A hundred foreign nationals participated in a Hangeul contest to mark the 627th anniversary of the birth of King Sejong, the architect of the Korean writing system. At the National Folk Museum of Korea on Wednesday, contestants from over 46 countries who were selected from some 500 applicants wrestled with Hangeul sentences as they were tested in dictation. “We have long wanted to build on the expanding awareness of Hangeul with grassroots participation,” a Culture Ministry official

The newly opened Oh Museum of Art is located in an alley of small buildings in Gangnam-gu, southern Seoul. The monochrome-colored, rough textured facade of the building, reminiscent of the artist’s paintings, may make it difficult for passersby to spot the museum. Artist Oh Chi-gyun, 68, renovated the four-story building used as the artist’s studio and office for the past 15 years to create the museum that holds the legacy of his 40 years of artistic practice. When he bought the buil

K-pop celebrities' attendance at the 2024 Met Gala last week has landed them in hot water, along with other celebrities who attended the event, for their silence on the ongoing conflict in Gaza. Since Jennie of Blackpink and the boy group Stray Kids attended the gala on May 6, some fans have been calling on the celebrities to speak publicly about the war. The names of celebrities at the fashion event were shared on social media platforms, alongside calls to boycott them by unfollowing or bl

Symposium on Thursday to seek better ways to manage cultural heritage

South Korean pianist Paik Kun-woo kicked off his Mozart trilogy project Tuesday with the release of “Mozart: Piano Works 1." The Deutsche Grammophon album marks the first Mozart album by the 78-year-old pianist, who has an extensive discography of more than 30 albums. "Mozart's works are inherently difficult. It feels like bringing pure, natural music just as it is. After much contemplation on how to interpret it, I discovered the 'as is' music that Mozart captu

‘Cursed Bunny’ author writes about robots ‘sweeter’ than human

HWI (Hwang Hwi) is an electronic musician and a member of the three-artist collective and audiovisual production, "eobchae." Her part in eobchae consists of making video and sound, as a co-producer of their speculative worldview. But before anything else, she is a vocalist, well-versed in combining the human sounds from her own singing with computer-generated digital effects. Her first single album, "ExtraPlex (2019)," includes works derived from hanging around shopping malls

Embattled Ador CEO Min Hee-jin has drawn NewJeans’ members' parents into the ongoing dispute between Hybe and herself in an bid to strengthen public sentiment against the parent company, Hybe said Monday. A local media outlet, Monday, disclosed an email from the parents of NewJeans’ members sent to Hybe through Ador on April 3. Ador, one of the 11 subsidiaries of Hybe, is the music label behind NewJeans. In the email, the parents expressed their regret towards Hybe CEO Park Ji-w

Korean artist's 'To Breathe - Constellation' runs at The Pinault Collection until Sept. 2

Choi Jin-young, the CEO and publisher of Herald Corp., was selected as the eighth president of Korea's Foreign Language Newspapers Association at its executive directors' meeting, the group said Monday. He will serve until 2025 as chair of the association, which consists of The Korea Herald, The Korea JoongAng Daily, The Korea Times and The Aju Daily. The Foreign Language Newspapers Association was established in 2015, with goals for joint research and collaboration among foreign-langu

Kakao Piccoma, the overseas webtoon distributor of Kakao webtooons, said it would end its service in Europe, following an underwhelming performance in the French market. Kakao Piccoma currently distributes translated versions of Korean webtoons serialized on Kakao Page and Kakao Webtoon as well as Japanese manga series,via its digital cartoon platforms in Japan and France. The company said it is scheduled to stop its services in France in September, two years after it commenced local services th

In an era of instant messaging, appreciating longer forms of the arts, such as orchestral performances, has become challenging. That’s why quality matters more now than ever, because the way culture is presented determines how people explore their inner thoughts, according to Michal Emanovsky, the director of the Czech Center Seoul. “To be honest, money is a very important part of making decisions about projects,” Emanovsky said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. The

Finding herself in unexpected limelight, 89-year-old Kim Yun-shin says showing at Venice Biennale is another stimulus

A South Korean DJ-comedian in a Buddhist monk’s robe is making strides in Korea and abroad with the backing of Korea’s largest Buddhist sect that has employed him as part of its outreach to wider audiences. Youn Sung-ho, the DJ known as the Ven. New Jean, will close the three-day Lotus Lantern Festival on Sunday, with an electronic dance music performance echoing Buddhist verses. The show is set in front of Jogyesa, the main temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. Sunday’

"The Yellow Lady" By Lee Alam Safehouse Inc. In the gloomy and turbulent period of the 1930s, Han Kyung-ae, also known as the "Yellow Lady," returns to Gyeongseong, the name for present-day Seoul during the Japanese colonial period. Benefiting from her affluent pro-Japanese family background, she traveled the globe and studied entomology in the US following her education at a Japanese medical school. In the US, she was regarded simply as "the Asian woman," and upon