The Korea Times

Working with Jasmine

Boris Ondo, left, from Gabon, and Evan Trotzuk, from the United States, are working as interns for Rep. Jasmine Lee. / Korea TimesBy Park Jin-hai Rep. Jasmine LeeRep. Jasmine Lee of the ruling Saenuri Party is the first lawmaker among naturalized immigrants.Lee has now hired two foreign interns.Evan Trotzuk, 16, is an American high school student from Manhattan, New York. Boris Ondo, 24, is a Gabonese graduate student at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.They come in addition to a naturalized Mongolian secretary.  Ondo, who is on a Korean government's five-year scholarship, studies political science and diplomacy. He has been on an internship from June 27 and will stay through Aug. 30.Ondo and Trotzuk help out researching on other countries' immigration and domestic violence-related laws through research and policy papers and news reports on the Web.“For interracial marriages, the paper works and mandatory educational programs each government requires are different. For instance, some governments ask for fees for interracial marriages, while others don’t. I s

Jul 15, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

'We Koreans need to change'

Street signs and boards in different languages grace districts in the “Borderless Village” in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Korea Times photos by Park Jin-haiLeading advocate says migrants are 'not tools'By Park Jin-haiThe “godfather” of migrants says that the country's multiculturalism policies so far have been misguided, and it’s time to change the mindset of the majority."If there exists prejudice and discrimination against minorities, policies should give more attention to the majority to educate them and change their perception toward ethnic minorities. Because, minorities will anyhow try their best to adapt to the society,” said Park Chun-ung, 52, who is leading the Ansan Multicultural Center (AMC) in Gyeonggi Province.Park, a pastor and activist, will work with fellow experts on analyzing how the media portrays ethnic minorities. He and 49 other critics who have either studied multiculturalism or have worked in relevant professions at least three years in May launched a multicultural critics association to that end. “The government ha

Jul 11, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

Korean class offered to Singaporean tourism professionals

Participants of “Korean Language Training Course,” pose after the opening ceremony on Tuesday at the Singapore Tourism Board (STB)’s headquarters. Chung Hae-moon, eighth from left in the first row, secretary general of ASEAN-Korea Center, Leong Yue Kheong, seventh from left, assistant chief executive of STB, and Kim Wan-joong, ninth from left, minister of KoreanEmbassy to Singapore. /  Courtesy of ASEAN-Korea CenterBy Park Jin-haiThe ASEAN-Korea Centre has announced that it will provide Korean language program to Singaporeans in the hospitality and tourism businesses.The center, together with the Singapore Tourism Board, has organized a “Korean Language Training Course” program between July 9 and Sept. 17 at the Board’s Training Centre in Singapore.“ASEAN is the most visited region by Koreans. We hope that the program will further invigorate people-to-people exchange, an important pillar in building connectivity,” Chung Hae-moon, Secretary General of the Center, said at the opening ceremony, at the Singapore Tourism Board

Jul 11, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Korean class offered to Singaporean tourism professionals

Shows & Dramas

More K-pop stars looking overseas

Fans of girl group KARA are more likely to see the performance on a Japanese stage as the five members have focused largely on the Japanese stage, wherein lies the bigger profit in music.  / Korea Times fileForeign markets emerging as bigger sources of incomeBy Park Jin-haiAs more K-pop stars surf the commercial success of the “hallyu” or Korean wave, the money they are making from sales abroad is rising significantly too. Two-member boy band TVXQ’s Japan Tour in the former half of this year sold tickets worth 100 billion won, gathering 880,000 fans throughout 26 performances. Also, Big Bang's world tour in the United States, Europe and Asia, has been seen by over 800,000 fans.One thing that is common from those stars is that they all ventured into overseas market on the firm foundation of domestic popularity. Girls’ Generation and 2NE1 are no exceptions.However, the new generation K-pop stars take another route. They   either start their careers away from home or expand their overseas fan base without a matching domestic rise in popul

Jul 8, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

Detailed, fluent content key to Hallyu

The manga section in a French book store is shown in this file photo. Japanese manga are popular among youngsters and many manga fans have transformed into K-pop fans, after they stumbled onto K-dramas that portray the same values as the original manga.Professor calls for incubation effort in bookProfessor Hong Seok-kyeong of Seoul National UniversityThe cover of Hong’s book “Hallyu in Globalization and Digital Culture Era.” The image features such names of K-pop stars asSHINee on a school bench at Magendie High school in Bordeaux, France./ Courtesy of Hong Seok-kyeongBy Park Jin-haiThe “unexpected” has the power to lure and that is the interesting part of the success of “hallyu” or the Korean wave.That’s how Hong Seok-kyeong, 50, a professor at the Department of Communication of Seoul National University (SNU), starts her book on the popularity of the genre. She says that nobody really expected it to be popular as its content was produced for the local market, unlike the Hong Kong popular culture that had a vast Chinese-speaking audien

