Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Korea Times photographer wins annual contest with environment activist's portrait

“2021, Earthlings buried under plastic,” a photo by Korea Times photographer Shim Hyun-chul which topped the Best Portrait Photo category at the annual news photography contest of the Korea Press Photographers' Association / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Kim RahnShim Hyun-chulKorea Times photographer Shim Hyun-chul has won an award at an annual news photography contest hosted by the Korea Press Photographers' Association (KPPA).Featuring environmental activist Hong Da-gyeong, the photo titled “2021, Earthlings buried under plastic” topped the Best Portrait Photo category in the KPPA's 58th contest.The KPPA award has four other categories ― news, sports, feature & nature, and story ― and the winners were selected among photos taken by some 500 of its members last year.The award-winning photo of Shim, published on Aug. 5, 2021, shows the face of Hong, a member of Earth Citizen Movement Alliance, through a crushed plastic bottle. She has been working on finding illegal waste dumping sites here to raise public awareness on the seriousness of rapidly ac

Feb 10, 2022By Kim Rahn

Korea Times photographer wins annual contest with environment activist's portrait

Korea Times to hold 2022 Spring Concert

The Korea Times will present its annual spring concert at Seoul Arts Center at 5 p.m., March 26. The 17th concert, co-hosted by the newspaper and its sister paper the Hankook Ilbo, comes under the theme of “New Era Brings New Hope,” aimed at giving the audience hope and solace during a highly stressful and challenging time for the world when the coronavirus persists.Under the baton of conductor Hong Seok-won, the Korean Symphony Orchestra will play classical music works with award-winning pianist Lim Dong-hyek. The program consists of a variety of modern works including G. Bizet's Carmen Overture, P. I. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 23, and A. Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95 “From the New World.” Lim, one of the most sought-after Korean pianists on the global stage, studied at the Moscow Central Music School and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory, winning prizes at various prestigious competitions, including the International Chopin Piano Competition and International Tchaikovsky Competition.Hong is the chief conduct

Feb 8, 2022

KoCACA stage prop manager honored

Lee Byeong-sub, front row second from right, is the recipient of this year's “Unsung Hero Award” from Seoul Cyber University. Lee has been a stage prop manager at the Korean Culture and Arts Centers Association since 2003. / Courtesy of Seoul Cyber UniversityBy Lee Hae-rinLee Byeong-sub, a stage prop manager at the Korean Culture and Arts Centers Association (KoCACA), received this year's “Unsung Hero Award” presented by the Seoul Cyber University at the university's Tchaikovsky Hall, Monday, for his offstage contributions to art and culture.Since 2003, Lee, 50, has been managing the association's 9,851-square-meter warehouse in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, where stage equipment, costumes and props used in performances at national theaters, opera, and ballet are stored. “I have always been fond of art and culture,” Lee told The Korea Times, Thursday, on how and why he started working as the warehouse keeper. “And the warehouse happened to be close to where I live, on the outskirts of town. Seoul is an expensive city to build and keep a warehouse

Jan 28, 2022By Lee Hae-rin

INTERVIEW Photographer documents forgotten Korean War veterans around the world

Photographer Rami Hyun has photographed over 2,000 veterans from 13 countries as part of “Project Soldier.” Courtesy of Rami HyunBy Lee Gyu-lee Photographer Rami Hyun / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul“Their time is running out,” said photographer Rami Hyun, who runs “Project Soldier,” which has been documenting the veterans who fought in the 1950-53 Korean War ― often referred to as the “forgotten war,” as it is overshadowed by World War II and the Vietnam War.The coronavirus pandemic has put many people, if not most, in restricted positions, putting barriers on daily life and overseas travel. However, such disheartening obstacles did not stop Hyun from traveling and carrying out his mission to share the stories of local and overseas Korean War veterans, so that they will not be forgotten. “Most of those veterans are in their 80s and 90s … And (as time passes by) not many will still be alive, so I'm doing my best to document as many veterans as possible,” the photographer, whose real name is Hyun Hyo-jae, said in

Jan 27, 2022By Lee Gyu-lee

[INTERVIEW] Photographer documents forgotten Korean War veterans around the world

Mother of late student activist dies at 82

A memorial service of Bae Eun-sim, the mother of late student activist Lee Han-yeol, is held at Chosun University Hospital in Gwangju, Sunday. YonhapBae Eun-sim, the mother of a late student activist whose death became a symbol of South Korea's pro-democracy movement in 1987, died Sunday. She was 82.Bae had been hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction last Monday, and was discharged Saturday. She died at Chosun University Hospital in the southwestern city of Gwangju after collapsing on Sunday.Bae's surviving family members decided against an autopsy and they will proceed with her funeral in Gwangju, some 330 kilometers south of Seoul.Bae's son, Yonsei University student activist Lee Han-yeol, died on July 5, 1987, weeks after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by riot police during a rally on his campus in Seoul.His death sparked wider protests against the iron-fisted rule of President Chun Doo-hwan. The general-turned-strongman seized power through a 1979 military coup and ruthlessly quelled a pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju.The protests eventually led to the restoration

