A walk above Gwanghwamun, 120 meters in the air

A 160-meter-long “skyway” will be suspended 120 meters above the ground between buildings in central Seoul on Thursday, as Estonian slackliner Jaan Roose takes on an elevated challenge over Gwanghwamun. Roose will walk along a single slackline connecting the Koreana Hotel and the Donga Media Center, attempting the first high-altitude slackline performance across central Seoul. Slacklining is an extreme sport in which athletes balance and walk on a flat, flexible line about 2.5 to 5 centimeters w

2026-09-29 14:32:26:00

What is Karina reading on her Canada trip?

Karina has been spending some of her time in Canada with a book in hand. As Aespa continues its fourth world tour, the group has been touring North America since September. Between concerts, the singer has shared snapshots of her time offstage on Instagram, including visits to museums and galleries. On Sept. 16, she posted a series of photos from Toronto with the caption, “Collecting beauty.” In several of the photos, she is holding a fairly thick book at a library and near a pier. So, what was

2026-09-28 13:47:34:00

Best-selling essayist who celebrated the joys of everyday life dies at 91

Rhee Kun-hoo, a psychiatrist who became a best-selling essayist later in life, died Sept. 21. He was 91. Rhee spent more than three decades as a psychiatrist and professor, but it was after his retirement that he found another calling: writing about how to live. He published more than 30 books, many of them reflecting on aging, happiness, relationships and the small pleasures of everyday life. His 2018 bestseller, “If You Live to 100, You Might as Well Be Happy,” was translated into 16 languages

2026-09-27 14:16:07:00

Lee Byung-hun, Ha Ye-rin lend voices to British Museum’s 'Korea' exhibition

Actors Lee Byung-hun and Ha Ye-rin will lend their voices to an audio tour for the British Museum’s upcoming exhibition, “Korea,” the museum said. Lee, who stars in the film “No Other Choice” and voices a character in the animated film “KPop Demon Hunters,” and Korean Australian actress Ha, who stars in the fourth season of Netflix’s “Bridgerton,” will provide commentary for selected highlights of the exhibition, which opens Thursday. Lee will also serve as an exhibition ambassador. In a video m

2026-09-27 12:07:19:00

When strangers come together, something happens

For theater director Lee Jin-yeob, the stage is not a place where people simply sit and watch a performance. It is a place where strangers can meet. “What I want audiences to experience through my performances is the joy of being together,” Lee said in a group interview in Seoul on Tuesday. Her new participatory work, “Challa,” will be performed Oct. 17-18 at the National Theater of Korea as part of the Seoul Performing Arts Festival. The performance invites around 200 audience members onto the

2026-09-22 19:44:36:00

'The set disappears, but the ideas last forever'

Korea Herald correspondent NEW YORK — Since its 2024 premiere, “The Cherry Orchard” has traveled across Asia and Australia, but New York offers something the production has not yet encountered: a theater without a fixed stage. At Park Avenue Armory, the glass house at the center of the production remains much as it was in previous performances. But with the white walls and floor removed, the historic architecture of the Wade Thompson Drill Hall is now part of the view. “This stage has a differen

2026-09-21 17:55:28:00

Simon Stone's K-film obsession was more than 'nerd's dream'

Korea Herald correspondent NEW YORK — For Australian director Simon Stone, "The Cherry Orchard" was an odyssey born of a combination of things that might have seemed unlikely: a Korean-film obsessive, an Australian director raised in Europe and a long-held dream of working with Korean actors. At an artist talk at Park Avenue Armory on Thursday, Stone described the journey from his fascination with Korean cinema to the 2024 Seoul premiere of his Korean-language reimagining of Anton Chekhov's clas

2026-09-21 15:12:15:00

‘The Cherry Orchard’ gets New York laughing

Korea Herald correspondent NEW YORK — “I went to New York. It was an amazing city. A perfect place to live as an alcoholic.” A burst of laughter rippled through the Wade Thompson Drill Hall. The line comes from Song Do-young, the heroine of Simon Stone’s Korean-language adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard,” played by Jeon Do-yeon. Do-young is recalling the 10 years she spent in New York after the death of her son — a detail that, in this version, replaces Chekhov’s Paris. It was an

2026-09-21 14:54:24:00

Jeon Do-yeon’s final ‘Cherry Orchard’ blooms in New York to enthusiastic response

NEW YORK — South Korean actors Park Hae-soo and Jeon Do-yeon made their New York stage debuts Wednesday in the North American premiere of “The Cherry Orchard,” opening to an enthusiastic audience at Park Avenue Armory. The Korean-language adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s final play, directed and adapted by award-winning Australian dramatist Simon Stone, opened Wednesday at the Armory’s Wade Thompson Drill Hall. All 12,000 seats for the production’s 10 performances through Sept. 26 have sold out. “I

2026-09-18 04:03:10:00

‘Who are we?’ Seoul Writers Festival asks what makes us human

The 2026 Seoul International Writers Festival, opening Friday, will explore what makes us human through literature, asking a basic yet fundamental question through this year’s theme: Who Are We? The opening conversation on Friday will feature novelist Kim Ae-ran and International Booker-nominated Chilean novelist Benjamin Labatut. Under the subtheme “We Are Someone,” the two writers will discuss what makes us human and how literature today captures human existence and identity. “Literature ultim

2026-09-10 17:42:18:00