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Folk duo Nature Airliner to land in Seoul

Folk duo Nature Airliner composed of Laurier Tiernan, left, and Eiko Hosaka will perform for the Zandari Festa 2015 at West Bridge Rooftop on Oct. 4./ Courtesy of Nature AirlinerBy Kwon Mee-yooNature Airliner is neither an airline, nor an adventure company, but the name could easily be mistaken as a brand in either business sector. Moreover, the Tokyo-based bi-cultural folk duo never stays long in one place.Their journey began in the autumn of 2007, when Canadian musician Laurier Tiernan met businesswoman and photographer Eiko Hosaka in Tokyo. Proposing to her two weeks later, they were married after four months and their pace has never let up."By 2010, I had a substantial amount of airplay for my (punk) solo career. However, I also had a stack of unreleased folk songs," Tiernan said. “One day, I asked Eiko to try singing one of them in our bedroom and her voice just blew me away. I then begged her to play just one gig with me, as a duo."That first show led to a flood of offers, taking them to cafes, restaurants, hotels, bars and festivals around Japan. Tiernan plays the guitar

Sep 29, 2015

Folk duo Nature Airliner to land in Seoul

SNU students remodel houses for the elderly

 Students of Seoul National University’s volunteer group “Lovengers” pose in a room after repairing a senior citizen’s house in Sillim-dong, southern Seoul,Sep. 20. They have repaired the houses for senior and poor citizens in the area who live alone since January. / Yonhap By Jhoo Dong-chan A group of Seoul National University (SNU) students has repaired houses of senior and poor citizens who live alone.They first met one another last December through the school’s club activity called “SNU Sunshine Volunteer” while delivering briquettes for people in need around Sillim-dong and Nangok-dong area near their university.They decided to repair the houses of senior citizens who live alone and are unable to do it by themselves. They learned how to wallpaper in January.“We wanted to utilize our major in helping them,” said group leader Kwak Jin-won who majors in civil and environmental engineering at the school.They named their volunteer group “Lovengers,” a mixture of the word love and the Hollywood blockbuste

Sep 25, 2015

Davich CEO eyes global presence

Davich Optical CEO Kim In-gyuBy Lee Min-hyungDavich Optical CEO Kim In-gyu says he wants to be a happiness messenger through glasses.Before launching the nation’s largest optical products chain in 2000, he started a small glasses store in Busan in 1986. He said he was inspired to jump into the business after realizing how happy customers are after they bought glasses.“My brother-in-law was running a glasses store before I launched my own store,” Kim said. “I used to go there and saw people leaving the store happy that they had bought their new glasses.”But his business did not go as well as he expected.“Three years after I got started, I had to close the store as thieves broke into my store on a holiday,” he said. “But I couldn’t forget seeing people excited to see a brighter world with their new glasses.”That is why he decided to devote his life to the glasses business.“I prepared again to open another store, more determined and more carefully,” he said. “My business then began to prosper, so I did not hes

Sep 24, 2015

Pilot takes charge as mission commander at Red Flag-Alaska

Maj. Seo Jae-kyong / Courtesy of Korean Air ForceBy Kang Seung-woo Maj. Seo Jae-kyong has become the first South Korean pilot to lead a multinational team as a mission commander during Exercise Red Flag-Alaska, a field training exercise held last month, according to the Air Force.Seven countries participated in the annual exercise, held by the U.S. Pacific Air Forces. They were the United Kingdom, Thailand, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Korea.“At first, I thought that I would be able to perform the duty because I could speak English,” said Seo, an F-16 pilot instructor of the 19th Fighter Wing.Seo’s mission was to lead a strike force that included fighter jets, electronic warfare and airborne early warning and control aircraft, and aerial refueling tankers.“However, while preparing for the mission, I faced growing pressure because Exercise Red Flag is one of the largest most comprehensive exercises in the world,” said the 37-year-old, who has flown more than 1,260 hours.“No one from the Korean Air Force has taken command of the exe

Sep 23, 2015By Kang Seung-woo

Pilot takes charge as mission commander at Red Flag-Alaska

'Ironman' beats cancer through triathlon

Choi Min-joon poses with his bicycle, Saturday, a day before the 2015 Ironman 70.3 Incheon Race was held at Songdo, Incheon, Sunday. / Courtesy of Emerson K PartnerBy Nam Hyun-wooINCHEON _ For Choi Min-joon, 41, the sport of triathlon came at a critical point in his life, when he was undergoing painful treatment for cancer.Four years after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer, he now boasts robust health, participating in one of the most grueling sports and he gives hope to others suffering from cancer.“After I was diagnosed with cancer, I felt people surrounding me, and even my family, thought of me as a sick person and I hated that so much,” Choi told The Korea Times during an interview before he participated in  the 2015 Ironman 70.3 Incheon Race at Songdo, Incheon, Sunday. “I was eager to show I’m okay and how well I am,” Choi said.The race requires athletes to finish 1.9 kilometers of swimming, 90 kilometers of cycling and 21.1 kilometers of running in eight hours. Though this race covers only half of a full Ironman course _3.86 kilometers o

