Koreans pick France as dream travel spot

Koreans have chosen France and Australia as their most desired travel destinations, but with short vacation days, they settle for Hong Kong/Macao, China and Japan as realistic travel spots.According to a recent tourism trend survey conducted by the Korea Tourism Organization, France was voted the top destination that Koreans wished to visit if given more money and days off, followed by Australia, the mainland U.S., Hawaii and Italy. The survey was conducted among 1,000 Koreans aged 18 and over w

TravelDec. 18, 2013

2013 is year of the e-cig and ‘selfie’

PARIS (AFP) ― E-cigarettes replaced nicotine patches, grunge returned to the catwalk, Daft Punk swept dance floors and “selfie” made it into the dictionary.Here are some of the lifestyle trends of 2013:― The scene at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service served as confirmation ― if any were needed ― of the selfie’s newfound place in the English language.  As the ceremony for the anti-apartheid hero who died earlier in December dragged on, U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister David Cam

Arts & DesignDec. 18, 2013

Ryu to join charity fan event Sunday

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin will join a charity event for baseball fans Sunday.Nicknamed “a monster pitcher” by Korean fans, Ryu will take part in “Monster Show” at Korea University’s Tiger Dome in Seoul. The event consists of two parts ― a baseball clinic and a concert.The baseball clinic will be held from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. for 30 underprivileged children, 60 child and adolescent baseball players and 30 others.Kim Hyun-soo, who plays for the Doosan Bears in the Korea Baseball Organ

PeopleDec. 18, 2013

Park donates porcelain to Saenuri bazaar

President Park Geun-hye donated a porcelain bowl to a charity bazaar held by the ruling Saenuri Party.The party organized the event to help those in need and at the same time celebrate the first year of Kim’s term as president. She was elected president on Dec. 18, 2012.The bowl that Park donated was used to hold quince fruits, according to a Saenuri official. It is brown, round and large enough for six or seven fruits. The piece was auctioned off.The party held the bazaar on a yard in front of

PeopleDec. 18, 2013

[Photo News] Park Hyun-seo wins AfreecaTV award

Park Hyun-seo received the grand prize at the 2013 AfreecaTV Broadcast Awards on Tuesday.The 26-year-old, a popular broadcasting jockey, has been running her own Internet show since 2011 on AfreecaTV, an online broadcast service in South Korea. Her show, titled “Park Hyun-seo Radio,” has attracted more than 220,000 viewers, according to AfreecaTV. (khnews@heraldcorp.com)

TelevisionDec. 18, 2013

Sweepers donate 18 million won from disposal of recyclables

Nine cleaners for a Seoul district office have donated 18 million won ($17,100) they raised by selling recyclables over four years.Though their lives are financially difficult ― four of them work just 120 hours a month, making 800,000 won ― they gave all the money they raised by separating recyclables from garbage and selling them, the Jung-gu District office said. Kim Yong-hwa, 44, who leads a sanitation team working for the office, led the initiative for the charity drive. Ever since he was hi

PeopleDec. 17, 2013

Stars pose to encourage adoption

Star photographer Cho Sei-hon’s annual exhibition featuring celebrities to encourage domestic adoption is back at the Insa Art Center in central Seoul from Wednesday through Dec. 23. In the 11th “Letter from Angels,” members of K-pop groups including 2PM, 2AM, Sistar, ZE:A, Girls’ Generation―TTS, KARA, 4Minute, B1A4, BTOB, A Pink and BTS pose alongside babies or children with physical disabilities. “The babies did fine. While the members of 2PM tried to cuddle Hyeong-gyu, a boy, he never frowned

PerformanceDec. 17, 2013

Cartoons poke fun at the expat experience

Blogging has long been a way for expats to relay their experiences to people back home or to each other. Sometimes negativity can worm its way into the sphere.But comics, long an alternative to conventional blogging, are emerging as an outlet almost impervious to ridicule.Nichola Gwon, the Australian behind “My Korean Husband,” who once worked as an artist, began cartoons last year when she wanted to start a blog.The format helped her talk about a wider range of topics, she noted.“People tend to

