Held just before the Lunar New Year holidays, the 2012 Korea Travel Expo will be offering special gift and travel ideas for visitors, the Korea Tourism Association said.Some 400 local government organizations, travel agencies and related groups are participating in the largest travel expo in Korea, held under the theme “Artistic Landscape of My Country” this year. The Jan. 12-15 event will be held at COEX in Samseong-dong, southeastern Seoul with the opening day broadcast live on TV. Aimed at dr

This year is the best time for shopaholics, K-pop fanatics and foodies to check out Korea, CNN’s travel and culture information site reported, selecting 12 topevents and projects lined up in 2012 to lure overseas travelers. With 2010-2012 designated as “Visit Korea Year,” the country is offering exclusive discounts and promotions designed to make Korea more attractive to tourists. The coupons, train ticket discounts of up to 30 percent, free shuttle buses and hotel deals “won’t wait around forev

Actress Song Hye-kyo has fully funded the publication of a new Korean handbook for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, according to a Korea promotion expert.Song, one of the most popular Korean actresses who also starred in U.S. indie-film “Fetish,” has decided to cover the cost for the production of a new guidebook to help Korean tourists who visit the world-renowned museum, Sungshin Women’s University professor Seo Kyoung-duk said. Seo helped in creating the new booklet which has been on dis

Through active research and promotion activities, Korea will focus on exporting lesser known cultural materials such as animation, cartoon characters and mobile games in 2012, the Korea Creative Content Agency said in a briefing Tuesday. The KCCA, affiliated with the Culture Ministry, plans to spend up to 240 billion won on new projects aimed at enhancing international exchanges and exports, backing new firms, linking business with traditional Korean culture and finding emerging markets, officia

Lee Kyung-kyu reveals panic attack experiencesBehind his boisterous, lively persona hides an anxious man with constant fears of death, sickness and depression; Korea’s top comedian Lee Kyung-kyu said during a Sunday variety show that he suffers from panic disorder.Lee, 52, is one of the most popular entertainers in the country, currently hosting KBS 2TV’s “Qualifications of a Man.” During Sunday’s show, Lee revealed he has been suffering from constant panic attacks for the past year and started

In the shadow of Mount Everest and its magnetic lore, a cross-border route with a grand name, the Great Himalaya Trail, is being touted as an epic, untapped alternative to the bucket-list trek to base camp on the world’s highest mountain.Trekking this trail is an odyssey, not a routine vacation, and even promoters admit that it’s more a theory or consumer product for an untested market than a continuous path. Instead, it’s a web of paths, many unmapped and barely connecting, that meander east to

RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) ― Items as small as a hairpin and as big as a chunk of the Titanic’s hull are among 5,000 artifacts from the world’s most famous shipwreck that are to be auctioned in April, close to the 100th anniversary of the disaster.Nearly a century after the April 15, 1912, sinking of the ocean liner that hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic, a New York City auction is being readied by Guernsey’s Auctioneers & Brokers.That auction house has garnered headlines in the past by selling

BERLIN (AFP) ― A drama set around the French Revolution starring German-born Hollywood actress Diane Kruger as Marie Antoinette will open next month’s Berlin film festival, organisers said Wednesday.“Les Adieux a la reine” (Farewell My Queen) by French director Benoit Jacquot will kick off the 62nd edition of the Berlinale, as the event is known, on Feb. 9, the festival said in a statement.The period drama features Kruger, previously seen in “Inglourious Basterds,” Lea Seydoux, who appeared in l

LOS ANGELES (AFP) ― Singer Mariah Carey asked fans Wednesday to pray for her rap artist and actor husband Nick Cannon after he was admitted to hospital suffering from mild kidney failure.Tweeting a picture of her cuddled up with Cannon in his hospital bed, feeding him a drink through a straw, the Grammy-winning artist said the situation was “serious” but said he was fighting to recover.“Please pray for Nick as he’s fighting to recover from a mild kidney failure,” she said in a Twitter message.Th

LONDON (AP) ― She’s a double Oscar winner with a knack for accents, but Meryl Streep says playing Margaret Thatcher was a challenge ― although her own experience helped her understand the struggles faced by Britain’s first female prime minister.Streep is transformed into the divisive politician who reshaped Britain in “The Iron Lady,’’ which had its European premiere in London on Wednesday, just across the River Thames from the Houses of Parliament.“It was extremely daunting, because I’m from Ne

