The Korea Herald

KOTESOL gears up for international English teaching conference

English education association KOTESOL has opened registration for its 24th international conference this year, focusing on “Shaping the Future with 21st Century Skills.”The two-day Korea TESOL International Conference at Seoul’s Sookmyung Women’s University from Oct. 15-16 will explore the challenges that both teachers and English language learners face in the 21st century, particularly from advances in technology and the growth of global media. KOTESOL -- Korea Teachers of English to Speakers o

Aug. 9, 2016

Applications open for October TOPIK exam

Applications opened Monday for those wanting to take the Test of Proficiency in Korean on Oct. 16.Test-takers can choose to sit for the lower-level TOPIK I in the morning or the higher level TOPIK II in the afternoon at one of nine test centers across the country.The TOPIK I test runs from 9:20-11:40 a.m., awards grades 1 and 2 and consists of listening and reading sections. The TOPIK II, covering grades 3-6, has listening and writing sections followed by a separate reading exam, with the whole

Aug. 9, 2016

Seoul Players auditioning for actors for 10 minute play fest

Seoul Players will hold auditions on Aug. 27-28 for its sixth 10-Minute Play Festival and Competition.The festival runs across two weekends each fall and features 15 scripts from Korea and overseas that will vie in competition, with monetary prizes going to the top three groups. This year’s festival will take place in mid-November.Actors of all ages, races, nationalities, genders, physical types and experience levels are invited to take part. The auditions will involve cold reading, so no prepar

Aug. 9, 2016

Seoul book club hosts panel with three illustrators

Seoul Book and Culture Club will be hosting a panel session with three up-and-coming illustrators on Saturday. The group will be joined by Salgoo, Aeppol and Tokki -- three popular Naver Grafolio illustrators who attended the French International Book Fair in Paris earlier this year, when Korea was the featured guest country. The three illustrators have thousands of fans here in Korea and around the world, and will talk about their work in a panel session that will be in Korean and English, work

Aug. 9, 2016

Punk stalwarts return from U.S. tour with new record

Fresh from a tour of the U.S., Seoul-based melodic punk band ... Whatever That Means is gearing up for the Korean launch of its new record.The split 7-inch “Blowing Minds and Melting Faces” was recorded with U.S. punk rockers Burn Burn Burn. The first launch was in Seattle, with Burn Burn Burn as part of the band’s U.S. tour this month.It was their second U.S. tour, so knowing the venues made it easier to ensure the shows were good -- except perhaps one.“We’ve never had a tour where we don’t end

Aug. 9, 2016

Punk stalwarts return from U.S. tour with new record

Part Time Cooks heat up the Korean hip-hop scene

Part Time Cooks might not be a household name, but the hip-hop duo are making their mark on the Korean hip-hop scene with the release of their first studio album, “7:30,” and a tour of Japan to start this week.Hailing from North Carolina and Durban in South Africa, the 30-year-old rappers met through a mutual friend four years ago after moving to South Korea to teach English.“I decided to be his hype man and he decided to be mine until we started to make music together,” Moss told The Korea Hera

July 26, 2016

Part Time Cooks heat up the Korean hip-hop scene

Brazilian culture center runs photography exhibition in Seoul

The Brasil Cultural Center in Korea will be holding a photography exhibition in Seoul to mark the upcoming Rio Olympics.About 60 photographic works will be on show, chosen through a contest run by the center and the University of Taubate in Brazil.In the contest, students at the university were asked to show the beautiful aspects of Brazil they wanted to show people overseas. Those who came first, second and third in the contest were invited to come to Korea for the duration of the exhibition to

July 26, 2016

Thai teen artists visit Seoul for art project

Eight teenage artists from Thailand will be exhibiting their work in Seoul Wednesday as part of a two week project.Creative Matters, an art academy in Bangkok, teamed up with Jankura Artspace in Seoul for the project which will see the artists, aged 15-17, display their projects under the theme “Hidden Seoul”The artists have been taking classes at Jankura and using its studio space to work on their projects. Jankura founder Mike Stewart said the projects ranged from 3-D models to collage and wat

July 26, 2016

Thai teen artists visit Seoul for art project

Multinational choir seeks singers for ‘Pops’ concert

Camarata Chorale, a multinational choir of amateur singers, is looking for new members in time for its “Pops” concert in September.The concert will involve songs from a wide range of modern backgrounds, including the swing era, the 70’s and 80’s, as well as some musical theater and jazz. The music will be accompanied in the concert by piano and a brass band.The choir has members from scores of nationalities and puts on four main concerts each year, including most recently a performance of Mozart

July 26, 2016

North Korean refugees to share their stories at joint panel event

North Korean refugees will share their stories at a panel event with scholars, activists and volunteers.The mini-conference, hosted by Teach North Korean Refugees and Seoul University of Foreign Studies, will feature two panels.The first panel, organized by the university, will feature academics while the second panel, organized by TNKR, will focus on three refugees and their plight.“We have three different aims: to raise awareness about North Korean issues, given an opportunity for refugees to

