Most Popular
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1 in 3 Koreans live alone, family types becoming diverse
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Korea, Japan finance chiefs vow to tame rampant FX market volatility
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US 'incredibly concerned' about suspected NK-Iran military ties
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K-pop group's manager dismissed for setting up spycam in theater dressing room
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K-pop singer lost consciousness after being hit by foul ball, cancels show
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Korean Muslim YouTuber's plan to build mosque in Incheon goes viral
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[Kim Seong-kon] Democracy and the future of South Korea
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Why is Apple Pay struggling to get purchase in Korea?
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Yoon's office denies considering liberal figures for key posts
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Seoul says Fu Bao loan 'not going to happen'
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Niche magazines thrive while industry shrinks
Are paper magazines dying out, or are they seeing a renaissance? The magazine market has shrunk steadily since 2012. According to the Korea Press Foundation’s “2020 Magazine Industry Market Research” report published in January, the magazine market was worth 777.5 billion won ($681 million) last year, a 24.9 percent decrease from 2017. Magazines’ average annual revenue stood at 438 million won, compared with 1.26 billion won in 2012. With the decline of the magazine mar
March 15, 2021
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Book of 50 essays offers a glimpse into the mind of Jungwook Hong
Jungwook Hong, a former National Assembly representative and former chairman of Herald Corp., has released a book of 50 essays about his journey to find his life’s purpose. Hong is a bestselling author whose 1993 autobiography, “Seven Acts, Seven Scenes,” sold over 1 million copies. That first book, which centered on his personal experience of studying in the US at Choate Rosemary Hall and Harvard University, led many wealthy South Korean parents to consider sending their tee
Jan. 30, 2021
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Culture Ministry to address plagiarism plaguing literary awards
Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Yong-gi, a member of the National Assembly‘s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee announced Sunday that the Culture Ministry would conduct an investigation of all literary awards in Korea. The literary community was shocked earlier this month to find out Sohn Chang-hyun had won multiple literary awards with work that plagiarized author Kim Min-jung’s “Ppuri,” or root, the winner of the 2018 Baekma Culture Award. The Baekma Culture Award i
Jan. 24, 2021
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TV shows boost book sales
Books that have been shown on TV entertainment shows are sweeping bestselling charts, reaching bestsellers lists in travel, poetry and cooking categories in the second week of January, according to the country‘s largest bookstore chain Kyobo Book Center. “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, for example, became the bestselling travel book after screenwriter Kim Eun-hee introduced the book on KBS2’s “The Book U Love.” After the episode with a 2.3 percent vie
Jan. 18, 2021
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Novelist Lee Seung-u wins 44th Yi Sang Literary Award
Lee Seung-u’s “Heart’s Buoyancy” won the 44th Yi Sang Literary Award, one of the most prestigious literary awards in Korea given by publishing company Munhaksasang, on Monday. “A novelist getting a prize for his work is like unfamiliar guests suddenly coming into the clerk’s office full of rules and repetition,” said Lee in receiving the award. “Why did the guests come find me? Instead of asking the guests the reason, I will once again continue t
Jan. 5, 2021
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LTI Korea announces winners of 2020 Korea Translation Award
The Literature Translation Institute of Korea announced the winners of the 2020 Korean Literature Translation Award, with Mariko Saito winning the grand prize. For this year’s prize, 115 translated works in 24 languages were considered. Mariko Saito, who translated the short story collection “To Hyun Nam Oppa” by Cho Nam-joo and six others into Japanese, won the top prize and 20 million won ($18,500) in prize money, last Thursday. Translators Jeong Eun-jin and Jacques Batil
Dec. 7, 2020
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Poet Jeong Ho-seung speaks of relationships in ‘Loving’ and ‘Lonesome Jar: Poetic Fables’
Two fairytales by poet Jeong Ho-seung, “Loving” and “Lonesome Jar: Poetic Fables,” have been published in English by Seoul Selection. Born in 1950 in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, Jeong is known for his poetry collections “Seoul’s Jesus” (1982), “Dawn Letter” (1987) and “Stars Are Warm” (1990), among others. His poems have been turned into songs by popular singers including Yang Hee-eun and the late Kim Kwang-seok. The sto
Nov. 28, 2020
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Obama memoir sells a record 1.7m copies in first week
Former President Barack Obama’s "A Promised Land" sold more than 1.7 million copies in North America in its first week, roughly equal to the combined first week sales of memoirs by his two immediate predecessors and among the highest ever for a nonfiction book. Crown announced Tuesday that it had increased its initial print run from 3.4 million copies to 4.3 million. Sales also include audio and digital books. "A Promised Land," the first of two planned volumes, was
Nov. 25, 2020
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A refugee’s story, told in pictures
Picture book “The Paper Boat: A Refugee Story,” released in September, recounts the story of author Thao Lam, who escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War in a small fishing boat with her parents, becoming a refugee at age 2. Known for previous works including “Skunk on a String” and “My Cat Looks Like My Dad,” Lam walks through the pain of her refugee experience as well as the help she received in a foreign country that gave her a normal life once again. The
Nov. 21, 2020
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Ha Seong-nan’s short story collection makes Publishers Weekly top 10 list
