The Korea Times

Psy picks up 3 at French NRJ Awards

Rapper/singer Psy won three awards at the NRJ Awards 2013 on Saturday in Cannes France.The 36-year-old international sensation won International Song of the Year, Music Video of the Year and a special award for surpassing 1 billion views of the video for “Gangnam Style” on YouTube. He walked the red carpet to a cheering crowd, opening the ceremony with the performance of his mega hit song.Since the soaring popularity of “Gangnam Style,” he was a winner at the 2012 MTV Music Awards last year in Germany and took the New Media Award at the 40th American Music Awards in the United States.

Jan 27, 2013By Kim Ji-soo

South Korea

Women empowered

By Kim Ji-sooPark Geun-hye will take office as the first woman president of Korea on Feb. 25.Park will join a pantheon of women leaders: Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany; Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, president of Argentina; Dilma Rousseff, president of Brazil; Laura Chincilla, president of Costa Rica; Johanna Sigurdadottir, prime minister of Ireland; and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.At the least, her inauguration will hopefully improve the country’s reputation of being a male-dominated society.From a larger perspective, it will open the country up to new opportunities by helping women start on the same footing as men and live up to their true potential.Korea has a long way to go but another giant step is being taken with Park in charge.Women who make up half of the some 50 million Korean population finally seems to have graduated from the kitchen and households to advance to almost every sector in a society dominated by men in the largely Confucian state.However, we are still in the initial stages of women empowerment.Just because the advance of “wom

Jan 4, 2013By Kim Ji-soo

Economy

Dalsigtak

A mirror that shows the interiors of the restaurant                    / Courtesy of DalsigtakBy Kim Ji-sooOne of the seemingly trite but none-the-less grave dilemmas is picking a suitable Korean restaurant when foreign friends visit from overseas. Korean restaurants offer good food in a largely old-fashioned way — loud ambience, open-fire grills and even floor-seating. The sense of “fine dining” has yet to take hold, so the dilemma is always whether to go for the food, or ambience and food that is probably slight more expensive.There are, however, restaurants advancing into hansik dining, one of which is “Dalsigtak,” located just one street behind the main road of Garosugil in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul. Its orange-colored entrance opens the door to a white-walled, wooden-chaired casual ambience. Standing out is a horse statue in the center and the bouquet of light bulbs on the ceiling that serve as lighting.Even on a weekday around 1 p.m., past lunchtime, the restaurant had quite a number of customers d

Dec 23, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Books

Master novelist's writings published posthumously

By Kim Ji-soo A delightful discovery by her daughter ― a stack of writing by the late author Park Wan-suh that was not published ― has materialized into an emotive book, “Things Beautiful in This World.” The late author’s first daughter found the essays which were written after 2000. Among them, 38 were gathered for this book. The renowned novelist whose numerous works include “The Naked Tree,” “That Year the Winter was Warm,” “Are you Still Dreaming?” passed away in 2011 from cancer. Park’s words have always been powerful. In one essay titled “My Experience, My Literature,” she writes how “a good sentence resuscitates the downtrodden senses” and that’s one of the reasons that she spent days to write one right word. This was the compilation of a question and answer session that the author held in 2009 to mark the first anniversary of the death of another renowned author Park Kyung-ni (“Land.”) In an essay titled “A Cute Grandmother,” the author wrote about a 70-something friend who overcame disappointment in her daughter-in-law by reading the first “Harry Potter” book

Oct 5, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

Singer Choi Heon dies of cancer at 64

By Kim Ji-soo Choi Heon, who provided solace with his husky voice in the pan-national song “Odongnip” (Empress Tree Leaves) died Monday from cancer of the esophagus. He was 64. “My father was diagnosed with esophagus cancer last June, which he had been battling since. He had been very passionate about music in his last months,” his son Ho-jun was quoted as saying by Yonhap News Agency. A native of Seongjin from North Korea’s North Hamgyeong Province, Choi founded such groups as He6, Choi Heon and the Black Butterfly, and Swallowtail. In 1977 he struck out as a solo performer and earned great popularity. He was a both a guitarist and vocalist whose best-known songs include “Aengdu (Cherry)” and “You Don’t Know.” He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. The funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.

