Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Poet gets suspended sentence for sexual abuse

A poet was found guilty of sexual abuse, amid the recent breakout of accusations of sexual abuse in the local literary community.The Seoul Western District Court sentenced 52-year-old poet Kim Yo-il, who was charged for committing an indecent act by force, to a four-month jail sentence with a suspended sentence of a year, Monday.Kim was accused of kissing a woman in front of a restaurant in Seoul on June 26, 2015. He said he liked the victim and kissed her.The victim filed a suit against Kim in March 2016 and the poet posted an apology on Facebook last November when the accusation hit the literary circle.In trial, the poet denied kissing the victim, but the judge reasoned that the victim's statement was credible as it was consistent and logical."The accused did not reflect on his conduct and blamed the victim's reaction. However, he did not physically assault the woman and does not have a criminal record of the same kind of charges," the judge said in a statement.

Feb 20, 2017

Poetry explores inside of unconscious minds

An illustrated image in “I have always been beside you”/ Courtesy of DoorsCulture critic Kang Young-heeBy Baek Byung-yeulCulture critic Kang Young-hee has been seeing into the minds of people while running what she called a “healing center” near Gyeongbok palace in Seoul.There, Kang had consulted with some 5,000 people with illnesses of the mind at the place for five years from 2010 to 2015. The center is called “Koomoonjadap,” literally meaning “nine questions and one answer,” but she wants it to be translated as “the ultimate question and the right answer” because she could read what people don’t recognize what’s inside of them. Based on her experience with counseling people, Kang recently released a book of poetry called “I have always been beside you.”At a glance, the poetry book seems to contain romantic Valentine’s Day poems as it is decorated with colorful pastel illustrations and English translations, but Kang said those poems are “entirely based on heartbreaking real cases.&r

Feb 17, 2017

Poetry explores inside of unconscious minds

Playboy brings back nudity

Playboy April/March edition. / YonhapBy Lee Han-sooNudity is returning to U.S. men’s magazine Playboy, starting from the March/April edition.Nude photos were dropped in March last year.Playboy’s new chief creative officer, Cooper Hefner, 25, the son of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, said removing nude pictures was a mistake."Today we're taking our identity back and reclaiming who we are,” he wrote on his social media page."I'll be the first to admit that the way in which the magazine portrayed nudity was dated. Nudity was never the problem because nudity isn't a problem.”The magazine is also reviving old sections including “The Playboy Philosophy” and “Party Jokes.”Playboy, founded in 1953, had a circulation of 5.6 million copies in the 1970s.But after the internet became easily accessible, circulation dropped below 700,000 last year.The magazine's logo, showing a rabbit wearing a bow tie, is one of the world’s most recognized. 

Feb 15, 2017

Gov't to support victims of Songin Books' bankruptcy

By Yun Suh-youngProvincial governments, public libraries and universities have stepped up their effort to help mitigate the damage caused by the bankruptcy of the country's second-largest book wholesaler last month.The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said Friday that the amount of support for companies damaged by Songin Books was 2.6 billion won ($2.3 million). A total of 87 organizations said they were willing to buy leftover books from Songin's stock.They had responded to an official notice sent by the ministry to 490 organizations, including central government departments, provincial governments, education offices and universities. The notice asked for financial support for the small and medium bookstores hit by Songin's bankruptcy.Many small bookstores in the city and provincial regions receive books from wholesalers such as Songin, while larger ones such as Kyobo Book Store manage purchases on their own. Around Songin 2,000 clients were unable to receive books and those especially dependent on Songin were badly hit.Among the 87 groups that offered help, Incheon Metropoli

Feb 10, 2017

Poetry reveals modern version of 'sijo'

By Choi Yearn-hongVen. Cho Oh-hyun“For Nirvana” by Ven. Cho Oh-hyunPoet Ven. Cho Oh-hyun is known as the senior monk of Backdamsa Temple of Mount Seorak, a temple that has been famous since the Ven and where Han Yong-un stayed during the Japanese colonial rule. Ven. Han was imprisoned for signing the Korean Declaration of Independence on March 1, 1919, and he represented the Buddhists in the movement for Korean independence from Japanese rule. Later, in the 1990s, Korean strongman Chun Doo-hwan was “imprisoned” at the temple, kind of a house arrest, for his many wrongdoings as the president. However, many Korean people still remember the temple with Ven. Han, and now, Ven. Cho has made the temple famous to the outside world as well. Ven. Cho created Manhae Village and the prestigious literary award  after Ven. Han, who was also well known for his poetry book, “Silence of My Lover.” Manhae was Ven. Han’s pen name. Many literary figures inside and outside of Korea have visited Manhae Village for its annual festival.I read “For Nirvan

Feb 10, 2017

VIDEO Clear your throats, action!

