Hwang Sok-yong, one of South Korea‘s best known writers, said he would rather bring back the Lotus Prize for Literature than win a Nobel prize, during a press conference held Tuesday for the release of his latest novel “Three Generations of Railworkers.” The Lotus Prize for Literature was an award organized by the Afro-Asian Writers‘ Association that was presented annually to African and Asian a...

Two state-designated treasures from the Kansong Art Museum will be returned to the museum after an auction Wednesday failed to find new owners. The two treasures -- Treasure No. 284, Gilt-Bronze Standing Buddha and Treasure No. 285, Gilt-Bronze Standing Bodhisattva -- which were put on the block at K-Auction at a starting price of 1.5 billion won each, failed to attract any bidders. “The detai...

Two state-designated treasures from the Kansong Art Museum failed to find new owners at an auction in Seoul on Wednesday. They were the first sales attempt of the storied museum’s artifacts. Treasure No. 284, Gilt-Bronze Standing Buddha and Treasure No. 285, Gilt-Bronze Standing Bodhisattva, both failed to attract bidders at the highly anticipated auction held by K-Auction in Sinsa-dong, southe...

In May 2018, the CHA decided to excavate the area and conduct research there. The excavation led to the discovery of two additional tombs in 2019, called No. 120-1 and No. 120-2. The shoes were found May 15 in tomb No. 120-2, together with accessories and waistbands. Horse saddles, bronze ware, iron pots and earthenware were found buried separately in tomb No. 120-2, according to the CHA. The CH...

South Korean startup Espressobook CEO Hwang Sang-chul says with his company’s app, Harubook, anyone can become an author and publish a physical book. Using the app, whose name means “one-day book,” users can create a book by writing a page a day. After writing at least 20 pages, authors can easily edit their books using the templates provided. “Originally, people had to learn Adobe’s book editi...

“From this year, we will work on using hanji for guestbooks in Korean embassies and Korean Culture and Information Service centers overseas,” Oh added. Some of the hanji makers also noted the importance of increasing the awareness of hanji abroad. “In the global market, hanji is a latecomer, compared with other Asian papers from Japan and East Asian countries,” CEO of Fides International Kim Bo...

In Immersive Digital Gallery 3, the interior of the stone chamber of tombs from Goguryeo era is reproduced. Most of the Goguryeo-era tombs are located in North Korea and China and at the digital gallery, the interior of three different tombs located in Pyongyang and Anak in North Korea are projected on rotation. The finale of the event of the evening was held in front of the “Gyeongcheonsa Templ...

The 11th Korea Opera Festival, which was postponed from May due to the spread of the new coronavirus, will begin on June 4. The festival, which will take place in three different theaters of the Seoul Arts Center, will have two separate parts this year to avoid too many people gathering. The first half of the performance will be held in June and the other half will take place from August to Sept...

The Cultural Heritage Administration announced Tuesday that it would start holding tours and events at the country’s royal palaces, which have been suspended since Feb. 27 due to the risk of spreading COVID-19. On Wednesday, the changing of the royal guard ceremony at Gyeongbokgung will be the first event to resume. Saenggwabang within Gyeongbokgung, where tourists can experience a traditional ...

For instance, it includes the introduction of Weber’s documentary film “Korean Wedding” from 1925. The film was shot at Naepyeong Church in South Hamgyong Province, in what is now North Korea. The film shows a traditional Korean wedding in detail and also the ceremonial robes that are now on displayed in the German museum. The research also discovered that the Mission Museum possesses the origin...

New York-based Frances Cha is a former travel and culture editor for CNN in Seoul. She grew up in the US, Hong Kong and Korea. By Song Seung-hyun ( ssh@heraldcorp.com )

The Cultural Heritage Administration on Thursday announced that nine forest trails inside compounds of Joseon era royal tombs will be open from Saturday to June 30. The nine trails include two tracks near “Donggureung,” also known as “East Nine Royal Tombs” in Guri, Gyeonggi Province. The CHA also emphasized that this is the first opening of the 1.4-kilometer trail between royal tombs Huireung a...

Korea’s first-generation avant-garde artist Kim Ku-lim has sought 130 million won ($105,720) in compensation for his artworks that were damaged during an exhibition at Chang Ucchin Museum of Art in Yangju, just north of Seoul. The issue was first raised on April 25 when Kim posted about his two damaged artworks including “Stone,” which he created in 1981, on his social media account. One artwork...

The Korean Culture and Information Service announced Friday that it is hosting the “Talk Talk Korea 2020” contest from May 15 to Sept. 15 jointly with the Foreign Ministry. The contest was established in 2014. According to KOCIS, it is the largest global contents contest in Korea, with more than 30,000 foreigners participating each year. It accepts diverse content such as videos, photos, illustr...