Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival The Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival is set to take place in Songpa-gu, southern Seoul, from Oct. 6 to 10. The festival celebrates the history and culture of the Baekje Kingdom’s Hanseong era, when its capital was in Seoul. Visitors can travel back in time and enjoy activities. Sponsored by Songpa-gu office and Songpa Cultural Foundation and managed by the Hanseong Baekje Cultural Festival Organizing Committee, the event features folk performances, mus

Whether Korea’s tidal flats, or “gaetbeol,” make it onto UNESCO’s list of Natural World Heritage sites will be decided soon as the World Heritage Committee meeting kicks off on Friday. The committee’s 44th annual session is slated to run virtually in cooperation with UNESCO and the host country China. Separated into two groups, Cultural World Heritage and Natural World Heritage, the committee will assess the nominations and decide which sites to include on the Wo

South Korea opened an online hospitality house for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics amid on-site restrictions stemming from the new coronavirus pandemic, sports authorities said Thursday. The online Team Korea House (www.teamkoreahouse.com) will welcome visitors from Thursday to Aug. 8, to share news on Korean athletes' performances as well as information about Seoul during the Summer Olympics, according to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sport & Olympic Committee. &q

Singer and songwriter Hahn Dae-soo will be performing at Lincoln Center’s “You Are Here” to celebrate the reopening of the center after COVID-19 swept through the US. The Korean Cultural Center New York, a Culture Ministry affiliate, was asked by Lincoln Center to recommend Korean artists for the reopening performance. Hahn Dae-soo, considered a Korean folk rock legend, was one of the artists on the list. “Hahn is an artist who truly understands New York City’s p

With social distancing measures in the greater Seoul area raised to the highest in the revised four-tier system from Monday, most musicals have been rescheduled to continue performing while complying with the semi-lockdown rule. Under the Level 4 social distancing in force for two weeks starting Monday, performing arts venues must close at 10 p.m. and the number of audience members for each performance is limited to a maximum of 5,000 with every other seat left vacant, allowing for a group of

Lotte World Aquarium offers its marine animals special treats before Chobok, which falls on July 11 this year and marks the beginning of the hottest portion of summer, according to the lunar calendar. Asian small-clawed otters enjoy pieces of frozen fruits full of vitamins.  Hawksbill Sea Turtles gather around to eat frozen cabbage and squid provided as special treats before Chobok. (Photos: Yonhap)

Biking in Seoul, you can come across historic traces of the city which you may otherwise miss when taking bus, subway or car to get around. Here is a bike-ride course that takes you around the heart of Seoul -- from Deoksugung Palace’s stonewall road to Insa-dong. If you don’t have a bike – don’t worry – the city has a bike rental service named Seoul Bike or Ddareungi, through which you can rent bikes at Ddareungi stations across the Seoul. You can start your bik

New head of Literature Translation Institute of Korea vows to break stereotype of Korean literature

Saenggwabang cafe, located inside the grounds of the main palace Gyeongbokgung, has become embroiled in controversy for an inappropriate comment against complaints directed to the cafe on its official social media account. On Tuesday, a comment on a post updated by the cafe’s social media account said, “I hope the cafe will be more cautious about sanitation and hygiene. The folding dining table was sticky, and there was something on the tea kettle. It was a mess.” “I

National Library of Korea sets aside private research space for Korean studies scholars

The Sudo Research Institute of Cultural Heritage has excavated more than 1,600 pieces of metal type blocks from the early Joseon era in Insa-dong in Jongno, central Seoul, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration on Tuesday. “We found around 1,600 pieces of Hangeul and Chinese character metal type blocks,” head of the Sudo Research Institute of Cultural Heritage Oh Kyung-taek said during a press conference Tuesday. “We estimate that the relics are from the 15th to 16

  Now that the muggy summer days are here, the state-run Cultural Heritage Administration’s Royal Palaces and Tombs Center and the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation will invite visitors to experience a royal palace in Seoul on a summer night. Nighttime tours of Changdeokgung will be made available online starting Tuesday so that disadvantaged people outside the capital can experience the popular Moonlight Trip to the palace and its grounds. After receiving “moonlight packag

Being unable to walk into theaters freely in the non-face-to-face era has changed moviegoers’ behavior and boosted streaming platforms such as Netflix and Watcha. But for many, the big screen in a cinema is still the ideal choice. According to movie industry reports on June 26, CGV and Lotte Cinema recently opened drive-in theaters in Incheon and Busan -- the first in South Korea to be operated by large multiplex theater chains with branches throughout the country. The most obvious advan

First-time visitors to Boramae Park in Dongjak-gu, Seoul, may be surprised to see eight airplanes on display. They are often occupied by children who want to take a closer look and have their pictures taken with them. The retired planes include a transport aircraft, a Cessna T-37, a helicopter and a fighter aircraft. The airplanes are there to show that the park was established on the former site of the Republic of Korea Air Force Academy.  The academy was located in the area from 1958

A walking tour has been held in the United Kingdom for locals interested in Korean culture and history. The Korea Tourism Organization, along with the Korean Cultural Center UK, jointly launched a walking tour on Wednesday, to showcase locations and symbolic features in the city that have a connection to Korea. The two-hour tour was designed to reach out to British citizens craving future visits to Korea, while still waiting for the relaunch of cross-border travels following the pandemic.&nbs