During Korea‘s tumultuous history, the Baekje Empire had a significant presence in East Asia for about 700 years starting about two thousand years ago. Korean civilization which is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations, had profound spiritual and philosophical foundations in Dohak, or Taoism, and Buddhism during the Baekje period. The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje, which was excavated at an ancient temple site in Buyeo County in South Chungcheong Province in 199

Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies but they have been becoming harder to spot since the destruction of nature that accompanied industrial development in the 20th century. On the morning of Sept. 9, a swallowtail butterfly is seen sitting on a Lycoris radiata in full bloom at Heungguksa, a temple in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province. Usually, Lycoris radiata bloom in early September, welcoming fall with a bright touch of red. Swallowtail butterflies feed on nectar from the flow

YouTube show “Nego King” won the grand prize Thursday at Broadcast Worldwide 2021, a Korea Creative Content Agency fair held to recognize outstanding new media content and bring South Korean content to the international market. The video show centers on TV personality and singer Hwang Kwang-hee and his efforts to negotiate the prices of franchise companies, including Lotte Department Store, BBQ and GS25. Widely acclaimed for Hwang’s lively performance and for the active com

Three organizations -- one from Guatemala, one from India and one from South Africa -- received the 32nd UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize for promoting literacy in developing countries. UNESCO awarded the prize to Limitless Horizons Ixil in Guatemala, the National Institute of Open Schooling in India and the Puku Children’s Literature Foundation in South Africa, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. Limitless Horizons Ixil is a nongovernmental organization that su

Some 1,039 works by 421 artists, collectives and companies from more than 50 countries are on show at the 2021 Gwangju Design Biennale, which opened Sept. 1. The 61-day biennale aims to show designs that reflect differences in gender, race, ideology and culture and how to embrace the differences by exploring the beauty of each one. An example is Dutch designer Inge Kuipers’ “Tea-Set Touch,” a teapot and cups designed for people with arthritis. Running through Oct. 31, the b

An archaeological dig by the Cultural Heritage Administration has found more human remains under the west walls of Wolseong in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, adding toe evidence that human sacrifices mere made in the Silla Kingdom. “The west walls of Wolseong drew the public’s attention in 2017 when bones of two people were found. After that, we have been researching the site mainly to find out civil engineering techniques that were used to build Wolseong. In the process, we

China’s top search engine giant, Baidu, is facing criticism for its misrepresentation of hanbok. Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University, strongly criticized Baidu’s encyclopedia portal, demanding a correction to the entry on hanbok, via email Tuesday, according to Seo. Baidu states that hanbok originates from “hanfu,” and that the costume represents “traditional clothing of ethnic minority Koreans (living in China),” and therefore

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Jeonju announced surprising news on Wednesday about the remains of three Korean martyrs that were recovered in Wanju, a county in North Jeolla Province, two centuries after their deaths. The remains were identified as those of Paul Yun Ji-chung and James Kwon Sang-yeon, who were beheaded for their faith in 1791, and Yun’s younger brother Francis Yun Ji-heon, who was quartered in 1801, according to the diocese. All three were beatified by Pope Francis in 201

Online format and digitalization cannot be the answer to everything, director Song Seung-whan says

The power of the media is in its right and capacity for selective truth telling. King Seonjo, the 14th king of the Joseon Kingdom, clearly understood that “newspapers write the first draft of history,” during what was to be the world’s first case of press oppression in 1577. “The first commercial newspaper printed with movable types was in Korea during the years of King Seonjo,” said the Ven. Jibong of the Yeongcheon History Museum. Following three months of th

Culture Minister Hwang Hee discussed future policies on arts and culture in communication with the nation’s young artists through the metaverse on Thursday, the ministry announced the following day. The event in the metaverse was organized to celebrate and evaluate the results of the ministry-led campaign, “The Youth Made Changes - Culture Ministry,” which had been in operation since May. Hwang accessed the metaverse space provided and supported by ifland, a social communica

The Research Foundation of Korean Church History has published an English-language version of “The Letters of Saint Andrew Kim Dae-geon” to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of the first Korean Catholic priest and saint. “We look forward to sharing the deep faith of St. Andrew Kim Dae-geon and his pioneering spirit with the world by publishing the English version of the book of letters. Our ancestors are the only ones in the world that accepted Catholicism by thei

The pandemic has changed the way people communicate. While the world appears hyperconnected thanks to the internet, connectivity does not necessarily mean communication, say participants in the 2021 Culture Communication Forum. The forum kicked off Tuesday at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan, central Seoul. “Cultural communication has never been more important since the outbreak of COVID-19, making the forum’s theme ‘cultural communication as a way to share core values of in

The Culture Ministry‘s budget has surpassed 7 trillion won ($6.05 billion) for the first time. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Wednesday the passage of its budget for next year at 7.15 trillion won, marking a 4.2 percent increase from last year’s 6.8 trillion won budget. In 2022, the Culture Ministry plans to expand the support for cultural content production and hallyu, globally promoting Korea. It will also work on the recovery of various culture, sports a

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Theater Safety Center have jointly released a manual on theaters’ response to COVID-19 to effectively respond to virus infectious disease situations. According to the Culture Ministry, performing art halls have been evaluated to be relatively safe facilities, as there have been no audience-to-audience infections or actor-to-audience infections since the spread of COVID-19 early last year. However, there has been a need for a manual for thea