bright future” for Korean athletics, according to athletics legend Sergey Bubka. In his pole vaulting career, Bubka won six Worlds titles, set 35 world records, and also won gold in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. The Ukranian’s world record 6.14 meter leap in Ita...

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau organized a road show in the Seoul and Busan this week to promote the country’s trade shows as a preferred business platform in Southeast Asia. To make it more attractive, the TCEB has put in place supporting policies for Korean businesses attending such trade shows in Thailand. “Because of our geographical location, we are the gateway into and from Ind...

Professor Kim Rando stresses discovering true potential and pursuing dreams Kim Rando, professor of consumer studies at Seoul National University, calls himself a consumer scientist. His current research focus is on the Chinese consumers, and he plans to publish a book on the subject next year. But Kim is better known as an author of his best-selling book, “Youth, It’s Painful.” Due to the soa...

Contemporary Christian music band Markers, which has sold more than 100,000 albums since its 2007 debut in the Christian music market, is planning an overseas tour to provide English worship services later this year, the leader of the band said. The Korean CCM band was formed in 2003 for a “culture ministry” through which they help lay believers lead a “Christian cultural life” with easy-to-foll...

British alternative rock band to play for first tims in Korea since reunion As the U.K. rock group Suede had a strong presence in the Britpop movement in the 1990s, the disbanding of the act in 2003 was quite disappointing to alternative rock fans around the world. However, the band was reunited last year and is coming to Korea to hold their first here since the reunion. The act is to be on th...

Korean-American professor tells story of man who transcended ethnic rivalry Chang Tae-han, professor at University of California, Riverside, recalled his last visit to Colonel Kim Young-oak, a highly decorated Korean-American war hero, when he was already in a coma at a hospital in Los Angeles six years ago. “I told him that his biography, written in Korean, had just been published in Korea. He...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which provides advice and guidance to donor countries on aid programs to developing nations, is Korea’s key partner in formulating green growth strategies as well. The OECD’s Development Cooperation Directorate tracks aid performance of the OECD member nations, the volume and effectiveness of their aid programs, undertakes peer reviews, ...

Seoul’s eco-friendly bus policy is good inspiration for green efforts by major cities throughout the world, a ranking official of the city government said. “Central governments talk a lot about climate change. But we in the cities are acting,” said Jeong Yon-chan, Seoul City’s assistant mayor of environmental protection headquarters, who attended the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit held in Sao P...

BEIJING ― Acquity Group is an unfamiliar name to Koreans, but it promises to fundamentally change the landscape of corporate Korea’s online marketing. Exclusive brands do not want their brand value diluted by uniformly stacking their goods on the anonymous virtual shelves of eBay or Amazon, according to George Lu, chairman of Acquity Group. Acquity Group is a U.S. company Lu founded in 2001 to ...

IMF, Finance Ministry split on focus of capital control measures Korea should raise its policy rate faster to discourage volatile capital inflows into stocks and boost the effectiveness of capital barriers currently in place, Subir Lall, Internaional Monetary Fund's Mission Chief for Korea said. The head of the IMF delegation here assessed Korea’s capital flow management “effective,” but said m...