Hong Ra-hee, wife of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee, recently returned to her post as director of Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. Hong resumed to the post on March 16 and attended the opening ceremony of “Korean Rhapsody,” an ongoing exhibition at the museum, on the same day. “She planned to return in time for the Korean Rhapsody exhibition. But then the earthquake hit Japan and the overal

Performance March 29, 2011

Photographer Koo talks about finding beauty in bric-a-brac as he opens exhibition of his collection of miscellaneous objectsAs a boy, Koo Bohnchang liked to explore his father’s front yard alone rather than playing ball with his friends, a constant cause of concern for his parents. Little did they know that their boy would grow up to be a famous photographer. Koo, who is now 58 and a professor at

Performance March 28, 2011

Shorter, more focused event includes new program that concentrates on inking deals abroadIt is finally spring, but for the fashion-savvy it is already fall. 2011 F/W Seoul Fashion Week kicked off its six-day run Monday at SETEC in Daechi-dong, southern Seoul. Started a decade ago, Seoul Fashion Week is now one of Asia’s biggest fashion fairs, having showcased about 900 designers and promoted over

Arts & Design March 28, 2011

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Friday announced plans to set up an “Entertainer Supporting Center” as early as next month.The plans were unveiled at a forum involving about 20 influential figures in South Korea’s show biz industry at the SM Entertainment building in Cheongdam-dong, southern Seoul. The forum, hosted by the Culture Ministry, sought to solve problems clouding over the

Culture March 25, 2011

Presented by Universal Ballet, the nation’s oldest private ballet company, the humorous ballet “Don Quixote,” opens Friday at the Opera Theater in Seoul Arts Center in Seocho-dong, southern Seoul. Based on Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes’s novel of the same title, its ballet version premiered in the 1750s. Since then, it has been the world’s most-loved comical ballet. While the original novel r

Performance March 24, 2011

Late actress Choi Jin-sil and her younger brother Choi Jin-young’s graves may have to be moved because the cemetery where they were buried was illegally built. Kapsan Park Cemetery in Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province, where the Chois are buried, has illegally destroyed a 7,550 square meter area of a nearby forest to create 188 graves since 2008, Yangpyeong-gun said Tuesday. The cemetery was authorize

People March 24, 2011

Like the woman of the same name who was known to have been one of the four beauties of ancient China, the “Yang Guifei,” or “poppy flower,” was so mesmerizingly beautiful that he stopped short and stared for a long time. Artist Kwon In-su, who had never really been into flowers before, was totally captivated by the flower and ended up opening a solo exhibition entirely dedicated to it. “It was a t

Performance March 22, 2011

Shin Jeong-ah speaks during a press conference at Lotte Hotel in Sogong-dong, central Seoul, on Tuesday. (Yonhap News)The woman at the center of one of South Korea’s biggest scandals has returned with an autobiography. Shin Jeong-ah, who shook the nation in 2007 with fabrication of her academic record, embezzlement and an affair with a high-level government official, appeared in public for the fir

People March 22, 2011

Super trendy K-pop group Big Bang is showcasing its first-ever fashion line. The boy band designed T-shirts and jackets, as well as smartphone and laptop accessories in collaboration with 10 CORSO COMO SEOUL, a lifestyle concept store which sells fashion items by various, usually foreign, designers. “We hope to become Asia’s fashion mecca and Seoul’s landmark by collaborating with Big Bang, who ar

Arts & Design March 22, 2011

Easy-to-follow story, timely changes and wit are keys to success for small-stage performancesNo matter how much blockbuster musicals boast of their leading stars, or how low and lewd some small theater shows become in a quest for custom, there remain several decent small-stage musicals that are long-running successes. South Korean original musicals such as: “Finding Kim Jong-wook;” “Sarangun Birul

Performance March 21, 2011

German museums pull out 116 artifacts from their Korean art collections for traveling exhibitiA two-year touring exhibition of Korean art and cultural artifacts in Germany will kick off Friday at the country’s Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne. The exhibition “Korea Rediscovered ― Treasures from German Collections” is co-organized by the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Korea Foundat

Performance March 20, 2011

Rocker Kim Chang-wan of the Kim Chang-wan Band is holding a charity concert Friday at V-hall in Seogyo-dong, central Seoul, with fellow rock bands to help Japan’s quake victims. Titled “WHY ON EARTH,” the concert will feature 17 bands including Kim Chang-wan Band, Jang Ki-ha and Faces, Crying Nut, Seoul Electric Band, Yellow Monster, Diablo, Park Gi-young, and nyfish. The bands lined up soon after

Performance March 17, 2011

Korean poetry paintings will be displayed in a major U.S. art museum for the first time next week. The exhibition “The Lure of Painted Poetry: Japanese and Korean Art,” which kicks off March 27 at the Cleveland Museum of Art in Ohio, will offer a rare and in-depth comparison of poetry paintings by Korean and Japanese artists from the 14th to the 21st centuries. Browsing through the 80 poetry paint

Performance March 17, 2011

Chongdong Theater’s Korean traditional musical performance “Miso” ― whose audience is 30 to 40 percent Japanese ― is in a fix. Japanese tourists have been canceling their tickets since the horrendous earthquake and tsunami that hit their country. “Most Japanese groups that were supposed to come on the day the earthquake struck canceled. About 13 groups have canceled so far. Some who are already ca

Performance March 16, 2011

Hallyu stars are taking action for their beloved fans in Japan. South Korean stars Bae Yong-joon, Kim Hyun-joong, Ryu Shi-won, Jang Geun-seok, Song Seung-heon and Choi Ji-woo donated hundreds of millions of won to help quake and tsunami-hit Japan and expressed their condolences. Bae Yong-joonActor Bae, better known as Yonsama among his Japanese fans, offered 1 billion won ($887,000) Monday for aid

People March 16, 2011