Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Limited editions exclusively available at samll, independent bookstores

"Record of a Journey to Mujin," left, and "No Longer Human" Courtesy of MinumsaBy Kim Jae-heunMimumsa, one of the largest book publishers in Korea, has released two special edition books only available at small independent bookstores.The publisher announced Saturday they will sell “Record of a Journey to Mujin,” by Kim Seung-ok and “No Longer Human” by Osamu Dazai, at some 130 small bookstores nationwide for the first time.The two special editions cannot be purchased at giant bookstores or online booksellers, which the publisher has printed only two thousand copies of each book.The CEO of Editing Culture Laboratory Eun-su suggested the idea to revive small bookstores across the nation while questioning concentrated discount promotions available only at giant bookstores.Small, independent bookstores have had a difficult time speaking in one voice as each runs its business differently and they are geographically scattered. However, the project has helped minor booksellers to form a network.Mimumsa said this is an attempt to boost traffic at small bookstores by g

Jul 24, 2017

Limited editions exclusively available at samll, independent bookstores

“Women are more likely to be rich”: Yoo

 By Park Jin-haiTitle of the book: “Rich Sister, Rich Lecture: How an ordinary office worker can become rich” by Yoo Soo-jinYoo Soo-jin, 42, celebrity asset manager and author, has earned popularity by giving “spot-on” lectures on becoming rich, especially for young female office workers, on local variety television shows.Her book “Rich Sister, Rich Lecture: How an ordinary office worker can become rich,” first published in 2015 and whose 19th edition was released in June, has met with a strong response from young female readers. They say that thanks to her they started to have an interest in learning how money works and dreaming of getting rich.It is certainly enticing to hear the success story of a young woman, whose life was as much, or more miserable, than the average reader, suffering from enormous debt and living life with no hope in sight, became a woman whose annual salary soared to 600 million won ($534,000).In the era of low interest rates and high inflation, where putting money in banks is translated into losing money, Yoo said she

Jul 21, 2017

Ansan Media Library helps community learn English

An exterior view of Ansan Media Library / Courtesy of Ansan Media Library By Baek Byung-yeul ANSAN -- A woman in her 30s surnamed Kim visits a nearby library three times a week with her two daughters, ages five and six. At the library, located in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, she spends time reading English books with her children.“In this hot weather, I feel lucky to have this library near my home. Outside it’s hot, but we can stay cool here and I can narrate stories from English books to my children,” Kim said.The new Ansan Media Library, first opened in June 2016, is becoming a primary gathering place for people in this city.What makes this public library special to nearby residents is 90 percent of its collection is books written in English.“Since we have the city’s biggest library, Ansan Joongang (central) Library, near here, we decided to build an English-focused library,” an assistant guide at the library said, Tuesday. “As we want to emphasize that this library is specialized in English, we came up with the name Ansan Media Libr

Jul 20, 2017

Ansan Media Library helps community learn English

Understanding the North Korean regime

“Understanding the North Korean Regime” by Atsuhito IsozakiBy Choi Yearn-hong I am anxious to read any book or monograph that will help me understand the incomprehensible North Korean regime. How many people in the world can understand the totalitarian country ruled by one family over 70 years since 1945? Under that family rule, many people have starved to death, as the government funded heavy arms development programs, from those for nuclear warheads to intercontinental missiles.The Woodrow Wilson Center released a monograph authored by one of its scholars, Atsuhito Isozaki, who is also affiliated with Keio University in Japan. His proposition is as follows: North Korea’s military-first policy, set up by Kim Jong-il, is a necessary condition of the third-generation hereditary rule over North Korea. In addition to Kim Il-sung’s Juche ideology, Kim Jong-il established the so-called Sungun policy that made possible the National Defense Commission and its chairman’s control of North Korea ultimately. To validate his proposition, Atsuhito used North Kor

Jul 14, 2017

'Jokbo' exhibition reveals diverse family trees

Family Tree Painting of Naju Oh Clan / Courtesy of National Library of KoreaBy Kwon Mee-yooMost Koreans are familiar with the "jokbo," or genealogy, of their own family. Though the well-known, commonly seen family trees only document male members of the family and are criticized for being patriarchal, an exhibition at the National Library of Korea (NLK) sheds light on various types of jokbo, such as early ones that included both men and women, and a directory of occupational clusters.Titled "Family Tree: Finding My Origins," the exhibit features some 66 genealogy books from the NLK's antique book collection as well as those borrowed from other organizations. The library has the largest collection of family tree books in Korea."We continue to grow the collection of family trees because people are constantly looking for it. At this exhibition, we present unconventional types of genealogy books less-known to the public," Kim Hyo-kyoung, curator of the Old & Rare Collection Division of the library, said.The first section introduces the history of the genealogy register in Asia,

Jul 7, 2017

'Jokbo' exhibition reveals diverse family trees

TV show sheds new light on ex-minister Rhyu's 'On Ways of Living'

