U.S. Ambassador Kathleen Stephens encouraged students selected for the country’s first Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs at Sookmyung Women’s University on Wednesday, saying their contribution to the Korean Army will help strengthen national defense.Stressing the importance of women’s participation in the Army, the ambassador also asked the nation’s first female cadets at the Seoul univers

Teen singer IU, popular for her cute looks and high-pitched singing skills, has now turned singer-songwriter. IU, 18, introduced her first composition in the official soundtrack of hit TV drama “The Greatest Love.” The song, “Hold My Hand,” was released through an online digital music site on Wednesday.  IUIU plans to further show off her talents as a singer-songwriter in her future albums. “IU ha

Canadian teacher promises he’ll keep helping orphan get costly medicationShortly after starting elementary school, little Esther Park was given a choco pie to eat ― a treat that could have seen her hospitalized with a twisted intestine.The orphan from Jeonju has a medical condition that means she cannot eat solid food and must have monthly injections costing 250,000 won each. Esther’s contact with

A rare singing contest that pitted several foreign envoys in Seoul and Koreans took place at the German ambassador’s residence in Seongbuk-dong, Seoul on Tuesday evening.Organized by Corea Image Communication Institute, the singing contest was part of the CICI logo song launch event. The seven contestants ― German Ambassador Hans Ulrich Seidt and his wife Marita Seidt, Singapore Ambassador Peter T

Veteran journalist says ‘Agent Orange is never justified, any way you use it’Larry King, who hosted the talk show “Larry King Live” on CNN for 25 years until December last year, said if he had the chance to interview any one person on the Korean peninsula, it would be the leader of North Korea.“It will be the head of North Korea. People who are perceived as evil by the world... They don’t think th

Skating champ glides through test of talent as host of SBS showFigure champion Kim Yu-na debuted as an MC at her own figure-skating show on Sunday. ‘Kiss and Cry,’ the show featuring Kim as the new MC, is the first figure-skating variety show aired in Korea. On the show, 10 celebrities pair up with professional skaters to compete and to be judged by Kim Yu-na on their figure-skating performance. T

Hackers use SNS as the first step to email, bank account accessDETROIT ― Pam Aughe is never going back.After a year of using Facebook sporadically to keep up with family and friends ― two or three times a week, she says ― her account was hijacked by a scammer seeking to bilk her friends out of money.According to the alarming counterfeit messages, Aughe, 41, of Clarkston was stuck in Scotland. Robb

MBC Sports Plus announcer Song Ji-seonSong Ji-seon, an MBC Sports Plus announcer, has jumped from the 19th floor of her apartment building in southern Seoul Monday afternoon, a few weeks after stirring controversy over a suicide note on her Twitter, news reports said.Local media outlet News En said on Monday she was pronounced dead by 119 rescue staff at the scene, after jumping from her apartment

Huh Young-man (64), a major South Korean cartoonist, has decided to donate his works to a cartoon museum in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province. The cartoon museum within Korea Manhwa Contents Agency will now gain possession of 150,000 copies of Huh’s cartoons which are the products of 37 years of work. These account to about 1,000 separate cartoon pieces.  Huh Young-manThe works entrusted to the museum in

(Jang Sa-ik performs on the rooftop of hishouse in Hongji-dong against the backdrop of Mount Inwang.                                                                      Park Hae-mook/The Korea Herald)　Jang Sa-ik has the look of an ordinary man. Ordinary enough to pass for one of the construction workers renovating his garden as The Korea Herald interviewed him Monday. 　But this unremarkable impre

A North Korean defector is to pursue studies to help his home country’s economic development with a scholarship in Britain this fall. Oh Se-hyuk, 34, is the first defector to be granted the U.K. government’s Chevening Scholarship, which he received on April 17.“I am planning to study development models for underdeveloped countries and will pursue study for unification, especially development of No

Lee Sang-mook, a professor at Seoul National University, has won 3.8 billion won ($3.47 million) in compensation from Ford for the 2006 car accident that left him paralyzed.Lee and a group of students were on a geological research trip to Death Valley, California, when his Ford overturned and the roof collapsed. The accident killed one of his students and left Lee paralyzed.  Lee Sang-mook, profes

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― He’s one of the most famous people on the planet, a two-term governor of California, a movie star and a former world champion bodybuilder with a profile so huge that just one name, Arnold, instantly identifies him to almost everyone.Yet somehow, for more than a decade, Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to keep an incredible secret from the public and his wife, prominent former TV jo

Pop singer outranks Oprah Winfrey to top Forbes celebrity power listFlamboyant pop singer Lady Gaga ousted U.S. media mogul Oprah Winfrey to top this year’s Forbes celebrity power list released on Wednesday.Gaga, whose real name is Stefani Germanotta, moved up four positions from last year to claim the top spot in Forbes’ annual “The Celebrity 100” 2011 list that measures power by entertainment-re

Brazilian Maria Gomes Valentim, 114, poses for a photo in Carangola, in Brazil's Minas Gerais state. Gomes Valentim is the world's oldest living human, Guinness World Records said Wednesday. (AP-Yonhap News/Guinness World Records)RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - A Brazilian woman has elbowed out an elderly American as the oldest person in the world, the Guinness organization said Wednesday.Maria Gomes Valen