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Recent Books

US-China Relations and Korean Unification: KINU Unification Forum 2011 Edited by Choi Jinwook; Korea Institute for National Unification: 265 pp., 12,000 won The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) has published a second book as part of a four-year project (2010-2013) to propose a grand plan for the unification of the two Koreas. This volume is a fruition of related forums that have invited diplomats, experts on North Korea and other specialists to share views, visions and policy suggestions. As much as this year’s events have focused on U.S.-China relations and their implications for Korean unification, the book features general papers and forum papers on the topic. Choi Jin-ook, director of the project and KINU’s Center of North Korean Studies, suggests a four-stage process unification and an overview of the changing unification environment. Also included are views of John S. Park (U.S. Institute of Peace), Lowell Dittmer, (University of California, Berkeley), Wang Fei-ling (Georgia Institute of Technology), G. John Ikenberry (Princeton University) and Dav

Dec 2, 2011

Korail CEO publishes his second memoir

By Do Je-hae It seemed like an unlikely match when former National Police Agency chief Huh Joon-young was named chief executive officer of the Korea Rail Corporation (Korail) in March 2009. He was a career policeman. The 59-year-old entered public service thorough a state examination for diplomats. But he left the diplomatic service only after four years to pursue his dream — to serve the country by being a policeman. After almost three years at the nation’s biggest rail corporation, Huh has published a memoir “Huh Joon-Young’s Rail Story” about how he has tried to settle into his new job. This is a useful read for anyone interested in how Korea became a rail power, as it is the latest book on Korail’s history, challenges and development told by its current CEO. Korea is one of a handful of countries in the world — after Japan, France and Germany — that has the capacity to build and operate a 350km/h high-speed train system. The book is more of a sequel to his first memoir “Huh Joon-Young’s Police Story” that was published in 2007. In his late

Dec 2, 2011By Do Je-hae

’Think Beyond Yourself’and#8212; lawmaker urges

By Noh Hyun-gi When a lawmaker publishes a book, the reasonable expectation is that the book will be on politics. Rep. Park Jin, a three-term lawmaker of the Grand National Party, is no stranger to the realm outside politics. He has written three books and one of them was on his diet regime. This Wednesday, the former presidential secretary published “Think Beyond Yourself,” another book not on politics, but about life with his advice for the readers. Simply put, the book is an autobiography without the label. The beginning is not the most captivating. But if one can give the book a chance, it has memorable anecdotes to offer. Park is not afraid to admit his troubled youth. When his junior high school closed down

Dec 2, 2011

Shin Kyung-sook goes back to short stories

By Noh Hyun-gi An illustrator in her 40s, a married woman, ironically, calls her life peaceful because she is free of love. “A peace that I never expected in my life has arrived. I don’t ever want to be caught up in passion toward another person. The desire to own another being incites passion as well as pain. ... I will not push myself into the passion and pain again.” This is a confession of an anonymous character in Shin Kyung-sook’s new short story collection,“Unknown Women.” The collection of seven short stories is long overdue after Shin’s last collection, “Sound of a Bell,” published in 2003. Since 2007, Shin has been focusing on novels. Shin has touched a world audience with her heart wrenching family drama “Please Look After My Mom” published in 2008. Shin’s latest collection showcases new mastery of putting words into descriptions of the mundane moments in life. But also, Shin said in an author’s note that the stories are special because she wrote them when she was most depressed and felt lost. Shin called the unnamed characters in the collection her contempor

Nov 25, 2011By Do Je-hae

Recent books

From Chance to Miracle Kim Tae-won, Chungaram Media, 265 pp., 13,000 won The author, a well-known guitarists and leader of a rock bands Boohwal, paints a forthright self-portrait in this autobiographic essay. Living up to the meaning of the band name Boohwal (resurrection in Korean), Kim is now enjoying a new, successful life as an entertainer, bouncing from low points of his life which had been stained by addiction to illegal drugs and subsequent imprisonment. In hindsight, he says, all the sufferings and depression he had in the past were blessings in disguise for him. He confesses he suffered extreme depression to the point of considering suicide when his band was dismantled in 1998. Despite all the hardship, Kim was able to make it through thanks to music. In this book, Kim, now one of the most popular musicians and TV personalities, tells how he was able to overcome the difficulties — literally miraculously. For him, it was the music that gave him the reason to live on. He says as long as there is one thing that he or she longs to do desperately,

Nov 25, 2011By Do Je-hae

Recent books

It Is All Because of Baseball Seo Hyo-in; Dasan Books; 228 pp., 12,800 won Korea is a nation of baseball lovers. Professional baseball started here about 30 years ago. This book is the story of a young poet who grew up with the sport, either playing with friends at school or watching in stadiums or at home with his family. The writer, now in his 30s, once aspired to become a baseball player. When that didn’t happen, he thought about becoming a sportscaster or baseball writer. This book is mostly about memories and stories related to baseball that many in Seo’s generation can sympathize with. He recounts memorable life experiences that involve the sport, like when he was reminded of his retired father after witnessing the fall of star baseball players. For people who go to watch baseball on dates, the writer explains how boyfriends can easily teach their girlfriends the rules of the game and how to enjoy the sport. He also tells the background stories of professional teams like the Kia Tigers and other teams that had once been famous but are now disbanded, like