July 26, 2016

North Korean refugees to share their stories at joint panel event

WinK to host lawyers Q&A for expats

South Korean attorneys will offer their pro-bono services at a question and answer session in Seoul on Saturday.The lawyers will meet with up to 12 attendees for two hours to answer questions about legal issues at When in Korea (WinK)’s Kitchen & Taphouse. They will cover topics relating to contract, property, visa, labor, civil, criminal, commercial, and corporate law. “We know there are legal help sites on the Internet. But this session should allow them to ask many follow-up questions so they

July 21, 2016

Couple seeks to end bear bile trade in Korea, build sanctuaries

When Gina Moon witnessed Korea’s bear bile farming practices, she was left with a troubling question: “How could we do this to our mother?” She was reminded of the myth here about Tangun -- the legendary first king of Korea -- that says a bear was the mother of the first Korean.Upon seeing firsthand the cruelty of the bear bile trade, Moon 58, founded moonbears.org, an organization that aims to put a stop to the bear bile industry in Korea, with her husband John William Walker in January 2007. “

July 12, 2016

Couple seeks to end bear bile trade in Korea, build sanctuaries

Expat artists team up to extend murals around Mi Cook Oppa

Expat artists will descend on a street in Itaewon to add some color to the concrete.Lawrence Blackman of art group Look But Don’t Touch, said he met James Beckwith, the owner of Mi Cook Oppa in Itaewon, a few months ago when Beckwith led a similar event with another group. Now Beckwith has arranged for a new area to be painted, and Look But Don’t Touch is organizing the artistic side of things.A mural outside Mi Cook Oppa (Mi Cook Oppa)“His idea is to help develop the area by muralising it, whic

July 12, 2016

Expat artists team up to extend murals around Mi Cook Oppa

New start-up center to support foreign businesses

A new start-up center funded by the Seoul Metropolitan Government will help expats grow their businesses by assisting them in developing globally.The Seoul Global Startup Center in Yongsan-gu is the first government-subsidized scheme to provide seed funding mainly for foreigners through an incubation program in Korea. Seoul GSC’s five-month incubation program will provide 10 million won ($8,656) in seed funding to successful applicants.Each team will also receive a 24-hour office space, visa ass

July 12, 2016

Gwangju center to run tour to Gokseong

Gwangju International Center will run a tour to Gokseong, South Jeolla Province, which recently rose to prominence as the location of the horror film, “The Wailing.” The area is home to temples, shrines and monuments, with the first destination on the stop being Dorisma Temple, which was established by a famous Buddhist monk named Wonhyo Daesa. The name Dorimsa, meaning “Temple of the Forest of Ascetics,” was chosen because the temple was crowded with spiritual people, including Doseongguksa, Sa

July 12, 2016

Talk to explore sociocultural impact on FDI

One of the founders of the Korean Studies Centre in Sheffield will deliver a lecture on Tuesday at the Royal Asiatic Society Korea Branch on how it can help the government attract higher levels of foreign direct investment.Judith Cherry’s lecture will look at how sociocultural issues challenge foreign companies investing in South Korea. Cherry will base her lecture on interviews conducted between 2009 and 2016 with EU executives, diplomats and trade officials. Since the late 1990s, foreign direc

July 11, 2016

Foreign residents invited to guided tours of Korea's world heritage

South Korea will begin a series of guided tours of the country's UNESCO-listed world heritage for foreign residents this week, a state-run culture agency said Friday.On Saturday and Sunday the Korean Culture and Information Service will take U.S. military officials in Korea and their families to the east coast city of Gangneung for the "Gangneung Dano Festival."The festival is one of the biggest surviving cultural feasts to celebrate the day of Dano, May 5th in the Korean lunar calendar.The Dano

June 10, 2016

Global Families of Gwangju founders win Simning award

Gwangju expats Jeff Hamilton and Kelly Palmer Kim were conferred the Michael Simning Community Builders Award for their work in setting up and running the Global Families of Gwangju community organization.The pair created GFG five years ago to facilitate cross-cultural activities and exchanges in Gwangju as well as to run events to allow kids and international families to get together and enjoy typical family experiences that many expats have back home and miss in Korea, according to award organ

June 8, 2016

Global Families of Gwangju founders win Simning award

Expats ‘Come Together’ after girl’s surgery fails

Expats in Ilsan, Gyeonggi Province, are staging a massive fund-raiser on June 18 to support one of their own who has fallen on bad times.Shawn Morrissey, 37, from Victoria, Newfoundland, knew from early on that his daughter, Ha-yoon, would not have the healthiest life. She was born with Alagile’s Syndrome, a rare congenital disorder that affects the liver. On May 13, the 4-year-old went in for a liver transplant at Seoul National University Hospital. Despite having some of the best surgeons in K

June 8, 2016

Expats ‘Come Together’ after girl’s surgery fails

‘Wonderland’ stage show reveals slice of life in Korea

Life soon after arriving in Korea can seem like a bemusing blur of episodes, and the Changwon Community Theater has tried to re-create just that in a self-penned show.The group’s next production “Waygook-in Wonderland” runs this weekend, giving a view of life in Korea in some 45 short segments. The play was a collaborative project devised by the cast, led by director Cinthia Palmer, who describes the show as a smorgasbord of short sketches, song and dance turned into one long music video.“This i

June 8, 2016

‘Wonderland’ stage show reveals slice of life in Korea