A government-civilian panel to promote nine “seowon,” or private Confucian academies established dur­ing the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), as UNESCO world heritage sites was launched in a ceremony in Seoul on Wednesday. The panel is comprised of 19 experts in the government and the private sector, including Kim Chan, administrator of Korea’s Cultural Heritage Administration, and Choi Gun-duk, chai...

NEW YORK (AP) ― The Brooklyn Museum’s feminist art center is marking its fifth anniversary this year by commemorating famous women of the next millennium ― placing them alongside luminaries of the past. The Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is using Judy Chicago’s work, “The Dinner Party,’’ a massive triangular banquet table, to envision a place where these high achievers might meet. ...

Culture Ministry plans to create fair business environment for artists, large concert hall and support content developers The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Wednesday a set of comprehensive plans for hallyu, such as building infrastructure for better content development, facilitating a support system for less popular Korean cultural genres, and promoting cultural exchanges ...

Halal is an Arabic word meaning “lawful” or “permitted.” Pork is forbidden by Islamic teachings and all other meats must be from animals slaughtered according to halal principles. This entails slicing the animal’s throat while its heart is still beating, so as to drain much of the animal’s blood as possible. This is done in Allah’s name. The sentiment about difficulties of practicing Islam in Ko...

The Seoul Drama Awards Organization launched the annual ceremony in 2006 when there were no such awards shows in Asia. Giving back to the international drama community is an active goal of the SDAO. Three times a year they put on a free screening in Seoul of a made-for-TV drama from a different country as a way to try and promote programs from other parts of the world. Television programmer Par...

“I rented out this property in October of last year,” says Kim. “The place was a huge mess at the time. I renovated the place, spending more than 100 million won, re-doing each ceiling of every room of the house. It was important for me to provide an authentic hanok experience to my visitors.” Kim, along with her sons, often performs for her visitors as well. Her repertoire includes the famous K...

Yeondeunghoe, the lotus lantern festival that accompanie Buddha’s Birthday, has been designated as an intangible cultural heritage by the Cultural Heritage Administration said Monday. The first form of the festival dates back to Korea’s Silla Kingdom (57 B.C.-935 A.D.), and has been held on the day of Daeboreum ― a Korean holiday that celebrates the first full moon of the lunar calendar. The rel...

GORI, Georgia (AP) ― A museum that has honored Josef Stalin in Georgia since 1937 is being remodeled to exhibit the atrocities that were committed during the Soviet dictator’s rule. Georgian Culture Minister Nika Rurua said Monday that his nation, which became independent in 1991, can no longer host a museum “glorifying the Soviet dictator.’’ Stalin was born Josef Dzhugashvili in the central Ge...

Director Woo stresses role of foreign media and opinion leaders in promoting Korea In the eyes of the foreign media, South Korea has been seen mainly as confronting the militant North Korea or an economic success story. It is time to divert their attention from the country’s complicated political issues to its amazing, yet relatively unknown culture, the new head of Korean Culture and Informati...

A British man who bought a handful of sketches at a Las Vegas rummage sale for $4.76 said one of them turned out to be an Andy Warhol worth $2.06 million. Andy Fields of Tiverton, England, said he bought a few pieces of art from the sale in 2010 and later learned one of the pieces was an original sketch believed to have been made by Warhol in the 1930s when he was 10 or 11 years old, The Sun rep...