Korean scientist makes Who’s Who for fifth year

Environmental engineer Lee Yoon-jin was included in the 2014 edition of the Marquis Who’s Who in the World, making it into the international biographical publication for the fifth consecutive year. Lee, a professor at Konyang University in South Chungcheong Province, has been included in the publication since the 2010 edition.A leading water management researcher, Lee has had her work published in a number of local and international journals. Some of her more recent research subjects include con

PeopleNov. 21, 2013

N.K. defector steps up to Seoul stage

Slim, poised and soft-spoken, Koh Young-hee has the posture of a dancer. The North Korean defector, who fled her country in June 2012, effortlessly shows her distinctive arm movements -- the movements she learned from her mother and her mother’s teacher, the legendary Choi Seung-hee (1911-1969).Koh, 55, is the daughter of North Korean choreographer Bae Geum-ee, who was one of the original members of North Korea’s first dance troupe, founded by Choi in the 1940s in Pyongyang. One of Bae’s many st

PerformanceNov. 21, 2013

Korean handicraft travels to Saudi Arabia

Craftsmen and their works are increasingly at the vanguard of the promotion of Korean culture, with an exhibition in Saudi Arabia being the latest example.According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the month-long “Hidden Match ― An Exhibition of Korean Craft” kicked off on Thursday at the Saudi National Museum with 34 artists featuring 106 sets of items. This is the first time a handicraft exhibition is being held in the Gulf state. Featuring a wide range of handicrafts ― includin

CultureNov. 21, 2013

McBride wins National Book Award

NEW YORK (AP) ― James McBride’s “The Good Lord Bird,” the comic and terrifying adventures of a disguised black child caught up in John Brown’s abolitionist crusade, was the winner Wednesday night of the National Book Award for fiction.George Packer’s brutal examination of the modern class wars, “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America,” won for nonfiction during a dinner ceremony at Cipriani Wall Street in downtown Manhattan. Cynthia Kadohata’s “The Thing About Luck” won for young peo

BooksNov. 21, 2013

Rain to release new album in January

Popular hallyu star Rain will be making his long-awaited comeback with a special performance at the upcoming 2013 Mnet Asia Music Awards, as well as releasing a new album in January, according to officials at Cube DC. The Korean entertainer was officially released from mandatory military service in July, after serving nearly two years. Although he has been slowly making his return to the limelight, hosting various fan meetings and small concert performances overseas, Rain’s performance at MAMA i

PerformanceNov. 21, 2013

Sam Hammington, Brad Moore star in new reality program

Local TV personalities Sam Hammington of “Gag Concert” and “Real Men”; Brad Moore of Busker Busker; Abigail Alderete of “Global Talk Show;” and Sam Ochiri of “Gag Concert” are starring in a new tvN program, “Island Village Teacher.”The new show is the country’s first reality program with an all-foreign cast and the first to have a non-Korean host. The weekly show has the four TV celebrities acting as English teachers, taking them to various destinations around Korea. For the first episode, the c

TelevisionNov. 21, 2013

2NE1 single sweeps charts

Girl group 2NE1’s newest single “Missing You” nabbed the top spot on major music charts including Melon, Bugs, Soribada, Olleh, Mnet, Genie, and more just hours after it was released at midnight on Nov. 21. “Missing You” is different from many of 2NE1’s previously released singles, being a slow-paced ballad without too many showy electronic sounds. The group also unveiled the music video to the single on YG’s official blog, which includes a scene showing CL in the nude. “CL’s nude scene in the m

PerformanceNov. 21, 2013

40 years after ‘The Great Santini,’ Conroy pens a nonfiction sequel

In his 1976 novel, “The Great Santini,” Pat Conroy spilled all the beans that a good son is never supposed to spill: He wrote about his brutal father, his cowed mother, his frightened and abused siblings, and his own defiant and terrorized young self ― all thinly disguised, of course, as fiction.Like Bull Meecham in the novel, Donald Conroy really was a Marine fighter pilot, really did beat and terrorize his wife and kids, really did drink to excess, really did swagger around and call himself “T

BooksNov. 21, 2013

Mental hospital looms large in Lee Smith’s ‘Guests on Earth’

It’s the spring of 1937 when Evalina Toussaint, the narrator of “Guests On Earth,” first catches sight of Zelda Fitzgerald, wearing black tights and ballet slippers and smoking a cigarette, on the grounds of Highland Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.By then, Zelda had been married for 16 years to F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was so infatuated with the Montgomery belle when they first met that he wrote the same line to her over and over: “I used to wonder why they kept Princesses in towers.” Nev

