Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to perform Dvorak violin concerto, Bruckner symphonyThe world’s oldest civic orchestra, which moved Korean hearts with its uniquely weighty sounds in 1995, is to return to Seoul with maestro Italian conductor Riccardo Chailly taking the helm Monday and Tuesday.The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra has its origins in “Grand Concert,” a concert society founded by 16 textile m

JW Marriott SeoulFrom March 4 to June 26, the hotel is offering a spring picnic package for families. The package includes a one night stay in a superior room, a picnic lunch box for two people consisting of two ham & cheese sandwiches with two bottles of vitamin water, a Seoripul Park walkway map around the hotel and free access to the swimming pool and the gym. The package is available on Friday

Sheraton Grande Walkerhill said it has launched a brunch program offering a New York Metropolitan Opera, filmed live.At the hotel’s theater, a high-resolution 16-by-7.5 meter screen with a 7.1 surround audio system will play the Metropolitan Opera’s 2010-2011 season programs, including all-time favorites such as “Turandot” from March to December, the hotel said.The theater’s Met Opera Brunch progr

 For most South Korean people, Mungyeong in North Gyeongsang Province is associated with “Mungyeong Saejae,” a mountain trail that helped Koreans in the Joseon era living in the southeastern peninsula pass over the Sobaek Mountains to get to Seoul.This week Mungyeong is busy welcoming the evaluation committee that will assess the city’s bid to host the 2015 Military World Games. The committee arri

The Korean food chain industry is quickly expanding overseas on the back of growing global interest in Korean food in recent years.Korean restaurant chains, however, should realize that there are only two markets in the world to which they can successfully take Korean cuisine without much alternation, a U.S. hospitality consultant has said.“I’ve met many Korean government officials and I have advi

World musician Kidjo and jazz singer Nah Youn-sun bring their unique sound to SeoulThose tired of Seoul’s brutally cold winter may want to check the upcoming concerts by two female vocalists, Angelique Kidjo from Africa and Nah Youn-sun from Korea, at the LG Arts Center in southern Seoul.Their powerful and energetic voices, combined with experimental and fun music will melt and unlock the most fro

Girls' Generation (Yonhap News)  The Korean entertainers considered to have advanced Korean art and culture in 11 categories last year gathered at the Olympic Gymnastics Stadium in southeastern Seoul to receive the 2011 Seoul Art & Culture Award on Monday.Attendees to 2011 Seoul Art & Culture Award ceremony pose for a photo at Olympic Park in southern Seoul, Monday. (Yonhap News)Rain picked up the

Chinese professor Tu Weiming says willingness to work without immediate reward, government-corporate cooperation fueled recoveryChinese neo-Confucianism scholar Tu Weiming said Korea was able to overcome the recent global financial crisis due in part to Confucian influence on Korean society, where people generally work hard without expecting immediate reward.Tu, director of the Institute for Advan

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services said Saturday that it continues placing Hana Bank on its "negative watch" list as the lender is getting closer tocomplete the acquiring of Korea Exchange Bank.Hana Financial clinched a deal last November with U.S. buyout fund Lone Star Funds to buy South Korea's fifth-largest lender for 4.69 trillion won ($4.19 billion), which it said would be paid with internal

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration froze assets of the Libyan government, leader Moammar Gadhafi and four of his children, just hours after it closed the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli and evacuated its remaining staff. U.S. officials said announcements of the steps were withheld until Americans wishing to leave the country had departed as they feared Gadhafi might retaliate amid worsening viole

UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The U.N. Security Council agreed Friday to urgently consider sanctions against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's regime to try to end its bloody crackdown against anti-government protesters.Under pressure from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to take "concrete action'' to protect civilians, the council decided to meet again Saturday morning to discuss options. Brazil's U.N. Ambas

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) -- Fresh aftershocks sent masonrytumbling among rescuers in New Zealand's quake zone and a cat sparked false alarms Saturday of a possible survivor, as the disaster's death toll rose to 145 with more than 200 missing.Grim assessments emerged for the fate of the central business district in devastated Christchurch, with engineers and planners saying it will be unusabl

An apparent engine problem with a KTX train forced hundreds of passengers to change trains in the middle of their journeys on Saturday, officials said, the latest in a recent series of incidents involving the high-speed trains.A KTX-Sancheon train encountered an engine problem after departing from the southeastern city of Daegu on Saturday morning.The Seoul-bound train arrived in Daejeon, about ha

Disgraced South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk had been in Libya at the invitation of a state research institute in the North African nation, sources close to him said Saturday.Hwang was seen among 198 South Koreans evacuated from Libya on a charter flight to Cairo on Friday, raising questions about why he had been in the country. Hwang's activity has drawn attention after his purported breakthrou

A second South Korea-chartered plane has flown out of Libya as part of Seoul's efforts to evacuate its nationals from the North African nation engulfed in bloody clashes between protesters and government forces, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday.The special Korean Air flight left the Libyan capital of Tripoli with 236 South Koreans on board around 11 p.m. Friday (6 a.m. Saturday Korean time) befo

Sheraton Incheon HotelThe hotel has appointed Jeon Ha-ryong as its new executive chef of its Chinese restaurant, YUE. Prior to joining the hotel, he built his career in deluxe hotels in Seoul specializing in Chinese and Asian cuisine. Working for the Sheraton Incheon Hotel, Jeon said he will focus on introducing original tastes and recipes in Chinese cuisine. For reservations, call YUE at (032) 83

Marginalized people have had more opportunities to enjoy arts performances in the past three years, according to a new report.About 25 percent of households earning less than 1 million won per month went to see cultural performances in 2010, an increase from 19 percent in 2008, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism report released Thursday showed.Among people living in counties, who are less

Ministry creates temp system to provide maternity cover for public sector workersReturning from a three-month maternity leave after the birth of her first child, Yun Yeo-jin, 32, is just three weeks back into her job as an official at the public service department of the Ministry of Public Administration and Security.Unlike her friends working for private companies who felt guilty about offloading

KOCIS to open eight cultural centers abroadNon-Korean and Korean culture experts, including directors of foreign cultural centers in Seoul, professors and foreign correspondents, advised the Korean government to promote its culture in a more smart and subtle way.Their advice came as the Korean Culture and Information Service, affiliated under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, held a pol

Emergency services search the rumble for survivors of the collapsed CTV building in Christchurch's business district, Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2011. Search teams using dogs, heavy cranes and earth movers worked through dawn Wednesday in one of New Zealand's largest cities, trying frantically to find survivors amid the crumbled concrete, twisted metal and huge mounds of brick left by a powerful earthquake