Sep 10, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Shows & Dramas

Sexy, free and single

By Kim Ji-soo “Every single day try. We’re almost there… Sexy, free & single, all preparations have been made. Sexy, free & single, I’m ready to bingo.” Those are the first lines of Super Junior’s latest hit, “Sexy, Free & Single,” carried on its album released in July. Since their debut in the winter of 2005, the 13-member Super Junior have worked diligently. The group is now down to 10, with Hee Chul serving his military service. “We’re different from J-pop and pop music in China in that we both sing and perform. The singers in China and Taiwan are gradually adapting our style, but our mix of singing and performance is still rare in other countries,” said Lee Tuek, 29, leader of the group. Lee is talking about the “Super Show.” They recently wrapped up their “Super Show 4” with an encore performance in Seoul in late May, after touring Osaka, Taipei, Singapore, Jakarta, Macau, Paris, Shanghai and Tokyo. Their two-day encore performance in Seoul drew some 22,000 people. When they performed at the Tokyo Dome on May 12 and 13, a total of 110,000 Ja

Sep 4, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Shows & Dramas

Super Junior reigns supreme

This is the 11th in a 15-part series on the stars and trends in “hallyu” or Korean wave, which is gaining global popularity in Southeast Asia and Latin America. The Korea Times produces this special project in cooperation with the Korean Foundation and CJ E&M. — ED. By Kim Ji-soo, Rachel Lee Young K-pop fans may have killed for the chance that we’ve had: to walk backstage on M Countdown, a popular cable television music program. Stepping inside Thursday, we saw immaculately-styled Sung Min, a member of Super Junior, whiz by us. Then up ahead, in the room with a paper sign showing the group’s name on the door, there was Shin Dong having his violet-colored hair styled up, as Si Won stepped out and with a manner worthy of a world star said hello to his interviewers. With its 10 members executing dance moves and addictive tunes in perfect unison, Super Junior is topping the charts in Korea, Taiwan and China, and selling out seats in the Tokyo Dome. But that hasn’t stopped the group and its talented members from evolving. When they debuted seven years ago, they were

Sep 4, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

Actor Song remains calm on Japan’s entry denial

By Kim Ji-soo Hallyu actor Song Il-gook responded matter-of-factly to a senior Japanese official’s comment that he may not be allowed to enter Japan. Appearing on a cable network Japanese Senior Vice Foreign Minister Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi said that it’s regrettable but Song may find it difficult to visit Japan in the future because that’s the state of Japanese sentiment right now. Following that comment, Japanese satellite television channels BS Nippon and BS Japan put off airing “Man known as god,” a series starring the 40-year-old actor. “I have nothing to say, except just call out the names of my three sons, Dae-han, Min-guk, Man-se,” Song tweeted Friday. The names put together means “Victory, Republic of Korea.” Song became a father to triplets in March. “Hallyu” or Korean wave remains strong in Japan, even as Japan continues to challenge Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo. The actor took part in singer Kim Jang-hoon’s successful swimming campaign to the Dokdo islets on Aug. 15, amid high tension between the two Koreas. Song has appeared in popular television dramas such

Aug 26, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Sports

Hong writes new history

By Kim Ji-soo Before the Sunday’s match (KST), Korea manager Hong Myung-bo had said that anything could happen in football. That “anything” happened, and what tipped the balance in Team Korea’s favor was the players’ mentality, the 43-year-old said. “Our players had physical issues and I had expected a tense game but they held up better than I expected. I think our players were able to win because they were mentally stronger than the British.” The game was a memorable one for the star player-turned-manager. Hong was captain of the Korean World Cup team that went on to a historic semifinal at the 2002 World Cup Games, jointly hosted by Korea and Japan and quite possibly the best defender to ever hail from Asia. Now as head coach, he has achieved yet another feat in the history of Korean football by leading his side to the semifinal. Football watchers assessed that Hong’s strategy worked on the day. He boldly fielded striker Ji Dong-won of Sunderland in the starting lineup instead of Kim Bo-kyung who recently joined Cardiff City, a move that worked like magic.

Aug 5, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Sports

It’s Olympic time!

By Kim Ji-soo The 2012 London Olympic Games will today officially begin its run through Aug. 12. The city will host over 10,000 athletes from 204 countries. A 374-member Korean contingent is currently in London. Korea aims to earn at least 10 gold medals and aims for a spot in the top 10 rankings. Will swimmer Park Tae-hwan repeat his gold-medal performance of Beijing in the 400 meters? Can vault gymnast Yang Hak-seon bring home the nation’s first gold in gymnastics? Will weightlifter Jang Mi-ran overcome injury to win again? What about Usain Bolt, the world’s fastest man? Which country will win the football gold medal? There are other many questions that we will see answered as the London Games progress. Besides the athletes’ performances, the 2012 Games carries a special meaning for Korea. The 1948 Olympics in the British capital was the first time Korea participated in the quadrennial games since its 1945 liberalization from Japanese colonial rule. At that time, Korea was one of the poorest countries in the world. Now, on its return to the same c

Jul 26, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Kim Ji-soo

Read more