People & Events

Virginia Tech students' visit

A group of students and faculty from Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business pose after their visit to The Korea Times as part of their international study tour, Wednesday. They had a session to discuss K-pop and Korean culture with the newspaper's staff. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul.

INTERVIEW Saudi Arabia seeks to become cultural leader via partnership with Korea

Saudi Arabia Culture Minister Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saud / Courtesy of Saudi Arabia Ministry of CultureSaudi Arabia culture minister meets Korea's government, top entertainment company officials By Dong Sun-hwaIn October 2019, K-pop behemoth BTS grabbed international headlines for becoming the first non-Arab artist to play a concert at a stadium in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, where foreign singers could rarely take to the stage in the past. The sold-out show at King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh took place only about three months after K-pop act Super Junior became the first Asian artist to stage a solo concert in the kingdom.K-pop boy band BTS performs during its 2019 concert at King Fahd International Stadium in Saudi Arabia. Courtesy of Big Hit MusicOnce known for its strict conservatism, Saudi Arabia is seeking to open a new door for cultural interaction and transform itself into a cultural hub in the Middle East and beyond. In a bid to do so, the country has picked Korea as its major partner. “Korea has distinguished itself i

Descendant of Korean potters in Japan bridges cultures

Kazuteru Osako, a Korean-Japanese potter of Satsuma ware, speaks to the descendants of the Cheongsong Shim clan at Cheongsimjae in Gimpo's Daegot Village, July 9. Yonhap Korean-Japanese Satsuma ware master visits Korea to explore roots By Ko Dong-hwanGIMPO ― On July 9 at Cheongsimjae, a shrine in the remote countryside of Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, near the well-kept tombs of ancestors of the Cheongsong Shim clan, Kazuteru Osako, the 15th Chin Jukan, stood before more than 100 descendants of the clan who gathered to see him. Chin Jukan is a pseudonym handed down from generation to generation of potters in his family. Kazuteru had already met some of the descendants in May this year when he was invited for President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration at the National Assembly in Seoul. It was then that he decided to return in July to learn more about his roots.Kazuteru, a Korean-Japanese potter who is a descendant of the Shim clan, was the first among the clan's descendants

Forum sheds light on how metaverse can reshape entertainment industry

SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo-man speaks during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Courtesy of SM Entertainment'Anyone can be creator in the metaverse' By Dong Sun-hwaHardly anyone doubts that the metaverse is a hot talking point in the entertainment scene today, but many do not have a clear picture of how it can reshape the industry and change the way people enjoy cultural content. To help them better understand the concept, opinion leaders in cultural fields gathered together at the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum (WCIF), which was held at Hotel Susung in the southeastern city of Daegu from Wednesday to Thursday. “With the metaverse, we will build a new cultural ecosystem, in which anyone can be a creator,” Lee Soo-man, the founder of K-pop powerhouse SM Entertainment that debuted numerous big-name stars like EXO, Red Velvet and NCT, said during his speech, Wednesday. Lee is also the creator of aespa, the first metaverse girl group in the K-pop universe, which consists of four human members and their digital avatars. &ldquo

Models wearing recycled, vegan designs hit DDP runway for climate

Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, wearing clothes made with recycled materials and reproduced wastes, walks down the runway during a fashion show featuring outfits made in eco-friendly ways at Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Thursday. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan GovernmentSeoul mayor featured as model; 14 companies provide recycled materials for outfitsBy Ko Dong-hwanFashion created by innovative technologies and is good for the environment has drawn attention at a special fashion show hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Thursday evening.T-shirts and shoes made with discarded PET plastic bottles, bags woven out of cactus skin to avoid the use of animals and hats borne from slivers of fabric scraps were part of show's aim: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and waste from the earth and slow down the impact of climate change.Fourteen companies and a subway station in the city provided the recycled materials used in the clothing. Lotte Chemical, fabric manufacturer Hyosung TNC, sustainable fashion brand Graenn and sportswear brand Black Yak were among eight companies that provided newly de

World Cultural Industry Forum highlights Sweden's impact on K-pop

Opinion leaders in the culture and entertainment fields participate in the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa'Metaverse to play bigger role in music industry'By Dong Sun-hwaDAEGU ― K-pop hits like SuperM's “One (Monster & Infinity)” (2020), TWICE's “Dance the Night Away” (2018) and Red Velvet's “Peek-A-Boo” (2017) have one thing in common: all of them involved Swedish songwriters in their creative processes. On the first day of the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum (WCIF) that took place at Hotel Susung in the southeastern city of Daegu, Wednesday, opinion leaders in cultural fields discussed how global cooperation between Korea and Sweden has facilitated the growth of the Korean music and entertainment industry. Swedish Ambassador to Korea Daniel Wolven delivers a congratulatory address during the 2022 World Cultural Industry Forum at Hotel Susung in Daegu, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Dong Sun-hwa“There are many things connecting Sweden and Korea, two of the most

'Stable environment needed to nurture Korean mathematicians': June Huh

June Huh, left, a Korean American mathematician and winner of this year's Fields Medal, speaks during an online press conference at Korea Science and Technology Center in Seoul, Wednesday. YonhapBy Baek Byung-yeulJune Huh, who won the prestigious Fields Medal given to talented mathematicians under 40, said Wednesday that there should be an environment where young math scholars in Korea can conduct stable research with long-term goals in order to nurture prominent domestic researchers.“A lot of young mathematicians are doing so well in Korea. I am just one of them and I feel pretty uncomfortable saying what needs to be done to produce more people like me. I hope that young mathematicians will be provided with a stable research environment where they can freely pursue long-term projects, instead of just trying to achieve short-term goals,” Huh told reporters during an online press conference at Korea Science and Technology Center in Seoul.The International Mathematical Union (IMU) announced on Tuesday that this year's Fields Medal went to the 39-year-old mathematician, who

MOU with Oman Daily Observer

Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin, top left, and Abdullah bin Salim Al Shueili, top right, editor-in-chief of Oman Daily Observer, show their copies of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed to promote cooperation between the two news outlets, during an online signing ceremony, Tuesday. At bottom is Zuwaina Al Ofi, charge d'affaires from the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Korea, who helped arrange the signing ceremony. Korea Times photo by Jeon Yae-wool

53rd Modern Korean Literature Translation Awards

June Huh becomes 1st scholar of Korean descent to win Fields Medal

June Huh, a Korean American mathematician and professor at Princeton University, receives this year's Fields Medal at Aalto University in Helsinki, June 5. YonhapJune Huh, a Korean American mathematician and professor at Princeton University, has been named a recipient of this year's Fields Medal, a prestigious international prize awarded to mathematicians under 40 for achievements in the field of mathematics.The 39-year-old professor, who also serves as a distinguished professor of mathematics at the Korea Institute for Advanced Study, became the first-ever scholar of Korean descent to win the award handed down by the International Mathematical Union (IMU) every four years.The IMU Award Ceremony 2022 was held at Aalto University in Helsinki on Tuesday (local time). The union said Huh was named as a recipient for "bringing the ideas of Hodge theory to combinatorics, the proof of the Dowling―Wilson conjecture for geometric lattices, the proof of the Heron―Rota―Welsh conjecture for matroids, the development of the theory of Lorentzian polynomials and the proof of the strong Mason conje