The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism will fund Korean art exhibitions at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York from 2016 to 2018, the museum has announced. The ministry and the Met signed a memorandum of understanding last Thursday for a three-year partnership to support exhibitions and programs related to Korean art and culture at the museum.  Thomas Campbell, director and CEO of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (left), and Oh Seung-je, director of the Korean Cultural Service of New Y

Tonkatsu once enjoyed the status of today’s dry-aged steak -- some 35 years ago in Korea. In the 1980s, the deep-fried breaded pork cutlet, now one of the most common and popular dishes among Koreans, was only available at Seoul’s top western restaurants. Italiano, a restaurant in Jeong-dong, Seoul, used to serve tonkatsu on a big white ceramic plate with kimchi and “danmuji,” yellow pickled radish. Despite the restaurant’s Italian name, tonkatsu, an import from Japan, was its best-known dish, a

This is the first installment in a three-part series featuring athletes who help people transform their lives. – Ed. Park Byung-hoon doesn’t have a special high-tech suit of armor to keep himself strong and invincible like the Tony Stark character in “Iron Man.” Park, who is considered a legendary Asian iron man triathlon athlete with some records that still stand, had relied only on his physical and mental strength -- backed by his family’s love -- to cycle, swim and run the Ironman’s high-inte

Artist Kim Whanki’s (1913-1974) oil painting of small patches of blue repeated endlessly along diagonal lines fetched the highest price ever for a work by a Korean artist when it went on the block in October.The 1971 painting “19-VII-71 #209” sold at the record price of $4 million at a Hong Kong auction. The pioneer of abstract art is one of the best-known Korean artists in the international art market. His large abstract paintings, featuring blue dots and lines, have taken a prominent place in

LE BOURGET, France (AP) – Talks on a universal climate pact shifted to a higher gear Monday with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urging governments to set off an ``energy revolution'' to rein in heat-trapping carbon emissions and avert disastrous global warming.Foreign and environment ministers joined the talks outside Paris after lower-level negotiators who met last week delivered a draft agreement with all crunch issues left unresolved.Warning that ``the clock is ticking towards climate cat

SEOUL (Yonhap) – The nation's police chief said Monday they will review diverse measures to arrest the head of a local umbrella labor group as he is unlikely to soon emerge from a major temple where he has taken shelter.Han Sang-gyun, the head of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), is on the wanted list for organizing illegal rallies. He attended a massive anti-government protest that led to a clash with police on Nov. 14 and took refuge in Jogye Temple in downtown Seoul as police b

Bartomeu Mari, former director of the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art, has been appointed to lead the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Wednesday. Mari is the first foreign director to lead the state-run public art museum in Korea. He is currently president of the International Committee for Museums and Collections of Modern Art.  Bartomeu Mari (MMCA)“We expect Mari to help the MMCA to gain a concrete foundation to upgrad

Two legendary filmmakers -- Stanley Kubrick and Philippe Garrel -- are the subjects of museum exhibitions, exploring the film genre as a complex form of art.The Seoul Museum of Art, in partnership with Hyundai Card, is holding a retrospective of American film director Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999), a touring exhibition that began in Frankfurt in 2004. Drawing on the extensive archives from Kubrick’s home and workplace, the exhibition features some 1,000 photographs, shooting schedules, scripts, le

Seoul Design Week 2015, the biggest celebration of creativity and innovation in design, kicks off Wednesday at various spots in Seoul. The second edition of the annual design festival presents more than 10 programs highlighting the unique ideas and products of young designers and entrepreneurs. Programs ranging from exhibitions, sales of design products and lectures by leading designers and entrepreneurs to a late-night networking party for designers and citizens will take place at Dongdaemun De

Lim Seok-je, born in 1918, was one of the first professional photographers in Korea. He shot local life and landscapes with a candid, yet subjective perspective that earned him recognition as a first-generation fine art photographer.  His nephew Lim In-sik, two years younger than him, documented war scenes as a military photographer during the Korean War (1950-1953) and worked as the country’s first aerial photographer. He opened a photo news agency in 1952 and Korea’s first photo gallery in Seo

