Seoul Ex-Patriots first all-foreign team in Woosu League baseball

A team of expat baseball players has made it into the highest tier of one of Korea’s top amateur leagues, becoming the league’s first all-foreign team in the process. The Seoul Ex-Patriots are mostly players chosen from the Seoul Baseball League. The team started when one of its players, Dennis Jung, who played in both leagues, proposed the inclusion of an SBL team in the Woosu League.“The Woosu League liked the idea of an all-foreigner baseball team. It’s never been done before. They’ve always

Expat LivingAug. 20, 2013

Girl’s Day to perform in support of women’s issues

As the current honorary ambassadors of children’s development and child sponsorship programs for Plan Korea, the four members of Girl’s Day are holding a special guerilla concert on Aug. 20 at Everland’s Caribbean Bay.The concert is being held as part of Plan Korea’s “Because I am a Girl” campaign to raise awareness and support young girls in need around the world. Plan Korea will also be hosting a special Facebook event along with Everland, aiming to get more fans involved with the campaign. Sh

PerformanceAug. 20, 2013

Diversity of crafts laid bare in Cheongju

An international showcase of modern craft trends will be held in the birthplace of the metal crafts, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, next month. The 8th Cheongju International Craft Biennale, the world’s biggest craft festival, aims to focus on the artistic aspect of craftworks as well as their practical uses and purposes, bringing together 6,000 works by 3,000 artists from 60 countries around the world. Under the theme of “Something OLD Something NEW,” the craft biennale will exhibit all

Arts & DesignAug. 20, 2013

Artifacts become casualties of Egypt unrest

CAIRO (AP) ― As violent clashes roiled Egypt, looters made away with a prized 3,500-year-old limestone statue, ancient beaded jewelry and more than 1,000 other artifacts in the biggest theft to hit an Egyptian museum in living memory.The scale of the looting of the Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya laid bare the security vacuum that has taken hold in cities outside Cairo, where police have all but disappeared from the streets. It also exposed how bruised and battered the vio

CultureAug. 20, 2013

Secrecy is priority for Salinger movie, book

NEW YORK (AP) ― For much of the nine years that Shane Salerno worked on his J.D. Salinger documentary and book, the project was a mystery worthy of the author himself.Code names. Hidden identities. Surveillance cameras. Until 2010, when “The Catcher In the Rye” novelist died at age 91, only a handful of people were fully aware of what he was up to. Even now, with the release date of the film “Salinger” less than three weeks away, little is known about a production that draws upon more than 100 i

BooksAug. 20, 2013

1-D goes 3-D in boy band’s debut on screen

LONDON (AP) ― In the tradition of great music movies, One Direction’s feature-film debut has sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll ― just without the sex or the drugs.The Morgan Spurlock-directed 3-D documentary “One Direction: This Is Us” hangs out with Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn backstage, at home and on the road, and comes to the conclusion that the five well-coiffed lads who have conquered the world are, well, pretty nice.Spurlock ― who made his name with socially engaged documentaries such a

FilmAug. 20, 2013

Park brothers enlist public to capture Seoul on film

“Joint Security Area” and “Oldboy” director Park Chan-wook is again combining forces with his younger brother Park Chan-kyung, famous for directing art house films, to create the brothers’ latest PARKing CHANce production “Seoul, Our Movie.”The upcoming documentary film is to be created from video submissions about Seoul from people around the world, non-professionals included. The directors will take these film submissions and edit them to create the video project, making it the first time the

FilmAug. 20, 2013

G-Dragon donates 80m won to charity

K-pop superstar G-Dragon of Big Bang recently celebrated his birthday in the spirit of charity by donating 81.8 million won ($72,000) to the Seungil Hope Foundation, a rehabilitation hospital for Lou Gehrig’s disease patients.The donation amount represented the star’s birth date, Aug. 18. Representatives of G-Dragon’s agency YG Entertainment announced that the entertainer decided to make the birthday donation as a sign of gratitude and appreciation to all of his fans. In return, members of the s

PerformanceAug. 20, 2013

Hyerim of Wonder Girls to host ‘Pops in Seoul’

Wonder Girls member Hyerim is to become the new host of Arirang TV’s K-pop program “Pops in Seoul.” She will be replacing BTOB’s Peniel Shin and will start as the official new host on Aug. 26. With Hyerim as the new host, Arirang TV has announced that the program will also include a new section called “Born to Rock the MIC.” An artist or group will be chosen for each section and viewers will be able to look into their beginnings and history as K-pop artists. The section also plans to include Hye

