Korean aid agency builds infrastructure for water supply, waste management for improved lives, economic developmentThis is the sixth installment of a series of articles introducing programs and activities of the Korea International Cooperation Agency, a state-run organization for overseas assistance and humanitarian aid. ― Ed.ULAANBAATAR ― Korea’s state aid agency is leading projects in Mongolia to combat environmental problems such as water shortages, desertification and mining dangers, major h

When major sports brands opened registration for their marathon events earlier this month, some saw their websites crash as thousands of people tried to register online at once. New Balance increased the number of participants for its 2012 New Race, scheduled for June 10, from 5,000 last year to 15,000 this year in response to the growing popularity of marathons in the country. When this week’s nike Women’s 7K Race opened registration last month, its 7,000 places were quickly filled, closing reg

The hotel presents “Summertime Stay” package from June 1-22 for those who want to enjoy the early summer season. The package, which includes a one-night stay at Deluxe room, ice cream and dining at the restaurant The View is priced at 170,000 won, excluding tax and service charges.The package including draft beer with nachos or French fries at the European restaurant CLOCK 16 is 190,000 won.Customers will also be offered Greek organic cosmetic trial kit KORESS, a 10 percent discount for eat-in a

There’s a museum with something for everyone in Victoria, B.C., from evocative exhibits of native history to tea and croquet on the lawn of a 19th-century home-turned-museum.Here’s a sampling:Royal BC MuseumThis don’t-miss museum, the city’s biggest, has a world-class First Nations gallery (with ceremonial masks, totem poles and more artifacts of British Columbia’s native groups); natural-history galleries with lush sea and forest dioramas; and a child-pleasing reconstruction of a 19th-century t

EL ORIENTE, Ecuador ― This is one rain forest the world has saved.After donors around the globe pledged $116 million by the December 2011 deadline to prevent oil drilling in the biologically fragile Yasuni National Park, the Ecuadorian government agreed to leave it alone for now.There will be no roads, drilling or pipelines this year.Instead, tourists can continue to witness the damp glory of the region’s tangled forests and the riotous color of even the smallest frog and butterfly.“Everyone on

K-pop singers held a concert near Google’s headquarters in Mountain View in California earlier this week to celebrate a content-sharing deal between MBC and YouTube. The concert marked the partnership between the Korean broadcaster and the world’s biggest video-sharing site, which was signed in October last year. The concert was broadcast live on YouTube Presents, an Internet-live music and performance broadcasting platform, as well as on the MBC K-pop channel on YouTube, according to MBC. Major

 Artist highlights writers’ artistic agonies and sufferings mixed with his ownThe multi-talented British artist Billy Childish sheds new light on two prominent Korean writers of Korea’s modern literature, Yi Kwang-su and Yi Sang, at his first exhibition in Seoul. “I wanted to make some paintings that related directly to the people who would be coming to see the exhibition,” Childish said at the opening event for his exhibition “Strange Bravery” in Seoul on May 11.Studying the two writers’ litera

Members of the K-pop boy band 2PM and girl group miss A will participate in a tour program designed to promote Korean culture to foreign K-pop fans in June, Korea Tourism Organization said on Tuesday. Serving as goodwill ambassadors to the state-run travel agency, members of the two groups will accompany groups of foreign fans of K-pop selected through a video contest in May. The odds of getting selected were 310-to-1, KTO said. The program will invite seven winners of the contest and eight cand

A travel booklet illustrating Korean culture won a design award in the United States earlier this month. The Korea Tourism Organization’s booklet featuring photos introducing the charms of Korea received a gold medal in the travel brochure category of the ASTRID Design Excellence Awards, the tourism organization said on Monday. The annual awards, founded in 1987, recognize companies and government agencies that have achieved higher standards of quality in design and communication in fields rangi

Photo exhibition gives views of the capital from colonial times to 1960Photos showcasing the most turbulent times in modern Korea are on public display at Seoul Museum of History.The photo exhibition “Seoul in Turbulence: As Seen by the AP” features vivid images taken by the Associated Press during the tumultuous days of Japanese colonial rule and the Korean War to the April 19 revolution, the nation’s first upheaval for democracy.While government censorship was imposed on domestic media, the fo