Sep 22, 2015

'Ironman' beats cancer through triathlon

Clara, Ilgwang chairman reach settlement

Clara Lee Kyu-taeBy Jhoo Dong-chanActress Clara Lee has dropped a civil case against Ilgwang Group Chairman Lee Kyu-tae.According to the Seoul Central District Court, Monday, Clara recently submitted a withdrawal application, in which she sought to annul her contract with her agency, Polaris Entertainment, where Lee is also chairman.The actress said she would not take any further legal action against Lee over his alleged threat to her.In return, Polaris Entertainment has agreed to terminate its contract with Clara.The settlement has ended a nine-month legal battle.Last December, the actress, 29, filed a lawsuit against Lee, demanding he cancel her contract with the agency, claiming the chairman sexually harassed her via text messages.The agency counter-sued, claiming Clara fabricated her claims and blackmailed Lee by saying she would report him for making sexually harassing remarks unless Polaris terminated the contract.However, prosecutors concluded Clara’s claim was reasonable, clearing her of her alleged threats to Lee. Instead, they indicted Lee without detention for a

Sep 21, 2015

Clara, Ilgwang chairman reach settlement

'Tolling bell taught me courteous attitude'

Shin Chul-min / YonhapBy Lee Kyung-min When people think of the Bosingak Bell in Jongno in central Seoul, which is tolled mainly on national holidays, including Foundation Day, Liberation Day and New Year’s Day, few are aware that every single ring is carefully managed by a bell-ringer, Shin Chul-min.Shin, 41, a Seoul City official in the Department of Cultural Asset Management, has helped people ring the 3-meter-high bell since 2006 after learning it from the late Cho Jin-ho, a fourth-generation member of a family that had been doing the job. Shin, who was volunteering for tolling at a ceremonial event, was chosen by Cho and received one-on-one training for six months. Cho died of bile duct cancer soon after.“People think that ringing the bell does not require any technique, but it is quite the opposite,” Shin said. “People say they like the sound as it calms their mind, but do not think about how the sound is actually made. In fact, the bell is being damaged, or I’d rather say ‘sacrificed,’ every time it makes that sound by being hit by the

Sep 18, 2015

'Tolling bell taught me courteous attitude'

Professor to head history foundation

By Kim Hyo-jinProf. Kim Ho-seopThe Northeast Asian History Foundation (NAHF) said Thursday it had appointed Kim Ho-seop, a politics professor at Joongang University, as its head.Kim, 61, will serve as president of the state-funded NAHF for the next three years, replacing current President Kim Hak-joon.Kim Ho-seop graduated from the politics department at Seoul National University, and earned a doctorate at the University of Michigan.He worked at the Sejong Institute, a government-funded think tank on global policies from 1989 to 1992. Since then, he has served as a professor teaching international relations at Joongang.Kim was an active scholar in academia, heading the Modern Japan Society and the Korea’s International Politics Society.He led a panel under the Prime Minister’s Office in 2007 to look into South Korean citizens abducted by North Korea for three years from 2009, and is now leading the Society of International Regional Studies, serving as an advisor to the NAHF from 2013.

Sep 17, 2015

Grande launches new fragrance

Ariana Grande performs during an appearance at Macy’s Herald Square showcasing her new fragrance, ARI by Ariana Grande in New York, Wednesday. / AP-Yonhap

Sep 17, 2015

Lee to head global engineering body

Lee Jae-wan, chairman of the Korea Engineering & Consulting Association, speaks during a meeting organized by the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) at the Dubai World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates, Tuesday. Lee became the first Asian to head FIDIC./ Courtesy of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and EnergyBy Lee Hyo-sikLee Jae-wan, chairman of the Korea Engineering & Consulting Association, was appointed to head global engineering body FIDIC, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Thursday.He was elected chairman of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC), the first Asian to hold the position, during a meeting at the Dubai World Trade Center in the United Arab Emirates, Tuesday, raising Korea’s profile in the global consulting engineering industry.Lee will serve as FIDIC chairman for two years through September 2017. Founded in 1913, the association is charged with promoting and implementing the consulting engineering industry’s goals on behalf of its member associations. It also disse

Sep 17, 2015By Lee Hyo-sik

People & Events

People & Events

Folk duo Nature Airliner to land in Seoul

SNU students remodel houses for the elderly

Davich CEO eyes global presence

Pilot takes charge as mission commander at Red Flag-Alaska

'Ironman' beats cancer through triathlon

Clara, Ilgwang chairman reach settlement

'Tolling bell taught me courteous attitude'

Professor to head history foundation

Grande launches new fragrance

Lee to head global engineering body

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