Aug. 20, 2013

Honey G to drop first album on Thursday

The popular male vocal trio group Honey G, who rose to stardom through audition program “Superstar K4,” is to release its first full studio album this week. “As newcomers to the music scene, Honey G will be showing a rare side of itself through its first studio album,” said a representative from the boys’ agency Chungchun Music. “Although the group is releasing its first full album quite quickly, the members stated that they are confident about their music.” Members Bae Jae-hyun, Kwon Tae-hyun a

Aug. 20, 2013

EXO gets interactive with Seoul store

Popular boy band EXO opened shop “BOY WHO CRIED WOLF (BWCW)” to commemorate the release of their newly repackaged album, “Growl,” in Garosugil’s OUTLAB on Aug. 10.BWCW sells merchandise from popular street brands in Korea such as PEACE, LOVE and UNDERSTANDING, LIFUL MINIMAL GARMENTS, Nude Bones, and BURIED ALIVE, which are representative of EXO’s style. Among the displays of trendy baseball jackets, T-shirts and snapback hats, the shop also offers a variety of exclusive items such as portable fa

Aug. 20, 2013

[Photo News] Security exhibition

Expat LivingAug. 20, 2013

First official photos of Prince George, taken by grandpa

LONDON (AFP) ― Prince William and his wife Catherine on Tuesday released the first official photographs of their baby son George ― and in a break with tradition they were taken by her father Michael Middleton.The intimate photographs were shot earlier this month in the garden of the Middletons’ family home in rural Bucklebury, west of London, and show the newborn prince lying peacefully in his mother’s arms.George, the third in line to the throne, is wrapped in a white blanket and is apparently

PeopleAug. 20, 2013

Man found dead in Olivia Newton-John’s Florida home

MIAMI, Florida (AFP) ― A man was found shot dead Monday in the Florida home of actress and singer Olivia Newton-John, police said.The actress and her husband, John Easterling, were not in the house when the incident happened, said police in Jupiter Inlet Colony, north of Palm Beach.A local newspaper called the incident a suicide but police refused to confirm this.The man was neither a resident nor a member of the family.The nearly 7,500-square-foot house, located on 35 acres by the coast, was bu

PeopleAug. 20, 2013

Kiwis start motorcycle ride through Korean Peninsula from Baekdusan

A group of motorcycle enthusiasts from New Zealand started a ride through the Korean Peninsula from North Korea. They launched the trip south in a ceremony held at Mount Baekdusan in North Korea, which straddles the border with China, on Monday, North Korean Central News Agency reported.  The ceremony was attended by guides of the mountain and government officials, including Pak Kyong-il, chairman of North Korea-New Zealand Friendship Society. Gareth and Joanne Morgan entered North Korea from Kh

PeopleAug. 20, 2013

No regrets leaving would be a lie: Ex-Wonder Girl Sunmi

Ahead of her comeback as a solo artist, Sunmi, a former member of Wonder Girls, confessed that she had to leave the girl group after seeing herself appear on the stage mechanically, with no heart and soul.Sunmi withdrew from the five-member band in February 2010 after the Wonder Girls finished touring 50 cities in the U.S. to promote their music. The fans were shocked by her sudden dropout and raised countless speculations behind the decision. She said the busy schedule and losing appreciation f

PerformanceAug. 20, 2013

PGA Tour’s Dustin Johnson to wed Paulina Gretzky

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― U.S. PGA Tour player Dustin Johnson and Paulina Gretzky ― daughter of Canadian ice hockey great Wayne Gretzky ― announced their engagement Sunday on Twitter.“Paulina Gretzky, she said yes!!!” Johnson tweeted, posting a picture of a diamond ring on his fiancee’s hand.Paulina Gretzky was in the gallery early this year at Kapalua, Hawaii, where Johnson won the US tour’s Tournament of Champions.Johnson, who has seven victories in his six years on the PGA Tour, paired up with Way

PeopleAug. 19, 2013

Obama plays golf with WB chief, Korean-American attorney

U.S President Barack Obama spent the last day of his weeklong summer vacation playing golf with two Korean-Americans ― World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and New York lawyer Eunu Chun. According to news reports Sunday, Obama hit the links Sunday with Kim, attorney and Obama fundraiser Chun, and aide Mike Brush at Martha’s Vineyard Golf Club in Edgartown, Massachusetts.Attorney Chun, son of a Korean immigrant, grew up in the suburbs north of Chicago and graduated from Harvard University and Columb

PeopleAug. 19, 2013