LOS ANGELES ― Boxer Antonio Margarito has undergone cataract surgery to repair what was considered a career-threatening injury to his right eye that he suffered in a lopsided loss to Manny Pacquiao in November. Margarito’s promoter Bob Arum, concerned about the fighter’s future before the May 19 operation, now says a “miracle” turn of events will allow the ex-welterweight champion to return to s...

LOS ANGELES ― Jennifer Yuh Nelson, the director of the new animated film “Kung Fu Panda 2,” might have been destined for a career in pictures. After immigrating to the United States from South Korea with her parents and two sisters when she was 4, Nelson spent her childhood in Lakewood, Calif., watching martial arts movies, playing with cars and drawing. As a young girl, she would sit at the kit...

For those dreaming of a perfect and unforgettable wedding this fall or winter, consider classic red and sparkling crystals, says a star wedding planner in the U.S. “The color for late 2011 and 2012 is definitely going to be red. Red is glamorous, classic and very stylish,” David Tutera, a celebrity wedding and event planner in the U.S., said in an email interview with The Korea Herald. Brides c...

Actors Hyun Bin and Lee Byung-hun won the top prize at the 2011 Paeksang Arts Awards on Thursday at Kyung Hee University in Hoegi-dong, eastern Seoul. Heartthrob Hyun was awarded the grand prize in the TV category for his role in the hit SBS TV series “Secret Garden.” Hyun became one of the nation’s most popular actors after he played the main character, an obnoxious but cute department store ow...

Top tourism policymakers of Korea, Japan and China have announced on Sunday that they will jointly develop the 10 best tourism routes by linking travel packages in the region. The plan is part of their long-term strategy called “Tourism Vision 2020” to boost regional tourism and establish a risk management system, especially since natural disasters such as the March earthquake and tsunami in Jap...

On first Asian trip, Michal Ajvaz talks about inspiration, nationalism in art As with other literary traditions, Czech fiction’s accessibility to Korean readers has long suffered from a lack of translation into Korean. Even with towering literary figures such as Franz Kafka among the country’s authors, it was only this March that the first anthology Czech short stories in Korean translation, “Pr...

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Three mornings a week, when Becky Leung gets ready for work, her boyfriend is just getting home from his overnight job. When her mother drops hints about her twin sister's marriage, she laughs it off. And when she thinks about getting married herself, she worries first about her career. Leung, 27, cohabits in a Portland, Ore., townhome with her boyfriend but has no plans ye...

MONTCLAIR, N.J. - School districts across the United States are weighing the elimination of homework on weekends and holidays, part of a move by educators to rein in student workloads. Officials at public schools in Galloway Township, New Jersey, this week proposed no more homework on weekends and holidays for their 3,500 students. The Pleasanton Unified School District in northern California h...

An online portal operated by CNN recently introduced 50 reasons why Seoul is the world’s greatest city. Written from the perspective of a non-Korean, the list is beginning to grab international attention. Concerning the fact that Asian tourists have designated Seoul the first city to visit, CNNGo selected several reasons why. At the very top of the list was galbi, a typical BBQ in Korea with be...

Taipei offers exotic tradition as well as vibrant youth culture TAIPEI ― Taipei is a city of red and green. It’s red because a traditional food market, a Buddhist temple and a bustling night market are all colored very much with the redness of foods, red Buddhist lanterns and reddish wax apples. It’s green because the Taiwanese capital’s clean streets and roads are almost always decorated with ...

Barring the end of the world (it didn’t happen Saturday, did it?), or the even less likely scenario in which no one bothers to go out next weekend to see three guys wake up completely blotto, there will be a “Hangover: Part III.” “Obviously, it will depend on the success of the second one,” says Bradley Cooper, whose participation in the inaugural “Hangover” had more than a little to do with his...

Stabbing my walking stick into the muck and sliding my feet forward, I waded into the swamp, one eye on the lookout for alligators, the other trying to spot the elusive orchids that draw so many people to South Florida’s Fakahatchee Strand Preserve, a 100-square-mile state park that is home to one of the largest concentrations of native orchids in North America. Towering trees formed a dense tro...