Renowned South Korean poet Ko Un will visit London, Berlin and Chicago this year to attend various literary festivals, a local publisher said Wednesday.According to Changbi Publishers, which has printed many of Ko’s poems, he will attend a “poetry night for Ko Un’s poems” hosted by the Victoria and Albert Museum, considered to be one of the world’s greatest museums of art and design, in London on May 30. The London event will draw many influential writers working in London, Changbi said.  After

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iranians flocked to parks rich with the smell of grilled kebabs on Wednesday to toss around Frisbees, bat badminton birdies and battle one another in chess and backgammon ― all to avoid being caught inside on the unlucky 13th day of the Persian New Year. The annual public picnic day, called Sizdeh Bedar, which comes from the Farsi words for “thirteen” and “day out,” is a legacy from Iran’s pre-Islamic past that hardliners in the Islamic Republic never managed to erase from calendar

Many who grow up on farms treasure the outdoor experience, but Seoul City Farmers founder Justin Pollard’s experience of growing up on a horse farm did not fit the active, healthy stereotype.As a 215-kilogram teenager, doctors told him he was life-threateningly overweight.“Every single meal of my youth was purchased at a fast-food restaurant,” he said. “All of the farm work was done on machines, so I didn’t need to do manual labor of any kind, and we lived in a rural area so we drove everywhere.

To say that Andy Brown uses a diverse set of art media would be an understatement.Brown enjoyed a brief moment of fame in his native England, when his teabag portraits of the queen appeared on TV and in trivia board game questions.These days he is still making art, but has stitched together the variety of genres he has cycled through over the last five years into one exhibition.Brown has used patchwork, pinhole camera photography, etchings, portraits and other media. “They are all about being ov

Flower-filled royal banquets of Joseon Era recreated at exhibition

What is the name of the U.S. president? Barraco Barner, as a British beautician spelled it in her now world-famous tweet in March? Well, ask some lawmakers in Korea and you might get this: Barak Obama. Rep. An Min-suk and 39 other members of the National Assembly misspelled the U.S. president’s name in a letter they sent to him through an official channel. In the letter, dated April 4, the lawmakers asked Obama to bring a 16th-century royal seal, stolen from Korea and now in the custody of U.S.

Grand Hyatt Seoul said Monday that it had named veteran hotelier David Pacey its new general manager. The former general manager at Grand Hyatt Taipei will succeed Peter Walshaw, the longest-serving general manager of Grand Hyatt Seoul. The Australian has served as general manager of the hotel for the last 23 years. On his first assignment to Korea, Pacey served as the general manager of the Hyatt Regency Incheon from 2002 to 2007. Later, he moved on to participate in the openings of Grand Hyatt

(A scene from the movie 'Shopperholic')It is difficult to satisfy materialistic people who constantly want more even when they have the latest gadgets and newest cars. It has long been believed that materialistic people are less happy, and a recent study from Baylor University, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, has proven that materialistic people are in fact more likely to be miserable and depressed.The research team used a set of survey questionnaires to conduct

(A scene from the movie 'Grown Ups')In swimming pools, chlorine is added for hygiene purposes -– to stop microorganisms from developing. However, when chlorine combines with urine, harmful chemicals are produced such as cyanogen chloride (CNCl) and trichloramine (NCl3), which can also be found in chemical weapons.According to a study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, when uric acid in urine interacts with chlorine, “volatile disinfection byproducts” are generated, whic

NEW YORK (AP) ― Soprano Kristine Opolais has made Metropolitan Opera history, becoming the first singer in its 131 years to debut in two major company roles within 24 hours.The 34-year-old Latvian soprano sang Cio-Cio-San in Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly” on Friday night, went to dinner and got to bed at 5 a.m. Met General Manager Peter Gelb called 2 hours later, asking if she could replace ailing Anita Hartig as Mimi in a performance of Puccini’s “La Boheme” that was broadcast live to movie theat

Chris Gelken, a former senior associate editor of The Korea Herald, died of cancer on Friday. He was 58.“Today (Friday) at 1:45 p.m. Chris Gelken quietly passed away,” read a message on his Facebook account posted from Limoges, France. “The last few months were very difficult, but he fought every step of the way.”Gelken had been battling adenocarcinoma after a stage-four diagnosis last August, according to his friends. He is survived by wife Shirley Han Ying.  A veteran journalist whose works sp