Jul 4, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

Nigerian journalist urges literature exchanges

Jerry Adesewo, freelance journalist and CEO of Arojah Concepts, talks about bilateral exchanges between Nigeria and South Korea in an interview at The Korea Times office in Seodamun-gu, Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Park Jin-haiJerry Adesewo was a Nigerian journalist covering the opening of the Korean Cultural Center in Nigeria when he discovered the beauty of Korea. Since making that discovery, he has become a Korea expert promoting bilateral cultural exchanges.“Korea and Nigeria are similar in that we have a rich cultural history, both intangible and tangible, and that is why we connect,” Jerry Adesewo told The Korea Times in an interview held Monday in Seoul. Now a freelance journalist and CEO of Arojah Concepts, the 37-year-old was on a 10-day visit from June 23 to July 2, upon the invitation of the Korea Culture and Information Service(KCIS)."Apart from India, Korea is the first Asian country whose dramas enjoyed such popularity. It was shown on Sundays and people wanted to skip church. That was my case, too. So later they changed the timing

Jul 3, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Nigerian journalist urges literature exchanges

Politics

Activist urges people to visit Dokdo

Seo Kyoung-duk, a professor at Sungshin Women’s University and a veteran “Dokdo” advocate, stands before the national flag at the Independence Hall of Korea, where he launched the “Dokdo School,” in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.Advocates campaign to encourage learning about islets  This is the last of a five-part series on major issues between Korea and Japan. — ED.An ad titled “CONNECT” that also appeared on the New YorkTimes, on March 1, 2012, asks people to match the nationalflags of the United States, Italy, Korea and Indonesia withDokdo, Hawaii, Bali and Sicily. Seo Kyoung-duk twitted thecarrying of the ad and asked twitter users to tweet inacknowledgement.By Park Jin-haiEvery year, a familiar chain of events involving Korea and Japan occurs.A small band of Japanese right-wing politicians visit the Yasukuni Shine, where Japan’s war dead, including war criminals, are buried, and claim that Japan has sovereignty over Korea’s easternmost rocky islets of Dokdo.Some of these politicians attempt to visit the

Jul 1, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

First Asian slow food festival to be held in October

Visitors sample Korean foods in Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre, an international slow food festival held in Bra, Italy, in 2012. Namyangju City will host the first Asian slow food festival in October./ Courtesy of the Organizing Committee of Asio GustoBy Park Jin-haiThe first slow food festival in the Asia and Oceania region will kick off in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, from Oct. 1 to 6 this year.  The organizing committee for the “2013 Asia Gusto” said Tuesday that this year’s event will take place under the theme of “Slow food, change the world with taste.”“We will make the event a global festival, where visitors can sample various food varieties from grandma’s foods to those of globaly renowned chefs,” said an official of the organizing committee.It estimates that some 300,000 people, including 15,000 foreigners from 40 Asian and Oceania countries, will attend the six-day festival, to be held at the Namyangju Sports and Culture Center, in Ipae-dong, and Organic Theme Park in Joan-myeon in Namyangju.Slow foods, as opposed to f

Jul 1, 2013By Park Jin-hai

First Asian slow food festival to be held in October

Shows & Dramas

Home shopping ups global presence

TV show hosts sell kitchenware on MNG Shop, GS Shop’s Turkish home shopping channel, in partnership with MNG Group of Turkey, in this file photo. GS Shop opened the 24-hour shopping channel in May./  Courtesy of GS ShopBy Park Jin-haiMajor home shopping channels have turned their sights abroad over the past few years, as the local market is near saturation point coupled with the rising level of competition.Like CJ O Shopping, which pioneered the outward look with its entry into the Chinese market in 2004, Lotte Home Shopping and GS Shop have made similar moves. Their initial operating profits there were in the red, but their fortunes have been improving lately.Not only do they make profit in the existing markets, they are competing in a race to expand their global presences from Asia to Europe on the back of “hallyu” or Korean wave.The products that are selling also range from moving laundry racks to Korean kitchenware and cosmetics.Industry watchers say there are several factors that contribute to the success of local home shopping channels abroad. Among

Jun 30, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Shows & Dramas

Hearng aid maker Starkey awards Korean branch

Richard Shim, center, CEO of Starkey Korea, poses with Jerry Ruzicka, left, president, and William F. Austin, founder and CEO of Starkey Hearing Technologies, after receiving the Best Performance Award at the Global Business Conference in Minn. the United States on June 19 (local time). / Courtesy of Starkey KoreaBy Park Jin-haiStarkey Korea, a local distributor of Starkey hearing aids, won the in-house best performance award this year.The company announced that its CEO Richard Shim won the 2012 Business Performance Award on June 19 (local time) during the Starkey 2013 Global Business Conference, held at its headquarters in Minnesota, the United States.Each year Starkey Hearing Technologies managers from around the world hold business conferences, where the best performing branches awarded in recognition of improved sales figures, managerial innovations and competitiveness growth.    It is the second time Starkey Korea was selected as the winner of the award, following the one in 2011.During the conference, Shim gave a presentation, highlighting the success o

Jun 24, 2013By Park Jin-hai

Park Jin-hai

Read more

Working with Jasmine

'We Koreans need to change'

Korean class offered to Singaporean tourism professionals

More K-pop stars looking overseas

Detailed, fluent content key to Hallyu

Nigerian journalist urges literature exchanges

Activist urges people to visit Dokdo

First Asian slow food festival to be held in October

Home shopping ups global presence

Hearng aid maker Starkey awards Korean branch

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