Rhyu Si-min’s “On Ways of Living” / Courtesy of The Road to ThoughtBy Kim jae-heun Riding on the popularity of tvN’s new show “Dictionary of Useless General Knowledge,” politician-turned-writer Rhyu Si-min’s book “On Ways of Living” joined the top 10 bestseller list this week.Rhyu wrote the book in March 2013 when he became a full-time writer. It did not gain much popularity then. But it has grabbed attention four years later when the former environment minister became the host of the popular variety series that hit a 6.6 percent average rating on the cable TV channel.Rhyu has written 15 books, including his most recent “What is a Nation,” published this year. But his bestselling book is “On Ways of Living.”In the prologue, the writer confesses he was unsure of publishing a book based on his experiences.The other 14 books stretched his knowledge in various fields of his expertise, including economics, history and politics. Rhyu called himself a “knowledge retailer,” who scraps together usef

Jun 30, 2017

TV show sheds new light on ex-minister Rhyu's 'On Ways of Living'

Urim Books CEO to lead CBA Korea Organization

 CBA President Curtis Riskey, right, commemorates Noh Kyung-tae's new position as the director of CBA Korea during UNITE 2017, CBA's international convention, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Thursday. / Courtesy of Urim BooksLeading Korean publishing executive Noh Kyung-tae, CEO of Urim Books, was named the new director of CBA Korea. CBA President Curtis Riskey commemorated his new position during UNITE 2017, CBA’s international convention, in Cincinnati, Ohio, June 29.The position has been vacant since 2014, and Noh recognized the need for leadership among Christian publishing and retailing communities in Korea.“I want to strengthen the impact of Christian resources in Korea and around the world,” Noh said.South Korea has a strong and vibrant Christian community. About a third of the nation is Christian, primarily Protestant denominations, with no dominant religion in the religiously pluralistic nation. Korea is the world’s second-largest missionary-sending nation, just next to the U.S.One of Noh’s goals for CBA Korea is to help build healthy Christian m

Jun 30, 2017

Urim Books CEO to lead CBA Korea Organization

Media startup CEO challenges newspaper industry

By Yun Suh-young PUBLY CEO Park So-ryoung    / Korea Times photo by Yun Suh-young At a time when traditional media companies are struggling to create revenue and produce quality content at the same time, there's a startup that's doing both － PUBLY.The media startup, which was established two years ago and officially began operations last year, is rapidly gaining a reputation and ferociously expanding－ both in the number of projects it initiates as well as the sales made through them. Soon the company may take over a certain amount of the pie in the media market, threatening the ailing “old boy” newspapers who are still preoccupied in following the mass public's interest and feeding them with one-off, click-bait content instead of servicing deep, quality content that can inspire and educate readers.PUBLY's CEO Park So-ryoung successfully tapped into her target readers, precisely with the purpose of providing content that's worthy of purchasing and possessing timelessly."I like content that makes me feel like I've learned something, something t

Jun 27, 2017

Media startup CEO challenges newspaper industry

New culture minister vows no more blacklist in publishing industry

Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan speaks during a meeting with professionals in the publishing industry at Changbi Publishers’ headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. / YonhapBy Baek Byung-yeul Newly appointed Culture Minister Do Jong-hwan vowed to prevent future recurrence of the blacklisting of artists critical of the government.The minister had a meeting with professionals in the publishing industry at Changbi Publishers’ headquarters in Seoul on Thursday.At the meeting the poet-turned-politician said, “Whenever I meet with people in the publishing industry who don’t get rewarded for their great effort, it breaks my heart. I will try to build a virtuous cycle of creators, publishers, distributors and consumers.”President Moon Jae-in appointed the poet-turned-lawmaker as the new minister of culture, sports and tourism on June 16 as a committee of the National Assembly approved the president’s nomination of Do as culture minister on June 15.Mentioning that writers such as Han Kang, winner of the 2016 Man Booker International Pri

Jun 23, 2017

New culture minister vows no more blacklist in publishing industry

Celebrating Choonwon's poetry at 100th year of 'Mujeong'

By Choi Yearn-hong “Three Poets’ Siga Collection"Famous novelist Choonwon Lee Kwang-soo became the father of modern Korean literature at the turn of the 20th century. “Mujeong,”first published as a seriesin a daily newspaper in 1917, was not only his first novel but also the first in modern Korean literature. In celebration of the centennial year since the publication of “Mujeong,” George Mason University is hosting the Centennial Symposium on Mujeong, which will also showcase the writer’s lesser known poems. While Choonwon’s poems are not as celebrated as his novels, his mark on the poetry world is no less significant.Before writing “Mujeong,”he cowrote the first modern Korean poem with Yukdang Choi Nam-sun, and continued poetry writing until his tragic death from the Korean War in 1950. Poetry was inseparable from his life. He wrote more than 234 poems. This year, his handwritten poems were discovered and published by the Sogang University Korean Literature Program, compiled by a Japanese scholar and two Korean schola

Jun 16, 2017

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