The Korea Times

Korean double bassist wins 2nd place at Bradetich

By Kim Ji-soo Staff reporter A 26-year-old South Korean double bassist was awarded the silver medal at the inaugural Bradetich Foundation International Double Bass Solo Competition. Daegu native Kim Nam-gyun took second place, winning $5,000 in cash. The event was held Sunday at the University of North Texas (UNT). Artem Chirkov of Russia came first, taking home $10,000 and a New York debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. Rex Surany of the United States won the $2,500 third-place prize. The top three prizewinners also earned CD recordings and distribution deals, concerts and master class engagements throughout the U.S. and abroad, as well as four years of career development. Tian Yang Liu, a UNT student pursuing an artist certificate and master’s degree, got an honorable mention and was named the favorite of the voting audience. Kim is currently pursuing a Meister Klasse at the Hochschule for Music in Munich. He is studying with Heinrich Braun at the institute. He has been invited to perform with the Berlin Philharmonic, Frankfurter Symphony and Stuttgart

Jun 23, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

People & Events

Daniel Henney returns to small screen

By Kim Ji-soo Staff reporter Actor Daniel Henney will return to the small screen for the first time in four years, to appear in a spy-action thriller starring K-pop star Rain. Henney will play a shipping tycoon who falls in love with Jinny, to be played by top actress Lee Na-young. Lee is the female lead in the drama “Domangja s1. Plan B” (working title). She gets tangled up with the fugitive Jiwoo, to be played by Rain. The drama is also a longawaited return to the small screen for both Rain and Lee. Producer Kwak Jeong-hwan and writer Cheon Seong-il are behind the new series, which will be filmed in various cities, including Seoul, Busan, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong and the plot centers around chasing a fugitive. “Domangja” means fugitive in Korean. The drama is expected to start airing on KBS in September. Since first debuting on the Korean small screen in the wildly popular drama “My Lovely Samsoon,” Henney has branched out to Hollywood. He has starred in “X-Men Origins: Wolverines” and the American CBS drama “Three Rivers.”

Jun 21, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Travel & Food

Squid with Hot and Sweet Vinaigrette

Can be pierced with toothpicks and served as cocktail hors d’oeuvre. INGREDIENTS (serves 4) 3 medium SQUID (1 lb/455 g), the body tube opened and skin peeled 1 1/2 cup WHITE WINE ``CHOGOCHUJANG” (Hot and Sweet Vinaigrette): see Chamchi Whe p. 16 1 Prepare Chogochujang (Hot and Sweet Vinaigrette). 2 Put the squid on a cutting board with the inner side facing up. Using a sharp boning knife, score the skin lightly (do not cut through) ¹?8” apart in a criss-cross pattern. 3 Cut the squid in half lengthwise, trim off the uneven edges and cut the squid into ½”/1.3 cm strips. 4 In a medium pot, bring the wine to a boil. Add the squid, stir and cook for a minute or until it starts curling up. Drain and let cool. Serve with the sauce. This is an excerpt from “Korean Cuisine: Healthy Food, Full of Flavor,” (Yekyong Publishing, 224 pp., 28,000 won). The book is on sale at major bookstores such as Kyobo Bookstore, Youngpoong Bookstore and Bandi & Luni’s. - ED.

Jun 17, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Shows & Dramas

Another top-star couple?

Korean pop sensation and singer Rain, and actress Jeon Ji-hyun are dating, Sports Seoul reported Thursday. Both Jeon's and Rain's agencies have denied the report. ``Rain's acquaintances are unaware of any romance between the two,’’ said Rain's J-Tune Entertainment. They have been dating since last October, the report said. The report added that the two made painstaking efforts to not appear as a couple, and mainly saw each other at Jeon’s apartment in Samseong-dong, southern Seoul. The report was accompanied by photographs showing Rain's vehicle entering Jeon's apartment building on multiple occasions, including the night before he left for the U.S. to attend the MTV Movie Awards on June 2. Jeon's apartment, a high-rise, is only three minutes from the apartment complex Rain lives in. Sports Seoul also claims the couple has a matching ring and bracelet by Cartier.

Jun 10, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

Its time to talk

By Kim Ji-soo Staff reporter Red, the color of the Red Devils fan squad for the Korean football team is replacing the verdant green nationwide. The national squad plays its first match Saturday against Greece in South Africa. The streets of Seoul are awash with flashes of red as red shirts, red cheering mufflers, red bandannas and whatnot appear. On television, images, particularly product commercials have all become red. The now famous image of the Red Devils filling up Seoul Plaza during the 2002 South Korea-Japan World Cup games is omnipresent, heightening the anticipation for the world's soccer festival. All in all, it's a nice complement to the thickening summer greenery. Before the Red Devils amassed in 2002, I largely associated such a massive clump of red as negative. Like the congregation of North Koreans in their capital on special occasions there. No doubt it was the remnant of years of "red scares" drilled in to me during my grade school years in the 1970s and1980s. But the Red Devils' use of the color was about play and festivities, in the very place

