Sungnyemun is back.After five years and three months of restoration costing 25 billion won ($22.5 million), the National Treasure No. 1, which served as the South Gate of the capital city during the Joseon era (1392-1910), will be open to the public May 5, the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday. On Saturday, a grand celebration stretching all the way from Sungnyemun to Gwanghwamun Plaza in central Seoul will be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., marking the restoration of the gate that was se

With his bushy gray hair and Issey Miyake pleated shirts, he seemed more like an ascetic onstage than a musician. But on May 6 Latvian cellist Mischa Maisky will perform his all-time favorite, Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach. Sans pianist Martha Argerich ― one of his lifelong musical partners and who was to perform Beethoven, Schubert and Stravinsky with him in Korea but cancelled last week due to a health condition ― Maisky is to feature Bach’s Cello Suite Nos. 1, 3 and

Yes, South Korea is the most wired country in the world, but the preconceived stereotypes of Buddhist monks living in ascetic, rustic conditions nevertheless do not blend well with smartphones. Yet monks are chatting and texting, and spreading Buddhist teachings, on cell phones everywhere from Dongguk University in the heart of Seoul to the sandy courtyards of mountain hermitages.“This is not an age of happiness but an age of exhaustion and difficulty. But a single text message can give you stre

PARIS (AFP) ― Tom Stoppard could call an end to his illustrious career as one of Britain’s leading playwrights, he revealed on Saturday, saying he was considering writing just one more play.“I might write one more play and give up because I am very slow...,” he told reporters at Paris’s Forum des Images cinema.“I am 75, I am 76 in a minute ... My brain cells are dying in their trillions,” he said, adding that he had started work on a new stage play. Stoppard, in addition to his critically acclai

Former National Assembly vice speaker Kim Young-bae, who was elected six times as a lawmaker, died of a chronic illness on Saturday. He was 81. He is known to have suffered from cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts. Kim was a Yonhap News Agency reporter before being first elected as a lawmaker in 1979 for the New Democratic Party. He was then reelected to the National Assembly successively in 1985, 1988, 1992, 1996 and 2000. He became the first chairman of the National Assembly labor c

Rats forced to exercise in a study were protected against stress and anxiety the same as rats who ran without being forced, U.S. researchers say.Benjamin Greenwood, an assistant research professor in University of Colorado at Boulder, said there was a question whether people reap the same mental benefits of exercise if they are forced to do -- as is common among high school, college and professional athletes, members of the military or those who have been prescribed an exercise regimen by their

Middle-aged and elderly men learn to cook as hobby or second career

A new era of eating on television and the rise of the man who cooks

Local zoos increase visitors’ interaction with animals for more hands-on experience

Variety of fresh boxed meals to be available at Seoul Station from June

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, California (AP) ― A few loose, fist-sized rocks tumbled by as we hiked down a steep mountain pass over unstable terrain, off trail deep in Yosemite’s wilderness. We tightly gripped the solid rock holds on the side of Stanton Pass to steady ourselves when our feet slipped out from under us.Our guides were two of the world’s most accomplished hikers, Andrew Skurka and Brian Robinson. We were far enough from help that Skurka had reminded everyone that a serious injury here w