Jong Tae-se, a striker at Suwon Samsung Bluewings who played for North Korea, will marry a South Korean woman next month.He is scheduled to tie the knot with a stewardess who works for a Korean airline at Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel on Dec. 4, his club said, without elaborating on who Jong’s bride-to-be was.They were introduced through a mutual acquaintance in May and recently began preparations for their wedding after both families agreed, the club said.Jong was born to Korean parents in N

Lee Charm, CEO of the Korea Tourism Organization, is in hot water for allegedly receiving favors from a subcontractor by visiting a brothel in Japan last year. While the German-turned-Korean admits to visiting the business, he insisted that he paid for the services on his own, saying it was only a “pure massage to take away the fatigue.”According to a report by jTBC on Tuesday, the KTO CEO visited Japan during the Lunar New Year holiday in January last year with workers of a subcontract company

SARLAT, France ― It’s a Saturday morning in this medieval city in the heart of the Dordogne region ― market day ― and merchants have stacked tables in Sarlat’s cobblestoned square with pricey delicacies.Pungent dark truffles. Wicker baskets filled with freshly picked mushrooms. Black walnuts suspended in jars of honey like insects in amber. Wheels of aromatic cheeses as big and thick as automobile tires.But it’s the shiny cans arranged in pyramids that draw many of the grocery buyers and gastron

GRINZANE CAVOUR, Italy (AFP) ― Eleven white truffles have gone under the hammer in Italy for 274,200 euros ($367,620), including a pair bought by an anonymous buyer in China who paid out 90,000 euros, auctioneers said Monday.A “famous Chinese writer” bidding by satellite telephone from Hong Kong fiercely outbid competitors for a 950-gram pair of truffles, organizers said, paying three times the price of gold for the white delicacy.The auction, which took place Sunday in the Grinzane Cavour castl

A touring exhibition that promotes the use of wool opens in Seoul next week with a showcase of creative wool clothing and products by Korean designers. The 2013 Wool Modern exhibition, part of The Campaign for Wool of the Woolmark Company and supported by the Prince of Wales, seeks to raise awareness of the versatility of wool, its aesthetic qualities and environmental benefits. The exhibition started in England in 2011 and has been held in Germany, Australia and China. The use of wool peaked wi

Installation artist Suh Do Ho won the prestigious Red Dot design award for his video installation “Who Am We,” according to his studio on Wednesday. Suh won the Best of the Best Award in the category of TV, film, cinema and animation at the Red Dot Awards in July, as well as the IDEA bronze award and the gold award at the Busan International Advertising Festival this year for the same work. The interactive video installation features hundreds of portraits of employees at Hyundai Motor Group, who

Lydia Ko, a New Zealand golfer born in South Korea, made Time magazine’s list of the world’s 16 most influential teenagers of 2013.The online edition of Time mentioned her second after fellow New Zealander, 17-year-old singer-songwriter Lorde. However, the magazine did not say whether it listed the teens in order of influence.The 16-year-old Ko has multiple LPGA wins, turning pro this year after the LPGA waived the age requirement for her.She is already fifth in the women’s world rankings after

UNITED NATIONS (AP) ― A spokesman says Ban Ki-moon plans to make the first-ever visit by a United Nations secretary-general to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland. The camp remains the most vivid symbol of the cruelty of Nazi Germany’s genocide of World War II. U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky announced Tuesday that Ban will visit the camp on Monday “to pay tribute to the victims of the Holocaust and to stress the importance of the U.N.’s work for genocide prevention, tolerance and peace.”More than

A number of financial firms in Korea are establishing various support and resource centers overseas as part of their efforts to participate in volunteer work and raise global brand awareness, sources said. Shinhan Financial Group recently opened a vocational training center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, for the youth of low-income families, the company announced last week.Shinhan Financial will support the training center with 800 million won ($746,600) over the span of three years and hopes to

Growing up and losing touch with people you were once close to is par for the course for many, but one group of expats is seeking to explore the value of old friendships with a performance of Norm Foster’s “The Foursome” in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.The play follows four old friends around an 18-hole golf course, with a scene at each tee and one at the clubhouse. Having not seen each other for a long time, the four each come with their own problems ―- from alcoholism to ennui ―- and by

Lonely expats in Daegu will get a chance to meet someone special and help kids at the same time at a special dating event this weekend.Daegu’s Time to Give, a nonprofit organization that helps disadvantaged children in the city, is running a speed dating night on Nov. 16.Daegu’s Time to Date is part of events to raise money to fund its activities, giving three minutes each with potential matches. The group works with local government offices and other city contacts to provide volunteer services,