Franz Beckenbauer, a German football legend, appreciated the help of Chung Mong-joon, a former FIFA vice president from South Korea, in Germany’s successful bid to host the 2006 World Cup. Beckenbauer, a two-time European Footballer of the Year, visited Seoul on Monday to attend an award ceremony for Chung. Chung received the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit from the German government later Monday. It’s the highest order a foreigner can receive from Germany, and the South Korean legislato

PeopleJune 3, 2013

Kim Kwang-wook, CEO of Novotel Ambassador, has been appointed the new CEO of Grand Ambassador Seoul Hotel, the hotel announced Monday. Kim is a hotelier with 34 years of experience in hotel management. “With a wealth of experience in this business and the executives and staff members, I will try to make the Grand Ambassador Seoul a world-class hotel brand,” Kim said. Kim’s career in hotel management began in 1979 as he joined The Shilla. He went to serve in various positions at The Shilla and at

PeopleJune 3, 2013

South Korean singer and actor Jang Geun-suk and his project team “Team H” confirmed their concerts to be held in the United States in June. Team H, including Jang and his music partner Big Brother, will perform in Los Angeles Sports Arena and HP Pavilion at San Jose near San Francisco on June 22 and 28, respectively.Ticket are available at www.ticketmaster.com, which opened sales on Monday.Last year, the team held concerts in four major cities in Japan, and then toured Shanghai, Taiwan and Thail

June 3, 2013

Comedian Kim Gu-ra, known for his searing comments, will make a comeback to TV on　“Radio Star“ in early June. Kim’s return to the talk show was reportedly decided on after one of its crew and comedian Yoo se-yoon had to withdraw from the program for drunk driving.Kim, 42, took a one-year leave in 2012 after comments regarding the comfort women sparked public criticism. Kim restarted his career in April, joining KBS talk show “Do Dream” as a panelist.From news reports(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

TelevisionJune 3, 2013

  By Park Sui, Intern reporterA nonfiction companion to a Joseon scholar’s famous travelogue, “Jehol Diary is a Fiction,” attempts to overturn the traditional interpretation of the centuries-old book. It claims that “Jehol Diary” (‘Yeolha Ilgi’ in Korean) is not a fact-based travelogue but a first-person narrative novel.“Previous studies, discussions and education on ‘Yeolha Ilgi’ are totally misguided,” Oh Soon-jeong, the author of the book, told The Korea Herald. The 51-year-old author, a vete

BooksJune 3, 2013

Korea has been rather unfamiliar with German composer Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813-1883) except for a few excerpts from works such as the “Wedding March” from “Tannhauser.” Some of his operas have never been staged here and his works have been cherished by only a rather small group of fans who proudly call themselves Wagnerian. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of Wagner’s birth, an international movement focusing on and promoting Wagner has landed in Korea. From looking inside the persona

CultureJune 2, 2013

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ― A new exhibit created by a University of Pennsylvania professor and host of a popular public television show examines how wartime propaganda has been used to motivate oppressed populations to risk their lives for homelands that considered them second-class citizens.“Black Bodies in Propaganda: The Art of the War Poster,” opens Sunday and continues until March 2 at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Lectures, film screenings and other progra

CultureJune 2, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― It’s the collection that “Cats” built.A multimillion-dollar trove of works by artists including J.M.W. Turner, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud and Winston Churchill that were owned by poet T.S. Eliot’s widow will be sold in London later this year, Christie’s auction house announced Friday.Valerie Eliot, who died in November aged 86, bought the artworks with royalties from the hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical “Cats,” which was based on her husband’s volume of light verse “Old Possum’s Bo

CultureJune 2, 2013

Actor and director Yoo Ji-tae says it is his own “taste” that draws him to the films that feature society’s isolated, rather than ones that deal with the wealthy or powerful.His feature directing debut reflects that very taste telling the story of a young, abused migrant woman in search of survival and dignity. Titled “Mai Ratima,” the romance won the Jury Prize at this year’s Deauville Asian Film Festival. “I think I’m particularly interested in stories of women who go against the odds,” Yoo sa

