Articles by Kim Hoo-ran
Kim Hoo-ran
khooran@heraldcorp.com-
[Serendipity] Grandmothers do more than bake cookies
Watching “Minari,” a largely autobiographical film by Korean American director Lee Isaac Chung, I recalled a young family who one Sunday joined a church service of mostly Korean and Korean American college students in western Massachusetts in the late 1980s. They were an immigrant family, like the Yi family in “Minari,” and the father worked as a chick sexer, like parents Jacob and Monica in the film. It was the first time I had heard of the job, which involves determin
Viewpoints March 5, 2021
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[Eye interview] Swift as a flying fish, Leenalchi breaks new ground
You know you’ve made it when you hear your songs everywhere you turn. When you are signed up with major advertisers, including Samsung Electronics for their latest phone commercial, you know you are at the top of your game. Band Leenalchi finds itself in just that position. Launched in May 2019, the seven-piece band took the country by storm when tourism promotion videos featuring the band’s music and the Ambiguous Dance Company went viral last summer and there has been no looking b
Performance Feb. 26, 2021
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[Serendipity] Keep indie scene alive
Seollal, or Lunar New Year’s Day, typically means staying up until late at night the previous day and waking up at the crack of dawn to prepare the family breakfast. In our family, which does not hold ancestral rites, the big family breakfast has evolved into a brunch with more than 10 dishes topped by the requisite tteokmanduguk, eating of which marks getting a year older. Because of all the cooking involved, the days leading up to Seollal are filled with growing anxiety and dread. I am
Viewpoints Feb. 19, 2021
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[Eye interview] The unstoppable traveling chef
You are young, ready to plunge into life. You have plans, places to go, things to do. And boom, the walls close down on you. You are trapped. That is how young people around the world must be feeling in these pandemic times. For those on the cusp of full-blown adulthood, that delicious time of irrepressible youth and seemingly infinite possibilities, COVID-19 is a disruptor that has robbed them of the life that is rightfully theirs. The circumstances are no different for Lee Jeong-hyung wh
Travel Feb. 5, 2021
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[Serendipity] Cheer on the young
Alas, before I have had a chance to decide on a New Year’s resolution, or decide whether to ditch the whole idea of making resolutions as suggested by some self-improvement gurus, we are nearing the end of January. A whole month has gone by in the blink of an eye and now there are only 11 months left to the year. It is said that when you reach a certain stage in life, the passage of time feels different, that time appears to pass more quickly. Some experts attribute this to brain chemical
Viewpoints Jan. 29, 2021
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[Serendipity] An ode to office
There was a spring in my step as I walked up the stairs to the office after the longest stretch away since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hollering “Best health for the new year!” to security personnel at the entrance lobby nearly two weeks into the year felt great. Since late December, most of the staff members of The Korea Herald have been working from home. On Wednesday, I was back at the office for a meeting. The sight of piles of old newspapers and unopened envelopes st
Viewpoints Jan. 15, 2021
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[Serendipity] I love you. That is why I am staying away, for now
I have been working from home for most of the last two weeks after the government implemented the Level 2.5 social distancing scheme. During the period, I have stepped outside the house on three occasions -- once to a department store and once to a bookstore to get Christmas presents that could not be bought online and then once more to buy wrapping paper. Each outing was a brief affair, dashing in and out of the store after getting what I needed. No lingering and browsing. So, I may not be ent
Viewpoints Dec. 25, 2020
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[Serendipity] Got time? Keep records
Like many people living through this pandemic year, I suddenly found myself with time on my hands as events and meetings were scheduled, rescheduled and, in most cases, canceled altogether. Once the initial panic over the unknown illness dissipated, I became elated at the prospect of more unscheduled free time. I envisioned reading for pleasure, tackling overdue home projects and spending more time at the gym. Well, nearly a year into this prolonged state of limbo, I can report that most of t
Viewpoints Dec. 12, 2020
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[Eye interview] ‘Everyone is born with ability to do magic’
If you see a young man in black walking along the walls of Gyeongbokgung, cloaked in the darkness of the witching hours as he is wont to do most days, you may have just run into Kwon Joon-hyuk, better known as magician Ed Kwon. Just a semester short of graduating from university in Las Vegas, where he majors in hospitality management, Kwon has been in South Korea since June, waiting to serve his mandatory military service. Walking in the middle of the night became a way to clear his mind at a
Culture Dec. 4, 2020
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[Serendipity] Light at the end of the tunnel, for everyone
Putting up the Christmas tree over the weekend, I was reminded once again of all the plans that came to naught this year, including long-planned trips. Among the ornaments that hang on the tree are baubles and trinkets bought on trips abroad -- a rough, handmade snowman bought at an Amish village in Pennsylvania, a Tiffany-style glass ball picked up on a rushed weekend trip to New York. Collected over the years, they remind us of our times there. It goes without saying that there were no new or
Viewpoints Nov. 27, 2020
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[Eye interview] German musician who put Tongyeong on international map
When I met Florian Riem, CEO of the Tongyeong International Music Foundation, for the first time at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in the spring of 2015, I noticed he was speaking through an assistant who spoke Japanese and Korean. He had worked in Japan prior to coming to South Korea and spoke Japanese. “Oh boy,” I thought. “This is going to be some ride for both the city, his employer and him.” I was anxious for the small port city in the southwest, led by
Culture Nov. 27, 2020
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[Eye interview] ‘Peace and love is the best vaccine!’
At 72, Hahn Dae-soo is as exuberant as ever, his throaty laughter and irrepressible energy filling the studio. The “halbae,” a term of endearment for grandfathers in Korean, as he calls himself, is back in Korea after four years in New York. But he is no ordinary halbae: He came to record his 15th album, “Blue Skies, White Clouds,” which was released Nov. 14. “It is the pandemic, the desire to spread the word that it is not the time to sing about togetherness, t
Performance Nov. 20, 2020
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[Serendipity] Beautiful country: Living up to its name
As I write this, Thursday afternoon in Seoul, more than a full day after the 2020 United States presidential election came to a close, it remains unclear who is the winner. The Democrats, who had largely expected a “Blue Wave” and even a landslide victory, are expressing dismay while political pundits pronounce a nation deeply divided. When President Donald Trump won the election in 2016, despite having lost the popular vote to his rival Hillary Clinton, many were ready to see it
Viewpoints Nov. 6, 2020
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[Eye interview] Trailblazer who cut new path for women seeks to change lives through coaching
A late start did not stop Yun Yuh-soon from making her mark in South Korea’s notoriously male-dominated corporate world. In fact, Yun was appointed executive director of LG Academy, LG Group’s human resources development center, in 2000, becoming the conglomerate’s first-ever female executive. She had joined the company five years earlier, at age 40. In 2010, she was made senior executive director at LG Academy and the following year, she was appointed CEO of LG Arts Center,
Books Oct. 23, 2020
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[Serendipity] Magical evening at the palace
An unseasonal cold snap did little to deter hundreds of people, young and old, from taking in the enchanting view of Gyeongbokgung at night on Wednesday. The colorful dancheong that decorate the palace buildings seemed to shimmer in the warm glow of the lights and the trees that have weathered numerous changes of seasons, illuminated from below, seemed to come to life. “This is the first time in my life that I am here at night,” I overheard a woman tell her friend as they kept thei
Viewpoints Oct. 16, 2020
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