South Korean big leaguer Choo Shin-soo will hold his foundation’s first charity event at home early in the new year, the player’s management company here said on Friday.An official with IB Sports said the newest member of the Texas Rangers and his Choo Foundation will join Child Fund Korea on Jan. 6 in a charity event for underprivileged children and children from multicultural families. The official added that up to four sick children who previously couldn’t afford medical services will receive

Hyundai Motor Co. kicked off its 2014 “wish ball” event in Seoul on Friday. Sixty large balloons have been installed along the U-street near Gangnam station. Pedestrians may leave New Year messages on the balls from Friday until Dec. 31. On Dec. 31, Kim Tae-woo, Lee Seung-hwan and 2AM will perform on M-Stage near the subway station. National soccer team manager Hong Myung-bo, rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae and other celebrities will send video messages.Pianist Kim Nam-geol, 17, will play a solo r

The Pony Chung Foundation awarded scholarships to 30 students in a ceremony in Seoul on Friday. The students will receive a year of tuition fees and benefits including overseas study trips and connections with mentors.The foundation also awarded research grants to two scholars, each of whom will receive 40 million won in research expenses and 10 million won in publication subsidies for a year. Those who have acquired doctoral degrees within the past five years are eligible for research support f

Serviced Residence, World Wide/ Oakwood Premier Coex Center

Hotle, Business/ Imperial Palace Seoul

Mosley’s conceptual book puts empathy as the key factor, blindness as the most stirring stuff to tell the real story of the inner life.

DrawingsBy Sylvia Plath(Harper)The most striking thing about the 44 images reproduced in Sylvia Plath’s “Drawings” may be how unpopulated they are.Produced during the two years the poet spent on a Fulbright fellowship at Cambridge ― the same period in which she met and married (secretly, at first) Ted Hughes ― this material evokes a world bound almost entirely by objects: boats, shoes, rooftops, all of it detailed, shadowed, but at the same time more than a little bit removed.That’s not entirely

Roth UnboundBy Claudia Roth Pierpont(Farrar, Straus and Giroux)If you’ve been tempted to dismiss Philip Roth as a misogynist, a self-hating Jew or simply an old white male dinosaur, Claudia Roth Pierpont’s “Roth Unbound: A Writer and His Books” makes a strong argument for giving the novelist another chance.At a minimum, Pierpont’s lucid book, intelligent but not academic, makes the case that “The Ghost Writer,” “Sabbath’s Theater” and “American Pastoral” are compelling works of fiction worth rea

“A poem is not so much read as navigated,” Nikki Giovanni writes in “Chasing Utopia.” “We go from point to point discovering a new horizon, a shift of light or laughter, an exhilaration of newness that we had missed before. Even familiar, or perhaps especially familiar, poems bring the excitement of first nighters, first encounters, first love ... when viewed and reviewed.”That’s a pretty good description of what Giovanni is up to in this book, marked by her signature blend of toughness and acce

Hyperlipidemia occurs when there is elevated cholesterol in the blood, which can cause fatal diseases such as atherosclerosis, angina, myocardial ischemia and stroke. The causes of hyperlipidemia include a high fat diet and insufficient exercise. The recommended level of blood cholesterol is less than 200 milligrams per deciliter of cholesterol, less than 150 mg/dl of triglycerides, greater than 45 mg/dl of HDL cholesterol (prevents atherosclerosis) and less than 160 mg/dl of LDL cholesterol (ca

NEW YORK (AP) ― Tablet computers are so easy to use that even a 3-year-old can master them.And that has some pediatricians and other health experts worried.Since navigating a tablet generally doesn’t require the ability to type or read, children as young as toddlers can quickly learn how to stream movies, scroll through family photos or play simple games.That ease-of-use makes tablets ― and smartphones ― popular with busy parents who use them to pacify their kids during car rides, restaurant out

Hyundai Motor Group will send 500 university student volunteers abroad. The group launched its 12th youth service corps at its headquarters in Seoul on Thursday.Founded in 2008, the corps is one of the largest civilian volunteer groups in Korea. So far, 5,500 university students have volunteered for previous corps, visiting a total of 18 countries. “What’s important in life is not speed but direction. I hope overseas services will give new momentum in setting the right direction of life and lear

The South Korean Consulate General to Shanghai issued more than 500,000 visas this year, becoming the first overseas diplomatic mission to top the number. The figure is equivalent to the combined number of visas issued by all diplomatic and consular offices abroad in 2003. The Consulate General to Shanghai issued 178,000 visas in 2010, 241,000 visas in 2011 and 367,000 visas in 2012. The number rose 36 percent this year from last year. This year’s figure reflects setbacks due to North Korea’s mi