American professor moonlights as tour guide around South Jeolla ProvinceWhen Warren Parsons started the GIC Tours, it wasn’t something he’d set out to do.In fact, he had never given guided tours before.He first came to Korea to teach English in Seoul in 2006. After moving to Naju, South Jeolla Province, he started to help out at the Gwangju International Center nearby. After giving a talk at the center, he was asked back, but Parsons wanted to do something more interesting.“I wasn’t interested i

For Annabel Harrison and Ema Ho, it was an opportunity of a life time. The two young British women got a chance to visit the place from where all their dreamy K-pop celebrities and riveting hallyu movies come and, in the process, also get a little recognition for their hard work.They joined the growing legion of Worldwide Korea Bloggers, the mostly young people who the Korean Culture and Information Service (KOCIS) is recruiting from every corner of the globe to promote Korean culture.KOCIS invi

Harry Potter author JK Rowling bids goodbye to the boy wizard on Thursday when she releases her first novel for adults, a gritty tale of poverty and politics in an idyllic English village.With more than 450 million copies of the Potter books sold and fans feverishly excited about the British author’s first major work since 2007, her new black comedy, titled “The Casual Vacancy,” is already a guaranteed success.Pre-order sales have reportedly topped a million copies and British booksellers expect

Testosterone may hold the key to the disparity in men and women’s life spans, research on Korean eunuchs suggested Monday. On average, females of mammalian species including humans have 10 percent longer life spans. Professor Min Kyung-jin of Inha University and professor Lee Cheol-koo of Korea University analyzed the family records of 81 Joseon Dynasty eunuchs who lived between 1556 and 1919. The records showed that the eunuchs lived on average 14 years longer than the ruling-class males of tha

The farm on the outskirts of Beijing is large, spread over more than 9,000 square meters and divided into 1,360 allotments. All the plots have been rented out to weekend farmers, and there are still 100 more applicants on the waiting list.Yifendi Farm, a cooperative run by Nanyuan Village in Beijing’s Fengtai district, is one of the largest allotment farms in the Chinese capital, and it claims to be the first.“Farming in the real world is more engaging than playing online,” says Chen Jiansheng,

Despite 1997 handover to China, different cultural orientation creates gap between Hong Kongers and mainlandersOne night in the autumn of 2010, a pregnant woman called the hotline of the New Home Association (NHA).She was out on the street after a violent fight with her husband. Both of them were from China who came to Hong Kong to build a family.“She called us and asked, what can she do?” Chan Yee-fei tells AsiaNews. Chan is the head of service of NHA, a non-profit organization that provides pr

A variety of Templestay programs are offered for Chuseok holidays and throughout the fallThe following is the third in a 10-part series on Templestays and temple food, which give the public insight into the 1,700-year-old cultural history of Korean Buddhism. ― Ed.The change of the season has started to turn leaves into red and gold, urging many to hit the road for a fall foliage trip. If you are trying to find an alternative to mountain climbing, try a two-day trip to Buddhist temples across the

A new library for the disabled opened on Monday at the National Library of Korea in Seocho-dong, Seoul. The fully equipped independent library designed to provide improved services replaces the former information center for the disabled.The purpose of the new library is to “tear down the barriers of information accessibility” in order to give hope to some 2.5 million disabled people in Korea who wish to have easier access to information, the library said in a statement. The Independent Library f

U.S. researchers for the first time have linked heavy pacifier use among baby boys to poorer emotional maturity through to adulthood.Lead author Paula Niedenthal, a psychology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said a baby with a pacifier in its mouth is less able to mirror expressions -- a child‘s first communication.The researchers found 6- and 7-year-old boys who had spent more time with pacifiers in their mouths when younger were less likely to mimic the emotional expressions

A 15-year-old British girl has run away to France with a married teacher, according to local news reports.Megan Stammers of Sussex is believed to have crossed the English channel on Friday with her math teacher Jeremy Forrest, who allegedly spent months persuading her via Facebook to come with him.Megan was first reported missing early Friday when she failed to arrive at school, as was Forrest. CCTV footage from later that evening showed the pair boarding a ferry bound for Calais, France.The gir

MILAN (AP) ― It’s not all black and white in Milan this season. Women’s collections coming off the runway for next year’s warmer weather are all about the pastoral ― relaxing looks in both silhouette and color, with flowing styles and floral patterns that blend with the prevailing pastel palette.Flowers are the repeating motif for the 2013 season. Some are essential and graphic, take the Prada origami flower. Others are as delicate as a Japanese water color, as in Etro’s chiffon gowns. And yet o