Park In-bae, the former artistic director of the theater house “Hyeonjang,” was appointed the new CEO of the Sejong Center this week.The 58-year-old, who majored in physics at Seoul National University, has served in many key positions in heavyweight organizations on Korea’s culture scene. The groups include the Korean People Artist Federation and Korea Arts & Culture Education Service, as well as “Hyeonjang.” Most recently, he served as a member of the Advisory Committee for Seoul mayor Park Wo

Held just before the Lunar New Year holidays, the 2012 Korea Travel Expo will be offering special gift and travel ideas for visitors, the Korea Tourism Association said.Some 400 local government organizations, travel agencies and related groups are participating in the largest travel expo in Korea, held under the theme “Artistic Landscape of My Country” this year. The Jan. 12-15 event will be held at COEX in Samseong-dong, southeastern Seoul with the opening day broadcast live on TV. Aimed at dr

GREEN, Ohio ― Teaching grade-schoolers to speak Mandarin might not be difficult in Asia, but in America, the challenge is daunting. But the students in J.T. Kuzior’s Green, Ohio, Primary School third-grade classroom are doing just that, using a computer application that helps them learn the language.Thanks to a local businessman, the nearly 1,000 students at the school in grades 1-3 are getting foreign language instructions and lessons in other subjects twice each week using the latest technolog

Nine ancient sites for private Confucian academies in South Korea have been included in a temporary list of potential UNESCO World Heritage locations on Tuesday, the government said.The nine included Dosan Seowon and Byeongsan Seowon, private Korean Confucian academies offering instruction in the classics and honoring prominent scholars with regular memorial rites during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). The two academies are located in Andong, 268 kilometers southeast of Seoul.Dosan Seowon was es

This year is the best time for shopaholics, K-pop fanatics and foodies to check out Korea, CNN’s travel and culture information site reported, selecting 12 topevents and projects lined up in 2012 to lure overseas travelers. With 2010-2012 designated as “Visit Korea Year,” the country is offering exclusive discounts and promotions designed to make Korea more attractive to tourists. The coupons, train ticket discounts of up to 30 percent, free shuttle buses and hotel deals “won’t wait around forev

Experts advise making specific reasons to achieve goalsKitty BankThough only a week of 2012 has passed so far, 27-year-old office worker Kim Jun-young has given up on some of his New Year’s resolutions already. “My New Year’s resolution was to return home earlier and spend my evenings working out, but it ended up in smoke because of all the New Year parties. With more events coming up, including the Lunar New Year holidays, I am thinking maybe I should just postpone the plan until next year,” he

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) ― Items as small as a hairpin and as big as a chunk of the Titanic’s hull are among 5,000 artifacts from the world’s most famous shipwreck that are to be auctioned in April, close to the 100th anniversary of the disaster.Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey’s Auctioneers & Brokers.That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling