Most Popular
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Same day, different holiday: Mid-autumn festivals across East Asia
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N.Korea could use nuclear weapons at any stage of conflict: Pentagon
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Yoon hosts luncheon meeting with Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima on Chuseok
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Swimmer, gamers celebrate Chuseok with gold medals
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Memorials commemorating Itaewon crowd crush to be erected at accident site
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The many regional flavors of songpyeon, a Korean holiday dessert
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Opposition leader proposes meeting with Yoon amid growing party feud
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NewJeans hits 1 bln streams mark on Spotify with debut album
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Expressway traffic congestion persists on 2nd day of extended Chuseok holiday
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Whisky imports surge 40% through August, suggesting record-breaking year
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More than 10 million tourists flock to Jeju
Thanks to the Olle trails, warm climate and an influx of Chinese tourists, the far southern island of Jejudo has seen more than 10 million tourists this year, authorities said Thursday. According to the Jeju government, the number of tourists to the island so far this year exceeded 10 million as of Thursday. Domestic tourists took the lion’s share of about 7.8 million while inbound tourists made up around 2.2 million, the majority of whom were Chinese, records show. The number is a huge jump fro
CultureNov. 28, 2013
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Korean-Chinese wins top literary translation prize
Korean-Chinese scholar Kim Hak-cheol (Jin Hezhe) arrived in Seoul in 2001 at age 28 without knowing much about the country.Now 41, Kim is an associate professor teaching Korean literature at Harbin Institute of Technology in Weihai, China. Kim, who worked as a journalist in China for seven years before studying comparative literature at Seoul National University, is a third-generation Korean-Chinese born in Yanbian, a Korean autonomous prefecture in Jilin Province, China. On Wednesday, Kim recei
BooksNov. 28, 2013
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Renzo Piano building expands Kimbell’s gallery space
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) ― The Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth is expanding its gallery space with a new building designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano that is a nod to the museum’s original Louis Kahn-designed building.“There are so many echoes of the Khan building here,” said museum director Eric M. Lee as he stood in one of the new building’s galleries. “The facade is the same length as the facade of the Kahn building and both are broken down into three equal bays, with a lobby in the cent
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013
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Giant Louis Vuitton trunk ordered off Red Square
MOSCOW (AFP) ― French luxury brand Louis Vuitton has been ordered to remove a giant trunk put up as a publicity stunt on Moscow’s iconic Red Square, an associated department store said Wednesday, after it triggered outrage among Russians.The boxy brown suitcase-shaped pavilion, covered with the brand’s signature “LV” stencilling was erected 10 days ago just outside GUM, a 19th-century upmarket department store across from the Kremlin that faces the square.But many tourists and ordinary Russians
CultureNov. 28, 2013
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Lithuanian ‘Banksy’ a hit in anti-graffiti Singapore
SINGAPORE (AFP) ― A Lithuanian artist who angered Malaysian officials with a street mural depicting a knife-wielding Lego robber has found unlikely admirers across the border in graffiti-averse Singapore for his works on a softer theme.Ernest Zacharevic, who has been likened to British graffiti artist Banksy, has seen photos of his murals depicting children playing go viral on Facebook as Singaporeans unused to seeing art on outdoor walls expressed their approval.Zacharevic received permission f
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013
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London council sells Chinese antiques for millions
HONG KONG (AFP) ― A south London council raised millions of pounds Wednesday after controversially selling Chinese antique ceramic items at a Christie’s auction in Hong Kong. The collection, including vases, bowls and boxes, fetched a total of HK$102.4 million ($13.2 million) for Croydon Council ― with a blue and white Ming dynasty moonflask the most expensive item at HK$28.1 million.The 24 items, seven of which were left unsold, had been on public display after being purchased from a local busi
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013
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Speaking a universal language
With no attachment to Korea to fall back on and having never even been to Asia before, independent American singer-songwriter Audra Connolly decided to leave her home in Idaho and take a short-term position as an English teacher on the outskirts of Seoul. Nearly three years later, Connolly is still living and working in Korea ― much to her surprise.“I thought I would come here for a year, and then I thought I would be here for two years,” she said, laughing. “I’ve kind of made this life here.”Bu
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013
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Late actress Choi’s former manager found dead
The former manager of late actress Choi Jin-sil was found dead on Thursday morning in a motel room in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. The body of the man identified only as Park was found by motel staff at 2 p.m. Wednesday after he failed to check out on time. He had checked in at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday.No note was discovered at the scene, but empty boxes of tranquilizers and sleeping pills have led police to suspect suicide. The manager was the last person to be with the actress before she committed suicide
PeopleNov. 28, 2013
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Monty Python announces five more reunion shows
LONDON (AFP) ― Britain’s Monty Python comedy troupe on Wednesday announced five further dates for their reunion tour, after tickets for their first joint performance in three decades sold out in under a minute.John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin will play the new dates at London’s O2 Arena on July 15-16 and 18-20, bringing the total run of shows to 10.They delighted their cult following last week by announcing a “one-off” show on July 1 at the 20,000-capacity are
