The Korea Times

Infinite exude ambience of ordinary

The seven members of K-pop group Infinite appeal to fans with their ordinary boy-next-door looks. After a somewhat lackluster debut in 2010, the group topped the charts with “Be Mine” in 2011 and “The Chaser” in 2012. They not only boast of meticulous dance moves but also high-quality synthesizer pop numbers by noted songwriters. Offstage, Infinite present a joviality common among any men in their early 20s, except for the faint traces of fatigue on their youthful faces. As the demand for K-pop rises both in Korea and overseas, popular singers or groups have been subsisting on two hours of sleep a day as they manage tough schedules. Infinite are no exception and they are glad and thankful to be part of the music scene. They have worked hard in sync with their producer and staff, to reach their nascent but storming popularity. Their hard work has paid off and they have concerts planned in Korea and Japan in the second half of the year. What comes next remains uncertain but the group’s members hope what they have will be Infinite.

Jul 24, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Sports

S-N team eyed for 2018 Olympics

Contacts will be made soon, says PyeongChang organizer By Kim Ji-soo, Jung Min-ho The chief organizer of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics said Sunday that he intends to involve North Korea in the games as much as possible. “We will try to have North Korean athletes train together with our athletes and form a unified team,” said Kim Jin-sun, who leads the organizing committee, during an interview. He said that North Korea helped the city’s third Olympic bid, adding that contact will be made with Pyongyang to discuss Olympic cooperation, without revealing an exact timeline. The 65-year-old former Gangwon Province governor, where the host city is located, said his plan was based on an inter-Korean agreement made when he visited the North in 2006. The two sides also agreed to working-level talks on other measures such as selecting torchbearers, he said. “That spirit of cooperation is still valid.” The head of the organizing committee, also known by its acronym POCOG, aims to make the PyeongChang Games one of peace. However, he ruled out the possibility

Jul 22, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

South Korea

Tear down that old ugly building!

By Kim Ji-soo The construction of the new Seoul City Hall is entering its last stage. An odd sight is the old City Hall dating back to the Japanese colonial era that still stands, partially blocking the view of the new building. Some may want the old building to be demolished soon, but this is unlikely because it is designated as a historic site. Critics question the point of preserving the building, which they say is only a reminder of the Japanese colonial occupation of Korea. They say it is too high a price for Seoul citizens to bear the eyesore created by the sight of the two buildings that are so artistically alien to each other. One Seoul citizen feels like crying out, “Tear down that ugly building!”

Jul 6, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Majority don't like new City Hall

Opinion

Is Yu-na victim of own success?

Heroine skater now under close scrutiny By Kim Ji-soo Is it the envy or something deeper that is triggering the Kim Yu-na sniping? Perhaps Kim is a victim of her own success. The Korean star figure skater was criticized for her beer commercial and accused of putting on a “show” when she did teaching practice. Kim is a senior at the physical education department of Korea University. These criticisms seem to be unfair for an athlete who won the country’s first figure skating gold medal in the Vancouver Olympics, successfully promoted the 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games and staged ice shows in Korea. “People respond differently when heroic icons from the public domain move over to the commercial domain. Once these heroes become a commercial commodity, they tend to resent it and ponder how it will affect them,” said Pak Soon-yong, a professor of anthropology and education at Yonsei University in Seoul. “They tend to see them as facilitating the commercial system. “In the United States, the public is tolerant of sports stars promoting cereals and other products, i

Jun 6, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

Hwang wins gold medal at UK flower show

By Kim Ji-soo Hwang Ji-hae, 35, a Korean environmental artist, won the gold medal at the 2012 Chelsea Flower Show with her work “Quiet Time: DMZ Forbidden Garden.” It’s a repeat performance for Hwang at one of the world’s most prestigious horticultural events. She also won last year with her recreation of a traditional Korean bathroom into a garden, called “Hae-woo-so” or “Emptying One’s Mind.” The event is hosted by the London-based Royal Horticultural Society every May. The artist told The Korea Times before the show that she chose the Demilitarized Zone for her inspiration because its existence reminds of the history of Korea that remains divided following the 1950-1953 Korean War. The buffer cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half and remains one of the most heavily militarized borders in the world. Because of its isolation, the DMZ fosters a number of organisms unique to the area. The work featured three main aspects; a memorial chair, a guard post, and a wire fence. Together these factors created a garden that served as a memorial. “I thank God for this medal

May 23, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Shows & Dramas

Actor who almost has unibrow

By Kim Ji-soo What do Korean actor Song Seung-heon and Robert Pattinson, protagonist in the “Twilight” saga in common? Both of them have good looks that are complimented by their eyebrows. For some fans of the 35-year-old Korean actor, the similarities would go a step further. He never ages as if he were Edward Cullen, the vampire played by Pattinson in the movie adaptations of Stephanie Meyer’s adolescent books. Already in the business for 16 years, he has hopped from one genre to another ― tragedy to comedy. He made his name with “Autumn in My Heart” in 2002. In 2011, he showed his star power yet again with the successful drama “My Princess.” Now, a year after the successful airing of the show on MBC television, Song will return with “Time Slip Dr. Jin,” an adaptation of a Japanese “anime” about time travel. Song is regarded as a member of the Korean quartet, four leading Korean actors who have powered ‘hallyu” or the Korean wave. As cliche goes, it is his good looks that prove to be his limiting factor. Critics say that he still has a long way t

