Korean artists to take center stage at annual culture festivalIt is an annual festival in Edinburgh that draws hundreds of thousands of people for three weeks of music, dance, theater and opera in August. This year the world’s biggest cultural fest will seek to build a bridge between Asia and Europe by featuring artists from Korea, China and Japan, according to the organizer. The staging of the Ko

Korean broadcasters had a fine showing at the 44th Houston International Film Festival from April 8-17, with SBS programs winning six awards and KBS taking four. According to SBS, the drama “Brilliant Legacy,” which aired from April to July in 2009, featuring singer-actor Lee Seung-gi and actress Han Hyo-joo, won the Platinum Remi for TV Series Full Length. The drama depicts a relationship between

Popular television actor Hyun Bin has been ordered to serve on a frontline island. The actor, famous for recent appearance in hit television drama “Secret Garden,” joined the Marines last month for the mandatory military service.  Actor Hyun Bin in uniform from an official Marine Corps blog. (Yonhap News)Able-bodied South Korean men are required to serve 20 months in the military, and Hyun’s decis

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ― Amid a burst of fireworks and a haze of smoke, a burly showman in a white sequined suit and gold lame cape appears with a flourish. Over the next 45 minutes, he appears to make a Pyongyang bus levitate and wriggles free from a box sent crashing to the stage through a ring of fire.This is magic North Korean-style performed in a show touted as the country’s biggest ever

INDIO, California ― As the U.K. folk-revival quartet Mumford & Sons, all of whom are in their early 20s, stared out on the 70,000 people or so gathered to watch their set at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival on Saturday night, they couldn’t help but remark on how much had changed for them. “In 2008, I was a punter sneaking in here for Rage Against the Machine,” one of the Mumfords’ string

Canadian director brings film about artists with Down syndrome to Women’s Film FestivalCanadian animation director Shira Avni makes films that are “in between genres.”“Animated documentaries don’t fit into doc festivals, nor do they fit into anime festivals,” Avni told The Korea Herald in Seoul last week. “But they get invited to both.”Her 2009 animated documentary, “Trying Your Own Shoes,” which

American R&B singer-songwriter John Legend said he was happy to hold two concerts in Seoul on Tuesday and Wednesday. His visit to Korea is the first since he performed at the Olympic Hall in 2009.“The fans were incredible on my last visit to Seoul. I’m glad we’re doing two shows this time. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” Legend said in an email interview.“I’ll perform a mix of songs from all of my

Singer Yoo’s musical invited to open the Shanghai International Children’s Theater FestivalSinger Yoo Yeol did not really know that he would become a CEO of a musical company devoted to children until several years ago. However, since he established Yoo Yeol Company in 2006 to produce the children’s musical “The Bremen’s band,” the 50-year-old has drawn nearer and nearer to the thought that he cou

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, music director of the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, said the Korean government should continually support the orchestra to help it advance to a world-class level.“If an orchestra wants to do better, it needs three things; the expertise of orchestra members, the expertise of the conductor and continuous support. In the history of Korean orchestras, none of them have really

The architect-in-charge of the highly anticipated Seoul branch of the National Museum of Contemporary Art has admitted it will be smaller in size than had been originally planned. The museum is scheduled to open at the former Defense Security Command complex site, known as “Gimusa,” in central Seoul in 2013. “We are trying to find ways to secure as much space as possible underground that does not

Rain, a South Korean actor and singer, has been voted the most influential person in the world in an online poll.In a poll conducted by TIME magazine, Rain ranked first in the voting for this year’s most influential people.The 2011 TIME 100 poll closed on April 14 with Rain in the lead. Taiwan’s Jay Chou and Britain’s Susan Boyle took second and third place. Rain received the highest number of vot

 Exhibitions“Koo Bohnchang”: One of South Korea’s most renowned photographers, Koo Bohn-chang, is holding a solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery. Elements from his other series as well as his personal collections of eclectic objects are on display, giving the viewers a hint of Koo’s youth, attitudes toward photography and more. The exhibition runs through April 30 at Kukje Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, cen

Norwegian Wood Opening April 21Drama. Directed by Tran Anh Hung. Upon hearing The Beatles’ song “Norwegian Wood,” a Japanese businessman reminisces about the intense romance of his university days in Tokyo, set against the turbulent student riots of the late 1960s. Toru Watanabe (Kenichi Matsuyama), an aloof university student at the time, had lost Kizuki -- his best friend in high school -- after

Horror movie fans haven’t had much to scream about lately, but that may be about to change.With “Scream 4,” which opens Friday, director Wes Craven pumps fresh blood into his landmark horror franchise set in the not-so-sleepy town of Woodsboro, Calif.Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette, veterans of the three previous “Scream” movies, return along with original writer Kevin Williamson,

In the new thriller “Source Code,” Michelle Monaghan plays a Chicago woman described by the Jake Gyllenhaal character as “beautiful,” “decent” and “honest.” Beauty comes cheap in the movies. Hollywood boasts an eternally full quota of attractive nuisances, the nuisance part (separate from the beauty part) being the expressive limitations of those who achieve stardom without really having much star