FilmJune 2, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― Beyonce and a few famous friends ― including John Legend, Jennifer Lopez and Madonna ― turned the home of English rugby into a fortress for women’s rights at a star-studded charity concert.Beyonce headlined a concert at Twickenham rugby stadium in London in support of Chime for Change, a campaign set up to help empower girls and women around the world.The singer, sporting a slinky leather body suit, had the 50,000-strong crowd in a frenzy when she performed “Crazy In Love” ― joined

PerformanceJune 2, 2013

Bada, a member of disbanded girl group S.E.S., rocked the stage with a live cover of a pop classic on Sunday.The diva sang and danced to veteran singer Lee Seung-chul’s renowned “Girl’s Generation” during her appearance on KBS2’s singing competition program “Immortal Song 2.”Jazzy and sensual, the song was performed flawlessly by Bada, who boasts 15 years’ experience as a professional singer and musical actress.The audience was pumped up as Bada roamed around the stage taking off her jacket and

TelevisionJune 2, 2013

Publisher Hank Kim says he often feels like Don Quixote, the famous fictional Spaniard with reckless enthusiasm and big dreams. “It’s to dream the impossible dream,” he says.Kim quit his reporting job at Yonhap News Agency to start a bookstore and a publishing house, Seoul Selection, in 2002, and devote himself to promoting Korean culture in the English language.And the 51-year-old is dreaming the seemingly impossible in Korea’s publishing industry, where the number of English-language books pub

BooksMay 31, 2013

Since the early 2000s, Seoul Selection has published about 70 English-language books on Korea and its culture. Here are some of the picks from their books.“The Voices of Heaven” by Maija Rhee DevineOne of the latest publications by Seoul Selection, “The Voices of Heaven” is an engaging account of the Korean War (1950-1953) from a young girl’s perspective. Korean-born American Maija Rhee Devine, wrote the novel based on her real-life experience going through the war, as well as her family secrets

BooksMay 31, 2013

Located within the Demilitarized Zone, the Joint Security Area is the most forward location that can be visited by people in South Korea. It sits in the western portion of the DMZ on the Military Demarcation Line that divides the two Koreas according to the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953. Also often referred to as a “Truce Village,” Panmunjeom, or the JSA as it is formally called, is where South and North Korean troops stand on guard, staring at one another from a distance. Although this yea

TravelMay 31, 2013

Theater“La Dame au Violoncelle”: TV actress Lee Jae-eun, who started her career as a child actress, is making a comeback with a play written by French playwright Guy Foissy. Titled “La Dame au Violoncelle (The Lady of the Cello),” the drama tells the story of an unhappy, depressed woman who is accused of murdering her husband. It is said to be a story of “the quest for happiness.” The play runs from June 5-30 at You-Theater in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. Tickets range from 20,000 won to 30,0

CultureMay 31, 2013

World War ZOpening June 20Drama. Thriller. Sci-fi. Action. Horror. Directed by Marc Forster.This is an apocalyptic horror film based on the million-seller novel of the same title published in 2007 by Max Brooks. The story revolves around a former United Nations employee Gerry Lane (Brad Pitt) who travels around the world in an attempt to find a way to stop the zombie pandemic that is defeating the armies, collapsing governments, and threatening to decimate the human race.Mai RatimaOpening June 6

FilmMay 31, 2013

The Pistol Annies“Annie Up”(RCA Nashville)“Annie Up” is a good title for the Pistol Annies’ second album. Like the gambling term it playfully puns, the title underscores that this brash trio is raising the stakes, investing more time, effort and artistic nerve into its new 12-song collection. The gamble pays off: “Annie Up” builds on the trio’s successful debut “Hell on Heels” by taking even more risks with bold material and inventive arrangements. Mixing bawdy humor with sensitive insight, the

PerformanceMay 31, 2013

“Now You See Me” is like seeing a magician pull a rabbit out of a hat and then showing you how the trick is done, only to learn the bunny’s dead. Everything’s going reasonably well until the disappointing end.The big trick of “Now You See Me” is the criminal ways of a group of illusionists ― played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher and Dave Franco ― brought together by a mysterious stranger to pull off a series of impossible crimes. Their first trick is to rob a bank in Paris with

FilmMay 31, 2013