The National Gugak Center is offering traditional music classes for expats at its headquarters in Southern Seoul.Classes are available for the gayageum, a 12-stringed zither, janggu, an hourglass-shaped drum, and haegeum, a two-stringed instrument played with a bow. The classes run on Saturday mornings from March 4 to May 27. There will be a completion concert at 5 p.m. on the last day of classes.The courses cost 30,0000 won, and applications will be accepted until March 3. Visit https://www.gug

The Itaewon Global Village Center will be hosting a labor law seminar for people on teaching and miscellaneous professional visas on Friday.Song Jae-ho, a certified public labor attorney at YIO Labor Law Office and a volunteer lawyer at Itaewon GVC, will lead the seminar, tailored for E-2 and E-7 visa holders. The session will cover an introduction to labor-related law in Korea, frequent cases of labor issues and options for how to remedy violations of private rights.The seminar takes place at t

Seoul Book Club is hosting an event with Jo Jung-rae, one of Korea’s top-selling writers, on Saturday. Jo is one of Korea’s best-known living writers, having sold 16 million books. His 1970s short story “The Ice Age” is considered an influential work in Korean fiction, but he is best known for his multi-volume historical epics “The Taebaek Mountains,” “Arirang” and “The Han River.”“I’m pretty excited actually. I’m a little nervous. Jo Jung-rae, he’s an older guy and he’s got this big reputation,

The Royal Asiatic Society will host a talk Tuesday on the Korean War, its outcome and legacy.Titled “The Korean War: Who Won? Who Lost? Who Cares?” the talk will be given by Andrew Salmon, a local journalist and author of two award-winning books on the conflict.In the first half of his presentation, Salmon will sketch out the progress of the war itself and the extensive suffering involved, and explain why it is known as “The Forgotten War.”In the second half, he will discuss the question of who

Yeoksam Global Village Center will offer free advice sessions on Jan. 17 for expats with tax issues.It is a key month for tax affairs as individual income tax returns are drawn up at the beginning of the year. Appointments, which take place on the fifth floor of the Yeoksam 1 Culture Center, are available from 10 a.m. to noon. To book one, contact yeoksam@gangnam.go.kr with your name, nationality, mobile phone number, preferred time and a brief description of your problem.The center can be reach

Expats in Gwangju are running a gift donation drive to brighten up Christmas for children at local orphanages. The “Adopt-a-Child for Christmas” campaign is now in its seventh year, and the community is seeking donations to top up the money it has raised from its other activities this year. “We’ve been fundraising for the past few months now, the events so far have included a date auction, a raffle for Kia Tigers autographed baseballs generously donated by Brett Pill, a scavenger hunt and a murd

wangju International Center will be holding its annual end of year celebration on Dec. 17.The “Adios 2016” event is an afternoon to look back on the centers activities over the year.The center will also be running a culture tour the same day, with a visit to Hwasun, South Jeolla Province.The tour will take in the area’s UNESCO-listed prehistoric dolmen site, have a Korean meal for lunch and try their hands at making makgeolli.The tour costs 30,000 won for GIC members and 40,000 won for nonmember

British author Helen Oyeyemi, author of “Boy, Snow, Bird,” “Mr. Fox” and “The Icarus Girl” will be talking about her work at the Seoul Book and Culture Club on Sunday. At the event, held in partnership with the British Council, host Barry Welsh will interview Oyemi, with Korean interpretation, before taking questions from the audience. Oyeyemi, who currently lives in Prague, wrote her first novel, “The Icarus Girl,” while still at school studying for her A-levels. Since then, she has published f