The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced on Friday that the National Assembly passed a third extra budget of 346.9 billion won ($289.4 million) to support the cultural industry that has been suffering financially due to the spread of COVID-19. The ministry added that the amount increased by 7 billion won from 339.9 billion won, the initial budget plan it had submitted on June 3. The National Assembly has approved the Culture Ministry’s project plans for increasing jobs and

Culture Station Seoul 284 will unveil the “New Discovery of Travel” exhibition online on Wednesday at 8 p.m. Audiences can enjoy the online content during the “2020 Special Travel Week” which runs from July 1 through July 19 on Culture Station Seoul 284’s YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/seoul284official). The exhibition is themed around the question of “Why do we travel?” It was originally scheduled to run from June 23 to Aug. 8, but the opening wa

The Cultural Heritage Administration on Thursday unveiled the “Goryeo Lacquered Box Inlaid with Mother-of-pearl Chrysanthemum and Scroll Design” previously held in Japan at the National Palace Museum of Korea. The artifact was returned to Korea in December last year. “Mother-of-pearl lacquerware with our 1,000-year history has returned. This artifact is our cultural heritage that contains our DNA,” head of CHA Chung Jae-suk said during a press conference held Thursday.

The Korean Academic Society for Public Relations on Wednesday held a symposium to discuss promoting Korean culture in the post COVID-19 era. The event was sponsored by the Korean Culture and Information Service. “Next year is the 50th anniversary of the establishment of KOCIS. It is meaningful to have discussions like this at this time,” said Choi Yoon-hee, second vice minister of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. During the talk, Eulji University’s public rela

Staff of the Royal Palaces and Tomb Center’s Gyeongbokgung Palace Management Office clean the interior of Gyeongbokgung’s main hall, Geunjeongjeon, on Monday. The Joseon-period palace is closed to visitors due to the spread of COVID-19. By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)

Experts on Korea and Japan relations, novelist Han Su-san and political science professor Yuji Hosaka on Monday discussed the issue of Japan breaching its promise to honor forced laborers at historic industrial sites, including Hashima Island. Hosaka is currently a political science professor at Sejong University and Han is a well-known author whose works include “Crow” and “Hashima Island,” novels based on the true stories of forced laborers during the 1910-45 Japanes

National Museum of Korea on Thursday opened a special exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War titled “The Museum & The War.” “Through this exhibition, visitors can find out the role of the National Museum of Korea and how some of the cultural heritage were damaged during the wartime,” said Choi Seon-ju, head of curatorial affairs office at the National Museum of Korea, during a press conference Friday held ahead of its opening. The exhibition is la

The summer 2020 issue of quarterly magazine Koreana: Korean Culture & Arts presents a series of special features under the theme of “Before K-pop: Popular Music since the Korean War.” “This year is the 70th the anniversary of the Korean War and since Koreana is about culture and art we wanted to cover a related topic,” Koreana Editor-in-Chief Lee Kyong-hee told The Korea Herald. Lee added that Koreana did not want to do a feature series about topics that have been

Kim Dong-gi, ambassador and permanent delegate of the Republic of Korea to UNESCO, criticized Japan on Thursday for not keeping its promise to honor the victims of wartime forced labor at its historic industrial sites, including Hashima Island. “Japan is not living up to the pledge that it made and also is disregarding the authority of the World Heritage Committee,” Kim said during a press conference in Paris. Kim added that Japan’s actions were harming its national image.

Korea National University of Cultural Heritage’s traditional arts and crafts professor Sim Yeon-ok has published a book, titled “2,000 Years of Korean Embroidery,” which offers historical analyses on the technical development of Korean embroidery, in collaboration with her students. Established in 2000, the Korea National University of Cultural Heritage is run by the Cultural Heritage Administration. The book presents 48 historic embroidery works from the ancient kingdoms p

Cultural Heritage Administration head Chung Jae-suk on Monday talked about her ambition to play a more active role in promoting Korean cultural heritage around the world. “The CHA’s role has been restricted to preserving cultural heritage. Even now this role accounts for a large part of our work, up to 70-80 percent of our budget. I understand the importance of preserving cultural heritage but from now on we have to also consider how we will promote these items,” Chung said

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism on Sunday denied reports that it had planned to officially ask UNESCO to delist Japan’s historical industrial sites, including Hashima Island. In 2015, Japan had promised the center would include information on the Koreans who were forced to work at the site during that country’s 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea. Although it denied plans to take any immediate official action, the Culture Ministry added that it was currently discussing th

K-pop powerhouses on Friday participated in a roundtable meeting with Culture Minister Park Yang-woo, discussing the financial difficulties they face due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19. The meeting, hosted by the Culture Ministry, in addition to listening to the challenges entertainment companies face, was intended to set the agenda for expanding the Korean Wave in the post-coronavirus era. Eight senior executives of K-pop companies including S.M. Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, Big Hit

The Cultural Heritage Administration will hold an offline in-person performance to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War. While many events and concerts to mark the war here are set to take place online due to the ongoing spread of COVID-19, the CHA will hold the offline concert at its National Intangible Heritage Center’s concert hall in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, on June 24. This performance’s main theme will be about Koreans coming together and becoming united throu

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced Monday that its affiliated institutions will hold several events to mark the 70th anniversary of the war that began on June 25, 1950, when North Korea invaded the South. The National Theater of Korea on Wednesday will hold a concert at Lotte Concert Hall and perform music about war and peace to mark the special day from 8 p.m. Due to the COVID-19, the concert will be held without audiences and will air the performance through the online ch

Music concert hall operator Stradeum announced Thursday that it will hold the “Stage 30” concert series from June 16 to July 10 jointly with performance-planning company United Producers. The Stradeum, a 100-seat venue, will only seat 30 concertgoers to comply with social distancing guidelines. Stradeum added that everyone in the audience must go through temperature checks and wear masks. “This concert is part of the musician’s process to find ways to meet with audienc

Concerns of the publishing industry and local offline bookstore owners are rising, as Interpark Songin, a retailer to small and medium-sized bookstores, announced Tuesday that it has filed for court receivership due to mounting losses. In 2017, e-commerce platform operator Interpark acquired a 56.2 percent stake in the book retailer, which at the time was under court receivership, for 4 billion won ($3.36 million). Interpark said that it has since been working hard to normalize the business

The Cultural Heritage Administration on Tuesday announced the discovery of two articles of stoneware from the Paleolithic Age and other relics in Daeseong-dong of Paju, Gyeonggi Province. This was CHA’s first survey inside the Demilitarized Zone since drawing up a plan in March to seek UNESCO listing of the DMZ. “It is hard to say that the findings will have a direct influence on UNESCO listing,” CHA official Cho Eun-kyung told The Korea Herald. “The UNESCO makes eval

The Korean Culture and Information Service and the Culture Ministry announced Tuesday that the 2020 “Nonjangpan” competition for students interested in the liberal arts was starting. South Korean students and foreign students living in Korea are invited to submit applications by June 28. The competition aims to cultivate in-depth and broad understanding of Korean culture by encouraging participants to create content using traditional music. “Ongojisin,” a Korean prov

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism announced the launch of a new department to support the Korean Wave’s further expansion on Tuesday. “We are still working on the details related to the new department, including its English name,” a Culture Ministry official from the Planning and Coordination Office, Shim Min-seok, told The Korea Herald on Monday. The new department, which is under the ministry’s Content Policy Bureau, will have nine members. “We were