Recording booth at Audien in Sangam-dong, western Seoul, with voice actors working on audiobook series "Cat and Dog" / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulAudiobooks make a noise in Korean publishingBy Ko Dong-hwanIn the afternoon of Jan. 31, a  recording booth at Audien, in the business-savvy town of Sangam-dong in western Seoul, was bustling with actors preparing for an audiobook recording session.Three male and two female actors skimmed through scripts just given to them, which were for episodes nine to 16 of “Cat and Dog,” a romantic-comedy audiobook series  based on an online webtoon hit that ran on Korean portal site Nate in 2013-14. Audien, Korea’s biggest audiobook maker and online service provider, posts the series on its website, providing two new episodes a week, available only to subscribers.Program director Jeong Sung-yong, seated in front of an audio control panel and computer monitors, cued actors in the recording booth, who brought the script to life with their animated voices. The surreal sounds — with extraordinary guttural pitches a

Feb 9, 2017

Iconic Jongno Books returns amid authenticity issue

Jongno Books is located in the basement of Jongno Tower connected to Jonggak Station. / Courtesy of Jongno BooksBy Kwon Mee-yooJongno Books has returned.Located in the basement of Jongno Tower connected to Jonggak station on subway line 1, the bookstore made people nostalgic about the iconic six-floor Chongno Book Center which was originally situated in the heart of Jongno and served as a cultural gathering place in Seoul decades ago.The brand-new bookstore adopted a “retailtainment” style to embrace the younger generation. About half of the area is taken by coffee shops and bakeries and the bookshelves take up a rather smaller portion of the store.Jongno Books has about 100,000 books, which is about one fourth of the 430,000 books of nearby Youngpoong Bookstore. It displays best-selling books in more prominent positions while less popular genres such as humanities and classics take up small bookcases.The highlight of the bookstore would be its long reading table and five individual reading nooks, where people can comfortably read books before check out."I like the readin

Feb 3, 2017

Iconic Jongno Books returns amid authenticity issue

Bangladesh bookfair

A Bangaldeshi salesman arranges books at a stall during the country’s largest bookfair in Dhaka on Feb. 1. Bangladesh’s largest book fair began in Dhaka on Feb. 1, with police warning organizers against selling books that hurt “religious sentiment” in the Muslim-majority country. The month-long Ekushey Book Fair draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to the crowded capital, making it one of Bangladesh's keynote cultural events and giving readers a chance to interact with authors. / AFP-Yonhap

Feb 3, 2017

Publishing group Minumsa's president dies at 83

By Yun Suh-young Minumsa's president Park Maeng-ho died, Sunday. He was 83.Park was the founder and CEO of Minumsa, one of Korea's most influential publishing groups over the past 50 years since its establishment in 1966.The Minumsa Publishing Group is one of the largest and most influential general trade publishers in Korea. It has subsidiary publishing brands such as BIR, Minumin/Goldenbough, ScienceBooks, Banbi and the graphic imprint Semicolon.Minumsa also published some of the finest foreign literary works, featuring writers such as J. D. Salinger, Jack Kerouac, Guenter Grass, Hermann Hesse, Jorge Luis Borges and Samuel Beckett to name a few.Park was born in 1933 in Biryongso, North Chungcheong Province. The town later became the brand name of his subsidiary publishing company BIR which publishes books for children and adolescents. Park entered the Liberal Arts College at Seoul National University in 1952 and majored in French literature. He won a prize the following year for his short story "Sunflower's Habit" at a literary competition. Having begun his career as a wr

Jan 22, 2017

Publishing group Minumsa's president dies at 83

Drama boosts sales of Saimdang books

New drama “Saimdang, Memoir of Colors,” starring actress Lee Young-ae, will premiere on Jan. 26 on SBS./ Courtesy of SBSBy Park Jin-hai“Saimdang’s Red Silk Wrapper” by Kwon Ji-yeNovel “Saimdang” by Lee Soon-wonIn time with the much anticipated drama “Saimdang, Memoir of Colors,” starring actress Lee Young-ae, which premiers Jan. 26 on SBS, the local publishing industry has released a series of books shedding fresh light on the historical figure, commonly known as the maternal icon of a “wise mother” to many here.Instead of the fixed image, the latest books, ranging from scholastic tomes to novels and children’s books, strive to bring the unknown sides of the Joseon Kingdom figure Shin Saimdang (1504-1551), who was an artist, writer, calligrapher and poet, and the mother of renowned Korean Confucian scholar Yulgok Yi I.   From late last year, when the drama was initially set to air with a simultaneous broadcast on China's Hunan TV, local publishers and academics have produced many books about Shin’

Jan 20, 2017

Books