Quiet Blue House neighborhoods become tourist destinations

Hoping to promote the neighborhood near the Blue House -- the former presidential office known as Cheong Wa Dae -- to tourists, the Culture Ministry and the Korea Tourism Organization are jointly running a travel campaign entitled “2024 Around Cheongwa” until Dec. 30. Featuring Cheongwadae Sarangchae, “2024 Around Cheongwa” will offer various programs ranging from history lessons and a stamp tour to trekking. Cheongwadae Sarangchae is the former meeting spot for Blue Hous

TravelOct. 24, 2024

Pak Kyongni Prize winner Sylvie Germain laments tragedy of global conflict

Acclaimed French writer Sylvie Germain, known for her profound exploration of eras marked by violence and turmoil, including the Franco-Prussian War and the Algerian War, said it’s “disheartening” to see the current global situation, particularly the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine. “It’s tragic that humanity hasn’t learned from history, and we continue to see the same situations recur. The violence and destruction caused by war are deeply concerning.

BooksOct. 24, 2024

Dive into Irish literature this weekend

The Seoul Outdoor Library will feature a special focus on Irish literature this Friday and Saturday. From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., a special Irish-themed booth will be open at Seoul Plaza, with an Irish step dancing performance at the plaza at 6 p.m. on Friday. From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, a "Meet the Authors" session will be held on the first floor of the Seoul Metropolitan Library in Jung-gu. Three writers from Dublin -- Anne Griffin, Sinead Gleeson and Ronan Hession -- will discuss

BooksOct. 24, 2024

Youn Yuh-jung to star as billionaire in Netflix's ‘Beef’ season 2

Veteran actor Youn Yuj-jung (“Minari,” “Pachinko”) will star in season two of the Netflix series “Beef.” The new installment of this US anthology drama will feature Youn as the Korean billionaire owner of a country club. While the show’s creator, executive producer and showrunner Lee Sung-jin continues to helm season two of “Beef,” the new season will feature a whole new cast that includes Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cai

FilmOct. 24, 2024

Salzburg Festival president highlights century-long event's strengths

The Salzburg Festival is more than a festival celebrating Mozart, although the connection between Mozart and the festival held in the city of the composer's birth continues to be strong. “I believe that Mozart plays a crucial role in the festival, but what truly sets the Salzburg Festival apart is its dedication to showcasing a diverse array of programs,” Kristina Hammer, the president of Salzburg Festival, told reporters in Seoul on Wednesday. Hammer, president of the festi

CultureOct. 24, 2024

Han Kang's Nobel win sparks reading boom in Korea

Han Kang's historic win of the Nobel Prize in literature appears to have sparked a reading boom across South Korea, with data showing that locals have bought substantially more books following the Oct. 10 announcement. BC Card, one of the biggest credit card companies here, analyzed online and offline sales at major book outlets in recent weeks. It found that book sales of BC Card users for the period of Oct. 10-16 jumped by 39.2 percent compared to the previous week. Book sales in that sev

BooksOct. 24, 2024

Public Design Festival to expand to improve design for public spaces

The Public Design Festival 2024 will kick off on Friday, centered in Seoul and Daejeon, focusing on how the design quality of public spaces in South Korea can evolve to better serve its citizens. The festival will foster discussions with experts and highlight examples from across the country. The third edition of the design festival, “Public Design for Embracement” held by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, will expand in scale from last year including 185 public spaces, th

Arts & DesignOct. 23, 2024

Former MMCA director explores Korean art's rise on global stage

This year has seen a record amount of global attention given to Korean artists. This is according to Lee Ji-yoon, CEO of SUUM Project, a contemporary art curating agency. Mentioning the major events and solo exhibitions taking place across the world, the former managing director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art shed light on Korean art in the global context, focusing on how Korean artists began to assert a presence in the global art scene over the past 30 years. She was givi

Arts & DesignOct. 23, 2024

[Herald Interview] Decoufle casts spell with 'Shazam!' to discover beautiful traces of time

Philippe Decoufle, the master of French multidisciplinary performance arts, is set to bring his iconic production "Shazam!" back to Seoul, almost 25 years after its 1999 performance at the Seoul Arts Center. The show will be performed at the LG Arts Center in Seoul from Friday through Sunday. Originally created in 1998 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, “Shazam!” has been performed over 200 times at major venues worldwide. The production pays homage t

PerformanceOct. 23, 2024

Cho Yong-pil drops 20th studio album, possibly his last

Cho Yong-pil, a living legend of the Korean music scene, has returned with his 20th full-length album, “20.” The album is composed of seven tracks, including new songs as well as songs from the project singles “Road to 20—Prelude 1” and “Road to 20—Prelude 2,” which were released in 2022 and 2023. The album spans a variety of genres, including rock, electronica and ballads. Marking the 56th anniversary of his debut this year, the 74-year-old singer

CultureOct. 23, 2024

Korean artists shine in inaugural Gucci Cultural Month

A photo exhibition of prominent South Korean artists opened Tuesday as part of the inaugural Gucci Cultural Month, a campaign launched by the Italian fashion house to promote the diversity and creativity of Korean culture. “Dual Narratives: Honoring the Visionaries,” running for eight days through Tuesday, explores fresh angles to look at film director Park Chan-wook, pianist Cho Seong-jin, conceptual artist Kim Soo-ja and contemporary dancer Ahn Eun-me. Master photographer Kim Yong-

