Professor Song Hyang-keun of Busan University of Foreign Studies on Thursday was appointed the chief of the Sejong Hakdang Foundation, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on the day. The newly established foundation will inherit the works and personnel of the International Korean Language Foundation that overlooked the general management of Sejong Hakdang, or institute in Korean, including the development of textbooks, curriculum and teacher training on Korean language educatio

Brad Pitt is set to become the first male face of Chanel No.5, a role previously filled by such fellow Hollywood luminaries as Marilyn Monroe and Nicole Kidman.A new 30-second ad campaign for the iconic women‘s perfume is to be unveiled online via the French fashion house’s YouTube page at 8:00 am (0600 GMT) Friday and then on television later in the day.The decision to choose Pitt to head the campaign was announced back in May.After campaigns depicting actress Estella Warren as red riding-hood,

Lady Gaga made headlines recently by posting photographs of herself in a bra and underwear and confessing to suffering from eating disorders since she was 15. The move followed news reports scrutinizing the pop star‘s recent weight gain.Fans have heeded Gaga’s call for a “body revolution” by posting photographs of themselves that reveal bodies that are disabled, sick, healing, tattooed, fat and skinny.While the virtues of the pop star‘s campaign are subject to debate, similar calls for embracing

STOCKHOLM (AFP) ― Chinese author Mo Yan on Thursday won the Nobel Literature Prize for writing that mixes folk tales, history and the contemporary, the Swedish Academy announced.“Through a mixture of fantasy and reality, historical and social perspectives, Mo Yan has created a world reminiscent in its complexity of those in the writings of William Faulkner and Gabriel Garcia Marquez, at the same time finding a departure point in old Chinese literature and in oral tradition,” the Swedish Academy

BEIJING (AFP) ― Mo Yan has focused an unflinching eye on what he calls the darkness and ugliness of 20th-century Chinese society in a prolific writing career that on Thursday landed him the 2012 Nobel prize for literature.Mo Yan, one of China’s leading writers of the past half-century, became the first Chinese national and just the second Chinese-language writer to be awarded the coveted prize.The 57-year-old, whose real name is Guan Moye, is perhaps best-known abroad for his 1987 novella “Red S

A Korean couple worked together on the lab team of U.S. scientist Robert Lefkowitz, the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry. Lefkowitz was recognized for identifying a class of cell receptor, yielding vital insights into how the body works at the molecular level.The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the prize on Wednesday to Lefkowitz at Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina and another scientist, Brian Kobilika, at Stanford University. Kobilika worked for Lefkovitz at

Fibromyalgia commonly occurs in adult women aged between 20 and 60 years old. There are broad areas of the body that are painful and there is chronic pain in the musculoskeletal pain. Patients often complain of fatigue, sleep disturbance and sub-chronic spasticity, irritable bowel syndrome, edema, poor circulation in the fingers or extremities, anxiety and depression and loss of function. An important characteristic of the pain is pressure pain, which occurs when a certain part of the body is pr

Susan Straight lives mere blocks from where she was born in the Inland Empire town of Riverside. She says there are two types of people, those who stay and those who leave. Straight has always stayed.“All I am is a writer and a mom,” says Straight, the author of eight novels, divorced mother of three daughters and a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside.On a recent Monday afternoon, just a few days before the release of her latest novel, “Between Heaven and Here” (McSweeneys, $24), Strai

Gloria Opera Company is bringing a Spanish touch to its production of “The Barber of Seville” at the Seoul Art Center Opera House from Oct. 18 through 21.Flamenco dancers will create an exotic atmosphere alongside singers from Palazzo La Scala in the leading roles, including soprano Patrizia Cigna as Rosina and Alessandro Luciano as Count Almaviva.Rossini’s comic opera, which mixes sarcasm and satire alongside slapstick comedy, tells the story of young Count Almaviva and his attempt to win the h

MOSCOW (AFP) ― Russia’s judo-mad President Vladimir Putin, who turned 60 earlier this week and in the past sparred with top judokas, has been promoted to the eighth dan in the sport, the International Judo Federation (IJF) said on Wednesday.The ninth dan indicates the rank of a grand master, and only a few living people in the world are believed to have the highest 10th dan.“President Putin represents a high expression of the judo values in the world,” IJF president Marius Vizer said in a statem