May 15, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

Park Ji-min wins ‘K-pop Star Audition‘

By Kim Ji-soo Park Ji-min, 14, won SBS’ “K-pop Star Audition” on Sunday, becoming the youngest winner of the biggest prize-money in the nation. The singing sensation from Daejeon will also immediately start a collaboration with one of the three major talent agencies of SM Entertainment, YG Entertainment and JYP Entertainment. With her win, she ends a seven-month journey that saw numerous star hopefuls vie through a survival-audition format each week. Park broke into tears immediately after she was announced the winner. “I feel that all the work I have done here in the past seven months has paid off,” she said, sobbing. “I thank my parents and I sincerely thank the three jurors.” She was referring to K-pop superstar BoA, head of YG Entertainment and former member of Seo Taiji and Boys Yang Hyun-suk and Park Jin-young, a pop star in his own right and president of JYP Entertainment, the judges on the program. In Sunday’s final round, the winner sang Korean star Yim Jeong-hee’s “Music is My Life,” and U.K. singer Duffy’s “Mercy.” Runner up Lee Ha-yi, 15, said th

Apr 30, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

South Korea

First lady presents essence of ‘hallyu’ to dignitaries

By Kim Ji-soo First lady Kim Yoon-ok treated the wives of visiting heads of states and world leaders to a taste of “hallyu” or Korean wave shows in the presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae. A total of 15 wives ― Yoo Soon-taek, wife of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and wives of visiting leaders of Gabon, Nigeria, South Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Switzerland, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Italy, Chile, Turkey, Philippines and the European Union ― were invited to a meal and culture shows. In a luncheon titled “Korea’s Spring,” the first lady presented “kimchi-jeon” or kimchi pancake, “nokdu-jeon” or mung-bean pancake, “japchae” or noodles with sauteed vegetables and shredded meat, “sinseollo” or royal hot pot, oriental tea and Korean desserts. The menu was specifically selected by the first lady, the presidential office said. Following the luncheon, ballerina and principal dancer Kim Joo-won of the Korea National Ballet Company reenacted how a 16-layer royal wedding robe was put on. Also, Korean balladeer Sung Si-kyung and popular three-man idol group JYJ performed for t

Mar 27, 2012By Kim Ji-soo

Books

How Ticket Monster came to be

By Kim Ji-soo Social commerce here has grown rapidly and in volume, and it’s expected to reach 500 billion won in transactions this year. The ads by some of the the nation’s leaders in this sector — Coupang, Ticket Monster and We Make Price — are ubiquitous that even at this moment, a segment of their ads may be flowing through a person’s brain. A recently published book about one of the leaders, Ticket Monster, is out, providing an interesting inside look into how five 20-somethings started what is now a flourishing business by gathering a multitude of consumers together to offer them products or services at a huge discount. “We are Ticket Monsters” tells how the five — Shin Hyun-sung or Dan Shin, Shin Seong-yoon or Chris Shin, Kim Dong-hyeon or Tom Kim, Kwon Gi-hyeon and Lee Ji-ho — started out in May 2010 with the idea of offering a coupon on one item a day. In just over a year, the firm grew to its current size of 770 employees and has 3 million members. Also during that time, the firm’s revenue grew from zero to $24 million. The five all le

Nov 4, 2011By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

42nd Traslation Award The judges’ report

This year, once again, the judges have been impressed by the many very notable translations of fiction submitted for the Awards. Although it was surprising to see a limited amount of interest in translating poetry, overall, there were slightly fewer entries than in previous years. This We hope that next year more people will be motivated to enter the contest. We know how many talented younger translators of Korean literature are coming out of the woodwork nowadays. This The Grand Award in fiction has been awarded to the Jung Ye-won’s translation of “A Way of Remembrance” by Jung Young-moon because, as one of the judges put it, “The translator maintains stunning control throughout the piece . . . It is a fine translation.” The story entails the inner monologue of a man who, after finding his lover dead beside him one morning, buries the body in a shallow grave in the garden of her house. The narrative, which could perhaps best be described as surrealist-macabre, focuses on detailed actions, interwoven with isolated memories, taking place in a space completely cut off from

Oct 31, 2011By Kim Ji-soo

Kim Ji-soo

Read more

Infinite exude ambience of ordinary

S-N team eyed for 2018 Olympics

Tear down that old ugly building!

Is Yu-na victim of own success?

Hwang wins gold medal at UK flower show

Actor who almost has unibrow

Park Ji-min wins ‘K-pop Star Audition‘

First lady presents essence of ‘hallyu’ to dignitaries

How Ticket Monster came to be

42nd Traslation Award The judges’ report

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