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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Korea International Art Fair hopes to revive depressed market
Korea’s biggest art fair opens on Thursday amid the high expectations of local galleries that hope to attract potential collectors and give exposure to their artists in a depressed art market.The Korea International Art Fair kicks off a five-day art market in which 180 local and international galleries will showcase works of their artists at Coex in Samseong-dong, Seoul. This year’s art fair drew 130 Korean galleries and 53 overseas galleries from China, Japan, the U.S., the U.K. and Germany, th
PerformanceSept. 30, 2013
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Paju book fest to feature Yi I, maps
Paju Book City, home to some 300 local publishing houses in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, is throwing its annual book-themed festival, focusing on Asian literature and authors this year. Dubbed “Paju Booksori,” the festival celebrates its third edition this year. The event, which opened Saturday, includes lectures, performances and exhibitions, featuring authors and publishers from home and abroad.One of the festival’s exhibitions features the life and works of Yi I (1536-1584), one of the most promi
BooksSept. 30, 2013
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Ancient Greek Olympic site threatened by crisis
NEMEA, Greece (AP) ― While world leaders and top athletes lit the Olympic flame with pageantry drawn from antiquity, another important ancient site of athletic prowess sat overlooked and endangered.Some 200 kilometers east of Ancient Olympia where the flame lighting for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi went off without a hitch Sunday, the Nemea stadium and its humbler games are in danger of closing to the public because of crisis-hit Greece’s harsh budget cuts, according to a renowned American arc
CultureSept. 30, 2013
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The other toll in Syria: cultural gems stolen or looted
NEW YORK (AFP) ― Besides killing more than 100,000 people, Syria’s civil war is exacting another irreparable toll as historic sites and artworks are looted or destroyed in the fighting.An emergency list of endangered artworks was released last week at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The initiative stems from the International Council of Museums, in collaboration with UNESCO and the U.S. State Department. “Major Syrian sites have been destroyed or damaged in two years. In Apamea, a Ro
CultureSept. 30, 2013
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Bridget Jones a widowed mum-of-two in new book
LONDON (AFP) ― The world’s most prominent literary singleton Bridget Jones is now a widow bringing up two children alone, according to extracts of a new book of her exploits released on Sunday.Fifteen years after the last novel in her saga, it turns out unlucky-in-love Bridget married Mark Darcy and had two children ― but author Helen Fielding has killed off the barrister and put her heroine back on the singles’ market.The revelation came as extracts of Fielding’s latest Bridget Jones’s Diary, “
BooksSept. 30, 2013
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SHINee to release new EP
SHINee is coming back with their fifth EP, “Everybody,” set for release on Oct. 14. On Monday, S.M. Entertainment released two teasers for the album’s upcoming release, showing images of member Taemin. The youngest member of SHINee, who is known for his baby face, is pictured sporting a whole new concept, showing a more charismatic, edgier side to the boy band member who is decked out in a bold red suit in one photo and a wide-brimmed hat in the other. In spring, the K-pop group released their t
Sept. 30, 2013
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G-Dragon to release limited-edition LP
K-pop giant G-Dragon will release 8,888 limited-edition LPs of his second studio album “Coup D’etat,” which has been ranking high on music charts ever since its release on Sept. 5. “We will produce only 8,888 limited-edition LPs because G-Dragon considers the number eight his ‘lucky number,’” a representative for the artist stated. The artist will also take time to number all of the LPs from one to 8,888 in his own handwriting. The LP will feature special images from his latest exhibition “G-Dra
Sept. 30, 2013
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B.A.P. nabs top spot on German K-pop chart
K-pop boy band B.A.P. has nabbed the top spot on Germany’s K-pop chart. According to an announcement made by their agency, TS Entertainment, on Monday, the group took the No. 1 spot on Germany’s K-pop chart for the month of August with the track “Hurricane” on Aug. 26 and has stayed there since.Germany’s K-pop Chart, which has been running since December 2009, takes votes from K-pop listeners in Germany and compiles a monthly top 20. B.A.P.’s “Hurricane” was released on July 17 as one of the thr
Sept. 30, 2013
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Iran taps Asghar Farhadi film ‘Le Passe’ for Oscars entry
TEHRAN (AFP) ― Iran has submitted “Le Passe,” the latest film from “Une Separation” director Asghar Farhadi, for Oscars consideration in a move opposed by conservatives, who say the film is too French.“Le Passe” (The Past) tells the story of an Iranian (played by Ali Mosaffa) who returns to France after four years away to sign divorce papers with his French wife Marie (Berenice Bejo).During the journey, he uncovers a great secret weighing on Marie, her daughters and her new boyfriend.Farhadi won
FilmSept. 30, 2013
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Hallyu bash arrives in Gangnam
Seoul’s Gangnam is hosting its annual month-long hallyu bash starting Thursday, presenting a K-pop concert, fashion shows and an international marathon for both expats and locals starting Thursday.Marking its seventh edition this year, the Gangnam Festival celebrates hallyu culture as well as a marathon that welcomes expats, foreign tourists and local residents to run together. Gangnam gained worldwide attention last year as Psy’s “Gangnam Style” became the first YouTube video to reach 1 billion
PerformanceSept. 30, 2013
