Members of the 5.4 Club, a group of prominent figures aiming to promote culture in Korea, gathered to discuss the aftermath of Korea’s recently enforced antigraft law Thursday evening at the InterContinental Seoul Coex.　The law is one that stipulates globally unprecedented guidelines, according to Jai Lee, senior foreign counsel at Yulchon LLP. “The whole world is paying attention,” he said. “(This law) affects more than 40,000 organizations and over 4 million people in Korea ... including profe

Dutch Charcuterie at Grand Hyatt SeoulThe Deli at Grand Hyatt Seoul is offering handmade charcuterie by world-renowned Dutch charcutier Benito Plasschaert until Dec. 4.Plasschaert has mastered his art over the past 45 years, with new recipes using healthy ingredients. The menu includes lavender ham; Swiss meatloaf with Emmental cheese; Greek-style meatloaf with olives and feta cheese; green grape or baked apple and fruit flavored pate; foie gras terrine with truffle oil; terrine of veal marinate

Lotte World Christmas MiracleLotte World is gearing up to play host to its annual Christmas Festival every day until Dec. 27. This year’s festival will tackle the theme of “A White Christmas,” allowing visitors the chance to see spectacular Christmas decorations at every corner of the theme park. The park will also feature a Santa Village and a snowman photo zone for the children.There will also be a special snowfall show twice a day at the Adventure Park and during the new Christmas Parade. The

HONOLULU — If you consider yourself a traveler rather than a tourist, you might tend to avoid Waikiki Beach. It’s too commercial. Overcrowded. Too much of a South Seas cliche.But if you’ve been there you know there’s lots to love about the crazy scene: the platoons of newbie surfers dodging catamarans and outrigger canoes. The beach bars. The perfect sandy beach, with visitors from around the world playing beneath windblown palms in the shadow of distinctive Diamond Head.It’s fun for young and o

An apparently innocent traditional item has found its way to the center of the influence-peddling scandal surrounding President Park Geun-hye and her longtime confidante Choi Soon-sil. 　Obangnang, a multicolored pouch that is a traditional symbol of good fortune, featured in Park’s inauguration ceremony in February 2013 -- a giant obangnang setup at Gwanghwanun Plaza opened up to reveal a tree with dozens of mini obangnang hanging from its branches.Almost four years later and the pouch has come

Yu Dong-hun has been named as the new vice culture minister by President Park Geun-hye.Yu will replace Kim Chong, who resigned late last month amid allegations linking him to the political scandal involving Park and her confidante Choi Soon-sil.   The 57-year-old is a long-time senior communications official at the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and has been working as a public servant since 1987. “We believe that (Yu) is very capable of handling our pending issues such as preparations

LONDON (AFP) - The Oxford Dictionaries chose “post-truth” as their word of the year Wednesday, saying its use had spiked because of the Brexit vote in Britain and the rise of Donald Trump in the United States.“Post-truth has gone from being a peripheral term to being a mainstay in political commentary,” the Oxford Dictionaries said in a statement, noting that usage had increased by 2,000 percent since last year.The publisher defined the word as “relating or denoting circumstances in which object

GENEVA (AP) -- A 17.07-carat pink diamond sold for a hammer price of 18.3 million Swiss francs ($18.3 million) at a Geneva jewelry auction Wednesday, cruising past both its presale estimate and the winning bid for the “Sky Blue” diamond billed as the event’s standout piece. The step-cut pink diamond, set in a ring between triangular white diamonds, had been expected to draw a maximum of 14.76 million francs. Instead, it sold at Sotheby’s for more than the 8.01-carat “Sky Blue” diamond, which car

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Experts have discovered a third structure within the Kukulkan pyramid in eastern Mexico, revealing that it was built like a “Russian nesting doll,” experts said Wednesday.A 10-meter tall pyramid was found within another 20-meter structure, which itself is enveloped by the 30-meter pyramid visible at the Mayan archeological complex known as Chichen Itza in Yucatan state.The smallest pyramid was built between the years 550 and 800, engineers and anthropologists said.The middle

“Faithful” By Alice HoffmanSimon & Schuster (272 pages, $26) Shelby is that girl in high school -- the smart one who seems popular and happy when basking in the reflected glow of her best friend, with whom she has glided through life without a care.It all changes in their senior year, when Shelby’s beautiful, bossy friend Helene bullies Shelby into driving to a boy’s house one cold winter night. He wants to break up with Helene, and she wants to get revenge by throwing a brick through his window

“Play It Loud” By Brad Tolinski and Alan di PernaDoubleday (379 pages, $26.95) The scream of the electric guitar was the dominant soundtrack of the 20th century.First developed to provide louder rhythm backup for big bands of the Swing Era, the electric guitar then killed the big bands, feasted on their corpses and looked for its next victim.Like Brando slouching against a jukebox in “The Wild One” -- a movie that came out just as the electric guitar was taking over the music world -- it’s an in

“Notwithstanding”By Louis de BernieresVintage (372 pages, $16)“Notwithstanding,” the new collection of 22 short stories from Louis de Bernieres, is utterly charming. And, no, that’s not damning with faint praise.Charming is a quaint, old-fashioned word, and this is a quaint book, originally released in England in 2009, that captures the quirky characters in an old-fashioned English village, called, of course, “Notwithstanding.”But while the stories in this collection are sweet, there’s no treacl

“Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life” By Peter AckroydDoubleday (276 pages, $26.95)There are days when an 800-page biography of some fascinating person is just what we want to dive into. And then, there are days when we feel less ambitious; when we want to immerse ourselves in someone’s life, but can't quite summon the intestinal fortitude to crack the spine of a doorstop. Behold that very useful literary form: the short biography.The celebrated British biographer Peter Ackroyd has written a handful