Actor Jung Woo-sung has been criticized by some for showing support for Yemeni refugees on Jeju Island, with Koreans divided over whether or not to grant them official refugee status.Around 500 Yemeni refugees are now on Jeju Island after fleeing from the war in Yemen, with most of them having applied for refugee status. While many Koreans have called for the government to accept them on humanitarian grounds, others demanded for refugees’ expulsion.　Jung as an honory ambassador for the UN Refuge

It isn’t common to come across a magician on the streets, but meeting a young professional magician who is also a college student is much more rare. Ed Kwon, or Kwon Joon-hyuk, is a 23-year-old Korean magician based in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Despite his young age, he performed as a headliner act last Christmas at The Magic Castle in Los Angeles, the world-famous private club for magicians.  Ed Kwon 　On Tuesday, Kwon spoke with The Korea Herald before staging a magic show at an event held by

Italian getaway at Park Hyatt SeoulPark Hyatt Seoul presents its Summer at the Park package for guests looking for a staycation. The package includes a breakfast buffet for two people at the hotel’s Italian restaurant Cornerstone. Italian-style popcorn and beer are prepared in the rooms and guests in a suite will receive a bottle of red wine.A limited number of family guests with kids younger than 7-year-old will be provided special kids’ amenities. The price starts from 325,000 won for a standa

Andaz, a luxury boutique hotel brand under Hyatt, is set for its first launch in Korea. The brand under the global hotel chain Hyatt plans to open its first hotel in Seoul by 2019, Hyatt Hotels Corp. announced Wednesday. A Hyatt affiliate has entered into agreements with Kt estate Inc. and Hotel HDC Co., Ltd. for the development of Andaz Gangnam. An architectural rendering of Andaz Gangnam (Baum Architects)The new boutique hotel will be situated near Apgujeong Station.Andaz Gangnam is expected t

K-pop act Mamamoo’s Hwasa sparked a gopchang craze earlier this month with her appearance on the MBC reality show “I Live Alone.” She visited a gopchang restaurant by herself and devoured the dish of cow’s small intestines. The very next day, people lined up in front of the featured eatery, waiting for two to three hours. Sales also soared at other gopchang restaurants across the nation. In reality, however, eating gopchang alone is not easy. Most of the people who lined up to have gopchang came

Many Korean dishes contain jeotgal whether we realize it or not. Jeotgal refers to a category of seafood pickled with salt. When naming a specific type of jeotgal, the word “jeot” is used as a suffix. A wide variety of seafood can be used as a jeotgal ingredient, including oysters, clams, fish, roe and tiny shrimps, as well as fish gills and intestines. Depending on the ingredient, fermentation period may differ, from a few days to three months. But most Koreans these days purchase jeotgal at lo

The Korea CQ Forum of the Corea Image Communication Institute held a ceremony Tuesday at Grand Hyatt Seoul to recognize envoys to Korea for their work in promoting ties between Korea and the countries they represent.The Korea CQ Culture Award was given to Malaysian Ambassador to Korea Dato Rohana Ramli for bridging cultural exchanges between Malaysia and Korea during her more than five-year tenure in Seoul. Members of the Korea CQ Forum pose for a group photo at Grand Hyatt Seoul on Tuesday. (CI

DJ Soda has partnered with Warner Music Group. The 28-year-old DJ signed a distribution deal for her upcoming record with Warner Music Group, according to her agency House of Music on Wednesday. Warner Music Group is home to big-name pop artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Coldplay.  DJ Soda (House of Music)“I am happy to work with Warner Music Group, which many global artists are a part of. I will work on making better music,” DJ Soda said through her agency. Recently, DJ Soda, whose rea

Comedian Lee Young-ja made her first public appearance since she was hit by the “Omniscient” crisis last month. Lee attended a press event held Monday in western Seoul for Olive TV’s upcoming show “Bob Bless You,” a new food reality show about healing oneself through eating tasty foods. Lee Young-ja poses for photos before a press event held Monday at Times Square mall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. (Olive TV)The comedian was involved in an unexpected controversy last month, when the production team

Judge Moon Yoo-seok’s first attempt at script writing has so far been well-received by local viewers for its fresh perspective. Moon, a senior judge of the Seoul Central District Court, wrote the script of the drama series “Miss Hammurabi,” which airs Mondays and Tuesdays on JTBC. Rather than dealing with large corporate cases or gruesome murders, the series features stories of desperate ordinary people, from the perspectives of three different judges. Despite being a late-night series on a cabl

The eyes of the world turned briefly to Singapore early this week, with the historic summit between the United States and North Korea. Now those who became interested in the city-state can go for a Singaporean gourmet experience in the heart of Seoul. Millennium Seoul Hilton is hosting the Singapore Food Festival, offering authentic Singaporean cuisine to diners in Seoul. It has invited chef Bryce Li from the Beast & Butterflies restaurant at M Social Hotel Singapore, a lifestyle design hotel ru

Black Pink came back with more power than ever before. Jisoo, Jennie, Lisa and Rose of the K-pop act met with the press a few hours before the release of their first-ever EP, and highlighted that the new EP is all about “power.” “The lead track’s title resembles the sound of a gunshot. But it is also like a spell -- a spell to make us strong. It has elements of hip-hop, stronger and tougher than our previous songs,” Jennie said in a press conference, where she and her bandmates talked about thei

Summer afternoon tea at Sheraton SeoulSheraton Seoul D Cube City Hotel’s Lobby Lounge Bar presents a new afternoon tea set for the summer season. The afternoon tea set, served in a uniquely tiered tray, offers eight desserts, two snacks and a refreshing punch cocktail. The tea set is priced at 22,000 won and can be ordered from Monday to Friday between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sheraton Sweet Collection, consisting of nine signature mini desserts, is available for takeout, targeting guests who want to e

Korean braised dishes are so easy to cook in the slow cooker, and this spicy braised pork rib (maeun dweji galbijjim) is no exception! You throw the ingredients in the slow cooker and forget about it until the meat is fork tender and ready to be served. Maeun galbijjim (spicy braised ribs) is a popular braised dish in Korea. I like to use baby back ribs for this recipe. They are tender and meaty. This recipe is spicy, but you can certainly make it spicier by adding more gochugaru (Korean red chi

Taeyeon of Girls’ Generation released the track list for her upcoming solo EP, “Something New.” Along with the neo soul title track, the five additional tracks to be included are “All Night Long,” “Baram X 3,” “One Day,” “Circus” and an instrumental version of the “Something New.”  Taeyeon (S.M. Entertainment)NCT’s Lucas, a labelmate of Taeyeon under S.M. Entertainment, guest raps on “All Night Long.” The new EP will be Taeyeon’s first record since “This Christmas? Winter Is Coming” released in