Stone sculptures had a significant impact on the ordinary lives of people in Korea as symbols of various folk beliefs. One old folk belief had women, hoping to conceive, visit child stone statues and pray for the arrival of a son. Some women even took parts of the stone sculptures home and ground them to eat with water. This caused many women to suffer appendicitis, one of the major causes of death for women during the Joseon era. Stone sculptures that carried different wishes of ordinary people

Making kimchi, or gimjang, has long been an important family ritual for Koreans to prepare for the long and harsh winter. Women in families gather to make kimchi based on recipes passed down from mothers to daughters and daughters-in-law through generations. It is one of the biggest family events after Chuseok and Lunar New Year’s Day, strengthening family ties and tradition. Gimjang often involved more than just family. The whole neighborhood would come together, with villagers helping each oth

For Lee Sun-hee, the sous chef at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill Hotel, making Korea’s favorite side dish, kimchi, is all about science and art.She uses statistical data and historical documents that recorded the cooking techniques of dishes served for Joseon Dynasty royalty to sustain the traditional taste of the hotel’s kimchi.Lee has been making kimchi at the hotel for nearly two decades. Not only does she continuously search for academic papers for new culinary insights, but actually wrote a

Gwangju is seeking to become a cultural hub of Asia as the Asia Culture Center, a mega cultural complex equipped with artistic production facilities, theaters and cultural and educational programs, officially opens Wednesday. In addition to two existing international cultural events -- the Gwangju Biennale and Gwangju Design Biennale -- the center is the latest addition to the city to expand its cultural infrastructure and presence in Asia.  View of the Asia Culture Center in Gwangju (Yonhap)“Th

Dansaekhwa, the Korean genre of monochrome painting, is enjoying rising popularity in the global art market. But only a few dansaekhwa artists are still alive to see their works finally get global recognition. Many of the artists, who mostly produced work from the 1960s to 1980s, have passed away. Those who are still around are mostly in their 80s. Nevertheless, their masterpieces have made dansaekhwa perhaps the fastest growing art movement in the global art world.An ongoing exhibition at Kukje

Korea should be open to accepting foreign museum directors if it wants to expand its global presence in art amid growing competition with China, Japan and India, according to Chris Dercon, the director of London’s Tate Modern. Dercon spoke on Korea’s possible appointment of a foreign director to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, one of the hottest issues in the country’s art circle. “I think it’s very important to open up,” said Dercon, at the reception after the awards ceremon

Four kilometers wide and 240 kilometers long, the Demilitarized Zone serves as a buffer between North and South Korea, which technically remain at war. Heavily fortified with landmines and barbed wire, the strip of land is guarded by millions of soldiers and entrenched artilleries on both sides. The decades-old military tensions, consequently, have made the DMZ one of the world’s best-preserved sanctuaries for thousands of natural species. South Korean artist Choi Jae-eun believes this rich ecos

Nigerian artist Otobong Nkanga received the eighth Yanghyun Prize at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul on Thursday. “I am happy to be here, honored and extremely overwhelmed to receive this prize. And I am very proud to represent my continent and my country Nigeria,” said Nkanga at the award ceremony. “It’s an amazing thing to imagine that my work is recognized in Korea, on the other side in the Eastern part of the world.”  Artist Otobong NkangaNkanga, the first African-born artist to receiv

GENEVA (AFP) – Concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere hit a new high in 2014, the UN said Monday, warning the resulting climate change was moving the world into "uncharted territory".In its annual report on Earth-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the World Meteorological Organization said concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide once again broke records last year."Concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are no

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) – The foreign minister of the Maldives said Monday that a monthlong state of emergency declared by the president last week may be lifted early.Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon said by phone from the Maldives' capital, Male, that the emergency was declared in the face of an unprecedented security threat, but that information from defense officials gives hope that it could be reviewed in the coming days.The decree last Wednesday came after a Sept. 28 blast aboard President Ya