Ha Seong-nan’s collection of five short stories translated into English, “Bluebeard’s First Wife,” was selected as one of the Publishers Weekly Top Ten Books of 2020. This is the second time that a South Korean literary work has made the list. The first was in 2016, when Publishers Weekly recognized the English translation of “The Vegetarian” by Han Kang. “Ha’s nitro-fueled collection captures the dark side of South Korean society in mischievou
Nov. 10, 2020
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[Herald Interview] The things ‘Star Trek’ writer Joe Menosky didn’t say in his novel ‘King Sejong the Great’
In television writer Joe Menosky’s first novel, “King Sejong the Great,” published last month in Korean and English editions, the renowned Joseon king is portrayed in historical fiction for the first time by a non-Korean. Although you would be hard-pressed to find a Korean who doesn’t know King Sejong, the most famous Korean figure in history had evaded the interest and the attention of Westerners. However, the story of the benevolent king who created the Korean writing
Nov. 7, 2020
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Samsung’s chief learning officer introduces talent of the future in ‘Talent’s Counterattack’
Samsung Human Resource Development Institute’s former Chief Learning Officer Shin Tae-gyun sheds light on the qualities that companies should keep an eye out for heading into the “fourth industrial revolution” when artificial intelligence replaces many jobs in his book “Talent’s Counterattack.” After joining Samsung in 1983, Shin worked his way up as a human resources education expert, delivering more than 1,000 lectures to Samsung employees. He is currently
Nov. 7, 2020
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Social critic and journalist Rhee Yeung-hui remembered in 10th anniversary with two books
Changbi Publishers announced the publication of two books commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of Rhee Yeung-hui in a press conference on Tuesday. “Serving the Truth,” a critical biography of Rhee by Kwon Tae-sun, and a selection of Rhee’s literary work, “For Those That Think and Resist” by Baek Young-seo and Choi Young-muk, examine the life of the journalist and scholar and his legacy. Rhee was a journalist and an outspoken social critic who was not a
Oct. 27, 2020
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[Eye interview] Trailblazer who cut new path for women seeks to change lives through coaching
A late start did not stop Yun Yuh-soon from making her mark in South Korea’s notoriously male-dominated corporate world. In fact, Yun was appointed executive director of LG Academy, LG Group’s human resources development center, in 2000, becoming the conglomerate’s first-ever female executive. She had joined the company five years earlier, at age 40. In 2010, she was made senior executive director at LG Academy and the following year, she was appointed CEO of LG Arts Center,
Oct. 23, 2020
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‘Writing Tomorrow’ festival to discuss role of literature in COVID-19 era
The 2020 Seoul International Writers’ Festival, the largest international literary festival in South Korea, will take place online Nov. 2-8, with the aim of expanding opportunities to enjoy literature while providing a platform for literary exchange. Eleven writers from 11 foreign countries and 14 Korean writers are taking part in this year’s festival, themed “Writing Tomorrow.” Participating writers include Luis Eduardo Garcia of Mexico and Paolo Giordano of Italy, the
Oct. 19, 2020
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‘Hysteria’ wins two American translation awards
An English translation of Kim Yi-deum’s book of poetry “Hysteria” (Action Books) became the first-ever book to win both the National Translation Award and the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize given by the American Literary Translators Association on Friday (local time). “Hysteria” is Kim’s third book of poems to be translated into English with the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. The title poem is about a women being groped on a
Oct. 18, 2020
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Translated Korean works receive international awards
The graphic novel “Grass” by Keum Suk Gendry Kim was awarded “Best International Book” at the Harvey Awards, while the German translation of “Memoir of a Murderer” by Kim Young-ha was selected by Germany‘s Hotlist this month. “Grass” is a story about women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. Most of the women were Korean. The book was published in English last year by Drawn & Quarterly, a publisher i
Oct. 14, 2020
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Glimpse into life of pioneer of English-language journalism in Korea
When the Korean War ended in 1953, Korea did not have many journalists skilled in reporting in the English language. Many reporters did not have a chance to study in an English speaking country and had to consult the dictionary to find just the right word while writing their stories. One of the earliest reporters for English newspaper The Korean Republic, founded in 1953 and later renamed The Korea Herald, was Lee Hi-chang. Born in 1928 in South Pyongan Province in today’s North Korea d
Oct. 9, 2020
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Books going through digital transformation
The prolonged battle against the COVID-19 outbreak is changing life patterns, including how we read and digest books. Public libraries have shut down with some offering delivery-only services, or activating “e-bookshelf” sections online as an alternative way out during and after the crisis. Efforts for new reading experiences seem to have gained overall success so far. According to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, in 2019, the rate of e-book readers hit 16.5 percent for
Oct. 3, 2020
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[Herald Interview] Connecting ‘comfort women’ and present-day experience through the eyes of a Korean immigrant
When writer Emily Jungmin Yoon released her 2018 book of poems “A Cruelty Special to Our Species,” it was to inform North American readers about the “comfort women,” a euphemistic term for military sex slaves of the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. With the publication of the Korean translation of the book Aug. 14 with the full English version included in the back, Yoon sees her purpose as not to inform, as many Koreans are familiar with the history, but to c
Sept. 21, 2020