Classical opera is getting a modern and chic revamp, leaving behind the fancy orchestra concert halls and heading out to the mecca of pop music culture and youth. After hitting it big in their native country of New Zealand with its 2013 self-titled debut album, up-and-coming opera crossover family trio Sol3 Mio will be performing its first concert in Korea in the most unlikely of venues -- Gangn...

Air France-KLM, Europe’s second-largest network carrier, is enjoying its best summer in Korea with its drive to beef up online presence here. “This morning, we celebrated that we’ve reached the highest number of passengers in July and August. The Korean market is strongly growing and leisure demand to Europe keeps on increasing,” said Celine Balmelle, newly-appointed head of the Franco-Dutch gro...

Merck, the world’s leading chemical and pharmaceuticals giant, is ready to do its part in driving forward Korea’s advancing display business as well as the fast-developing biopharmaceuticals industry -- areas forecast for rapid growth in the future. Michael Grund, managing director of Merck Korea, said the German firm is prepared to become a reliable partner to its major clients like Samsung and...

The two lead actors of screenwriter Hong Won-chan’s directorial debut “Office” proved their acting chops in the thriller genre long before this year. Ko A-sung rose to fame as a child actress in 2006’s “The Host” and made her international mark with 2013’s “Snowpiercer,” while Park Sung-woong’s big break was his role as a tough gangster in 2013’s “New World,” which he followed with a serial kille...

Turkish architect Nezvat Sayin believes students should interact and learn from each other in open spaces, and vehemently opposes the model of dark, partitioned libraries -- or “dokseosil” -- where many Korean high schoolers study. “It must be awfully isolating,” he said in an interview with The Korea Herald on Wednesday. Sayin, who is the four-time recipient of the national award presented by t...

Terry Mosher, a well-known political cartoonist based in Montreal, has been satirizing and drawing about the Canadian political landscape for newspapers since 1967. He has recently made the transition to online and mobile, and now believes that many more cartoonists and storytellers will follow suit as the print industry comes to an end. "I think newspapers will disappear, but in a slower proce...

Merck, the world’s leading chemical and electronics materials firm, has constantly explored untouched business areas for more than three centuries, including the firm’s three main business pillars -- performance materials, health care and life science -- and has been able to stay on top in each field. Walter Galinat, president and CEO of the German company’s performance materials business, sai...

Taking a seat in his cooking studio in Sangsu-dong, Seoul producer Lee Wook-jung was doing little to dispel his globetrotting image. “I just got back from a week in Kyoto,” he said. The KBS producer, best known for his Peabody Award-winning 2008 series “Noodle Road,” has spent a considerable amount of the year outside Korea, scoping out locations and interview subjects for his documentaries. W...

The urban forest project carried out by the Korea Forest Service has sought participation from citizens and businesses to realize the plan, according to a senior government official. According to data from the KFS, the average urban forest area per person in Korea is 8.32 square meters, which falls below the World Health Organization standards of at least 9 square meters per inhabitant. Seoul o...

The media was split on its opinion of Shin Dong-yeob’s new comedy “Untouchable Lawmen,” starring Im Chang-jung and Choi Daniel, even before it hit theaters Thursday. But leading man Im said that he wasn’t bothered by unfavorable reviews. “This movie is supposed to have a B movie feel,” he told reporters at a group interview at a cafe in Seoul. “For people who like this type of genre, it’s a well...

In an aim to stand out among other salads in the market -- including those made with just spinach and lettuce or high in calories -- Organica’s Cleanse Salads feature unusual ingredients suitable for a raw foods diet, including kale, lemon, quinoa, sweet pumpkin, beet and lentils. Moreover, the company has taken great care to source the best, top-quality ingredients and build up a truly health...

The King Sejong Institute Foundation’s seventh annual World Korean Educators Conference kicked off Monday, inviting 180 guests committed to the teaching of Korean from 43 countries for a three-day exchange conference in Seoul. With 90 institutions across the world, the King Sejong Institute is dedicated to establishing educational institutions where citizens of all ages can attend to learn the K...

Caught in a years-long economic recession and political turbulence, the Latin American region is largely considered a risk factor in the global financial sector. But as signs of economic rebound are starting to show, now may be an optimal time for overseas investors to enter the market when the barriers are low, according to a regional expert. “Some speak of an impending financial crisis upon L...

For Han Hyo-joo, the lead role of Yi-soo in the fantasy romance “The Beauty Inside” was a chance that would never come again. “When would I ever get to work with so many actors in one movie?” she mused at a group interview at a cafe in Seoul ahead of the film’s release. “When would I get to kiss so many people in one day?” In “The Beauty Inside,” Han’s character Yi-soo falls in love with a man,...

There isn’t much variety to the words used to describe HyunA: All roads lead to “sexy.” That image of the 4minute member and solo singer who appeared in Psy‘s “Gangnam Style” music video remains alive and strong in her latest EP “A+,” which dropped Friday. Promotions for the EP started off with an adults-only trailer that showed the 23-year-old partying hard in Los Angeles, and the music video f...