Suncheon, a scenic city in South Jeolla Province, will host an environmental festival next week. The Suncheon EcoGeo Festival will feature a variety of events ― music, arts and family activities ― along with some nature-themed events intended to raise environmental awareness. Suncheon is globally recognized for its ecological value with its wetland Suncheon Bay, home to migratory birds and species like mudskippers and mud crabs. The weekend festival, which runs from May 25-27, also aims to attra

HONG KONG ― India has the Taj Mahal. In France, of course, it’s the Eiffel Tower. Russia has Red Square and South Africa has Cape Town’s Table Mountain. Each a treasure, and each reason enough for a pilgrimage.In Hong Kong, the sight to see is not a single monument or even a majestic natural vista. It is the city’s glittering homage to the modern skyscraper ― a breathtaking skyline with verdant Victoria Peak as the picture-postcard backdrop.Still, when I arrived in Hong Kong for a long weekend l

 Veteran designer Lie Sang-bong: Collective power of fashion houses is more important than promoting top namesA veteran designer has taken on the challenge of unifying fashion designers here as part of an effort to connect different generations in the industry. “It’s about time. We have been talking about unifying the fashion sector since last year. Each designer has a role to play in the development of Korean fashion, but till now there has been no platform that allows us to play that role,” sa

An overwhelming majority of Korean CEOs said Korean popular culture has had a positive effect on their overseas business, a survey showed. But far fewer businessmen said they were willing to invest in promoting it further. The survey of 100 corporate CEOs conducted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Foundation for International Culture Exchange showed 95 percent of the respondents saying that the Korean Wave, or “hallyu,” contributed to promoting business abroad. In con

HEXHAM, England ― A bone-chilling rain swept over the moors on the October day we hiked to the top of the ruins of Hadrian’s Wall, a few miles south of the Scottish border.Gusts of wind, scouring the tumble-down ruins of the Second Century Roman barracks built on the summit drove most sensible people indoors. But the dark clouds and lowering sky, pelting the armory, shrine and sleeping quarters with rain, set the mood as nothing else could have done. Shivering in my summer-weight parka ― a last-

LONDON ― Between the Olympics and a certain queen’s Diamond Jubilee, expect plenty of airport delays here this summer. That could mean napping with the masses in the vast open seating areas of Heathrow.But here’s a tip. Tucked away in Terminal 4 is a futuristic little place called the Yotel, where for as little as 32 pounds, or $51, for a single, you can grab a few hours of blissful shut-eye and a hot shower in something that looks like a deluxe cabin on a federation starship.My wife and I flew

Paintings from the cultural golden age of Joseon will go on public display at the Kansong Art Museum starting Sunday. It will be the first exhibition this year for the museum, a treasure trove of artwork including more than 10 National Treasures, which also marks the 50th anniversary of the death of its founder Jeon Hyeong-pil. Named after Jeon’s pen name, the museum holds only two exhibitions a year, each free of charge and lasting two weeks. The doors and the windows at this venerable institut

Quartet describes the album as ‘buffet’ of different genresUlala Session, the winner of the nation’s famous TV audition program “Superstar K3,” has made their professional debut with their first mini album on Thursday.  “We are so overwhelmed by the release of our debut album. The mini album is the start of our journey in our music career,” said the group’s leader Yim Yoon-taek at a news conference on Wednesday. The quartet, which consists of Yim, Kim Myung-hoon, Park Seung-il and Park Kwang-sun

Photographer captures anxiety of soldiers standing in the middle between ‘we’ and ‘I’One photographer, well-known for portraits capturing the anxiety in individuals, had never taken portraits of men as they are not good at revealing their inner selves. But captivated by the instability and anxiety he saw in young soldiers, Oh Hein-kuhn began to document them as “middlemen” who are isolated from the outside world and caught in the middle of conflicts between the individual and the collective in t

Experts question legitimacy of ownership on valuable text on Korean alphabetThe legal owner of the missing text of Korea’s writing system Hangeul handed over ownership to the government on Monday.The state-run Cultural Heritage Administration said it hoped the ownership transfer could lead to a breakthrough in finding the missing piece as officials need to have the full rights to investigate without getting consent from the owner. “I decided to donate my ownership of Hunminjeongeum to retrieve t