Arts & DesignOct. 23, 2024

[Eye Interview] Charting remarkable year, Anton Hur's journey in literature continues

Acclaimed Korean-to-English translator and newly minted novelist, Anton Hur is navigating his busiest year yet. Based in Seoul, Hur was born in Stockholm and raised in Hong Kong, Ethiopia and Thailand, "but mostly in Korea." So far this year, he has published six translated works, made his debut as a fiction writer, and embarked on a whirlwind international book tour -- with more to come in the remaining months. “I've been traveling a lot this year,” Hur said in an int

BooksOct. 23, 2024

[Photo News] Hanok Experience

Foreign envoys, CEOs and their family members pose for a photo during a weekend program at the Hanok Heritage House in Yeongwol-gun, Gangwon Province. Front row from left: Tourist guide Park So-young, Ignacio Montojo Salazar, husband of EU Ambassador to Korea Maria Castillo Fernandez; the ambassador; New Zealand Ambassador to Korea Dawn Bennet; Renault Korea CEO Stephane Deblaise and his wife Marie Deblaise; Fernandez's friends; Italian Ambassador Emilia Gatto and Yoon Kyung-hae, the advise

TravelOct. 22, 2024

[Herald Interview] 'Oldboy' to 'Oddity': Tense cinema is universal

The Irish director of horror suspense film “Oddity,” Damian McCarthy has informed his work with an appreciation for Korean cinema. “I think of Choi Min-sik when he just has explosive temper at the end of ‘Oldboy’ or anything Song Kang-ho has done, it just ... this guy's just incredible,” he said at the start of an interview with The Korea Herald, hours before attending the awards ceremony where his film was in the international feature competition at the

CultureOct. 22, 2024

Feel the autumn at Seoul Silver Grass Festival

The Seoul Silver Grass Festival is taking place at World Cup Park in Mapo-gu, western Seoul until Friday. The 23rd edition of the annual festival opened on Saturday, running through Friday, according to Seoul City. The festival, themed "Silver Grass Embraces the Wind, Wish and Dream,” offers views of the park's shining silver grass waving in the autumn breeze and a chance to take part in other events. The city is holding a light show at the park, visualizing the wind blowing thro

TravelOct. 22, 2024

Taste Mosu chef’s fine dining at 40,000 won

Following the globeal popularity of “Culinary Class Wars,” a cooking reality show from Netflix, the Seoul Metropolitan Government is holding a special event with Mosu chef Ahn Sung-jae, offering a chance to taste a fine dining meal for 40,000 won. The event will take place at Sevit Island by Banpo Hangang Park on Nov. 3. Under Ahn’s lead, contestants from the Netflix show -- Kang Seung-won (Triple Star), Bae Kyung-joon (One Two Three) --, as well as Oh Jong-il, the head chef fr

FoodOct. 22, 2024

[Herald Interview] Rising stars of Korean classical music unite in recital

On the evening of Oct. 30, rising Korean cellist Han Jae-min, who is Lotte Concert Hall's in-house artist this year, will take the stage with promising Korean pianist Park Jae-hong, and renowned Hungarian violinist Kristof Barati. The three will perform at the Han Jae-min Trio Recital at Lotte Concert Hall, featuring Rachmaninoff’s Piano Trio No. 1 “Elegy,” along with Dvorak’s Piano Trio No. 4 “Dumky,” and Tchaikovsky’s Piano Trio in A minor “

CultureOct. 22, 2024

[Herald Review] ‘Can We Get Married?’ depicts agonies of today’s 30-somethings

Korean cinema has recently seen a number of works that examine in-depth the real-life agony of young people in Korea, such as “Because I Hate Korea” and “Love in the Big City,” which closely depict young Koreans’ hardships in getting a job and embracing one’s identity. Director Kim Jin-tae of “Can We Get Married?” portrays an average 30-something couple in Korea facing a bumpy ride ahead as they get ready to get married. Lee Dong-hwi (“Reply

FilmOct. 22, 2024

Leeum Museum of Art opens its art archive gems to public

Visitors to the Leeum Museum of Art, Korea's largest private museum run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture, can now view previously private archives on Korean art and the history of the museum, either at the museum by reservation or digitally via its website. The archives are divided into two sections -- Museum Archive and Art Archive -- and encompass some 86,000 items. The museum’s archive collection began in 1998 with some 40,000 items donated by Korea’s first-generation art

Arts & DesignOct. 22, 2024

Exhibition reflects on mortality, journey to afterlife

At first glance, wooden figurines on display in glass cases appear inviting -- some look like a souvenir at a gift shop -- until you take a closer look. “I wasn’t actually aware that the exhibition is about death,” said Erwin Nieto, 35, a tourist from the Philippines who happened to drop by the exhibition “Kokdu” at the National Folk Museum of Korea on Tuesday. “But you know, reading the documents, the copies, it actually tells you there’s comfort in dea

Arts & DesignOct. 22, 2024