Gimje Horizon Festival The Gimje Horizon Festival takes place in front of the Byeokgoljae Reservoir in Gimje, North Jeolla Province. Themed “sky and land meeting at the horizon,” the festival aims to showcase the uniqueness of South Korea’s farming culture. A variety of programs are available for festivalgoers, including dragon games, rice harvesting, a Black Eagle air show and a parade. This year’s festival will be held online from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3. More information

The new head of the country’s literary translation institute is not one for big catchphrases. “I do not want to use the slogan, ‘the globalization of Korean literature,’” said Kwak Hyo-hwan, the Literature Translation Institute of Korea’s new president, in an interview with The Korea Herald on Tuesday. Rather, he would like to introduce Korean literature as part of global literature. “For this to happen, I feel the need to break existing stereotype o

The ASSITEJ Korea International Summer Festival, a performing arts festival for children and teenagers, will be held around the country for the first time this year. The 23-day event will run July 17-Aug. 8 in major cities, including Seoul, Daegu, Gwangju and Incheon both in-person and virtually. “Quality performances for children are concentrated in the metropolitan area,” Bang Ji-young, chairperson of ASSITEJ Korea, said during a press conference held at Dream Art Center in Seoul

“Guess what came to mind last night when I heard a song at the cafe,” poppin’ dancer Nam Hyun-joon chattered away with gugak singer Park Ae-ri as they prepared for an interview at The Korea Herald’s studio on June 29. The two had arrived together. In fact, they’ve been married already 11 years. Endless conversation, laughing and giggling filled the studio. Nam, 42, appeared in a white T-shirt and a trendy pair of sneakers while Park, two years older, wore an ivory

Geumsan Insam Festival Geumsan Insam Festival is held annually since 1981 in Geumsan-gun, South Chungcheong Province, and is the largest ginseng-producing region in South Korea. Growing both in content and in size, the festival was selected as a cultural tourism festival by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism, and Sports in 1996, and became established as a national festival. This year’s festival will run from Oct. 1-10. Visitors can try their hand at digging up ginseng, and tour around int

Starting in July, the National Library of Korea will support scholars around the globe carrying out research in the field of Korean studies. As part of its visiting scholar program, private research space has been set aside in the library and Korean studies researchers from abroad will enjoy convenient access to its archives. The program’s aim is to support Korean studies researchers not affiliated with any institution here, so that they can focus on their research activities with the na

The 104-minute documentary film on the 2017 murder case of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam has been approved as an art film after reevaluation by the South Korean film authority. The local importers and distributers of the film -- The Coup, Watcha and Kth -- announced Tuesday that the Korean Film Council has officially confirmed the film now qualifies art movie status. “Assassins” had initially been informed of its denial as an art film by KOFIC on

Star chef Paik Jong-won is casting his net yet wider, with a show aimed at introducing Korean cooking to an international audience. “Paik Jong-won Class,” also starring Korean singer Sung Si-kyung, invites “trainees” from across the world to learn Korean recipes. Most of the participants have no culinary background, but the team behind the show hopes they will put their own spin on the dishes, giving Korean viewers new ideas to try out in the kitchen as well as an intr

With international routes slowly opening again to travelers, and nearly one-third of the country’s population having received their first shots of a COVID-19 vaccine, South Korea is no exception in preparations to resume its once-halted tourism industry. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with the Korea Tourism Organization on Monday jointly announced this year’s Korea International Travel Expo, set to kick off Tuesday at Paradise Hotel Incheon and via the expo‘s offi

Unlike most music critics who jump into the world music at a young age, K-pop music critic Cha woo-jin confesses he was not a music lover as a youngster. At home after school, he reached for comics, short stories and movies rather than music. Things changed when he entered his teens. “There was a moment as a teenager when I sensed an earnest desire for music,” he said. Looking back, Cha thinks that spark came when he had grasped the meaning of the long-held definition of music -- m

