Yongin Mayor Lee Sang-il painted the future of a technologically advanced and culturally vibrant city during The Korea Herald Global Business Forum 2024 held at Marina Park in Seoul on Wednesday. The meeting, attended by business leaders and academics as well as senior government officials, included Polish Ambassador to South Korea Piotr Ostaszewski. Offering congratulatory remarks, the envoy lauded the annual gathering on the global political and business landscape. Ambitious but prudent, Lee,

A 16-year-old high school student received a certificate of appreciation from local police Wednesday for alerting his neighbors and helping them escape during a fire earlier this month. Kim Min-jun, in his second year of Gwangdong High School in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, was commended by the Namyangju Bukbu Police Station for his contribution during the June 1 fire at an apartment complex in the town of Jinjeob-eup. When the fire broke out at around 9:25 p.m. at a second floor unit, Kim -- a

The arts are all about asking questions, even if the answers to everything are not presented all at once, according to the director of the Goethe-Institut Korea. In a recent interview with The Korea Herald, Clemens Treter, director of the Goethe-Institut Korea, said his mission is to help open up space for such exploration -- a job he has been busy performing since he took the post in September 2022. “We will also then get back to society and maybe influence and get other people to think,&

President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania met with the legendary South Korean singer Cho Yong-pil at the JW Marriott Hotel in Seoul on Monday. The meeting took place as Hassan visited Seoul ahead of the 2024 Korea-Africa Summit, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday. During their meeting, Hassan highlighted the deep connection the singer has with Tanzania. Cho released the megahit song "Leopard of Kilimanjaro," part of his eighth album released in 1985, which has remained one of his sign

K-pop was only a trigger; ancient Korean history was the real pull, said Mutiara Chaerani, a 28-year-old Indonesian national who will mark four years living in Korea this August, a month after she wraps up her role as a global national heritage ambassador for Korean heritage. “I’m just fascinated by the ancient Korean kingdoms like Goguryeo and mythologies associated with them,” Chaerani said of why she decided to promote Korean heritage as one of the 23 brand ambassadors, all

An agency whose mission has long centered on protecting national heritage, the newly renamed Korea Heritage Service has a new mandate: to fashion heritage to modern tastes. Choi Eung-chon, the inaugural administrator of the agency, said renaming the 79-year-old Cultural Heritage Administration on May 17 reflected a change in the institution’s focus toward providing “services” that enable the public to take advantage of national heritage. “Take Gyeongbokgung for example. T

Singer and legendary radio DJ Lee Moon-sae is returning to radio. MBC announced on Wednesday that Lee Moon-sae will take on the role of DJ for the new MBC FM4U radio show "Hello, This is Lee Moon-sae," marking his return to radio hosting after 13 years. "Hello, This is Lee Moon-sae" will air daily at 11 a.m. on MBC FM4U, with the first broadcast scheduled for June 3. Lee teased the upcoming radio show on his personal Instagram account with a short post saying, "Hello, th

TikToker, Devin Halbal, also known as “Hal Baddie” on social media, is traveling around Asia, causing a sensation wherever she goes. On Jan. 27, Halbal posted a video of herself in Japan singing, “sushi kudasai,” meaning, “give me sushi” in Japanese. The video went viral, and within days, Halbal was suddenly being recognized by locals all over Korea and Japan. Videos of Halbal bumping into her fans and spontaneously singing the catchphrase with big crowds of p

Choi Jin-young, the CEO and publisher of Herald Corp., was selected as the eighth president of Korea's Foreign Language Newspapers Association at its executive directors' meeting, the group said Monday. He will serve until 2025 as chair of the association, which consists of The Korea Herald, The Korea JoongAng Daily, The Korea Times and The Aju Daily. The Foreign Language Newspapers Association was established in 2015, with goals for joint research and collaboration among foreign-langu

In an era of instant messaging, appreciating longer forms of the arts, such as orchestral performances, has become challenging. That’s why quality matters more now than ever, because the way culture is presented determines how people explore their inner thoughts, according to Michal Emanovsky, the director of the Czech Center Seoul. “To be honest, money is a very important part of making decisions about projects,” Emanovsky said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. The

Korea News Editors' Association on Thursday named Yang Ji-woon as its secretary-general. The KNEA appointed Yang to his new post at its board of directors' meeting, held at the Korea Press Center in Jung-gu, central Seoul. Yang joined the KNEA in 2009 and was formerly the association's strategy planning and business director. Launched in 1957, the KNEA is currently headed by Choo Seung-ho of Yonhap News TV.

Gwangyang City Council Member Park Chul-soo, who made headlines in March by publicly proposing to his girlfriend during a general assembly meeting, will get married next month. According to the council in Gwangyang, South Jeolla Province, the 46-year-old council member is set to tie the knot with 41-year-old city official Song Eun-seon on May 25 at a church in Gwangyang. Park, a member of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, made the surprise proposal to his girlfriend when he took to

Where to draw the line separating the audience from actors in a street performance is tricky for any director. Some are wary of seeing the script derailed by indulging too much into on-the-spot impromptu interaction with spectators. But not so for Song Jae-sung. The director oversees various shows scheduled at Gyeongbokgung this week as part of the annual Seoul festival promoting five palaces from the Joseon era (1392-1910). The nine-day K-Royal Culture Festival, now in its 10th year, kicked off

The bereaved family of a 37-year-old man who died recently had decided to donate his organs for those in need, the state-run organ agency said Thursday. According to the Korea Organ Donation Agency, Choi Seong-cheol's family decided to donate both his kidneys, liver, lungs, and both his eyes to respect his wishes to help others. Throughout most of his life, he suffered from an intellectual disability that he got as a result of severe school violence from when he was in high school. Choi had

The state-run organ agency said Friday that the bereaved family of a man who died from a rare condition had decided to donate his vital organs to help those in need of transplants. Jeong Su-yeon, who was 52, died last month at Inha University Hospital in Incheon, according to the Korea Organ Donation Agency. He had been suffering from Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease, a multisystem disease of presumed autoimmune causes that he was diagnosed with 20 years ago. His heart, lung, liver and k