“The process attracts me more than the results,” says Kim Na-yeon a spinner and weaver of Hansan ramie fabric, which is made from the plant ramie, used to make traditional summer costumes. Ramie fabric from Hansan, South Chungcheong Province, has a long tradition that goes hundreds of years, and its production process was designated as a cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The making process of Hansan ramie fabric starts with making strings with parts of ramie stems to weaving the

A ceremony of investiture of a metropolitan archbishop with the pallium, a symbol of a special relationship with the pope, took place on Monday for the first time in South Korea. Peter Chung Soon-taick, the Archbishop of Seoul, received the archiepiscopal pallium from Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea Alfred Xuereb during a mass at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul. The pallium is a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese and in the other dioceses of his ecclesi

Many Koreans have a love-hate relationship with traditional shamans, or “mudangs” as they are called here. While it is not unusual to find a practitioner around the block, they are still widely frowned upon by the majority of the public. Jeong Ho-geun, a 58-year-old veteran actor better known as a shaman nowadays, has experienced such prejudice firsthand since he decided to become a shaman in 2014. His friends started dodging his calls and people left him “like the parting of t

Rev. Lee suspended from duties for two years for offering his blessing at a queer festival in 2019

Young archaeologist shares joy of searching for clues into unknown past

 

Behind doors closed to the press, the Korean Methodist Church’s court heard an appeals case brought by one pastor to reverse the church's decision to suspend him from his duty for two years at its headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. His sin? Blessing gay people at the Incheon Queer Culture Festival in 2019. “From September 2019 until now, (my action) has been reviewed for three years and we are now finally waiting for the ruling. What I wanted to do from the very beginning was to

Rotary, an international volunteer organization with 70,000 participants in Korea and 1.4 million members around the world, is holding 2022 Rotary training session at the Maison Glad Hotel in Jeju City on Sept. 26-29. The workshop will be a venue for learning and exchange for leaders who lead Korean Rotary. About 500 people will attend, including Rotary’s President Jennifer E. Jones and Trustee chair Ian Riseley. Jones is the first female president in Rotary's 117-year history, a memb

It was somewhat natural for Gi Yoo-jeong, a 30-year-old gayageum player, to turn to the Korean traditional twelve-string instrument. "My mom was a gayageum player, and I grew up listening to her playing it at home all the time. And naturally, I became one too,” she said. “My mom didn’t say a word about my career. It was solely at my will to play gayageum,” said Gi, as she played the instrument at her home. When she began to play gayageum, her first child Ji-an sat be

Tashi Choden, a Bhutanese social media influencer who was crowned this year’s Miss Bhutan, was 15 when she first realized she was "different." “I first came out as a bisexual person to my friends, but soon realized that my affection tilted more towards women,” Choden, now 23, told The Korea Herald in an exclusive interview. “After doing some research on gender identities, I found out that I was a genderfluid lesbian.” Being gender-fluid means that one&rs

Veteran gugak musician Ahn Sook-sun, 73, has been recognized as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage holder of "Chunhyangga" pansori, the Cultural Heritage Administration announced Tuesday. "Chunhyangga" is the best-known among the pansori genre, depicting a love tale between a daughter of an entertainer and the son of a magistrate. Ahn surrenders the "Gayageum Sanjo and Byeongchang" holder's qualification, since the CHA states that a single person should not

Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik became the fourth South Korean cardinal in an appointment ceremony at the Vatican on Saturday. You, 70, was sworn in at St. Peter’s Basilica at 4 p.m. as one of 20 new cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. The appointment was announced in May. He was also among 16 cardinal electors under 80 years old, who are eligible to vote for the next pontiff in a secret conclave. You became the fourth Korean cardinal after the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, th

The International Council of Museums named Chang In-kyung, former head of the ICOM Korea Committee and founding director of the Iron Museum in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, as co-vice president of ICOM headquarters, on Thursday. The announcement was made after the 37th ICOM General Assembly held in Prague, on Thursday. Emma Nardi, professor in University Rome Tre’s Experimental Pedagogy studies department, was elected president, and Terry Simioti, assistant curator of Ichthyology

Korean-American psychologist warns against living life as an ‘impostor,’ urges to embrace failures

Doctor-turned-owner committed to sharing joy of listening to classical music

Actor Nam Joo-hyuk has denied another round of bullying allegations raised against him. Management Soop, Nam’s agency, said Wednesday that they had sought to verify the facts through various channels after the rumors were raised and found that such allegations were “not true.” The controversy erupted on Tuesday last week when a local media outlet ran a report alleging that Nam had bullied a classmate in high school. The article was based on a tip-off from an anonymous pers