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013
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Mike Tyson merciless with himself as he seeks redemption
Back in Mike Tyson’s heyday, it was a badge of honor for many boxers to simply survive past the first round in the same ring as Tyson, the self-described “animal” and “monster” of American sports.But now I’ve got those palookas beat. I went the distance ― all 580 pages ― with Tyson’s violence-, drug- and sex-filled memoir, a masterpiece of depravity and confessional honesty titled “Undisputed Truth.”In 1986, at age 20, the New York City-born, onetime petty criminal became the youngest-ever heavy
BooksNov. 28, 2013
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British author Doris Lessing refused to be categorized ― in life and in her writings
Doris Lessing, who died at home in London on Sunday at age 94, was a writer who refused to be categorized. Feminist, expatriate, experimentalist, realist, science-fiction writer: She was all of these and more.Recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in literature, she is best known (rightly) for her 1962 novel “The Golden Notebook,” the story of a fractured woman named Anna Wulf and her efforts to find some sort of integration. Lessing, however, later would see that book as something of an albatross, a
BooksNov. 28, 2013
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Youngster tries to find his missing parents in Voigt’s novel
Mister Max: The Book of Lost ThingsBy Cynthia Voigtillustrated by Iacapo Bruno (Knopf for Young Readers)Readers who wish their families were more interesting will be hooked, as I was, on Cynthia Voigt’s “Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things,” the first of a planned three-book series featuring an inventive and endearing boy named Max.Max’s parents are actors, and their lives are unpredictable. The drama only increases when the family gets an invitation to create a theater company for the maharajah
BooksNov. 28, 2013
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‘Collision Low Crossers’ recounts a year with the N.Y. Jets
Collision Low Crossers: A Year Inside the Turbulent World of NFL FootballBy Nicholas Dawidoff(Little, Brown and Co.)First, to be fair: “Collision Low Crossers,” Nicholas Dawidoff’s chronicling of a season with the New York Jets, is excellent stuff. The author spent 2011 embedded with Rex Ryan’s team, and his doggedness and observational skills produce an insider’s look that brings to mind Roy Blount’s classic ode to the 1974 Pittsburgh Steelers, “About Three Bricks Shy of a Load.”It’s good.Bette
BooksNov. 28, 2013
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Pony Chung Foundation awards scholarship
The Pony Chung Foundation has awarded scholarships to 60 students at Vietnam National University, Hanoi and Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh. Chung Mong-gyu, chairman of the foundation, presented the scholarships to 30 students at the Hanoi campus on Wednesday and 30 at the Ho Chi Minh campus on Thursday.“I would like to introduce my late father’s pioneering spirit to Vietnam,” Chung said at the scholarship awarding ceremony. The foundation has so far awarded scholarships to a total of 3
PeopleNov. 28, 2013
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Dokdo police duty draws applicants in droves
November saw more applications to be stationed on Dokdo as a police officer than any other single month since recruitment began. The North Gyeongsang provincial police agency said Thursday that 198 people applied for seven openings in the Dokdo Guard in November, a ratio of 28.3:1. The ratio is a record high since the agency started hiring police officers to guard the easternmost islets in September 2011. The agency recruits 7 to 12 guards each month who will serve their military duty as police.
PeopleNov. 28, 2013
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Moore, Kutcher finalize divorce
LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Former Hollywood power couple Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are officially divorced, two years after she announced their split, according to legal documents released Wednesday.“The parties are restored to the status of single persons,” said documents filed Tuesday and cited by People magazine, while TMZ said the papers were formally entered by Kutcher’s lawyer Laura Wasser.Representatives for Moore, 51, and Kutcher, 35, did not respond to requests for comment or confirmation
PeopleNov. 28, 2013
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Justin Bieber in Australia graffiti row
SYDNEY (AFP) ― Teen heartthrob Justin Bieber was told on Thursday to clean up his mess after the pop star was accused of spraying graffiti on the wall of an Australian hotel.Furious Gold Coast mayor Tom Tate said the Canadian had been disrespectful and “really, really silly,” and sent a graffiti removal kit to the exclusive QT Hotel on the Sunshine Coast so he could repair the damage.“If a normal person did that they’d be serving 80 to 100 hours of community service,” Tate told the Nine Network.
PeopleNov. 28, 2013
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Korean singer embroiled in legal spat with mother
A South Korean singer has become entangled in a legal fight with her own mother and a member of her fan club.According to the Yongin Dongbu Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, the former leader of a fan club filed a report to the police last month, claiming that Jang Yun-jeong, a well-known trot singer, abused her own mother by beating her, locking her up and tracking her location.Jang’s mother appeared at the police station Tuesday to explain her position, and suggested that Jang intended to h
Nov. 28, 2013
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G-Dragon, TVXQ and KARA top Japan music charts
K-pop singers grabbed the top slots on the Japanese Oricon music charts on Wednesday, led by G-Dragon, TVXQ and KARA.“G-Dragon’s solo debut album is looking to break the record for most albums sold out of Big Bang as a group and other members as solo artists,” said YG Entertainment, citing Japanese music industry officials.G-Dragon ranked second on Oricon’s Daily Albums Chart the day “Coup D’etat” was released with 34,597 copies sold in Japan. Meanwhile, TVXQ hit second on the Daily Singles Char
Nov. 28, 2013
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K-pop beloved, far under the radar
Earlier this month, K-pop girl group Girls’ Generation beat out big names Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus and even Korean YouTube sensation Psy to take the “Video of the Year” award at the first-ever YouTube Music Awards.The initial reaction of the crowd gathered at the awards ceremony in New York can be summed up with one word: Huh?Despite being one of the hottest groups in Korea and most of Asia, their name still does not ring a bell immediately in U.S. mainstream music. On YouTube, howe
PerformanceNov. 28, 2013