On a Saturday night at Myung Wol Gwan Club in Hongdae, a crowd has gathered to watch women take their clothes off. But this is not a strip show ― there are no poles, no elevated stage and no leering old drunks reaching to stuff dollar bills in G-strings. The performers here are from the White Lies Burlesque Revue, and are here to celebrate the art of tease. The audience is mostly young women and men, cheering rowdily.Nell Fox, the leader of the group, dressed in a long black skirt cut to the thi

New head of Korea Tourism Organization talks about new slogan, luring young foreign tourists

Best-selling novelist Shin Kyung-sook’s latest work, “I’ll Be Right There,” was published in English in the United States last week. It is her second book to be translated into English, after her critically acclaimed 2009 novel “Please Look After Mom” was translated and published in English in 2011, selling over 2 million copies worldwide.“I’ll Be Right There” begins with protagonist Jung-yoon receiving a call from her ex-boyfriend of eight years that their beloved literature professor, who insp

Lee Jae-hwanFor those hoping to lose weight, the general recommended caloric intake to lose weight ranges between 1200 to 1500 calories depending on the individual’s basal metabolic rate, with the aim of reducing 300 calories per day (a low-calorie diet), along with regular cardio exercises (at least one hour of fast-paced walking, cycling or swimming for at least five days a week) to expend 200-300 calories each day. This results in a loss of 300 calories from dieting, together with a loss of 3

Song Yoon-hee shares her experience writing for renowned auteur Im Kwon-taek’s latest film

Tom Rob Smith’s fourth novel, “The Farm,” opens with a vivid conflict: A Londoner named Daniel receives a phone call from his father with troubling news. “Your mum’s in hospital,” the older man says. “She’s been committed.” Then the phone rings again and it’s his mother, who offers a conflicting tale. “I’m on a payphone and I don’t have much credit,” she announces. “I’m sure your father has spoken to you. Everything that man has told you is a lie.”This, of course, is the very definition of high

I never met CIA officer Robert Ames, though our paths overlapped in the Middle East, particularly in Beirut during some of the worst months of Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war. The ruins of the U.S. Embassy building where Ames met his demise in April 1983 was just down the street from my first residence when I moved to Beirut four months later.His favorite restaurants became mine. We had talked to a lot of the same figures whose names, at the time, were synonymous with Middle East danger and intrigue

The VacationersBy Hannah Sampson (The Miami Herald)Readers meet a kindred spirit on the opening page of Emma Straub’s winsome new novel when Jim Post worries about the contents of his suitcase: “Had he packed enough books?”Yes, this is the sort of person you ― or at least I ― wouldn’t mind passing a fictional vacation with. The fact that he is disgraced when the novel opens, forced to retire from his job as a men’s magazine editor after an affair with a 23-year-old editorial assistant, dampens t

Natchez BurningBy Cindy Bagwell (The Dallas Morning News)It doesn’t pay to be one of the good guys in Greg Iles’ world.Villainous or heroic, you’re equally likely to meet a painful ― and painfully described ― end.“Natchez Burning,” the first of a trilogy and the fourth outing for Iles’ protagonist Penn Cage, begins with a warning against deifying mere mortals. Even gods have feet of clay, and in Iles’ South, they’re likely to have blood on their hands, too.Cage’s father, Tom, is suspected of kil

This is the second in a series of articles in which foreign envoys to South Korea show the art of their countries displayed in their homes. ― Ed.It is no accident that guests visiting the residence of the Indonesian ambassador here are greeted by art works from some the most sought-after East Asian artists.Signature works by South Korea’s Park Sae-bo, Indonesia’s Arin Dwihartanto Sunaryo ― who was one of the hottest artists last year in April at a Sothby’s auction in Hong Kong ― and Yue Minjun o

WASHINGTON (AP) ― Michelle Obama’s fashionable clothing has become something of a given in her five-plus years as first lady. Yet her wardrobe still is the subject of endless public fascination and one long-simmering question: Who pays for those incredible outfits? It’s no small matter. Her high-low fashion choices mix everyday, off-the-rack fare with custom creations from top designers whose gowns can run into five figures. In recent weeks, Mrs. Obama has turned heads with a forest-green Naeem

The number of elderly parents living separately from their children has increased dramatically over the past 20 years, according to a report released by the Korea Institute for Health and Social Services.The report says the number of senior citizens who live alone with their spouse increased from 26.8 percent in 1994 to 48.6 percent in 2011. The number who live with their children, on the other hand, decreased from 54.7 percent in 1994 to 27.3 percent in 2011.The number of seniors who live alone

A woodland in England will be getting some surprise visitors from Seoul this summer.Year-six students of Dulwich College Seoul have been busy crafting gnomes as part of an art project, and a breakaway group ― the “Dulwich Dozen” ― have been chosen to make an expedition all the way to England.The 12 brave gnomes will spend their summer exchange trip at the Gnome Reserve in Devon, a woodland with more than 2,000 miniature men run by artist and gnome enthusiast Ann Atkins. Dulwich College Seoul hea