Korean Air Lines Co., South Korea’s top air carrier, said Wednesday it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Boeing Co. to buy 11 fuel-efficient aircraft as part of its efforts to modernize its fleet and better deal with environmental issues.Korean Air said five B747-8I and six B777-300ER passenger jets will be gradually delivered from 2016 onwards if the purchase is completed through further negotiations with Boeing.The MOU was signed between Cho Won-tae, an executive vice preside

Korean football star Park Ji-sung, who plays for Queens Park Rangers in the English league, was spotted enjoying a date with SBS announcer Kim Min-ji on Tuesday night.Sports Seoul, a local sports daily, ran 10 photographs of their date on its website Wednesday. The photos show Park and Kim together at Hangang Riverside Park. In one of them, they are sitting on a bench side by side and watching the FIFA World Cup qualifier between Korea and Iran on a mobile phone together.Kim’s mother, Oh Myung-h

“Nanjung Ilgi,” or “War Diary,” by 16th-century naval hero Yi Sun-shin, and archives of Korea’s Saemaul Movement in the 1960s have been listed to the UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Wednesday. Their inclusion brings the total number of South Korea’s heritage items on the UNESCO list to 11, the highest for an Asian country. The decision was made during the 11th session of the International Advisory Committee that opened in Gwangju on Tuesday when t

Probationary Theater is partnering with The Rebel Alliance to put on an original play performed and written by a local expat.The play was written by Michael Downey, a professor at the department of acting and visual arts at Suwon Science College, who will also perform the one-man play.The piece is based on a man Downey met in his native New Zealand, who worked as an orderly at Auckland’s North Shore Hospital during the week and on weekends fought as a Viking with a historical reenactment society

Expat-run entertainment outfit ICONZ Media is hosting a new monthly hip-hop night in Itaewon to give a new platform to emerging hip-hop artists in Seoul.The show is planned for the third Friday of every month.ICONZ already puts on Freestyle Fridays on the first Friday of every month, but the focus of this event is a bit different, according DJ iDub, who hosts Hip Hop Allstars.“With Freestyle Fridays we have the artists come in that just come up with their own lyrics as they go in a freestyle con

BEIJING (AFP) ― Football superstar David Beckham began a seven-day visit to China on Monday, sprinkling stardust at a charity event as the domestic game reels from its latest humiliation.The recently retired former England captain was donating his football shirts for a children’s charity at the start of a visit in which he is expected to be joined by his glamorous wife Victoria on Sunday.The 38-year-old announced his retirement last month after winning the French league title with Paris Saint-Ge

LONDON (AFP) ― Queen Elizabeth II’s 92-year-old husband Prince Philip walked out of hospital on Monday “in good spirits,” 10 days after undergoing exploratory abdominal surgery.The Duke of Edinburgh, who went under the knife on June 7, smiled and waved as he left the private London Clinic in the center of the British capital.“The duke is in good condition and good spirits. He’ll take a period of convalescence of approximately two months,” a Buckingham Palace spokesman said. “The duke has express

A cathedral with mosaic works made by North Korean artists will open on June 25, the 63rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, the Catholic Bishop’s Conference of Korea announced Monday. The mosaic works inside the “Catholic Church of Repentance and Redemption” were produced by seven artists of the Mansudae Art Studio, one of the most renowned art groups in the North, in 2007. They depicted martyrs from Pyongyang and Hwanghae Province as well as some from So

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― “Man of Steel” leaped over box office expectations in a single weekend.The Warner Bros. superhero film earned $113 million in its opening weekend at the box office, according to studio estimates Sunday. The retelling of Superman’s backstory earned an additional $12 million from Thursday screenings, bringing its domestic total to $125 million. Original box-office expectations for “Man of Steel” ranged from $75 million to $130 million.“They finally got the Superman formula right

Two dogs cloned by former stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk will be donated to the National 119 Rescue Service. The service, which is one of the affiliated organizations of the National Emergency Management Agency, said Monday that it will receive the dogs under an agreement with the Sooam Biotech Research Foundation where Hwang is chief technology officer.Sooam Biotech signed a memorandum of understanding with National 119 Rescue Service on Dec. 26, 2012, on the preservation of pedigree rescue