BOSTON ― Most Korean people must have memories from their school days of trying to memorize important dates and names from Korean history for exams. They may feel that learning about Korean history, especially early history, might be more boring than any other study. In Boston, however, the Korea Institute of Harvard University’s approach to helping students learn about early Korea can be current,

VALENCIA (AP) ― They can defuse bombs, help decontaminate nuclear power plants, even vacuum the living room floor without bashing into the furniture or knocking over a vase.One thing you don’t see robots doing, though, is jamming with a live, human orchestra. Breaking into a 12-bar solo is something that’s still pretty much the province of people.Except at the California Institute of the Arts, whe

The audience held its breath as a woman in a tight mini dress sang “All That Jazz.” The song from the musical “Chicago” was picked by the woman herself for the opening of her show “This is Kolleen”. Kolleen Park’s sellout show marked the opening of the Seoul Jazz Festival 2011, held in Seoul’s most prestigious art center. Kolleen Park. (Yonhap News)The 44-year-old’s colorful two-hour performance o

Richard Perea, president of Times Aerospace Korea and Washington Times Aviation USA, hurried to Seoul last week in connection with a legal dispute involving his company.“I received word that throughout the Korean media, articles were published claiming that Moon Hyun-jin was suing his mother,” Perea said in an interview. “The case referred to is a lawsuit that Washington Times Aviation USA had fil

Korea sees hope in Venezuelan education model ‘El Sistema’Eighteen-year-old Lee Jeong-wook doesn’t know where he was born. From the first moment he can recall from his childhood, he has lived in Busan Boystown, a children’s shelter where 700 orphaned children from toddlers to high school students live together.But unlike many other Korean teenagers undecided about their career path after high scho

Cooking solo grows up, classes offer recipes for oneHave you ever eaten over the sink or in front of an open fridge and felt miserable? Cooking for one is not typically seen as an exciting proposition. Whether you are a student or a single working adult, many people living alone end up eating leftovers or the same thing meal after meal.So it was for 24-year-old student Kim Hye-seon, until she foun

Naju lies at the center of the 137-kilometer-long Yeongsan River, which has fed the rich rice fields of South Jeolla Province for thousands of years since the Three Kingdoms of Korea. Naju was a city of such significance that the region’s name, “Jeolla,” was formed from Jeonju (Jeon) of North Jeolla and Naju (Na) of South Jeolla.  Sanpo Garden in Naju has a small and secluded metasequoia path. (Pa

They say Italy is for lovers. But is Italy for kids?It’s certainly a romantic destination, from its spectacular architecture to its beautiful coastlines to its famously fine wine. It can also be an intimidating place to tote little ones, with its cautionary tales about pickpockets, and its very real plethora of crazy drivers and cigarette smokers.But the culture in Italy is so rich and vibrant, an

Cutrone speaks to young womenNormal Gets You Nowhere By Kelly Cutrone, with Meredith Bryan, (HarperOne, $23.99)Kelly Cutrone stands out in the fashion world. She always dresses in black, does not wear makeup or do her hair.Yet she founded People’s Revolution, a successful fashion PR company, and has appeared on Bravo’s “Kell on Earth” and MTV’s “The Hills” and “The City.”In her words, this is beca

Globalized Korea and Localized GlobeBy Park Sang-seek, (Jimoondang, 23,000 won)This collection of essays covers a wide range of events and contentious issues ― at local, regional and global levels ― that have occurred in the past 10 years. The book, which is a selection of Professor Park Sang-seek’s contributions to The Korea Herald, with the exception of one essay, deals primarily with issues con

Even before the first “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, pirates were romantic.Now, in “The Captain Jack Sparrow Handbook” Jason Heller brings you a guide to all things (Disney) pirate.Piracy has been with us from the beginning of time. Julius Caesar was taken prisoner, ransomed and later crucified his capturers. The infamous Blackbeard looted ships in the eighteenth century. There was little attra

Not even changing the cockroach into a kitten can help the latest literary mash-up ― “The Meowmorphosis”Coleridge Cook takes a well-written stab at Franz Kafka’s depressing novella “The Metamorphosis” and turns it into ... well, a slightly less gloomy tale. Where Kafka turned his lead character, Gregor Samsa, into a beetle, Cook transforms him into an adorable fluffy kitten.Kafka was an early twen

SEATTLE ― The weeks leading up to a book’s publication can be hard on an author. Will the books get to the booksellers? Will the cover come out right-side-up? Will people buy it? Will they read it? Will they like it?Erik Larson is as well-known and well-read as any Seattle author ― his 2003 book, “The Devil in the White City,” the story of a serial murderer who preyed on the margins of the 1893 Ch