The Korea Herald

Lufthansa to launch budget long-haul carrier next year

TravelDec 5, 2014

BERLIN (AP) ― German airline Lufthansa has announced plans to launch budget long-haul services at the end of next year in collaboration with SunExpress, a joint venture with Turkish Airlines.Lufthansa’s supervisory board gave the go-ahead to expand the company’s low-cost operations on Wednesday, a meeting that came amid a battle with a union representing pilots at the airline. The union, Vereinigung Cockpit, said it would hit Lufthansa’s long-haul flights on Thursday with its second strike this
Best hanok lodgings in Korea

TravelDec 5, 2014

Winter is the low season for travel in Korea. Day temperatures remain below freezing and snowfalls cause traffic jams, often paralyzing major cities. But it’s one of the best times of the year to enjoy the scenic winter views in the provinces. “Hanok” lodgings across the country offer true relaxation for those who wish to get away from the crowds at ski resorts or hot springs and look back on the year. The Korea Tourism Organization has recently recommended top hanok accommodation for winter tra
Mexico federal police, troops to patrol Acapulco

TravelDec 5, 2014

MEXICO CITY (AP) ― Federal police and soldiers will take over policing duties in the resort of Acapulco to ensure the safety of tourists amid a wave of violence and protests that has scared away visitors, Mexican authorities said. Troops and federal police will also take over policing in 20 more townships north of Acapulco in a region known as Tierra Caliente, or the Hot Lands, which is plagued by drug cultivation, trafficking and cartels. The region covers parts of the states of Guerrero, Micho
See splendid Turkey on a budget: Take the bus

TravelDec 5, 2014

CAPPADOCIA, Turkey ― If all of Turkish history were on this bus, I’d be sitting next to sultans, whirling dervishes, Silk Road caravanners, Greek shopkeepers, apostles and olive growers.Instead, I’m sitting next to a guy from New York and a couple from Toronto. We’re coming up on a bathroom break at a rest stop in central Turkey.“Fifteen minutes!” our guide says as the bus doors swing open. “Do not be late.”I join the crowd hurrying to the ladies’ room, passing shopkeepers’ shelves of merchandis
Affordable Dim Sum on Garosu-gil

Food&BeverageDec 5, 2014

Soup dumplings and Lanzhou-style beef noodles at Jooo’s
Chew on this: ‘Sweet Potatoes’ author debunks yam myths

Food&BeverageDec 5, 2014

Hillsborough, North Carolina, cookbook author April McGreger wants to settle the confusion about yams and sweet potatoes.First, McGreger says, they are not the same vegetable. Sweet potatoes are grown in the U.S. Yams are a tropical plant, grown in Africa and Asia, and they look much different from sweet potatoes.“Unless it’s buff-colored, the size of a football and hairy, it is a sweet potato,” said McGreger, who has just published her first cookbook, “Sweet Potatoes,” part of the UNC-Press Sav
Around the hotels

Food&BeverageDec 5, 2014

Korean and Chinese restaurants reopen at Sheraton Grand Walkerhill Sheraton Grande Walkerhill reopened the Korean restaurant Ondal and Chinese restaurant Geumryong after six months of renovation on Dec. 1. The Korean restaurant Ondal presents Korean royal cuisine based on the recipes of an aristocratic family of the Joseon era. Ondal also serves the head chef’s “Summit Luncheon,” which was served during the G20 Seoul Summit and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Korea. Geumryong (Golden Dra
Seoul Philharmonic CEO claims artistic director behind accusations

CultureDec 5, 2014

Park Hyun-jung, CEO of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, who faces demands for her resignation from employees accusing her of sexual harassment and arbitrary personnel management, said Friday that artistic director Chung Myung-whun may have been behind the recent accusations against her.She also refused to step down and vowed to cooperate with investigations into the complaints.“I am willing to cooperate with the national auditing agency, prosecutors or anyone in investigating this case,” she sa
Work on Rome subway digs up ancient farm, tools

CultureDec 4, 2014

ROME (AP) ― Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient commercial farm in the heart of modern Rome, taking advantage of subway construction to explore deeply in urban settings. They worked some 20 meters down near St. John in Lateran Basilica. Today’s Rome rests upon medieval layers and, under those, more ancient strata of life. Rossella Rea, the dig’s leader and a culture ministry official, said Wednesday that archaeologists discovered a first-century agricultural business, the closest to Rome’s
Outdoor play returns to indoor theater

CultureDec 4, 2014

‘Here Comes Simcheong’ expects to bring madangnori fans, new audiences back to theater for holiday season
‘There Was and There Was Not’ crosses Turkish-Armenian divide

BooksDec 4, 2014

At the Armenian-American camp Meline Toumani attended each summer in Massachusetts, she and her fellow campers knew exactly what bonded them as a people. And no, it wasn’t just their adult-sized noses, at least one of which elicited the nickname “Gonzo” back at school.It was the need for recognition ― from Turkey and the world ― that the Armenian genocide had indeed happened. Even by grade school, Toumani knew certain truths that others denied or were oblivious to: One and a half million Armenia
Brother Anthony translates two poetry anthologies

BooksDec 4, 2014

Brother Anthony of Taize, a translator of Korean literature and emeritus professor of English at Sogang University, recently translated two poem anthologies: “Shadows of the Void” and “Patterns.”As one of the first non-Korean translators, Brother Anthony has published around 30 books of Korean poetry and works of fiction into English over more than 20 years, including noteworthy works by Ku Sang, Ko Un and Yi Mun-yol. Brother Anthony of Taize at his office in Seoul in August. (Kim Myung-sub/The
Pirie on the case in ‘The Skeleton’

BooksDec 4, 2014

The Skeleton RoadBy Val McDermid (Atlantic Monthly Press)Author Val McDermid melds the political thriller with the police procedural for an intense novel that gives equal attention to each genre. McDermid pulls together a complicated tale of war and its aftermath for a plot that feels both intensely personal and global. “The Skeleton Road” moves at a brisk pace, giving attention to each of its myriad characters as the action moves from Scotland to England to Croatia.Detective Chief Inspector Kar
‘Big Finish’ keeps tension high

BooksDec 4, 2014

The Big FinishBy James W. Hall (Minotaur)Living in the “shadowy world” has always worked well for Thorn, the taciturn hero making his 14th appearance in James W. Hall’s series. Living in a “primitive cracker house” in Key Largo, scraping out a living by tying bonefish flies, Thorn’s mellow persona is only a veneer for the violence that can rear when he or his friends are threatened.Being “a hard-core loner” has suited him fine, but Thorn has recently discovered he has a grown son and that solita
‘Ralph Peer’: Roots music mogul

BooksDec 4, 2014

Ralph Peer and the Making of Popular Roots Music By Barry Mazor (Chicago Review Press)Do you love Bruce Springsteen? B.B. King? Garth Brooks? Ruben Blades?No doubt you answered yes to at least one of those, but it’s quite likely you do not know the name of the visionary record-industry mogul who set the stage for those artists to succeed ― and perhaps even to exist at all.That would be Ralph Peer, the Kansas City “A & R man” (artists and repertoire) who in the 1920s virtually invented country an