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Singer’s obsessive fans wreck wedding, stir dispute
Diehard fans of a popular K-pop boy band Exo burst into the wedding of the brother of Exo member Baek Hyun and caused trouble at the ceremony, an anonymous witness claimed on Sunday.According to the witness, who claimed to be a friend of the groom, the fans started “making a fuss” once Exo members arrived.“When the three Exo members stepped forward to sing a song, (the fans) all rushed toward them. They stood on chairs to shoot photos and videos,” said the witness in a posting that circulated on
PerformanceSept. 30, 2013
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Thatcher’s ashes laid to rest in London
LONDON (AFP) ― The ashes of late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher were laid to rest alongside the remains of her late husband Denis in London on Saturday, at a military nursing home she had long supported.An oak casket containing the ashes of the “Iron Lady,” who died in April after suffering a stroke at the age of 87, was placed in the leafy grounds of the Royal Hospital Chelsea nursing home beside those of Denis, who died in 2003.In power between 1979 and 1990, the former Conservative
PeopleSept. 29, 2013
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Filipino crowned Miss World
NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AFP) ― Miss Philippines was crowned Miss World 2013 in a glittering finale Saturday on the Indonesian resort island of Bali, amid tight security following weeks of hard-line Muslim protests.Hundreds of Islamic radicals held a prayer session in a mosque near the capital to express their anger, while Megan Young wept as she won the coveted title on Hindu-majority Bali at the end of a three-week contest.The 23-year-old, wearing a pearl white gown, promised to be “the best Miss
PeopleSept. 29, 2013
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6,000 soldiers participate in blood donation drive
Private First Class Jang Ho-joon of the 19th Regiment, 6th Division, 5th Corps rolled up his sleeves on Tuesday to donate blood. He was the 6,000th and last participant to donate to the corps’ blood drive, which lasted about three months, “I am doubly happy because I did not just join the meaningful event but also marked the completion of the blood donation event,” he said.He was awarded a souvenir from the corps commander and a leave of absence. The Fifth Corps said Sunday that it carried out a
PeopleSept. 29, 2013
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Berlin Wall fragments to be displayed in Uijeongbu
Several fragments of the Berlin Wall, which divided Germany from Aug. 13, 1961 to Nov. 9, 1989, will be displayed at a unification-themed park to be created in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province.The government of Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, said Sunday that it would place five fragments of the dismantled wall in a temporary park near Uijeongbu Station and open it to the public in mid-November. The display of the symbol of German reunification is intended to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the signi
PeopleSept. 29, 2013
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Blurred lines on stage
One of the biggest performing arts festivals in Asia arrives in Seoul on Wednesday, featuring a total of 19 works from seven countries, including a play about late celebrated intellectual Susan Sontag (1933-2004). This year’s lineup for the annual Seoul Performing Arts Festival, celebrating its 13th edition, is filled with a number of cutting-edge, highly experimental works that blur the line between fantasy and reality. “SPAF 2013 aspires to encourage and inspire a new mode of creativity by inv
PerformanceSept. 29, 2013
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Tropical hanging garden for Dior ‘flower women’
PARIS (AFP) ― Dior designer Raf Simons on Friday conjured up a tropical hanging garden as the backdrop for his spring/summer 2014 collection, as Paris fashion week reached its half-way point.The vast flower-filled set was described by Dior as the “experimental habitat of the new flower woman ... an ordering of the artificial and real ... the manmade and artificial.”Looped, pleated lantern dresses stood out and were according to the fashion house the only designs to have been inspired by the Dior
Arts & DesignSept. 29, 2013
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Korea, China and Japan vow greater cultural exchange amid souring relations
The culture ministers of Korea, China and Japan pledged to facilitate cultural exchanges as a way to improve souring relations in Northeast Asia at the fifth trilateral culture summit held in Gwangju on Saturday. In a joint statement issued after the summit, Korean Culture Minister Yoo Jin-ryong, Chinese Culture Minister Cai Wu and Japanese Culture Minister Hakubun Shimomura agreed to cooperate on protecting cultural assets, foster cultural content and promote culture exchanges. The three minist
CultureSept. 29, 2013
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Christie’s first mainland China auction offers Picasso, Warhol
SHANGHAI (AFP) ― Christie’s held its first independent auction in mainland China Thursday with artworks including Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol, marking its full-fledged entry into a market considered a key growth engine for global art sales.Hundreds of people attended the auction as more than 40 items ― from Western masterworks and Asian contemporary art to jewellery, watches and wine ― went under the hammer to fetch 153 million yuan ($25 million). Among the highlights, a Picasso painting title
PerformanceSept. 29, 2013
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Presbyterian churches ban familial succession
The Presbyterian Church in the Republic of Korea, one of the most influential groups of Presbyterian churches in the country, on Friday passed a motion banning church leaders from passing down their position to family. After four days of marathon discussions, the motion was passed 209 to 49, banning member churches from inviting or appointing a person to an elder or pastor position should his or her blood relatives or spouse be already serving the duty at the same institution. The PCRK is the th
CultureSept. 29, 2013