Jan 9, 2022

Mother of late student activist dies at 82

400th contribution

Robert Neff, right, who has been contributing articles on Korean history in the “About the Past” section of The Korea Times, receives a plaque of gratitude from The Korea Times President-Publisher Oh Young-jin for his 400th contribution, at the newspapers' headquarters in downtown Seoul, Jan. 7. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

Jan 7, 2022By Yoon Ja-young

INTERVIEW US humanitarian worker in Seoul helps rescue N. Koreans from human trafficking

Tim Peters, founder of Helping Hands Korea, poses in the alleyway near Samgakji Station in Seoul, Jan. 4. The activist belongs to a massive network of activists and missionaries that aims to help North Korean refugees in China escape to freedom. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulTeaming up with operatives in China, Tim Peters has saved over 1,000 North Korean livesBy Park Han-solTucked away in a narrow alleyway near Samgakji Station in Seoul, DL Gallery is a curious storefront.Upon entering it, visitors are greeted with delicate art pieces adorning the walls, from traditional Korean embroidery to pointillist paintings. In one corner of the room are stacked heaps of plastic bags, each of which is full of vegetable seeds of cabbage, spinach, radish, turnip, pumpkin and carrot.As they strive to grasp the connection between the art and seeds, visitors turn around, only to face the intricate maps of China and North Korea hung side by side. They wonder what is going on there.For more than a decade, DL Gallery, with its humble and modest look, has been the unofficial headquarters for Helpi

Jan 6, 2022By Park Han-sol

[INTERVIEW] US humanitarian worker in Seoul helps rescue N. Koreans from human trafficking

Works of Russian avant-garde masters on exhibit

Chung-Ang University professor Kim Young-ho, right, art director of the “Kandinsky, Malevich & Russian Avant-Garde” exhibition, explains the “Jewish Venus” painting by Mikhail Larionov to distinguished guests during the opening ceremony at Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul, Wednesday. The exhibition, hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper Hankook Ilbo, will showcase 75 masterpieces by 49 Russian artists, including Larionov, Wassily Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich. The opening ceremony was attended by a slew of dignitaries including Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwang Hee and Russian Ambassador to Korea Andrey Kulik, fifth from right in the front row. Second from right in the front row is Hankook Ilbo President Lee Young-sung. Korea Times photo by Wang Tae-seog

Jan 5, 2022By Nam Hyun-woo

Works of Russian avant-garde masters on exhibit

Tattooing is a different form of drawing, giving precious memories: tattoo artist

Tattooist Kim Dong-hwa works on flower tattoos. Courtesy of Kim Dong-hwaBy Kang Seung-wooIn modern Korea, tattoos had been stigmatized until recent years as associated with gangsters. However, for Kim Dong-hwa, a tattoo artist who is known for her colorful flower tattoos, tattooing is another type of drawing that uses a “different canvas,” while offering precious memories to someone. “I hope that people see tattooing as drawing on the human body instead of drawing on paper, rather than something related to organized crime,” Kim said in an interview with The Korea Times at her workplace in Yeonnam-dong, western Seoul, Tuesday. “When I began this job in 2017… my parents strongly disagreed with me working as a tattooist and I could continue this work only after promising to quit immediately if something bad happens.”To her relief, tattoos have been increasingly accepted as a form of self-expression as time has gone by, with more ordinary people getting tattooed ― despite not fully curbing the negative feelings about them among some. “In t

Jan 5, 2022By Kang Seung-woo

Tattooing is a different form of drawing, giving precious memories: tattoo artist

Jeju's three female divers named independence fighters by patriots ministry

Portraits of Bu Chun-hwa, far left, Kim Ok-ryeon and Bu Deok-ryang / Courtesy of the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans AffairsBy Park Han-solThree “haenyeo,” or women divers of Jeju Island, who led the key resistance movement during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial occupation, were selected as the “Independence Fighters of the Month” of January 2022, the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs (MPVA) announced Friday.This is the first time the ministry has named the Jeju islanders as independence fighters as part of its monthly designation project, which began in 1992.In the early 1930s, Bu Chun-hwa, Kim Ok-ryeon and Bu Deok-ryang led what came to be the country's largest civil protest ever organized by women against the Japanese forces. Joined by some 17,000 participants, part of the movement's aim was to address the colonial government's economic exploitation of marine resources and labor.All born in Gujwa-eup on the island, the three women started their lives as haenyeo at an early age, between 9 and 15, to help put food on the table for their families.But w

Jan 1, 2022By Park Han-sol

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