Being unable to walk into theaters freely in the non-face-to-face era has changed moviegoers’ behavior and boosted streaming platforms such as Netflix and Watcha. But for many, the big screen in a cinema is still the ideal choice. According to movie industry reports on June 26, CGV and Lotte Cinema recently opened drive-in theaters in Incheon and Busan -- the first in South Korea to be operated by large multiplex theater chains with branches throughout the country. The most obvious advan

Hyunjin of K-pop boy band Stray Kids has resumed his activities with the group after taking time out due to accusations that he had bullied a classmate in middle school. The act’s agency, JYP Entertainment, officially announced Saturday that Stray Kids had released a new record, “Mixtape: Oh,” as a whole group including Hyun-jin. In February, a former classmate who did not want his identity made public posted a message online saying he had suffered “severe emotional st

A walking tour has been held in the United Kingdom for locals interested in Korean culture and history. The Korea Tourism Organization, along with the Korean Cultural Center UK, jointly launched a walking tour on Wednesday, to showcase locations and symbolic features in the city that have a connection to Korea. The two-hour tour was designed to reach out to British citizens craving future visits to Korea, while still waiting for the relaunch of cross-border travels following the pandemic.&nbs

Gangwon Romantic Night Train Stargaze A summer stargazing tour to Gangwon Province package from Korail has kicked off, and promises a safe and convenient trip for passengers. The daily tour from KTX begins every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with a minimum of eight people required to register for departure. Prices vary from 66,000 won to 99,000 won per person until Aug. 31. Travel insurance, meals, and other personal allowances are not covered in the package. For information visit www.korailtr

“Did you experience happiness during most of the day yesterday?” A video pops up with a self-reflective question the moment you enter a room with yellow fabric curtains at the exhibit‘s entrance. The special documentary clip from global survey firm Gallup shows how measuring the concept of happiness -- an invisible emotion -- has become possible today. “Our Happy Life” is an exhibition initially launched in Montreal by the Canadian Center for Architecture that ope

South Korean rock band YB, formerly known as Yoon Do-hyun Band, will be featured in legendary US heavy metal band Metallica’s newest album dedicated for charity, scheduled to be released Sept. 10. On Tuesday, YB posted the cover of Metallica’s new album, “The Metallica Blacklist,” on its Instagram account and announced it had participated in the project in February. The upcoming album is a special compilation and reissue to mark the 30th anniversary of Metallica&lsquo

A maritime city on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula, Busan is the country’s second-largest city with a population of some 3.4 million. Since the mid-19th century Busan has served as a gateway for new ideas and exchanges with foreign countries. When the Korean War broke out in 1950, it became a haven for war refugees. The National Folk Museum of Korea’s exhibition “Busan, Gateway to the World,” which opened June 2 as part of the 2021 Year of Busan Folk Culture

 As more and more viewers around the world watch South Korean dramas on streaming platforms, the industry faces critical challenges that must be met if it is to continue to expand overseas. In an era of transnational streaming, cultural sensitivity has become an issue for content creators around the world. Korea is no exception, and Korean dramas have drawn criticism in recent weeks for racial and cultural stereotypes. The producers of two popular SBS TV dramas, “Penthouse 3&rdquo

Demand for travel is back in Korea. Fueled by the government’s recent announcements that travel bubble partnerships with other countries could be in the cards, grounded travel-hungry individuals are anticipating a return of quarantine-free holidays. So are businesses in the tourism industry that have been hit hard by a bruising pandemic since early 2020. A leading Korean travel agency which offered a Europe vacation package on a TV shopping channel on June 16 saw some 52,000 people bo

Yeowoorak Festival, an annual gugak, or traditional Korean music, event, will return to the National Theater of Korea from July 2 to 24, after being held online last year. Now in its 12th year, the festival has established itself as a grounds for new experiments in gugak. And this year, the festival breaks away from having an artistic director and music director, and instead appointed a creative director to head the festival. Park Woo-jae, an acclaimed geomungo player was named as this year&rs