Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doo-na to star in movie ‘Tunnel’

Actors Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doo-na and Oh Dal-su will star in a new flick called “Tunnel,” the film’s production company announced Tuesday. The new movie is being directed by Kim Sung-hoon, who is behind the 2014 hit “A Hard Day.” From left: Ha Jung-woo, Bae Doo-na and Oh Dal-su (OSEN)“Tunnel” centers on a man Lee Jung-soo, played by Ha (“Kundo,” “The Terror Live”), a car salesman who gets trapped in a collapsed tunnel and struggles to survive. Bae (“Cloud Atlas,” “A Girl at My Door”) plays Jung-soo

FilmNov. 24, 2015

New KBS CEO takes office

Former KBS Business CEO Ko Dae-young took office as the new chief executive of KBS, South Korea’s public broadcast network, on Tuesday.Ko, 60, succeeded Cho Dae-hyun as the broadcaster’s 22nd president. He will serve three years until November 2018. In his inaugural speech, the new chief emphasized the need for KBS to change, calling the current situation “a crisis.” “If KBS is in crisis, that means there is a crisis in the noble goal of public broadcasting, which is to present fair and balanced

PeopleNov. 24, 2015

[Herald Interview] Suzy’s latest movie is her own story

Bae Suzy rose to fame simply as Suzy, debuting as a member of top girl group Miss A in 2010. In 2012, she reclaimed her last name when she caught her big break as an actress in the film “Architecture 101,” where she played the classic girl-who-got-away and earned the nickname “Korea’s first love.”In her latest film, “The Sound of a Flower,” she plays a very different character from that early role. She becomes Jin Chae-seon, the first woman in Korean history who performed pansori -- a traditiona

FilmNov. 24, 2015

A family legacy in photography

Lim Seok-je, born in 1918, was one of the first professional photographers in Korea. He shot local life and landscapes with a candid, yet subjective perspective that earned him recognition as a first-generation fine art photographer.  His nephew Lim In-sik, two years younger than him, documented war scenes as a military photographer during the Korean War (1950-1953) and worked as the country’s first aerial photographer. He opened a photo news agency in 1952 and Korea’s first photo gallery in Seo

PerformanceNov. 24, 2015

Suzy used to be street dancer

Singer and actress Suzy said that before she joined JYP Entertainment, she used to perform on the streets as part of a dance crew.According to the Miss A member, she did it to show her parents how much she really loved to perform. Suzy (JYP Entertainment)“I had to convince my parents (to let me be a singer),” she said in an interview at a cafe in Seoul Monday. “They thought that more than singing and dancing, I was attracted to the glamour.”Suzy said that she walked by a dance crew performing on

PerformanceNov. 23, 2015

Stone statues enshrine Korean folk beliefs

Stone sculptures had a significant impact on the ordinary lives of people in Korea as symbols of various folk beliefs. One old folk belief had women, hoping to conceive, visit child stone statues and pray for the arrival of a son. Some women even took parts of the stone sculptures home and ground them to eat with water. This caused many women to suffer appendicitis, one of the major causes of death for women during the Joseon era. Stone sculptures that carried different wishes of ordinary people

CultureNov. 23, 2015

Cho Seong-jin, Chung Myung-whun and SPO to perform Chopin in July

Pianist Cho Seong-jin will join the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Chung Myung-whun to perform Chopin in a Seoul concert next year in a widely anticipated union of Korea’s classical music icons. At the concert, to be held at Seoul Arts Center on July 15, the pianist who shot to local fame after being crowned as the first Korean to win the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition will be performing Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4. The performance

PerformanceNov. 23, 2015

Han Ga-in five months pregnant

Actress Han Ga-in, who is married to actor Yeon Jung-hoon, has been pregnant for nearly five months, according to a press release from Han’s agency, BH Entertainment, Monday. (OSEN)"Han and Yeon will become parents next year. Han has been very cautious about everything since her pregnancy. She even tries to refrain from going outside,” said a person familiar with the matter. The couple tied the knot in 2005 but did not have their first child until recently. Last year, Han made headlines after ge

Nov. 23, 2015

IU ‘still loves’ song ‘Zeze’ despite pedophilia controversy

Singer-songwriter IU stood by a song she wrote inspired by a 5-year-old boy character from a classic novel and for which she was mired in a controversy over pedophilia. At her solo concert in Seoul on Saturday, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter performed the controversial song, “Zeze,” explaining to the audience that she “still dearly loves it.” (Loen Entertainment)A track on IU’s latest EP “Chat-shire,” the song is named after the boy protagonist of Portuguese novel “My Sweet Orange Tree.” Its

