DANGJIN, South Chungcheong Province -- On Sunday, the sprawling yard behind the Gijisi Juldarigi Museum was packed with residents of the city of Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, all engaged in a joint effort to achieve one goal: to pull a gigantic 1-meter-wide, 200-meter-long, 40-metric ton rope into place for a game of tug-of-war.Bits of straw filled the air along with the shouts of festivalgoers, from children to the elderly, anticipating the 500-year-old event about to take place. The Gij

Culture April 11, 2017

An independent candidate running in a regional by-election revealed a photo of what he claims is a centuries-old instruction book for Hangul, deemed missing since 2008.Bae Ik-gi is running for the National Assembly seat for Sangju, Gunwi, Uiseong and Cheongsong regions in Wednesday’s election.　Bae, a self-claimed scholar and collector of old books, released a photo of what he claims is the Sangju edition of the Hunminjeongeum Haerye, an instruction book on Hangul, the Korean alphabet, published

Culture April 10, 2017

Hip-hop musician Junggigo, who has collaborated with K-pop’s trendiest artists, will be releasing his first solo LP on April 20. 　“Junggigo will kick off his official activities with a media showcase at the Hyundai Card Understage in Itaewon on April 20,” Starship Entertainment, Junggigo’s label, said Monday. Junggigo revealed the cover art for the album, titled “Across the Universe,” on Sunday.The 36-year-old singer-producer recently released “Let me Love You” with boy band EXO’s Chanyeol.Album

Performance April 10, 2017

In a world where the notions of ethnicity, culture and identity are constantly evolving, Korea’s fashion world is taking those influences and turning them into creative expression.Fashion model Han Hyun-min presented a striking image on the Korean catwalk at the 2016 Seoul Fashion Week fall-winter collection in March 2016. Born to a Nigerian father and Korean mother, Han is Korea’s first model with African roots. 　“I’ve always been skinny and tall at 184 centimeters and 56 kilograms. Kids would

Arts & Design April 9, 2017

Dubu jorim (braised tofu) is a popular Korean side dish which is typically pan-fried and then braised in a spicy sauce. This braised tofu doesn’t require pan-frying and uses a lot more liquid. It resembles a stew (jjigae), but is actually not a jjigae as the term is used in Korean cuisine. This dish is totally fine just with the onion and scallion, but this recipe also uses mushrooms and a chili pepper. You can also add a little bit of thinly sliced Korean radish to the bottom of the pot before

Food April 7, 2017

House of the Disappeared (Korea)Opened April 5Mystery, thriller. Directed by Lim Dae-wung Mi-hee (Kim Yun-jin) is a mother of two boys living in an old house on a quiet hill with an abusive new husband (Jo Jae-yoon). Strange events start to occur in the house. Mi-hee and her children are visited one night by a violent, unidentifiable being, and she begins to feel a dark presence in the basement of the house. All the while, tension between her children and husband continue to mount. Oneday(Korea)

Film April 7, 2017

Cable network tvN has recently been churning out drama series with the time travel motif -- from last year’s mega-hit “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God” to the recent fantasy romance “Tomorrow With You.” Coming up next is “Chicago Typewriter,” featuring Yoo Ah-in and Lim Soo-jung.　The show, airing Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., centers on a mysterious antique typewriter which transports the characters 70 years back in time to the 1930s, when Japan occupied Korea. “It’s true that shows with s

Television April 6, 2017

Director Park Chan-wook was honored as one of the Knights of the Order of the Raven, in recognition of his achievements, at the Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival on Tuesday, the Korean Cultural Center Brussels announced Wednesday. 　The festival is spotlighting three film‘s by Park -- “Thirst” (2009), “I’m a Cyborg, but That’s Okay” (2006), “Lady Vengeance” (2005) -- this year. 　BIFFF is considered one of the world’s top three fantastic film festivals alongside Spain’s Sitges and Por

Film April 6, 2017

North Korea stunned Britain 3-2 in overtime for its first win at the women's hockey world championships in South Korea on Wednesday.North Korea, ranked 26th, squandered a 2-0 lead in the third period before Jin Ok netted the overtime winner to beat No. 21 Britain at the International Ice Hockey Federation Women's World Championship Division II Group A at Gangneung Hockey Centre in Gangneung, Gangwon Province.North Korea lost to Australia and the Netherlands earlier in the tournament. At last yea

Sports April 5, 2017

Japan's top envoy to South Korea has requested meetings with top government officials apparently to demand Seoul's implementation of a bilateral agreement on the wartime sex slavery issue, a diplomatic source said Wednesday.Ambassador Yasumasa Nagamine asked for the meetings with officials including Acting President and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo, according to the source.  (Yonhap)The request was made right after the ambassad

Diplomatic Circuit April 5, 2017

A consortium in charge of building a nuclear power plant in Britain will hold talks with South Korea's state-run utility firm Korea Electric Power Corp. to examine a potential partnership, a senior British official said Wednesday.The NuGen consortium will discuss with KEPCO the Moorside nuclear power plant project in Cumbria, northwest England, Greg Clark, U.K. business secretary, said in a meeting with South Korean reporters at the British Embassy in Seoul, without providing a specific time fra

Industry April 5, 2017

Hyundai Motor Co. is eyeing opportunities to expand into the Middle Eastern luxury car market by showcasing its luxury Genesis sedans at a local conference, the company said Wednesday.Hyundai will provide four G90 top-of-the-line full-size sedans and another four G80 executive cars as official vehicles for the Conde Nast International Luxury Conference 2017 to be held in Muscat, Oman from this week, a company spokesman said. Conde Nast International, a London-based fashion magazine, is holding t

Mobility April 5, 2017

Mystery-thriller flick “House of the Disappeared,” starring actress Kim Yun-jin and singer-actor Ok Taec-yeon, has been invited to the main competition category of the Far East Film Festival, the film’s distributor Peppermint & Company announced Wednesday.“(The film) is a deep, striking psychological thriller-horror film,” said the festival’s executive director Sabrina Baracetti. “The film flows smoothly, but it is also straightforward. ... Kim Yun-jin’s performance of going back and forth betwe

Film April 5, 2017

MONTREUX, Switzerland -- Park Sung-eun is a Korean student studying hotel management in Neuchatel, a quaint Swiss town whose medieval architecture has been untouched for centuries by war or renovation. She wakes up in a dorm room decorated like a hotel room, located within the International Hotel and Tourism Training Institute.“I love talking to people,” she said, which is why Park wanted to pursue an “interactive” profession in a field where she could at once hone her foreign language skills an

Culture April 4, 2017