Receiving an email a few weeks ago that violist Richard Yongjae O’Neill’s press conference for this year’s Ditto Festival would take place in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, my immediate reaction was “Why?”For most Koreans, the industrial city southwest of Seoul is a place of great sorrow -- most of the more than the 300 passengers who died in the Sewol ferry sinking on April 16, 2014 were second year students from a high school in Ansan, on their way to what should have been a fun-filled school trip

People June 15, 2018

World-renowned French intellect and author Guy Sorman has been a longtime observer of Korea -- and at times its sharp critic.Sorman’s connection to Korea goes back to his friendship with the late video artist Paik Nam-june in the early 1980s. The New York-based artist was not well-known in his home country, but spoke a lot about Korea as a source of inspiration, recalled Sorman. Curious about the little-known country, Sorman decided to visit. “It was still an unknown country in the West,” he tol

People May 3, 2018

A prosecutor who misused parking space for the disabled has resigned after an inspection found he was having an extramarital affair.The Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission received a complaint late last year that a vehicle without a disability decal was constantly occupying a parking lot for the disabled at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office.An inspection by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office found that a prosecutor in the special investigation department had bought the car unde

Social Affairs April 27, 2018

It was over a meal with a foreign friend that Yeol Chairwoman Kim Young-M’Young’s interest in conserving Korean culture was sparked. Today, what originated from three friends brainstorming has grown into a non-profit organization with the mission of conserving, developing and promoting Korean cultural heritage with some 620 members. Yeol Chairwoman Kim Young-M’Young poses at the organization‘s headquarters in Bukchon, Seoul, on March 22. (Park Hyun-koo/The Korea Herald)“We wanted to start small,

Culture March 30, 2018

Former President Lee Myung-bak filed an administrative lawsuit against the prosecution over its use of presidential office documents in the investigation into corruption allegations involving him.During a raid of DAS, an auto parts manufacturer owned by Lee’s brother, in late January, prosecutors seized documents from Lee’s presidential office found in the basement storage. The prosecution has been looking into allegations that DAS ran slush funds for the former president. As the presidential fi

Social Affairs March 2, 2018

In this age of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, people’s lives seem to be fully on display, feeding our exhibitionist and voyeuristic tendencies at the same time. To be seen and to see has come to define our times.Yet, viewing US-based artist Byron Kim’s “Sunday Paintings” series at the Kukje Gallery in Sojeok-dong, Seoul, is an oddly discomfiting experience. In a series of 35.5 centimeter-by-35.5 centimeter canvases, the artist depicts the sky over wherever he may be on a given Sunday and write

Culture Feb. 23, 2018

Some 60,000 facilities used by the public, such as hospitals and traditional marketplaces across the country, will undergo safety checks starting next week, the government said Friday. The inspections come amid heightened safety concerns after two deadly fires claimed dozens of lives at a hospital in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province, last week and at a fitness center in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, in December. (Yonhap)The 60,000 establishments categorized as “high-risk facilities” inc

Social Affairs Feb. 2, 2018

The man known as former President Lee Myung-bak’s “butler” reportedly told prosecutors that he received the state spy agency’s funds under Lee’s orders, recanting his earlier denial of the allegations.Kim Paik-joon was arrested last week on charges of receiving more than 400 million won ($370,000) from the National Intelligence Service in 2008 and 2010 while serving as the senior secretary for administrative affairs to then-President Lee.Prosecutors reportedly obtained Kim’s testimony that he re

Politics Jan. 24, 2018

Korea is probably one of the few countries in the world where classical musicians can become household names. Here, the name Sunwoo Yekwon elicits the response, “Ah, that young pianist,” even from those unfamiliar with classical music. The 28-year-old pianist, who will turn 29 next month, is a star not only onstage but on television as well, starring in a popular series featuring the lives of several Korean celebrities who stay abroad. Sunwoo, however, is no overnight sensation. Before clinching

Culture Jan. 19, 2018

Studying North Korea, the notoriously isolated and closed country, poses many challenges, the most basic of which is the lack of reliable data. Data from North Korea is incomplete at best -- if not misleading -- and data released by various organizations tend to be biased depending on their ideological orientations.The picture that emerges of North Korea in “Unveiling the North Korean Economy,” by Kim Byung-yeon, a professor at Seoul National University, published in English by Cambridge Univers

North Korea Jan. 12, 2018

Prosecutors raided the headquarters of an auto parts supplier Thursday as part of a probe into suspicions that the company managed a slush fund for former President Lee Myung-bak. Investigators from the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office searched the premises of DAS headquarters in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, as well as the offices and residences of related people, the prosecution said.The management of DAS allegedly embezzled the firm’s funds to amass a slush fund of 12 billion

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2018

A group of lawyers accused former President Park Geun-hye’s defense attorney of collaborating in Park’s alleged criminal activity, calling on the Seoul Bar Association to punish him for violations of attorney rules.In a complaint filed with the bar association, the group of 10 lawyers requested an investigation into why Yoo Yeong-ha was managing 3 billion won ($2.8 million) of Park’s money.Yoo told prosecutors the money he received from Park was for future lawyer retainer fees, but “this was har

Social Affairs Jan. 11, 2018

[Eye] When a publicist called to say that Kim Da-sol would be performing the complete Beethoven piano sonatas, my first reaction was, “Isn’t he a bit too young?”Alas, I was mistaken. Just as he thinks he stopped growing at 15 when he left for Germany, the image I had of Kim was from all those years ago. In Korea earlier this month for a number of engagements, including two Beethoven piano sonata recitals at the Kumho Art Hall, Kim says he finally feels youthful, not young. Pianist Kim Da-sol pos

Performance Dec. 22, 2017

The proverbial “third time’s the charm” proved true for PyeongChang, which was finally chosen to host the 2018 Winter Olympics after two unsuccessful bids starting in 2003. With 50 days to go before the 2018 PyeongChang Games, all the venues and nonsporting venues as well as the international broadcasting center have been built. However, there is no palpable sense of excitement about the games.Perhaps it is Olympic fatigue. While PyeongChang was chosen as the host city of the 2018 Winter Games i

Viewpoints Dec. 20, 2017

In an age where three-minute book excerpts on mobile phones pass as “reading,” Hahm Chai-bong, president of the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, has boldly set about writing five volumes on the subject of Korean identity.As he elucidates in the preface to “Hanguk Saram Mandeulgi,” or “Becoming Korean,” Hahm’s translation of the book’s title, the multi-volume work stemmed from a personal quest for self-identity. Having spent much of his formative years abroad, he had been nagged by the question

Culture Dec. 8, 2017