Jun 9, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Books

Book offers global perspectives of Korea

By Kim Ji-soo Staff reporter The names of the writers of the essays in this book are big enough to make the reader grab it to see what they have to say about Korea and its outlook a decade later. With a preface from Dominic Barton, managing director of McKinsey & Company and an overview from Michael Schuman, a correspondent for Time, the book provides a look at the succinct but sharp challenges that Korea has to face from writers ranging from Stephen S. Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley; Sharon Lim, vice president of Research at Morgan Stanley Asia; Joseph S. Nye Jr., political science professor at Harvard University; to Guy Sorman, French scholar and presidential adviser to President Lee Myung-bak. Largely divided into the themes of economic competitiveness, Korea's place in the world, and technology and society, the writers largely urge more openness for the local economy as well as society, and more higher-end investment in research and development (R&D). Roach and Lim specifically stress that Korea must continue to investment in R&D, revamp the services sector and promote

Jun 4, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Travel & Food

Jellyfish salad Haepari nengche

By Kim Yong-ja It is amazing how our ancestors made a dish out of this. It is important to soak the jellyfish strips in sugar and vinegar water to get rid of the slightly rubbery smell. Good quality imitation crab meat can be shredded fine, which works very well in this dish. You need to start the preparation of jellyfish a day in advance. INGREDIENTS (serves 4) • 1 lb/455g SALTED JELLYFISH, • 10 oz/285g after washing • 1 1/2 cups WATER • 1/4 cup SUGAR • 3 tablespoons RICE VINEGAR (or white wine vinegar) • 1 dozen medium SHRIMP, washed with shells • 1 1/2 cup WHITE WINE • 4 oz/113g IMITATION CRAB MEAT, defrosted and shredded • 1 GARLIC CLOVE, crushed a handful of SALAD GREES • 1 small CUCUMBER, cut into 2"/5cm lengthwise and cut into fine strips • 1/2 ASIAN PEAR, cut into fine strips • 1 1/2tablespoons SESAME OIL • A dash of LEMON JUICE 1/3 ³teaspoon SALT • MUSTARD PASTE: 4 tablespoons MUSTARD POWDER (or wasabi) 4 tablespoons WATER o 1 Wash the salted jellyfish with warm

Jun 3, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

May Musings

By Kim Ji-soo Culture Editor May is a favorite month of mine. The verdure or "sillok" in Korean that the month brings along relaxes the eye and pleases the soul. It's undeniably the most pleasant month of the year, I must say. Brides are all beautiful but the May bride is often cited as the most becoming. During this beautiful month, I had the chance to revisit an experience; or rather go see one of my favorite artists, violinist Chung Kyung-wha. She returned to Korea to perform after a finger injury forced her to cancel a concert in Seoul five years ago. The first time I encountered this vibrant lady was before the new century in the late 1990s. It was a concert in Seoul. Chung, who is 62 this year, must have been in her 40s then. I wasn't much of a music fan at the time, but once she got on the stage in a flaming red gown and started playing, I was forced to lean forward and watch and listen. It was some pre-summer night in Seoul, and the concert hall in southern Seoul was crowded. Without much accompaniment, she captured the audience with her performance marked by

May 19, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Opinion

The Color of Money

By Kim Ji-soo Staff Reporter The dollar is sometimes referred to as the greenback. The Korean won, in casual parlance, is known as ``baechu'' (Chinese cabbage) for its 10,000-won note is colored green. But the color, the hues and the characteristics of money seem to vary these days, more so in light of recent news and sightings. There is a popular food stall in downtown Seoul that sells ``tteokbokki," deep-friend snacks and ``sundae'' (Korean blood sausage). It's so popular the cook and owner has no time to rest. He's constantly refilling his tteokbokki grill with new rice cakes, and dipping fresh dough into the wok to give customers what they want. He works nonstop; he has no time to exhale. His face displays the characteristics of his money: red, hot and honest. As for me, after a day's work, I often find red or black ink used for marking corrections on dummy sheets on my fingers and wrists. The irregular pattern of red and black dots is the color of my money. One of the closest things to modern people is their bodies, says renowned author Lee O-young in his lates

Apr 28, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Travel & Food

Shredded Beef With Green Chilies in Soy Sauce

By Kim Yong-ja The sauce is delicious to drizzle on rice. INGREDIENTS (serves 4) • 12 oz/ 340g BEEF (skirt steak) • 1/2 cup SOY SAUCE • 1 teaspoon SUGAR • 2 GARLIC CLOVES • 2 medium ``PUTGOCHU'' (green chili), cut diagonally 1 Cover the beef with water in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove the brownish bubbles accumulating on the surface. Cook until most of the water evaporates (approximately 50 minutes). 2 Add soy sauce, sugar and garlic and simmer for 20 minutes more. Halfway through cooking with soy sauce, add putgochu (green chili). 3 Remove from heat and let cool. Shred the beef before serving with a bit of sauce and the green chili.

Apr 15, 2010By Kim Ji-soo

Kim Ji-soo

Read more

Korean double bassist wins 2nd place at Bradetich

Daniel Henney returns to small screen

Squid with Hot and Sweet Vinaigrette

Another top-star couple?

Its time to talk

Book offers global perspectives of Korea

Jellyfish salad Haepari nengche

May Musings

The Color of Money

Shredded Beef With Green Chilies in Soy Sauce

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