YG Entertainment to debut new boy band

Reality television is old stomping ground for K-pop mogul Yang Hyun-suk. Yang tapped into the now-popular formula to debut boy band Big Bang in 2006 and then kept viewers abreast on his follow-up act, the girl group 2NE1, with three reality shows. Most recently, the prominent YG Entertainment founder and main producer proved his knack for judging as well on SBS’ music reality competition “K-Pop Star,” from whence new YG solo artist, Season 1 runner-up Lee Hi, hails.  Now, Yang is turning to the

TelevisionAug. 21, 2013

Korea’s longest walking trail reveals beauty of east coast

YEONGDEOK, North Gyeongsang Province ― Set to be the country’s longest walking trail stretching 770 kilometers along Korea’s east coast, the Haeparang Road trail offers some of the nation’s most diverse and scenic walking and hiking experiences. Starting in the south from Busan and heading north all the way toward the demilitarized zone in northern Gangwon Province, “Haeparang Road” allows walkers to venture days on end through more than 15 cities and counties on one long, uninterrupted trail. “

TravelAug. 21, 2013

Author Elmore Leonard dies

DETROIT (AP) ― Elmore Leonard, a former adman who later became one of America’s foremost crime writers, died Tuesday. He was 87. His researcher, Gregg Sutter, said Leonard died from complications from a stroke he suffered a few weeks ago. Leonard won an honorary National Book Award in 2012. His more than 40 novels were populated by pathetic schemers, clever con men and casual killers. Many of the novels ― notably “Out of Sight,” “Get Shorty” and “Be Cool” ― were made into films. Critics adored h

PeopleAug. 21, 2013

Richest U.S. Congressman worth at least $355 million

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― Republican Darrell Issa of California was 2012’s richest member of Congress, worth at least $355 million, according to a ranking published Tuesday.The congressman, who made his fortune in car security systems, topped the annual list of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers published by The Hill newspaper, a trade publication about Washington politics.A large portion of Issa’s assets come from investment funds and properties valued in the millions. The rankings were based on financial di

PeopleAug. 21, 2013

Tongmyong Univ. to confer doctorate to Indian envoy

Indian Ambassador to South Korea Vishnu Prakash will receive an honorary Ph.D. in business administration from Tongmyong University on Thursday, the school in Busan said.It is uncommon for a foreign ambassador in Korea to get an honorary doctorate from a local university. Prakash is the first foreign envoy to receive such an honorary degree from Tongmyong.Prakash organized an Indian film festival in cooperation with the university and Busan City from April 26-28 as an event to commemorate the 40

PeopleAug. 21, 2013

U.N. chief’s childhood house in Chungju restored

The old house where U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon lived in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, has been restored. Born on June 13, 1944, he lived in the house for 20 years from 1950 to 1970. The municipal government of Chungju said Wednesday that it had completed the restoration work, which began in 2011 and cost 330 million won ($295,000). The owner of the house is said to have handed over the ownership readily to city authorities for its project to turn it into a memorable place. Ban att

PeopleAug. 21, 2013

Gaelic football set for Saturday finale

The Korean Gaelic League will hold its final round on what promises to be a baking hot Saturday in Ansan.The league has five teams playing in both men’s and women’s competitions ― two each from Seoul Gaels and Laochra Busan and one from Daegu na Fianna, with all teams playing each other once in each round and the overall winner chosen in a conventional league format.Seoul Gaels A leads the men’s competition, while Laochra Busan A leads the women’s league. Gaelic football has been in Korea for mo

Expat LivingAug. 20, 2013

Seoul Ex-Patriots first all-foreign team in Woosu League baseball

A team of expat baseball players has made it into the highest tier of one of Korea’s top amateur leagues, becoming the league’s first all-foreign team in the process. The Seoul Ex-Patriots are mostly players chosen from the Seoul Baseball League. The team started when one of its players, Dennis Jung, who played in both leagues, proposed the inclusion of an SBL team in the Woosu League.“The Woosu League liked the idea of an all-foreigner baseball team. It’s never been done before. They’ve always

