Some of the artwork the Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation confiscated from suspended savings banks in Korea was auctioned in Hong Kong, but at nearly half the price the banks claimed to have paid for them. Seoul Auction on Tuesday put 10 of the 91 works seized from Busan Savings Bank, Samhwa Mutual Savings Bank and Domin Mutual Savings & Finance, on the block at an auction held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Hong Kong. Nine items were sold, the total sales marking HK$18.32 million (2.64 billion w

Artist Lee Jae-hyo showcases sculptures close to nature at Sungkok Art MuseumWhat could have ended up in the trash or at a hardware store at best turns into art ― extremely delicate, even, ― when touched by Lee Jae-hyo’s finger tips. The South Korean artist slices nails and hammers them until they are shiny and smooth, and creates symmetrical sculptures by putting thousands of them together. Some of his other materials of choice are wood and stones, which he works in similar ways. Seeing his wo

Kim Yun-cheol, head of Korea National University of Arts’ School of Drama, has been reelected as the president of the International Association of Theatre Critics for the third time. The decision was made Friday at the IATC regular general meeting in Warszawa, Poland. Kim was the first Asian ever to be elected to head IATC in 2008. Each term lasts two years.Kim studied English education at Seoul National University and obtained an M.A. degree in Theater and Cinematic Arts at Choong Ang Universit

Prestigious U.K. publishers and Korea’s Culture Ministry publish English-language books on Korean artEnglish-language books shedding new light on South Korean art and artists are pouring out from in and outside of the country, to the delight of non-Korean speaking art aficionados. U.K. publishing company Prestel released the 192-page hardcover book “Korean Contemporary Art” on March 19. The book, written by Miki Wick Kim, an expert on Korean contemporary art and director of Mick Wick Kim Contemp

Theater“Mokran Unni”: Doosan Art Center is showcasing a play delving into the lives of North Korean defectors living in Seoul. Titled “Mokran Unni,” the play tells the fictional story of a young woman named Mok-ran, who used to be an elite musician in Pyongyang. Unlike what many South Koreans think, Mok-ran does not flee her home country because of poverty or famine. She misses her mother and North Korea terribly, and shows no admiration for affluent Seoulites. While the audience can’t find out

Three young Korean musicians will participate in a piano competition in New York. Ahn Jee-hae, Hong Sa-hun and Chang Hye-won will compete at the sixth New York International Piano Competition, which will be held from June 18-22 in Manhattan.Ahn, who started piano studies at age 3, was the youngest pianist to perform in the Fourth Chopin International Competition in Moscow in 2004. She is a recipient of a Jack Kent Cooke Young Artist Award.Hong began playing the piano at age 4 and graduated Mag

Korea plans to apply for UNESCO’s “Memory of the World” designation for a vast amount of documents related to the “New Community (Saemaul) Movement,” the political initiative launched by the late President Park Chung-hee to modernize Korea’s rural economy, according to the Cultural Heritage Administration.The state institution, which has been working on the application since last year, is submitting the application to UNESCO on Friday, Yi Kyung-hoon, director of the international division of the

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ― Greek police recovered an ancient statue that was illegally excavated and hidden in a goat pen near Athens, and arrested the goat herder and another man who were allegedly trying to sell the work for 500,000 euro ($667,000).The marble statue of a young woman dates to about B.C. 520 and belongs to the kore type, a police statement said Wednesday. Police photos showed the 1.2-meter work to be largely intact, lacking the left forearm and plinth.Although dozens of examples of t

DALLAS (AP) ― Among the items U.S. soldiers seized from Adolf Hitler’s Bavarian Alps hideaway in the closing days of World War II were albums meticulously documenting an often forgotten Nazi crime ― the massive pillaging of artwork and other cultural items as German troops marched through Europe.Two of those albums ― one filled with photographs of works of art, the other with snapshots of furniture ― were donated Tuesday to the U.S. National Archives, which now has custody of 43 albums in a set

Historical documents, music records show cultural legacy of popular folk songWidely known and sung, “Arirang” is very often considered the unofficial national anthem of Korea. Yet many aren’t aware that King Gojong, the last king of Joseon, and his wife, Queen Myeongseong, enjoyed listening to the song late at night, that it was made into Korea’s first opera, and that it even inspired American jazz musician Oscar Pettiford to write a piece of his own.Starting April 4, the National Folk Museum of

WARSAW, Poland (AP) ― Bark beetles and old age have damaged Leonardo da Vinci’s 15th-century painting “Lady with an Ermine,’’ but the masterpiece is still holding up well, according to a conservationist at the Polish museum where it is displayed.Recent tests show the chestnut board on which Leonardo painted his masterpiece has weakened after being nibbled at by beetles over the centuries, and the painting has also suffered from a dense network of cracks, said Janusz Czop, the chief conservationi

Korea’s First Lady Kim Yoon-ok on Monday hosted a dinner for 14 spouses of the global leaders attending the 2012 Seoul Nuclear Security Summit.  The spouses, who are accompanying state leaders and heads of international organizations attending the two-day global conference in Seoul, enjoyed a special banquet at the National Museum of Korea while their partners attended a separate summit business banquet at COEX, southern Seoul. Antonioli Monti, wife of Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, Patienc