Jeonju film fest to kick off screening tour

The 21st edition of Jeonju International Film Festival will set off on a two-month domestic screening event to showcase selected films from this year’s festival. The organizers of the festival on Wednesday announced the event will kick off next Tuesday at the Jeonju Digital Independent Cinema -- also known as JIFF Theque -- located in Jeonju Cine Complex, at which the event will run for two months until Sept. 20. Films will also be screened in Seoul at CGV Cinelibrary in Myeong-dong and

FilmJuly 16, 2020

Busan Biennale to showcase mixture of literature, visual and audio art

Works of literature will merge with visual and recorded audio forms of art at this year's Busan Biennale, one of South Korea's largest art festivals, the organizers said Wednesday, with the biyearly event moving forward despite concerns of the spread of the new coronavirus. Under this year's banner theme "Words at an Exhibition -- An Exhibition in Ten Chapters and Five Poems," the biennale will kick off on Sept. 5 and run until Nov. 8 at several art venues in Busan, 450 kilometers so

CultureJuly 15, 2020

Suncheon Bay Nat'l Garden most popular regional travel destination in 2019

The Suncheon Bay National Garden, a massive ecological park in the country's southwestern region, was the most popular regional tourist destination last year outside of hot spots in and around Seoul, according to government data Wednesday. The number of visitors to the park, located 415 kilometers south of Seoul in the province of South Jeolla, reached 6.18 million, the largest among regional tourist destinations, last year, according to data provided by the culture ministry and its affiliated

TravelJuly 15, 2020

Painting album by Joseon master painter fails to find new owner

A painting album by Jeong Seon (1676-1759), an artist hailed as a Joseon-era master of landscape painting, failed to find a new owner Wednesday at an auction held by K Auction in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul. The bidding started at 5 billion won ($4.2 million), which itself would have been the highest price for an antique painting.  Designated as Treasure No. 1,796, the painting album of Haeak Palgyeong and Songyu Palhyeondo comprises 16 paintings by Jeong Seon -- eight of Kumgangsan in tod

Arts & DesignJuly 15, 2020

[Herald Interview] Gang Dong-won falls for zombie genre while filming ‘Peninsula’

Actor Gang Dong-won was not a big fan of zombie flicks until he starred in “Peninsula,” a zombie thriller that hit the theaters Wednesday. While filming the movie, he found himself physically challenged and his thoughts on zombie flicks have changed -- they are actually action movies disguised as horror movies, he said. “Before I filmed ‘Peninsula,’ I was not really interested in zombie movies because I always thought that Asian ghosts that hold grudges were much

PeopleJuly 15, 2020

2020 IYF World Camp ‘The World Connected’ to start online on July 26

The International Youth Fellowship will be holding its 2020 IYF World Camp online from July 26 to 29, with an aim to offer positive message and inspiration to college students who will lead the next generation. Along with the Good New Corps, which participates in volunteer service activities around the world, the World Camp is an annual project by IYF, hosted in Korea to promote cultural exchanges between teens and college students from around 50 countries, Through the World Camp, IYF hopes t

CultureJuly 15, 2020

Boryeong Mud Festival goes online

The Boryeong Mud Festival will be held online this year starting from Friday, due to the continued spread of COVID-19. The annual celebration of mud along its sandy beach in South Chungcheong Province has become the most popular festival in Korea with foreign participants, with 380,000 of the 1.81 million participants last year being foreigners. Mud wrestling and the mud slide are highlights of the annual festival that also aims to promote the beneficial properties of Boryeong mud. For this y

CultureJuly 15, 2020

Sumi Jo releases single, mourning COVID-19 victims

Celebrated soprano Sumi Jo has released her new single “Life is a Miracle,” singing for the victims of the COVID-19 pandemic. The new single “Life is a Miracle,” released on YouTube on Friday, mourns the deaths of COVID-19 victims. “I wanted to console the people who are going through difficulties and feeling empty due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sharing the sadness and longing for the loved ones lost,” Jo said through a press release Wednesday. The single

PerformanceJuly 15, 2020

‘Peninsula’ invited to Spain’s Sitges film fest

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie thriller “Peninsula” has been invited to the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia in Spain. According to the 2020 lineup announcement released by the festival organizers Tuesday, the film will compete at the 53rd edition of the festival slated to take place Oct. 8-18. Sitges is considered one of the top three fantasy genre film festival in the world, along with Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival of Belgium and

FilmJuly 15, 2020

[Herald Interview] ‘Peninsula’ director says another sequel might follow

While director Yeon Sang-ho’s zombie universe expands over two films and one animation flick, the director says he never imagined he would do a series about zombies. “When we were location hunting for ‘Train to Busan,’ we saw really shabby spots and jokingly talked about what a sequel might look like if we shot it there. I thought then that it would be fun if a little girl drove a huge dump truck and swept a zombie horde -- and that actually became the start to ‘