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Philharmonic has named a new executive director to tackle huge financial shortfalls at the nation‘s oldest orchestra.Orchestra officials announced Wednesday that Matthew VanBesien will succeed Zarin Mehta.The 42-year-old VanBesien is currently the managing director of Australia’s Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. VanBesien started his music career playing French horn for the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.Mehta, brother of conductor Zubin Mehta, will retire at the end

ATLANTA (AP) ― Jimmy Carter may never have been president if he didn’t go square dancing.The Georgia Democrat credits a rural square dance club he joined in 1953 with helping him win a state Senate seat by a scant 66 votes.“If I hadn’t received support from our square-dancing friends, I would have lost and never become a state senator,’’ he wrote in his latest book, “Through the Years with Jimmy Carter.’’ “And if that had occurred, I never would have run for office again.’’Carter has penned 26 d

NEW YORK (AP) -- Producers of a new play inspired by the Jayson Blair plagiarism scandal at The New York Times have found the actor who will play the disgraced ex-journalist.The Atlantic Theater Company said Wednesday that Kobi Libii will play a Blair-like Times reporter in the world premiere of Gabe McKinley‘s play ``CQ/CX.’‘Libii, a Yale graduate and alumnus of Second City in Chicago, was in ``Perfect Harmony’‘ at the Acorn Theatre and ``The Tempest’‘ at the Porpentine Theater.The rest of the

Missouri (AP) ― Eighty years after their Depression-era robbery and murder spree captivated the country, Bonnie and Clyde continue to fascinate crime and history buffs.At least that’s the hope of a Missouri family selling a pair of rare weapons believed to have been seized from the outlaw couple’s Joplin hideout in 1933. The weapons are owned by the great-grandchildren of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, police detective who was given them by a police officer involved in the April 13, 1933 raid. The 45-calibe

NEW YORK (AP) ― Look who’s got a big smile behind his mask on Broadway ― none other than the once-mocked Spider-Man.The Broadway League reported Tuesday that “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark’’ took in a whopping $2,941,790 over nine performances last week, which is the highest single-week gross of any show in Broadway history.The Spider-Man show shatters the old record held by “Wicked,’’ which last January recorded the then-highest one-week take on Broadway with a $2,228,235 haul, though over eigh

Shopping festival for foreign visitors from Jan. 9While K-pop and TV dramas may be the first two things that pop into one’s head at the word “Korea,” a real fan of the country knows that Korea is also a top shopping destination.From Jan. 9 through Feb. 29, Korea is offering a massive shopping festival for overseas visitors looking for a chance to open up their wallets on reasonably priced products, nice food and memorable events. Organized by the Visit Korea Committee, the “2012 Korea Grand Sale

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) ― Online film and television show titan Netflix will make its original programming debut in February with “Lilyhammer,” a “fish-out-of-water story” about a New York mobster starting anew in Norway.Steven Van Zandt, a guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s famed E Street Band, stars as Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano, who enters a federal witness protection to be given a new identity after providing authorities, according to Netflix.“I am very careful with my choices and this project was

ROME (AFP) ― A Japanese businessman has agreed to invest around one million euros ($1.3 million) to restore a 2,000-year-old Roman pyramid in the Italian capital, La Repubblica daily reported this week. Yuzo Yagi, a fashion business owner from Osaka, is due to sign the agreement later this month and work on the pyramid, which was built in 18-12 B.C. as a tomb for a wealthy Roman, Gaius Cestius, is set to start in April, officials said.“His dream is to leave a mark in our country,” Rita Paris, wh

LOS ANGELES (AP) ― The historical epic “War Horse,’’ the Deep South drama “The Help,’’ the silent film “The Artist’’ and the wedding comedy “Bridesmaids’’ are in the running for top honors from the Producers Guild of America.Also nominated Tuesday for the guild’s big film prize are two George Clooney tales: the family drama “The Descendants’’ and the political saga “The Ides of March.’’ Two Paris stories made the cut, the family adventure “Hugo’’ and the romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris.’’Rou

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AP) ― Bonnie Raitt is releasing a new album in 2012, her first in seven years.“Slipstream,’’ out April 10, follows a long break from studio work for the Grammy-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member. She lost her parents, her brother and her best friend.“I hadn’t stopped moving in a very long time, so I really wanted to take a total break and not concentrate on making a new record or what I was going to do next,’’ Raitt said. “So that was really valuable because I waited