An Israeli man says he wants to divorce his wife because she refuses to part with her 550 cats. The man, whose name was not reported, petitioned the Rabbinical Court in Beersheba for divorce from his cat-loving wife this week, The Times of Israel, Jerusalem, reported Sunday. He told the court he was unable to sleep in the couple's bedroom because his wife's hundreds of cats were constantly slee...

Deoksu Palace art museum reopens with exhibition of works by key modern painter Lee In-sung The reopening of the National Museum of Contemporary Art branch at Deoksu Palace last week after three-months of renovations is being marked with a rare exhibition on Korean modern art. The exhibition of works by one of the key modern artists in Korea, Lee In-sung, celebrates the centennial of Lee’s birt...

Belgian-born professor says Jogye Order’s rigid stance has left internal conflicts unresolved For Sem Vermeersch, associate professor of religious studies at Seoul National University, this year means a lot. The Belgian scholar, one of the leading academics in Korean studies, has been studying ancient Korean Buddhism for 20 years, particularly during the Goryeo Kingdom (918-1392) which was stro...

When major sports brands opened registration for their marathon events earlier this month, some saw their websites crash as thousands of people tried to register online at once. New Balance increased the number of participants for its 2012 New Race, scheduled for June 10, from 5,000 last year to 15,000 this year in response to the growing popularity of marathons in the country. When this week’s...

The World Heritage Map, released each year in English by UNESCO World Heritage Centre in Paris, has been published in Korean for the first time by the Korean National Commission for UNESCO (KNCU). The world map points out a total of 936 world heritage sites around the world, including 10 sites in Korea such as Changdeokgung in Seoul and Bulguk Temple in Gyeongju. A total of 30,000 copies have b...

Artist highlights writers’ artistic agonies and sufferings mixed with his own The multi-talented British artist Billy Childish sheds new light on two prominent Korean writers of Korea’s modern literature, Yi Kwang-su and Yi Sang, at his first exhibition in Seoul. “I wanted to make some paintings that related directly to the people who would be coming to see the exhibition,” Childish said at the...

A travel booklet illustrating Korean culture won a design award in the United States earlier this month. The Korea Tourism Organization’s booklet featuring photos introducing the charms of Korea received a gold medal in the travel brochure category of the ASTRID Design Excellence Awards, the tourism organization said on Monday. The annual awards, founded in 1987, recognize companies and governm...

Photo exhibition gives views of the capital from colonial times to 1960 Photos showcasing the most turbulent times in modern Korea are on public display at Seoul Museum of History. The photo exhibition “Seoul in Turbulence: As Seen by the AP” features vivid images taken by the Associated Press during the tumultuous days of Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War to the April 19 revolution, th...

Research indicates students in college can have as good a time at a party if they don't drink, U.S. researchers suggest. Lori Scott-Sheldon of the Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I., analyzed data on 19 studies involving more than 1,400 U.S. college students. The study, published in the journal Psychology of Addictive Behavior, found students were less likely to drink alcohol when their belief...