Nov 18, 2011

German acknowledged for translating Korean novels

By Noh Hyun-gi Heidrun Kang, 72, the recipient of this year’s Daesan Literature Award for translating Kim Hoon’s “The Song of the Sword” into German with Ahn So-hyeon, 51, started translating Korean literature quite late. At the STAR Korea AG office, a technical translation agency, in Mapo-gu, Seoul, where she serves as a CEO, Kang told The Korea Times her long pondered thoughts on Korean culture and the literature scene. Since she first came to Korea with her Korean husband in the 1960s, she has held various positions as a lecturer, fulltime professor, and even a principal at a German school in Seoul. It wasn’t until 1993 that Kang and Ahn won first prize by translating late Korean writer Park Wan-suh’s short story “Heat Stroke Bus” in a competition run by the East Berlin Publishing Company. The duo has been translating Korean literature into German ever since. For Kim Hoon’s novel, the pair worked sentence by sentence for a year and a half. “In the beginning I was so upset by so many chapters with all these sunsets. But when the translation was finished, it all made sense in

Nov 18, 2011

Why did Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong visit Canon Korea?

By Do Je-hae Samsung Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lee Jae-yong is undoubtedly one of the busiest men in Korean business. But he has taken the time to visit Canon Korea Business Solutions (hereafter Canon Korea), a small manufacturer of office machinery three times. These previous trips to Canon Korea’s Ansan factory in Gyeonggi Province were motivated by his search for tips for upgrading production and organization systems at Samsung. The visits from 2003 to 2005 were accompanied by Lee’s closest aides, including Choi Gee-sung, who now serves as Samsung Electronics CEO. “New Ways of Working (Randomhouse Korea),” by Ryu Lang-do, is a report on the 10-year transformation that established Canon Korea as a model of product innovation, capturing the attention of global Korean conglomerates like Samsung and LG. Members of the Japanese and Chinese business community has also paid regular visits to Canon Korea. In Lee’s case, he came to see the factory of Canon Korea because he was “concerned for the future of Samsung.” Apparently, Lee was looking for tips to ease the

Nov 11, 2011By Do Je-hae

Recent books

Contemporary Art Museums in Europe Josephina Eun-hwa Lee; Artbooks: 495 pp., 22,000 won Contemporary art is generally considered abtract and esoteric, but art critic Josephina Eun-hwa Lee says getting familiar with modern art is similar to making friends, in her book “Contemporary Art Museums in Europe.” She suggests encountering contemporary art as often as possible to appreciate it better and introduces European modern art museums, which mostly deal with artistic trends after the 1960s. The book features 16 museums from Great Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain — from well-known Musee du Louvre and Tate Britain to hidden gems like Museum Insel Hombroich in Neuss, Germany and De Pont Museum of Contemporary Art in Tilburg, the Netherlands. This is a revised edition of a 2005 book “Travelling Contemporary Art Museums in Europe in the 21st Century.” Lee revisited the museums to update the book and added information on art fairs and biennales, reflecting the recent art boom. — Kwon Mee-yoo

Nov 11, 2011

61st [Portrait] Yi Mun-yol: stranger than fiction

This is the fifth in a series of interviews with international pioneers among Korean artists that marks the 61st anniversary of The Korea Times, which fell on Nov. 1, and is sponsored by the Korea Press Foundation. — ED. By Lee Hyo-won ICHEON, Gyeonggi Province — Yi Mun-yol had double-booked the interview. What would have been a panicky moment for most, the novelist waltzed through with ease — though not without a bit of sweat. The air was dank from untimely autumn showers and Yi perspired profusely as he danced back and forth between the session with The Korea Times and a meeting with fans. Yet the inopportunity proved to be most opportune as it stripped the 63-year-old of his media-hardened facade. He was not the outspoken intellectual, but a smiling man with lots of friends that come knocking on his door at any hour of the day. Visitors passed beneath a crimson-flowered crepe myrtle — the Yi family tree — to be greeted by his wife, a spunky embroidery artist who offered home-cooked treats in spite of wearing a cast on her foot. Thoug

Nov 10, 2011

Books

Books

Recent Books

Korail CEO publishes his second memoir

’Think Beyond Yourself’and#8212; lawmaker urges

Shin Kyung-sook goes back to short stories

Recent books

Recent books

German acknowledged for translating Korean novels

Why did Samsung’s Lee Jae-yong visit Canon Korea?

Recent books

61st [Portrait] Yi Mun-yol: stranger than fiction

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