Professor Ahn Jae-hwan, of Ajou University’s department of chemical and new materials engineering, will head the university as its 14th president, the university board announced on Monday.The new president earned his bachelor’s degree in metal engineering at Seoul National University, and a master’s and doctoral degree in material engineering at the University of California, Berkeley.  Ahn Jae-hwa

News of a 13th zodiac sign may be better viewed as an astronomer’s personal suggestion rather than an official change made by an internationally recognized astronomical organization. Astronomer Parke Kunkle of the Minnesota Planetarium Society has promoted the new sign, named Ophiuchus. Astronomer Parke Kunkle talks with a reporter about the changing astrological signs in his office in Minneapolis

LAS VEGAS (AP) ― A 17-year-old from Nebraska became the youngest winner of the Miss America crown in 90 years on Saturday after beating 52 other young women from across the United States.Teresa Scanlan won a $50,000 scholarship and a yearlong run with the crown at the competition at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas.She was the youngest Miss America since the pageant’s first competit

LONDON (AP) ― If you’re invited to the royal wedding, don’t go buying Kate Middleton an engraved gift ― the poor woman doesn’t know yet what her title’s going to be.She will be a princess, possibly a duchess, perhaps even a countess. But the exact title is unlikely to be divulged until shortly before April 29, the day she officially joins “the firm” ― as the lordly British royal family is known.Mo

The Shilla Seoul hotel has something new at its arcade. But it isn’t western-style haute-couture or designer labels that catch the eye. What grabs your attention are the four big Chinese characters in vermeil red ― Jeon Tong Han Bok ― meaning traditional hanbok boutique.The shop is run by Kim Young-seok. His bold signature transformation of conventional hanbok is what lures in the visitors.Unlike

An ethnic Korean has been elected a mayor in Peru, a first in the 106-year history of Korean immigration to Latin America. The South Korean Embassy in Peru said Thursday that Jung Heung-won, 64, was sworn in as the mayor of Chanchamayo in central Peru, about 300 kilometers east of Lima, on Jan. 2. The term is four years. Jung Heung-won (sitting), newly elected mayor of Chanchamayo in Peru, poses w

Rhee Hang-bock, vice president of the Korea Scout Association, was elected chairman of the World Scout Committee at the 39th World Scout Conference in Brazil, Jan. 13, the association said.He is the first Korean chairman of the main executive body of the World Organization of the Scout Movement. His term is three years.  Rhee Hang-bockRhee succeeds Rick Kronk of the U.S., who served as chairman si

A transgender woman is looking for a marriage proposal in China’s capital Beijing.According to the Global Times, the woman wore a large white wedding dress on Dec. 26 and held a sign asking, “I have changed my gender. Who will propose to me?” (captured from Global Times)Several pictures of the unidentified woman circulated across the Internet after some fascinated spectators posted them on a Chine

Dream on iceThere have been many foreign athletes here, but they don’t come much more successful than Czech-born ice hockey star Patrick Martinec.Now 40, Martinec has established himself over the course of five seasons as one of the all-time best ice hockey players in Korea. His name will not be familiar to many, but the former Czech national player is a superstar among hockey fans here.Unfortunat

Chun fights U.S. visa discrimination, publishes books on immigration“Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.”So said the famous man of letters Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773).And when describing men of unwearied industry, Chun Jong-joon,

 Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology President Suh Nam-pyo will receive a certificate of academic accomplishment from the Korea Economic Institute of America on Thursday.The presentation ceremony will take place during the 4th annual celebration of Korean-American Day 2011 hosted by KEI in The Willard InterContinental Hotel, Washington, D.C., on Jan. 13. KAIST President Suh Nam-pyoS

Korea Electric Power Corp. has broken the record for the most organ donors in one company, Korean Organ Donor Program announced on Tuesday.The program said that 8,138 KEPCO employees, 42.8 percent of the company’s total staff, have pledged to donate their corneas, beating the previous record of 6,217 donors at Hyundai Heavy Industries, set in 2007. KEPCO Pesident Kim Ssang-soo (second from right)

Human rights lawyer Lee Don-myung, who defended democratization and labor activists in the 1970s and 1980s, died of natural causes at his home Tuesday. He was 89.Born in Naju, South Jeolla Province in 1922, he graduated from Chosun University in Gwangju with a major in political science, passed the judicial examination in 1952 to be a judge, and began practicing law as an attorney in 1963. He took

Mike Kim also working on movie project on defectorsThe sight of North Korean refugees near the North Korea-China border changed Mike Kim’s life.Kim, then a financial planner, became an activist who risked his life to help North Koreans escape to freedom from 2003 to 2006.A 34-year-old second-generation Korean-American, Kim led hundreds of North Koreans out of the repressive regime through the 10,0