Pope Francis is expected to name as many as 12 new cardinals in the coming days, and a Korean cleric may make the list, Vatican observers say. The Wall Street Journal and some other foreign media outlets reported last week that in the appointments, Francis, the first pontiff born outside Europe in more than 1,000 years, may seek to reshape the Roman Catholic hierarchy to better reflect regions where the church is flourishing. The Philippines, as it boasts one of the largest Roman Catholic commun

Pop Music“The Swell Season Live in Seoul”: Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, widely known for their lead roles in the hit indie musical film “Once,” will be reviving their 2007 on-screen chemistry with a special live performance in Seoul. The duo’s single “Falling Slowly” landed the film an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2008. Hansard and Irglova will be performing on Jan. 10 and 11 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts with ticket prices ranging from 66,000 won to 110,000 won. F

Big-name orchestras, hit musicals lined up for Korean fans

After a turbulent 2014, the New Year has finally arrived. In what feels like a nice respite, 2015 is the Year of the Sheep, a meek and gentle creature often associated with peace, harmony and compatibility. The sheep is the eighth animal in the 12-year cycle. It is the guardian animal for the time between 1 and 3 p.m. The previous sheep year was 2003. Year of the Sheep or the Goat? In Chinese, the animal sign for 2015 is “yang,” an inclusive term for various horned ruminating mammals. So, Year o

Art exhibit explores confusion in male roles as gender power shifts

FestivalPyeongchang Trout Festival: The festival, named one of the top 20 winter festivals in Korea by the Korea Tourism Organization, is being held in Pyeongchang, Gangwon Province, the host city of the 2018 Winter Olympics until Feb. 8. The festival is underway along the Odaecheon Stream known for its abundant trout population. Visitors can ice fish and eat trout raw for sashimi or roast it on the spot. More winter activities are available such as catching trouts with bare hands, ice skating,

Images of 2014Top 10 national and world news topics of the year selected by The Korea Herald editorsWorld01. IS influence increases in Iraq, SyriaIslamic State, a radical Islamist group controlling parts of Syria and Iraq, has sparked fear and outrage worldwide over its mass killings and abductions of soldiers and journalists.02. U.S., Cuba restore tiesEnding five decades of Cold War hostility, the U.S. and Cuba agreed in December to revive diplomatic ties and to ease a crippling U.S. trade emba

National Museum’s exhibition captures opulence and tragic end of the ancient Roman city

Students view a full-size replica of an Afrasiab mural painting at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul on Tuesday. It was drawn in the middle of the seventh century and discovered in Uzbekistan in 1965. The people in the painting are thought to be envoys of Goguryeo, an ancient Korean kingdom. (Yonhap)

Inside the JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul overlooking Dongdaemun, one of Seoul’s historic and cultural landmarksHotel / F&B JW Marriott Dongdaemun square seoulLocated in the heart of Seoul, JW Marriott Dongdaemun Square Seoul has become an important landmark along with the newly opened futuristic building Dongdaemun Design Plaza and Park in Seoul’s prominent commercial and historic district of Dongdaemun. As the only luxury boutique hotel in the Asia-Pacific region, the 11-story hotel offe

BARCELONA (AFP) ― Locals in Bilbao say an art museum helped save their Spanish city from decline. Now they are glad to know their savior, the Guggenheim, will be staying for some time.With the initial lease set to expire, the U.S.-based Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation on Dec. 9 announced it was signing on to run its museum in the northern port city for another 20 years.That was double the period previously envisaged for the new contract, and for those involved it was another sign that the museu

Kim Gak-han has spent most of his life working with wood, from cabinetmaking to carving ancient texts and drawing on wood plates.“Now that I think about it, I think I was destined to do it,” the craftsman said in his Seoul studio, which was filled with wood plates of different sizes alongside countless handmade cutting tools and chisels. “One beauty of engraving is that you can’t think about anything else while you are doing it. It requires your full attention and there is something therapeutic

ANDONG, North Gyeongsang Province ― They say to see the real Korea, one must visit Andong, the home of Korean Confucianism. But even in this historic city, the real gems are hidden far off the beaten track. One such treasure waiting to be discovered is the collection of tens of thousands of woodblocks housed at Jangpangak, a storage facility in a peaceful little town called Seobu-ri. Tucked away at the foot of a hill overlooking the hamlet and a nearby lake, Jangpangak is the depository of the 6