The intricate art of socializing never comes easy, depending on personalities. Introverts usually despise the awkward silence during small gatherings and the need to mingle. Extroverts find it easier to approach newcomers in unfamiliar settings. Getting to know someone new is challenging, but can’t be avoided because relationships are a crucial part of life. Every day, humans seek emotional connections on a deeper level for better well-being and happiness. A short encounter with a str

The International Youth Foundation announced the start of the 2020 IYF Online World Camp on Sunday, bringing together over 170,000 people from some 90 countries around the world. The four-day online camp aims to bring joy to young people around the world who have been suffering from long-term social distancing. The annual festival, held online for the first time this year, allows college students around the globe to watch lectures delivered by global leaders, art performances from different c

The second part of 2020 World Heritage Festival, jointly hosted by the Culture Heritage Administration and North Gyeongsang Province government -- which will run until Aug. 30 -- will start Friday with an opening ceremony at Hahoe Village, Andong. This is part of the three 2020 World Heritage Festivals which are being held in three different locations. The first festival celebrating the nine seowon, or Confucian academies of the Joseon era (1392-1910), that are inscribed on the UNESCO World H

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INCHEON -- South Korean city Incheon's iconic summer events -- rock and beer festivals -- will likely be delayed for several months or canceled this year due to the coronavirus outbreak, municipal officials said Tuesday.= The Pentaport Rock Festival and the Songdo Beer Festival, which were held annually in August in Incheon's Songdo international business district, about 50 kilometers west of Seoul, have been tentatively postponed until after mid-October, because of COVID-19-related travel res

The National Museum of Korea is reopening on Wednesday with its largest-ever exhibition of national treasures. The Cultural Heritage Administration and the National Museum of Korea have jointly organized “The New National Treasures of Korea” running through Sept. 27, showcasing cultural artifacts that were designated as treasures and National Treasures from 2017 to 2019. Online streaming of the exhibition will kick off on Tuesday, as originally planned before Sunday’s announ

　South Korea’s annual exports of cultural goods exceeded $10 billion won for the first time in 2019, led by gains in the games and character intellectual property sectors, a government report showed. 　The estimate of combined overseas exports of some 2,500 firms in 11 culture and entertainment sectors last year reached $10.4 billion, up 8.1 percent from 2018, according to the annual content industry statistics produced jointly by the Culture Ministry and its affiliated Korea Creative

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Sunday that its affiliated institutions -- museums, art galleries, libraries and performance venues – can resume operations. The Culture Ministry’s announcement follows the government’s statement Sunday that the social distancing campaign for facilities in the Seoul metropolitan area would be relaxed. The shutdown of state-run cultural institutions began at 6 p.m. on May 29. The ministry’s 10 museums, art galleri

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s new Hallyu department on Thursday announced detailed plans to support the Korean Wave in a press briefing in Seoul. Before the new department was launched in June, the ministry has only had task forces and committees conducting Hallyu-related projects. Three main strategies -- diversifying Hallyu content, fostering other industries through Hallyu content, and creating a sustainable environment for the growth of Hallyu -- were introduced by

As with other cultures and countries, Korea’s youth have their own vocabularies, slangs and some creative expressions reflecting a range of trends and ideas. Korean teenagers are producing a torrent of new slangs that defy easy interpretation by those in other age groups. The objects, ideas and definitions behind the newly coined words are not entirely new, but they are still a sign of the time in general and what is linguistically fashionable among the young generation. Cryptic acron

Works of literature will merge with visual and recorded audio forms of art at this year's Busan Biennale, one of South Korea's largest art festivals, the organizers said Wednesday, with the biyearly event moving forward despite concerns of the spread of the new coronavirus. Under this year's banner theme "Words at an Exhibition -- An Exhibition in Ten Chapters and Five Poems," the biennale will kick off on Sept. 5 and run until Nov. 8 at several art venues in Busan, 450 kilometers so

The International Youth Fellowship will be holding its 2020 IYF World Camp online from July 26 to 29, with an aim to offer positive message and inspiration to college students who will lead the next generation. Along with the Good New Corps, which participates in volunteer service activities around the world, the World Camp is an annual project by IYF, hosted in Korea to promote cultural exchanges between teens and college students from around 50 countries, Through the World Camp, IYF hopes t

The Boryeong Mud Festival will be held online this year starting from Friday, due to the continued spread of COVID-19. The annual celebration of mud along its sandy beach in South Chungcheong Province has become the most popular festival in Korea with foreign participants, with 380,000 of the 1.81 million participants last year being foreigners. Mud wrestling and the mud slide are highlights of the annual festival that also aims to promote the beneficial properties of Boryeong mud. For this y

The Andong City government announced on Tuesday that it had decided to cancel the Andong Mask Dance Festival, which was set to start Sept. 25, due to the danger of COVID-19. According to the organizer of the 10-day festival, diverse performances were planned for Hahoe Village in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province. “We are sorry to announce the cancellation of the ‘Andong Mask Dance Festival.’ We will provide diverse events next year as a world-class festival organizer,&rdquo