BooksNov. 21, 2013

Korean sijo in English

The Crane in the Clouds: Shijo: Korean Classical Poems in the Vernacular, By Lee Sung-il(HOMA & SEKEY BOOKS)Scholar Lee Sung-il recently published a book of more than 100 Korean classical poems, known as “sijo,” in a Korean-English bilingual edition. “Sijo is a uniquely Korean form of poetic composition,” writes Lee, Professor Emeritus at Yonsei University in Seoul, in the book. “Neither composing nor reading a sijo required any rigorous training. Simply stating what one felt at a given moment i

BooksNov. 21, 2013

Jane Austen rebooted; hold the zombies

LongbournBy Jo Baker(Alfred A. Knopf)Looking at the ever-growing list of contemporary fiction presuming to improve on Jane Austen (with or without zombies), readers may well wonder why they can’t leave the poor author alone. Happily, Jo Baker’s “Longbourn” is no mere riff but a fully imagined rejoinder to “Pride and Prejudice” that casts a sharp working-class eye on the aristocratic antics of Elizabeth Bennet, Mr. Darcy and their friends.The Bennets’ housemaid Sarah is Baker’s heroine, and she s

BooksNov. 21, 2013

Has Kim Gu-ra gone too far?

Once heralded as one of Korea’s top funnymen, Kim Gu-ra is now facing mounting criticism about his unique style of “spiteful comedy” that seems to ignore others’ feelings.Korean netizens were abuzz on Thursday over Kim’s attitude on MBC’s popular talk show “Golden Fishery-Radio Star.” The Wednesday edition of the program featured celebrities whose hobby is collecting eclectic items. Singer K-will showed off his collections including Iron Man action figures. Despite K-will’s protests, Kim went on

TelevisionNov. 21, 2013

Comedian Jeon Yeong-jung dies in motorcycle accident

South Korean comedian Jeon Yeong-jung died in a motorcycle accident on Thursday. He was 27. According to Yeongdeungpo Police Station in Seoul, he crossed the center line and crashed his motorcycle into an incoming taxi near the gas station in Yeouido at 3:10 a.m. Jeon died shortly after he was taken to a nearby hospital. He was not wearing a helmet and police are investigating whether he was intoxicated at the time.Jeon made his debut in 2012 as a comedian for the SBS television network, and had

TelevisionNov. 21, 2013

U.S. finds ‘priceless’ Joseon seals

Priceless national and royal seals from the Daehan Empire (1897-1910) have been seized in California by U.S. authorities. When they are returned, which could be as early as next June, the artifacts will be the most valuable items of cultural heritage to be repatriated to Korea to date, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Wednesday.According to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations unit and Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration, the items confisc

CultureNov. 21, 2013

Korea dedicates KT-1 assembly plant in Lima

Korea has dedicated an assembly plant in Lima, Peru, to jointly roll out the basic trainer KT-1 aircraft with the South American country.The Korean Embassy in Peru, Korea Aerospace Industries and the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency held a dedication ceremony for the plant on Las Palmas Air Base in Lima on Tuesday. Peru’s Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano also attended the event.Peru is the first South American country to import Korea’s first completely indigenous aircraft developed by KAI

PeopleNov. 20, 2013

Community Chest launches fund-raiser

The Community Chest of Korea kicked off a fund-raising campaign for the needy Wednesday. Hyundai Motor Group was the first donor to join the campaign. Hyundai Motor Group vice chairman Chung Eui-sun visited the Community Chest of Korea to deliver the group’s 25 billion won ($23.65 million) donation to the fund-raising organization’s chairman Lee Dong-kurn. “Our executives and employees raised the money to return our customers’ support for us to society and to share with needy neighbors,” Chung s

PeopleNov. 20, 2013

Space Group headquarters to become registered cultural heritage

The 42-year-old Space Group headquarters building in central Seoul, widely hailed as Korea’s best modern structure, is likely to be registered as a cultural heritage, authorities said Wednesday. The Cultural Heritage Administration announced that the 224.56-square-meter building designed by legendary architect Kim Swoo-geun (1931-1986) between 1971 and 1977 will be reviewed for registration as a cultural heritage site early next year after a thorough inspection next week. “It is true that modern

CultureNov. 20, 2013

Opera Gallery presents tree-inspired works by Korean, French artists

Opera Gallery Seoul presents an exhibition by Korean and French artists currently in the spotlight for their portrayal of beautiful tree images. The gallery’s fourth exhibition of the year showcases pine tree sculptures by Lee Gil-rae and imaginative, colorful paintings by Jean Francois Larrieu under the title “Dream Blossom” from Thursday to Dec. 31. “It will invite viewers to the world of fantasy and imagination the two artists create with trees as the symbol of the origin of life,” said a gal

PerformanceNov. 20, 2013