President Lee Jae Myung on Friday extended "deep condolences" over the death of popular veteran actor Choi Bool-am, calling him the "father of our era." Choi died the previous day at the age of 87 at a hospital, where he was receiving treatment. Since beginning his television career in 1967, Choi had been known for his portrayals of paternal characters in popular TV series. "You will long remain in the hearts of people as a detective who safeguards justice and a loving father," Lee wrote on his

South Korean actor Choi Bool-am, widely known as the nation's father figure for his portrayals of paternal characters in popular television dramas, has died, his family said Friday. He was 87. Choi, whose real name was Choi Young-han, died at around 10 p.m. Thursday while receiving treatment at a hospital in western Seoul, according to his family. The actor had experienced difficulties walking after undergoing surgery for a herniated disc in March last year, prompting him to step down as host of

Shin Jong-soo, editor and chief editorial writer for South Korean daily Kukmin Ilbo, was elected president of the Korea News Editors' Association on Wednesday. Shin will take over from Lee Tae-gyu of Hankook Ilbo, who has been leading the association since 2024. Shin said in his inaugural speech that the KNEA will play a lead role in restoring public trust toward legacy media and fostering a healthy public sphere. He also pledged to fulfill the public responsibilities of the press through KNEA a

A foundation led by former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday it will host a high-level dialogue in Seoul this week to discuss clean energy transitions and regional climate cooperation. The forum will take place Thursday on the sidelines of Global Green Growth Week 2026, where experts and officials at home and abroad will discuss ways to advance energy security and clean transitions in Northeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to the foundation. Topics

Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Kim Yong-man’s office is filled with memorabilia related to independence activist Kim Koo. The first-term legislator, who represents Hanam-eul, Gyeonggi Province, occupies room No. 815 of the National Assembly Members’ Office Building. The number evokes Korea’s Liberation Day, Aug. 15. The references to Kim Koo and Korean independence are only natural: Kim Yong-man, 40, is a great-grandson of Kim Koo. There is even a slight physical resemblance between the two. “I

When Ian Eastwood first worked with Taemin on his solo debut 12 years ago, he expected to spend several rehearsals teaching him the choreography for "Danger." Taemin learned everything he had prepared in the first session. Back in Korea this month, Eastwood was again impressed, this time by artists who had yet to debut. Teaching at entertainment labels, the American choreographer encountered trainees as young as 12 or 13 who could learn choreography, absorb corrections and incorporate staging wi

Yoon Chang-bin, a photojournalist for The Korea Herald, has won an award from the Korea Press Photographers' Association for his portrait of Korean American stand-up comedian Danny Cho. The association announced Tuesday that Yoon received an excellence award in the portrait category of its 284th Photo of the Month Awards, part of the third-quarter selections covering the 283rd through 285th editions. The award-winning photograph accompanied The Korea Herald's Aug. 20 interview with Cho, titled "

Behind each university’s global ambitions are choices about what to preserve, what to develop and where to go next. In “World Class,” The Korea Herald interviews leaders of Korean universities about the strengths they are cultivating and the futures they envision. — Ed. When John Frankl first arrived at Yonsei University as an American exchange student in the late 1980s, he found a far more insular institution than the globally oriented university he knows today. Nearly four decades later, the f

A commemorative stamp honoring Lee Sang-hyeok, better known as Faker, a 30-year-old League of Legends star player for T1, will be issued Oct. 23. Korea Post, under the Ministry of Science and ICT, said Saturday it would issue 140,000 sheets of the stamps, along with stamp albums and other related items. The stamps will be available at post offices nationwide and through the Korea Post website. The stamps feature several portraits of Faker, including images of key moments in his career. In Januar

A monument and bust honoring Homer B. Hulbert (1863-1949), an American missionary and educator who championed Korea's independence, were unveiled in a ceremony on Oct. 3 in his hometown of New Haven, Vermont. The Hulbert Memorial Society held the ceremony at Village Green, the former site of New Haven Congregational Church, where Hulbert worshipped as a child and his father served as the second pastor. The monument stands 2 meters tall and 1.1 meters wide, with inscriptions in both English and K

Today, Korean folk song Arirang is recognizable to audiences all around the world. Its familiar melody has found new life through contemporary artists, including BTS, conveying a centuries-old Korean tradition to a new generation of listeners. More than a century before the song became part of the global K-pop repertoire, a young American heard it in the streets of late-19th-century Korea and stopped to listen. When Homer B. Hulbert arrived in Korea in 1886 at age 23, he came as one of three Ame

In 2008, a year after earning his master's degree at Juilliard, cellist Earl Lee found he could no longer play a C major scale. Focal dystonia, a neurological disorder that causes involuntary muscle contractions, took control of his left hand and brought his career as a cellist to an abrupt end. Fourteen years later, in July 2022, the 42-year-old Korean Canadian became the music director of the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra in Michigan. Last month, the orchestra announced it would extend his cont

It was a proverbial scene of calm before the storm: Two students were playing basketball in the corner of a large dirt playing field while a group of students sat on the steps of the steep stands, taking shelter from the blazing heat of the September afternoon in the shadow of a thick canopy of trees. All of that will change this month when the New Hongik Project, a 441 billion won ($324.5 million) expansion of Hongik University's Seoul campus, breaks ground on Oct. 14. The project, which measur

Diplomats from 19 countries have been invited to a networking event in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province, featuring activities spanning culture, tourism and industry. The event, jointly hosted by The Korea Herald and the Chungju Culture and Tourism Foundation, is being held Tuesday and Wednesday, ahead of Visit Chungju Year 2027. The ambassadors represent countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and South America and will be accompanied by diplomatic officials and their families. Former United Na

A video showing two elderly farmers stopping a bus to hand the driver produce from their farms has gone viral in South Korea. The clip, posted on Instagram on Sept. 17 by the driver, shows a bus traveling along a narrow country road in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, when an elderly man waiting by the roadside signals for it to stop. With something in both hands, he steps onto the bus and gives the driver pears he had harvested. "Try these," the man says before returning to his field. Not l