FilmJuly 15, 2020

Annual Yeowoorak Festival to continue via online platform

The National Theater of Korea announced Tuesday it would continue its annual Yeowoorak Festival online as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. The state-run theater will live stream a total of six performances of the 2020 Yeowoorak Festival via Naver TV and YouTube without live audiences. The festival which kicks off Thursday will run until July 25. The six performances -- “Master&Master,” “I and My Fellow Traveler,” “Such is Life,” “Four Individual

Arts & DesignJuly 14, 2020

Andong Mask Dance Festival canceled due to COVID-19

The Andong City government announced on Tuesday that it had decided to cancel the Andong Mask Dance Festival, which was set to start Sept. 25, due to the danger of COVID-19. According to the organizer of the 10-day festival, diverse performances were planned for Hahoe Village in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. “We are sorry to announce the cancellation of the ‘Andong Mask Dance Festival.’ We will provide diverse events next year as a world-class festival organizer,&rdquo

CultureJuly 14, 2020

Kakao M to pursue new content model for mobile age

Kakao M, the entertainment arm of Korea’s internet portal giant Kakao, on Tuesday said it will lead the paradigm shift to mobile content and the online platform within the entertainment industry. “We will create content most fit to the mobile environment. It will be well-made ‘mobile-fit’ content never witnessed before,” Kakao M CEO Kim Sung-soo said during a press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday. Tuesday’s event was the first media gathering conducted

TelevisionJuly 14, 2020

Classical music fests to bring live music back

Though the COVID-19 pandemic is yet to be contained, summer music festivals in Korea are continuing their run under changed lineups and schedules. The 17th Music in PyeongChang, a biannual classical music festival held across Gangwon Province by the Gangwon Arts & Culture Foundation, will run from July 22 to Aug. 8. Nine main concerts will be held at Alpensia Resort, presenting Beethoven’s symphonies, chamber music and solo piano works, celebrating the 250th anniversary of the mae

PerformanceJuly 14, 2020

MMCA Gwacheon to revitalize outdoor space with installation

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea announced Monday it has selected installation work “The Surface,” designed by stpmj, an architectural practice based in both Seoul and New York, for its MMCA Gwacheon Project 2020. “I hope MMCA’s Gwacheon venue could function as an outdoor shelter for visitors, providing fun and rest during the pandemic times with the installation work,” MMCA Director Youn Bummo said. The Gwacheon venue is located just so

Arts & DesignJuly 13, 2020

Take VR tour of Korea’s first Western-style building at Deoksugung

The Cultural Heritage Administration’s Deoksugung Palace Management Office and South Korea’s top mobile carrier, SK Telecom, on Monday launched a virtual reality tour of Deoksugung’s Western-style Seokjojeon building. Viewers will be able to enjoy the VR tour through SK Telecom’s Jump VR app with a series of 360-degree VR videos that take visitors on a guided tour of Deoksugung. VR headsets are not required. “Due to COVID-19, Deoksugung has remained closed for

CultureJuly 13, 2020

Sejong Center to present 1,000 won shows

The Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul will present two shows this month for 1,000 won, in an effort to promote the arts and lower the barriers for the public. Since the center’s “A Whole Rest” program began in 2007, it has offered diverse shows, crisscrossing genres from classical music and musical theater to dance and gugak, traditional Korean music, for 1,000 won (83 cents) per ticket. The musical “Spring Dream” will be staged at the cente

PerformanceJuly 13, 2020

New dramas focus on breakup of conventional families

Family TV series usually revolve around how the family as a whole reacts to relationship challenges like divorce and adoption, or present conventionally fundamental values, such as love and happiness. In recent days, however, the eased influence of the traditional family structure and newly emerging family issues of "graduation from marriage" and marriages of sexual minorities have penetrated into the small screen in South Korea and resonated with audiences. The KBS weekend show &qu

TelevisionJuly 13, 2020

A step toward globalization: Accepting Korean spoken with a foreign accent

When K-pop girl band (G) I-dle member Shuhwa, who hails from Taiwan, appeared on JTBC’s “Knowing Bros” in January, she expressed hopes of appearing on a South Korean talk show someday. However, hosts Shindong and Jang Sung-kyu teasingly suggested that her Korean wasn’t good enough. After the show, many viewers said the comments were inappropriate and made them feel uncomfortable, leading Shuwha to defend the show’s hosts in an Instagram post. As more nonnative K

CultureJuly 13, 2020

KSIF provides online courses on Korean culture

King Sejong Institute Foundation is offering 15 online courses on Korean culture for foreigners as untact (contactless) learning is gaining ground amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The institute will offer online courses on five themes for the first session starting Monday -- culinary, handicrafts, paintings, dwellings and traditional wedding -- in Korean, English, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese via its website -- www.iksi.or.kr The second session of the online classes will kick off in October w

CultureJuly 12, 2020