Skywalk with glass floor dedicated at Busan coast

A skywalk was dedicated in Busan on Friday as an open-air attraction that gives strollers an exhilarating sense of walking above the sea.Situated on the side of a 30-meter coastal cliff, the glass floor viewing platform offers visitors a view of Oryukdo Island, a rock island designated as the national cultural heritage scenic spot No. 24. Authorities in the Namgu district opened the Orukydo Skywalk and its information center to the public on Friday. The center has been set up within the existing

PeopleOct. 18, 2013

Yoko Ono scoops German peace prize

BERLIN (AFP) ― Yoko Ono, the Japanese artist and widow of John Lennon, on Thursday won a prestigious German prize “for her lasting artistic and peace-promoting political work.” Receiving the prize near Berlin’s iconic Brandenburg Gate watched by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Ono, 80, said: “This prize is a message to me from you that what I’ve been doing was understood by you.“Now is time for action and action is peace. Think peace, act peace, spread peace, and let’s make it all tog

PeopleOct. 18, 2013

Albright to receive West Point award for service

WEST POINT, New York (AP) ― Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will receive the U.S. Military Academy’s annual Thayer Award on Thursday, joining other citizens whose service to the nation illustrates the academy’s motto of “Duty, Honor, Country.”The academy’s announcement of the award, named for former West Point Superintendent Col. Sylvanus Thayer, describes Albright as a leader on policy and international affairs.Albright, who served under President Bill Clinton, was the first woman

PeopleOct. 18, 2013

‘SNL’ to exchange crews with ‘SNL Korea’ for single episode

“Saturday Night Live Korea” said Friday that it plans to exchange its crews with the original “SNL” show in the U.S. for one episode next year, a “special event” to commemorate the U.S. show’s 40th anniversary.“Shin Dong-yeop and other regular members (of ‘SNL Korea’) will appear in the U.S. show while Fred Armisen and other crew from the U.S. counterpart will come to Korea,” an unnamed official from the show told local media.He said both programs will feature the same guest star, who is expecte

TelevisionOct. 18, 2013

Public design breathes new life into communities

This is the last installment in an eight-part series that examines the social role of design beyond its aesthetic aspect.  ― Ed.In Yeomni-dong of Mapo District in Seoul, near Ewha Womans University, is the 1.7-kilometer walking trail of “Sogeumgil (salt way).”Unlike its vibrant college area neighbor, Yeomni-dong is filled with crooked and narrow alleys, some too small to fit two people.The walking course is tough, with steep stairways and slopes. Large sign posts painted in yellow line the maze-

Arts & DesignOct. 17, 2013

‘Public design means democracy’

Design has long been seen largely as a matter of appearance, with public design being no exemption.The recent trend in public design, however, reflects a call for change among designers, says professor Ko Young-lan of Hansung University. “In a way, public design is an act of reflection by designers on what they have been doing. Instead of going top-down, asking the public to accept what we have designed, we are moving toward finding their needs and drawing out user-centered experiences,” said Ko

Arts & DesignOct. 17, 2013

Grace Park hopes to share fond memories with fans in last LPGA tournament

INCHEON (Yonhap News) ― Ahead of her last professional event, South Korean LPGA golfer Grace Park said Thursday she is looking forward to sharing her final memories on the links with home fans.Park, whose Korean given name is Ji-eun, retired from the LPGA Tour in June of last year, but will briefly come out of retirement this week to play at the LPGA KEB·HanaBank Championship, which starts on Friday at the Sky72 Golf Club in Incheon, west of Seoul.At a press conference at the golf club, Park, a

PeopleOct. 17, 2013

Lee U-fan awarded Geumgwan Order of Culture Merit

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has awarded artist Lee U-fan the Geumgwan Order of Culture Merit for his contributions to contemporary art. Lee is known for his minimalist paintings and sculptures and has contributed to the development of Korean monochrome painting, which has gained worldwide recognition. He is one of the founders and leaders of the avant garde Mono-ha group, which rejects Western notions of representation in art and instead relies on the Eastern method of focusing o

PerformanceOct. 17, 2013

Community music projects to create ‘melodies of hope’ in Seoul concerts

El Sistema, Venezuela’s music education program, and a Korean youth orchestra of a similar kind will hold a joint concert in Seoul. Some 200 Korean and Venezuelan teenagers will perform the “music of hope” at Deoksugung Palace on Sunday, following a concert by Caracas Youth Orchestra on Friday. Caracas Youth Orchestra is an orchestra based in the capital city of Venezuela which is part of the El Sistema program that has brought about social transformation through music in Venezuela since 1975. E

PerformanceOct. 17, 2013

International buyers eye Korean style

Attending the Fashion Kode 2013 event at Coex in Seoul on Thursday, Jessica Cheung, an operations manager at bauhaus, a select shop franchise based in Hong Kong, noted the trends in Korean fashion. “People in Hong Kong tend to dress conservatively. But here, I can feel that things are more diverse. The clothes are colorful and loose-fitting,” she said. Cheung, whose stores are located in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Germany, among other countries, said she came to the event for two purposes ― to observ

Arts & DesignOct. 17, 2013

KTO to hold charity bike ride along the Han River

The Korea Tourism Organization will hold a charity bike ride next week to raise funds and awareness of the issues of orphans and sex-trafficking and to promote a newly opened bike path along the Han River. The KTO bike-a-thon festival will invite cyclists to the two-day event held from Oct. 26-27 along the Han River Ara Canal to participate in a 16-kilometer, 40-kilometer or 80-kilometer bike ride. The festival will also include entertainment activities such as water sports, a K-pop concert and

TravelOct. 17, 2013

Movie harkens back to 2007 Taliban abductions of Koreans

BUSAN (AP) ― The South Korean Christians kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2007 returned home to not just relief but outrage, rapped for engaging in zealous missionary activity in the Islamic country in defiance of government warnings and forcing South Korea to negotiate for their release. A new drama by director Lee Jang-ho, well-known in South Korea for his commercial movies in the 1970s and the 1980s, borrows from those true events to examine religious conviction in a country that se

FilmOct. 17, 2013

Super Junior sells out first Mexico concert

Super Junior’s upcoming concert in Mexico had fans chartering buses to Mexico City and some even camping outside for days to purchase tickets for the group’s first performance in the country since their debut in 2005. The concert is slated for Nov. 7 at the Arena Ciudad de Mexico. Although the arena can accommodate 22,000 concert goers, the first round of ticket sales were limited to 14,000 seats. The ticket prices ranged from 90,000 won to 295,000 won and were sold out in just four hours, with

PerformanceOct. 17, 2013

English translations of Korean literature published in the U.S.

The first 10 volumes of Dalkey Archive Press and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea’s Korean literature series will be hitting U.S. bookstores on Nov. 16, the Korea-based translation institute announced Tuesday.  The series, titled “Library of Korean Literature,” consists of 25 works by Korea’s contemporary authors and those who lived through Korea’s colonial and postcolonial periods. The remaining 15 volumes in the series will be released next year.The 10 volumes to be published next

BooksOct. 17, 2013

Remembering Marie Colvin’s bravery, journalism

Why was Marie Colvin, who became one of Britain’s most celebrated war correspondents, in Homs, Syria, in February 2012? One thing’s for sure: She had not been invited. After the Syrian government closed its borders to journalists, intrepid reporters like Colvin and her colleague from Britain’s Sunday Times, photographer Paul Conroy, were forced to take extreme measures to cover the nation’s civil war.Colvin and Conroy’s epic journey from Beirut, involved minivans, pickup trucks, motorbikes, hear

BooksOct. 17, 2013