Expat LivingAug. 20, 2013

Girl’s Day to perform in support of women’s issues

As the current honorary ambassadors of children’s development and child sponsorship programs for Plan Korea, the four members of Girl’s Day are holding a special guerilla concert on Aug. 20 at Everland’s Caribbean Bay.The concert is being held as part of Plan Korea’s “Because I am a Girl” campaign to raise awareness and support young girls in need around the world. Plan Korea will also be hosting a special Facebook event along with Everland, aiming to get more fans involved with the campaign. Sh

PerformanceAug. 20, 2013

Diversity of crafts laid bare in Cheongju

An international showcase of modern craft trends will be held in the birthplace of the metal crafts, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, next month. The 8th Cheongju International Craft Biennale, the world’s biggest craft festival, aims to focus on the artistic aspect of craftworks as well as their practical uses and purposes, bringing together 6,000 works by 3,000 artists from 60 countries around the world. Under the theme of “Something OLD Something NEW,” the craft biennale will exhibit all

Arts & DesignAug. 20, 2013

Artifacts become casualties of Egypt unrest

CAIRO (AP) ― As violent clashes roiled Egypt, looters made away with a prized 3,500-year-old limestone statue, ancient beaded jewelry and more than 1,000 other artifacts in the biggest theft to hit an Egyptian museum in living memory.The scale of the looting of the Malawi Museum in the southern Nile River city of Minya laid bare the security vacuum that has taken hold in cities outside Cairo, where police have all but disappeared from the streets. It also exposed how bruised and battered the vio

CultureAug. 20, 2013

Secrecy is priority for Salinger movie, book

NEW YORK (AP) ― For much of the nine years that Shane Salerno worked on his J.D. Salinger documentary and book, the project was a mystery worthy of the author himself.Code names. Hidden identities. Surveillance cameras. Until 2010, when “The Catcher In the Rye” novelist died at age 91, only a handful of people were fully aware of what he was up to. Even now, with the release date of the film “Salinger” less than three weeks away, little is known about a production that draws upon more than 100 i

BooksAug. 20, 2013

1-D goes 3-D in boy band’s debut on screen

LONDON (AP) ― In the tradition of great music movies, One Direction’s feature-film debut has sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll ― just without the sex or the drugs.The Morgan Spurlock-directed 3-D documentary “One Direction: This Is Us” hangs out with Harry, Louis, Liam, Niall and Zayn backstage, at home and on the road, and comes to the conclusion that the five well-coiffed lads who have conquered the world are, well, pretty nice.Spurlock ― who made his name with socially engaged documentaries such a

FilmAug. 20, 2013

Park brothers enlist public to capture Seoul on film

“Joint Security Area” and “Oldboy” director Park Chan-wook is again combining forces with his younger brother Park Chan-kyung, famous for directing art house films, to create the brothers’ latest PARKing CHANce production “Seoul, Our Movie.”The upcoming documentary film is to be created from video submissions about Seoul from people around the world, non-professionals included. The directors will take these film submissions and edit them to create the video project, making it the first time the

FilmAug. 20, 2013

G-Dragon donates 80m won to charity

K-pop superstar G-Dragon of Big Bang recently celebrated his birthday in the spirit of charity by donating 81.8 million won ($72,000) to the Seungil Hope Foundation, a rehabilitation hospital for Lou Gehrig’s disease patients.The donation amount represented the star’s birth date, Aug. 18. Representatives of G-Dragon’s agency YG Entertainment announced that the entertainer decided to make the birthday donation as a sign of gratitude and appreciation to all of his fans. In return, members of the s

PerformanceAug. 20, 2013

Hyerim of Wonder Girls to host ‘Pops in Seoul’

Wonder Girls member Hyerim is to become the new host of Arirang TV’s K-pop program “Pops in Seoul.” She will be replacing BTOB’s Peniel Shin and will start as the official new host on Aug. 26. With Hyerim as the new host, Arirang TV has announced that the program will also include a new section called “Born to Rock the MIC.” An artist or group will be chosen for each section and viewers will be able to look into their beginnings and history as K-pop artists. The section also plans to include Hye

Aug. 20, 2013