InterContinental Hotel Group has partnered with AMJ Developments to open the first fully managed international hotel Holiday Inn Gwangju. The 205-room hotel started operations in December.Gwangju, the capital city of South Jeolla Province, attracts many visitors through its cultural events, 26 golf courses and the Korean Formula One track. Holiday Inn Gwangju is ideally placed to provide accommoda

The Mahler craze started in 2010 when Korean classical concert-goers scrambled to get tickets to Gustav Mahler’s symphonies at the Seoul Arts Center. Last year, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor Chung Myung-whun began staging the Austrian composer’s all-symphonic works to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth.Coming into 2011, Mahler fever is sweeping the nation even faster than las

PGA golfer signs 3-year contract with SK TelecomFinally fit and healthy, South Korean professional golfer Choi Kyoung-ju declared himself ready on Thursday for the 2011 PGA Tour season.At a press conference in Seoul, Choi, known as K.J. Choi on the PGA Tour, said he has high expectations for himself.“This year, more than any other season, I expect myself to take big strides,” Choi said. “Two years

English version of popular application to be released by the end of FebruaryThe mobile art application artday is increasingly popular among both Android and Apple smartphone users, on the back of its provision of extensive information about local art exhibitions, discount coupons for art cafes and products, and objective user reviews.A screen shot of exhibition information from “artday” app on an

MINNEAPOLIS ― Is the time-honored, much-scribbled-upon kitchen wall calendar an endangered species? Are datebooks as dated as land lines?Many baby boomers still rely primarily on paper for both professional and personal task managing, but you would have to scour an office park for a while to find someone under age 35 who carries a paper planner everywhere ― if they ever did. For them, keeping trac

LONDON (AP) ― He could have stayed in teaching. That’s what his parents wanted: it was the safe, secure route for a young man with working-class roots and a face few would describe as handsome.But Pete Postlethwaite wanted more. He wanted to pursue his passion for acting and, at 24, he left teaching to train at the Bristol Old Vic Theater. His parents remained skeptical, but when he was introduced

SINGAPORE (AP) ― Wear red if you want to win at Singapore’s Marina Bay Sands casino, but sport white to boost your luck at rival Resorts World Sentosa.So says feng shui expert Danny Cheong, who has seen demand for his skills soar thanks to last year’s opening of the city-state’s first two casino resorts.“Before I would occasionally get clients who asked for help with playing the horses or the lott

LG Arts Center said Tuesday Yun Yuh-soon, senior vice president of LG Academy in Incheon, has been appointed new CEO of LG Arts Center in southern Seoul, as of Jan. 1.Yu is known to Koreans as the first woman to become an executive in LG in 2000. She contributed to the development of “e-learning system” LG Cyber Academy in 1998, according to LG Arts Center. Yun Yuh-woon, CEO of LG Arts CenterShe h

Ruichi Sakamoto, Vienna Strauss Festival Orchestra to stage unusual performancesArdent classical concertgoers may find it easy to keep awake during a classical concert in the evening, even after a long day of hard work and a series of self-reminders not to make any noise louder than breathing.However, those less schooled in concert etiquette might secretly admit that they have at one time unintent

The nation’s largest-ever tourist shopping festival will kick off on Jan. 10 to lure international travelers to get discounts at major department stores and shopping malls through Feb. 28, the Visit Korea Committee said.During the “Korea Grand Sale” event, visitors to Korea who are identified as foreign nationals will be able to enjoy shopping, dining, hotel accommodation and cultural shows, eithe