Expat LivingDec. 17, 2013

Calendar sale helps dog sanctuary

Expats are helping to sell Christmas cards and calendars to raise money for a local shelter for abandoned pets.The money raised will go to help Busan Abandoned Pet Sanctuary, which sells calendars every year, featuring pictures of current and former BAPS dogs. Among those selling calendars is Ashleigh Simons, who has helped out for just over six months at BAPS, a volunteer-funded private dog shelter. She got involved in volunteering there after adopting her first dog, and she has since adopted a

Expat LivingDec. 17, 2013

Live piano music meets poignant narrative

In his essay “I Am Melody,” pianist Kwak Yoon-chan says jazz is the music of the less privileged. “Jazz emphasizes the unstressed beat, instead of the stressed.”And the musician certainly empathizes with his pianist character in the on-going play “Novecento,” Italian playwright Alessandro Baricco’s most famous work. The unique character, named Novecento in honor of the 20th century ― it means 900 in Italian ― was born in 1900 on the transatlantic ship the Virginian. His parents abandoned him by

PerformanceDec. 17, 2013

Damaged Torah scrolls from Iraq buried in N.Y.

WEST BABYLON, New York (AP) ― Torah scroll fragments found amid a trove of more than 2,700 books and documents in the flooded Iraqi intelligence building basement have been buried in a religious ceremony at a suburban New York cemetery.“This project is somewhat reflective of the new Iraq,” said Lukman Faily, the Iraqi ambassador to the U.S. “We are saying we would like to share and preserve the history and the heritage of the Jews, of the Christians, of the Muslims.”The artifacts were found in M

CultureDec. 17, 2013

Rome goes back to the 1970s to celebrate art heyday

ROME (AFP) ― The heady years of artistic experimentation and cosmopolitan life in Rome in the 1970s are the subject of a new exhibition that opens in the Italian capital on Tuesday.Two hundreds works by some of the most famous artists of the time, including Alberto Burri, Cy Twombly, Jannis Kounellis and Sol Lewitt are on show at the Palazzo delle Esposizioni.The main artistic currents of the time are represented, including Arta Povera and Transavanguardia, as well as the lesser known “Anarchite

PerformanceDec. 17, 2013

Gianna Jun proves aging is good

With her long, lean legs, velvety hair, and sassy image, Jun Ji-hyun ― known as Gianna Jun in the U.S. and China ― has remained at the top of Korea’s entertainment scene for more than a decade. Ever since playing the protagonist in the smash-hit movie “My Sassy Girl” in 2001, Jun has been one of few actresses who can boast longevity through a handful of films and heaps of TV commercials. For a long time, she topped the surveys of men’s favorite actresses and, moreover, represented a new generati

TelevisionDec. 17, 2013

Beyonce sells 617,000 albums in 3 days of iTunes release

NEW YORK (AP) ― Beyonce’s surprise album has sold surprisingly well: Her fifth solo effort sold more than 600,000 units in its first three days, setting a record for first-week domestic digital sales.Beyonce’s self-titled album was released early Friday morning exclusively on iTunes unbeknownst to the public. Apple said Monday that the album sold 617,213 in its U.S. iTunes Store. It sold 828,773 internationally.“You have to be innovative. The Internet has changed the game. You’ve got to look at

PerformanceDec. 17, 2013

Changing the mindset of K-pop dance

Choreographer Hong Young-joo was certainly happy when audition show “Dancing 9” came out. While not involved with the show, she said she was glad to see Korea looking at dance not as something difficult, but as something that people can truly enjoy.“The reason why I wanted to teach kids is not for the sake of teaching kids, but to show them that it’s fun,” she said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Dec. 6. There are differences between the Western and Korean students in her studio, she po

Dec. 17, 2013