If you see a young man in black walking along the walls of Gyeongbokgung, cloaked in the darkness of the witching hours as he is wont to do most days, you may have just run into Kwon Joon-hyuk, better known as magician Ed Kwon. Just a semester short of graduating from university in Las Vegas, where he majors in hospitality management, Kwon has been in South Korea since June, waiting to serve his mandatory military service. Walking in the middle of the night became a way to clear his mind at a

Culture Dec. 4, 2020

Putting up the Christmas tree over the weekend, I was reminded once again of all the plans that came to naught this year, including long-planned trips. Among the ornaments that hang on the tree are baubles and trinkets bought on trips abroad -- a rough, handmade snowman bought at an Amish village in Pennsylvania, a Tiffany-style glass ball picked up on a rushed weekend trip to New York. Collected over the years, they remind us of our times there. It goes without saying that there were no new or

Viewpoints Nov. 27, 2020

When I met Florian Riem, CEO of the Tongyeong International Music Foundation, for the first time at the Tongyeong International Music Festival in the spring of 2015, I noticed he was speaking through an assistant who spoke Japanese and Korean. He had worked in Japan prior to coming to South Korea and spoke Japanese. “Oh boy,” I thought. “This is going to be some ride for both the city, his employer and him.” I was anxious for the small port city in the southwest, led by

Culture Nov. 27, 2020

At 72, Hahn Dae-soo is as exuberant as ever, his throaty laughter and irrepressible energy filling the studio. The “halbae,” a term of endearment for grandfathers in Korean, as he calls himself, is back in Korea after four years in New York. But he is no ordinary halbae: He came to record his 15th album, “Blue Skies, White Clouds,” which was released Nov. 14. “It is the pandemic, the desire to spread the word that it is not the time to sing about togetherness, t

Performance Nov. 20, 2020

As I write this, Thursday afternoon in Seoul, more than a full day after the 2020 United States presidential election came to a close, it remains unclear who is the winner. The Democrats, who had largely expected a “Blue Wave” and even a landslide victory, are expressing dismay while political pundits pronounce a nation deeply divided. When President Donald Trump won the election in 2016, despite having lost the popular vote to his rival Hillary Clinton, many were ready to see it

Viewpoints Nov. 6, 2020

A late start did not stop Yun Yuh-soon from making her mark in South Korea’s notoriously male-dominated corporate world. In fact, Yun was appointed executive director of LG Academy, LG Group’s human resources development center, in 2000, becoming the conglomerate’s first-ever female executive. She had joined the company five years earlier, at age 40. In 2010, she was made senior executive director at LG Academy and the following year, she was appointed CEO of LG Arts Center,

Books Oct. 23, 2020

An unseasonal cold snap did little to deter hundreds of people, young and old, from taking in the enchanting view of Gyeongbokgung at night on Wednesday. The colorful dancheong that decorate the palace buildings seemed to shimmer in the warm glow of the lights and the trees that have weathered numerous changes of seasons, illuminated from below, seemed to come to life. “This is the first time in my life that I am here at night,” I overheard a woman tell her friend as they kept thei

Viewpoints Oct. 16, 2020

I am a lists person. I am constantly making lists: the to-do list, the shopping list, the weekly menu list, the book list and the potential interviewee list, not to mention the list that tops them all -- the bucket list. I carry around a small Moleskin notebook containing these lists, each one marked with a colorful Post-it flag. Of course, I don’t get around to doing nearly half the things on the lists. It is a well-lived day when a third of the items on my daily to-do list are co

Viewpoints Sept. 18, 2020

After a week of repeated changes of plan due to the resurgence of COVID-19, the 12th DMZ International Documentary Festival released its final schedule Tuesday, two days ahead of the kickoff. Originally slated to take place entirely on-site with members of the general public in the audience, the weeklong festival will now have closed-door screenings, with each screening limited to 30 people. The official festival lineup -- comprising 122 films from 33 countries -- will be screened at the Mega

Film Sept. 15, 2020

The young men have done it yet again. The trailblazing K-pop boy band’s latest single, “Dynamite,” hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, the first South Korean music ever to do so. The announcement, which followed on the heels of the seven-member group’s impressive win of four awards -- best pop, best group, best choreography and best K-pop for “On,” released in February as the lead song for “Map of the Soul 7” -- at the MTV Awards held only a few

Viewpoints Sept. 4, 2020

When I enter choreographer Ahn Eun-me’s studio located in the basement of a building that houses a gas station on the ground level, she is perched on a balcony with a commanding view of the studio from which she presides over her eponymous dance company, Ahn Eun-Me Company. She is hard to miss: Ahn’s buzz cut renders her instantly recognizable. “Long hair was restrictive and the head gets too heavy,” says Ahn, explaining her decision to shave it all off in September 19

Culture Aug. 28, 2020

It felt as if I were a character in a zombie movie. I was driving home from the office Monday evening when, over the airwaves, I heard a crisp, measured male voice announcing the number of new daily COVID-19 cases: 188 local cases and nine from abroad. This cannot really be happening, I thought. I panicked at the surreal nature of it all, despite having been bombarded by hourly updates on the increasingly grave situation all day. The imminent danger had not really sunk in until I heard it on

Viewpoints Aug. 21, 2020

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has raged on for more than seven months now, it was said that there would be a plethora of books about the time of the novel coronavirus in the years to come. Judging by recent press releases, artists appear to be already at work trying to make sense of these confusing times. But how many artists will make it through these rough times when the cultural scene remains crippled following the monthslong virtual shutdown? Even in better days, &ldqu

Viewpoints July 31, 2020

“I am 75. I am past the age for singing. The state has now said that I should make a living painting,” says Cho Young-nam during an interview with The Korea Herald on July 13 at his apartment in Cheongdam-dong, Seoul, overlooking the Han River and Yeongdong Bridge. He is speaking about the recent Supreme Court decision that found the singer and painter not guilty of fraud. In 2016, Cho was sued by a buyer who accused him of fraud. He was alleged to have hired another artist to pain

Arts & Design July 24, 2020

Five months into COVID-19, I was itching to go somewhere, anywhere. The past few months had been filled with anxiety as I worried about family members in different countries. When we were finally all united in Seoul, the house got too crowded, as we mostly kept to home, other than returning to work. I needed to self-isolate in a quiet place -- undisturbed by anyone. Travel abroad was out of the question. So were crowded tourist destinations. That left me with an escape to Jeju Island, some

Travel July 17, 2020