Nov. 23, 2015

Korea's rising stars of classical music

This year saw worldwide accolades of unprecedented proportions for classical music artists from Korea.From the first Koreans to win the top prizes at the International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition and Queen Elisabeth Music Competition, to the first Asian to take home the crown at the Ferruccio Busoni International Piano Competition, 2015 has cast a light on local classical scene talent like never before. Cho Seong-jinAs the newest classical music icon in Korea, Cho Seong-jin has forever cem

PerformanceNov. 23, 2015

Stars boycott Korea’s top film awards

The 52nd Daejong Film Awards on Friday were not quite a star-studded affair as the nominees for top prizes, including Best Actor and Actress, skipped the annual ceremony. Although many nominees who did not attend gave reasons such as scheduling conflicts, others openly boycotted the awards, criticizing the organizing committee for poor management and lack of independence from the government.The 52nd Daejong Film Awards were held in Seoul on Friday despite nine nominees for best actor and actress

FilmNov. 22, 2015

The Hyundai Project unveiled at LA gallery

LOS ANGELES - A downpour filled a dark room in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art on Thursday, as if a rainstorm were hitting hit sunny California. However, when people spread their hands into it, the water fall paused. People could walk through the rain without getting completely soaked. “It is like the miracle of Moses,” an onlooker said. The 230-square meter room is fitted with a 1,500-liter water tank and a camera and sensor to detect the rainfall and prevent water from dropping on viewers

PeopleNov. 22, 2015

[Herald Review] ‘Passion’ loses its way

“You Call It Passion” proclaims to be a “2015 relatable comedy.” And for the first half of the movie, it is.Do Ra-hui, played by Park Bo-young who starred in blockbuster hits such as “A Werewolf Boy” and “Scandal Makers,” is a young woman fresh out of college who has just landed her first job as a junior entertainment reporter. She has high hopes and dreams about being able to support herself, wearing a power suit to work every day and casually introducing herself with her own business card. The

FilmNov. 22, 2015

Stars absent from Daejong Film Awards

The 52nd Daejong Film Awards on Friday were not quite a star-studded affair as the nominees for top prizes, including Best Actor and Actress, skipped the annual ceremony. Although many nominees who did not attend gave reasons such as scheduling conflicts, others openly boycotted the awards, criticizing the organizing committee for poor management and lack of independence from the government. Daejong Film Awards ceremony at KBS Hall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul (Yonhap)The Daejong Film Awards organi

FilmNov. 22, 2015

‘Man of autumn’ at the peak of his powers

Setting off for an interview with singer Choi Baek-ho on a windy late October day, with dry, fallen leaves swirling about my feet, I thought, “What a perfect day for a meeting with Choi.” “Please don’t leave in autumn, but, if you must, please leave in the white winter,” goes a line in Choi’s first hit song from the late 1970s, and he has been known as the quintessential man of autumn ever since. I met Choi at Musistance, an underground music space ― literally underground as it is located in a c

PerformanceNov. 20, 2015

Gimjang, integral part of Korean life

Making kimchi, or gimjang, has long been an important family ritual for Koreans to prepare for the long and harsh winter. Women in families gather to make kimchi based on recipes passed down from mothers to daughters and daughters-in-law through generations. It is one of the biggest family events after Chuseok and Lunar New Year’s Day, strengthening family ties and tradition. Gimjang often involved more than just family. The whole neighborhood would come together, with villagers helping each oth

CultureNov. 20, 2015

[Herald Interview] The science and art of kimchi

For Lee Sun-hee, the sous chef at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel, making Korea’s favorite side dish, kimchi, is all about science and art.She uses statistical data and historical documents that recorded the cooking techniques of dishes served for Joseon Dynasty royalty to sustain the traditional taste of the hotel’s kimchi.Lee has been making kimchi at the hotel for nearly two decades. Not only does she continuously search for academic papers for new culinary insights, but actually wrote a

FoodNov. 20, 2015

[Weekeneder] Seasoning’s greetings

Kimchi, a spicy, fermented cabbage dish, is served at almost every Korean meal. (Korea Tourism Organization)Trucks loaded with piles of napa cabbages carry the season’s fresh produce to grocery stores. Makers of red rubber gloves go all out to ensure sufficient supply, while the nation’s weather agency releases a special forecast, predicting the ideal dates for kimchi-making. All for the love of Korea’s national side dish. From mid-November till early December, before the cold fully sets in, Kor

FoodNov. 20, 2015