SEOUL (AFP) -- North Korea has created a hangover-free liquor that is between 30 and 40 percent alcohol but leaves you clear-headed in the morning, according to state media.　A recent edition of the Pyongyang Times said the drink, Koryo Liquor, used a cunning combination of six-year-old, top quality ginseng and “scorched glutinous rice.”　The resulting tipple is a subtle blend of sweet and savory that is “highly appreciated by experts and lovers as it is suave and causes no hangover,” the Times sa

NEW YORK (AP) -- Hollywood actress, director and author Drew Barrymore may soon add a new title to her resume: international retailer.Barrymore launched her Flower brand of affordable cosmetics exclusively at Wal-Mart in 2013. Now she says she’s in talks with retailers overseas to sell the cosmetics in such places as China, South America, Australia and the United Kingdom. She‘ll also be launching her own e-commerce business later this year.Last year, she started selling an eyewear collection, al

BEIJING (Yonhap) -- Korea is exempting visa fees for Chinese group travelers and will add six new air routes between the two nations with the aim of attracting 8 million Chinese tourists this year, officials said Wednesday. 　Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok announced the plan in Beijing as he is set to host a ceremony marking “The Year of Visit to Korea” in China. 　Riding the wave of the popularity of K-pop and culture in China, Kim said his ministry will develop various tour packages specialized

GUANGZHOU (AFP) - A long time ago in country far, far away, Chinese authorities managed to obtain a copy of America‘s ultimate cultural weapon, a blockbuster movie with enough special effects to wow an entire planet. Summoned to a small theatre in the southern city of Guangzhou in 1980, artist Song Feideng was shown “Star Wars” and instructed to transform it into a traditional Chinese comic book, known as a “lianhuanhua,” to promote scientific achievement to China.Song was one of the first peopl

South Korea is exempting visa fees for Chinese group travelers and will add six new air routes between the two nations with the aim of attracting 8 million Chinese tourists this year, officials said Wednesday. South Korea's Culture Minister Kim Jong-deok announced the plan in Beijing as he is set to host a ceremony marking "The Year of Visit to Korea" in China. Riding the wave of the popularity of K-pop and culture in China, Kim said his ministry will develop various tour packages specialized in

What's your favorite way to eat dried seaweed?If you are a Korean, you may want to have a bowl of rice with dried seaweed, roasted with sesame oil and fine salt, and kimchi.Dried seaweed pressed into a dark green sheet is called "kim," a homonym for the most common family name in Korea. If you are in the United States, try a package of crispy seaweed as a not-so-guilty snack. It's high in vitamins and minerals, and naturally salty, so it goes well with beer. With its origins tracing back to the

A new concert hall exclusively for classical music performances will be opening in August, the second such large-scale hall in Seoul after one at the Seoul Arts Center.The two-tier Lotte Concert Hall, seating 2,036, is housed in the eighth to 10th floors of the Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul.The new concert hall at the nation's highest building will adopt a vineyard-style seating configuration with the seats completely surrounding the stage, according to officials at the mall on

Janice Y. K. Lee, a Korean-American novelist, has recently published her second book "The Expatriates"seven years after her debut novel "The Piano Teacher."Lee has become an acclaimed novelist when her first novel shot to 11th on the New York Times fiction bestseller list less than two weeks after its publication in January 2009."The Piano Teacher" is a gripping tale of love, betrayal, safety and survival set in war-torn Hong Kong during World War II. The book, first offered at the German Frankf

Korea‘s tourism industry suffered a severe blow from the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak last year, but Japan enjoyed a huge influx of travelers thanks to the cheap yen and easier visas, data showed Tuesday. 　The number of foreign travelers to South Korea slipped in 2015 for the first time in 12 years in the wake of the MERS outbreak, reporting 6.8 percent on-year decline to 13.23 million visitors, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) said. 　The number of travelers rose about 10

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ta-Nehisi Coates‘ “Between the World and Me” and Lauren Groff’s “Fates and Furies” are finalists for the National Book Critics Circle prize.New Yorker literary critic James Wood, memoirist Helen McDonald and poet Terrance Hayes also were among the 30 nominees announced Monday. The NBCC selected five finalists in each of six competitive categories, ranging from fiction to autobiography.The poet, fiction writer and environmentalist Wendell Berry is to receive a lifetime achievemen

The success of the TV series "Reply 1988" has translated into a widespread demand for retro goods and family values at a time when empathy between generations is harder to come by.Set in the 1980s when South Korea underwent major political and economic changes, the series that ended Saturday struck a chord with those yearning for the good old days. Perhaps more importantly though, it managed to captivate younger generations with a storyline and characters they could identify with.Those factors c

The government said Monday it will push the operation of its “cultural convergence belt” into high gear this year while rendering full support to start-ups that have moved into the government-run cultural venture complex in central Seoul.　The government will also intensively cultivate the country’s promising cultural content, such as computer games and webtoons, and build a platform for circulating the country’s “killer content” worldwide.　These were included in a 2016 work plan that the Ministr