Archive discloses Christmas cards received by former presidents

The National Archives of Korea on Monday disclosed Christmas cards received by former presidents through its Web portal (www.pa.go.kr).The archives also released six photos and 10 records related to Christmas as well as 14 Christmas cards sent by kindergartners, elementary and middle school students.Presidents receive Christmas cards from people of all walks of life, including members of the public and ethnic Koreans living overseas, not to mention heads of state and political and business leade

PeopleDec. 23, 2013

Hallyu star Bae says he is dating 27-year-old woman

Hallyu star Bae Yong-joon is dating a 27-year-old woman, his entertainment agency KEYEAST confirmed on Monday. “They have been in a good relationship for three months after they met through a close friend,” an official of the agency said, without providing further details. “It’s not time to talk about marriage yet.”Earlier in the day, a Japanese media outlet broke the story about Bae’s romantic relationship and described the girlfriend as an attractive woman fluent in English, who is also a daug

Dec. 23, 2013

[Photo News] Let them eat Kimchi

PeopleDec. 22, 2013

British TV chef Nigella Lawson faces drugs probe

LONDON (AFP) ― British celebrity chef Nigella Lawson faces a police investigation into claims of cocaine use which emerged during her personal assistants’ fraud trial after a U-turn by Scotland Yard, the Sunday Telegraph reported.Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo were cleared Friday of fraudulently spending 685,000 pounds ($1.12 million) on a company credit card owned by Lawson’s then-husband, the millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi.The assistants claimed Lawson had allowed t

PeopleDec. 22, 2013

Positive comments on Sunfull website tops 5m

The Sunfull Movement, which promotes a positive online culture, said Saturday that the total number of encouraging comments posted on its website topped 5 million on Dec. 9.Sunfull is currently driving a campaign urging young students to leave encouraging messages on its online bulletin board in a bid to prevent school violence and help with their personal development. The number of postings exceeded 4 million in April.The group plans to include parents and other members of the public across the

PeopleDec. 22, 2013

Faces of modern China

Portraits have been a popular medium for Chinese artists in expressing the political and social transitions experienced by modern China. China’s top-selling contemporary artists Yue Minjun and Zeng Fanzhi have conveyed the underlying conflicts behind those political and social changes in portraits that reflect social tension. But the strong expressions of social messages have gradually receded in paintings of emerging artists, who focus instead on emotions generally shared by an international au

PerformanceDec. 22, 2013

Momentum gains to unite ancient Cambodian statues

PREAH VIHEAR PROVINCE, Cambodia (AP) ― Rising out of the jungle on white pillars, the new Preah Vihear Museum’s largest building stands empty. But Cambodian officials hope that one day it will be the place where nine ancient statues depicting a dramatic battle scene are reunited from around the world.They came a step closer to that goal last week, when Sotheby’s auction house in New York agreed to return one of the statues to Cambodia, ending a heated legal battle that began when the U.S. govern

CultureDec. 22, 2013

Christie’s to auction trove of 85 Joan Miro works

LONDON (AP) ― A trove of 85 works by Spanish surrealist master Joan Miro acquired by the Portuguese government from a failing bank is up for auction with an estimated value of 30 million pounds ($49 million).Christie’s auction house said Friday the collection is “one of the most extensive and impressive offerings of works by the artist ever to come to auction,” and covers seven decades of Miro’s career.The Barcelona-born artist was influential in the surrealist movement in the 1920s and develope

PerformanceDec. 22, 2013

‘The Attorney’ attracts more than 540,000 in single day, sets record

“The Attorney,” loosely based on the early years of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, set a Korean box office record for attracting more than 540,000 movie goers on Saturday, the highest gross attendance for a single day in December.According to the Korean Film Council, the directorial debut film of webtoon artist Yang Woo-seok drew 541,614 movie watchers on the day, far outnumbering its competitors “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” and “About Time,” which marked 151,839 and 132,722, respecti

FilmDec. 22, 2013

45RPM still here and not going anywhere

This is the 20th article in a series on producers, MCs, DJs and artists working in the Korean underground hip-hop scene. ― Ed. The hip-hop scene in Korea was very different when rap group 45RPM first started in 1999. The group ― consisting of members Smash, J-Kwondo and Red Roc ― said back then hip-hop was a culture shock to Koreans who had never experienced it before. At the time only a small number of Koreans listened to hip-hop, and there weren’t many rappers or dancers. Back then, there were

PerformanceDec. 22, 2013

[Photo News] K-pop stars take photos with Choo Sa-rang

Dasom, a member of the popular K-pop girl group Sistar, posted a photo taken with the 2-year-old starlet Choo Sa-rang and her father Choo Sung-hoon on her Twitter on Saturday. The two-year-old daughter of Korean-Japanese fighter Choo Sung-hoon won an annual KBS awards on Saturday for her soaring popularity. The starlet, known as “Little Choo,” gained fame for her appearance in the variety TV show “Superman is Back.” Kwanghee from the boy band group ZE:A also took a snapshot with her and uploaded

TelevisionDec. 22, 2013

Founder of anti-inheritance campaign contemplates roots of personal wealth

Very few people manage to do it. The richer they are, the more difficult it is, they say. But more people are vowing to leave no inheritance for their children and donate everything to society when they die, carrying out the concept of “noblesse oblige” in Korea, where inheriting wealth is still regarded as a natural way of showing one’s love and passing down tradition to the next generation. “It is pretty tough at the beginning but once you understand that everything you have in fact came from

PeopleDec. 20, 2013

Celebrities and fans find common ground in philanthropy

Many Korean celebrities and even ordinary fans regularly take part in charitable giving throughout the year.But with the holiday season just around the corner, the spirit of thankfulness and being mindful of those less fortunate is more alive and present than at other times. Pop singer Kim Jang-hoon, is one of the nation’s best-known celebrity philanthropists. Often referred to as the “Donation Angel” Kim has reportedly donated more than $10 million to charity during his more than 20 years as a

CultureDec. 20, 2013

Calendar

Pop music“2013 Psy Concert All Night Stand”: Psy will be ringing in the holiday season by holding a special four-day solo concert series in December. The upcoming performances will mark his first concerts in Korea in nearly eight months after his globally broadcasted “Happening” show in April, where he attracted around 45,000 concertgoers and more than 130,000 fans who tuned in online for the live feed. The rapper has been busy this year promoting his single “Gentleman,” which was nominated for

CultureDec. 20, 2013

A life devoted to ballet

In 1996, at the age of 37, Choi Tae-ji was appointed the new director of the Korean National Ballet. The Japanese-born ballet dancer did not have much experience in administrative affairs, spoke Korean with difficulty, and was the youngest person ever to serve in the position. She hung up her pointe shoes and never looked back; her life in suits and high heels began. Now 54, Choi is in her last month as the company’s artistic director, after spending a total of 12 years as its head. Her first te

PerformanceDec. 20, 2013