Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Brand center for Nerium

Roy Truett, second from right, president of international at Nerium International, cuts the ribbon to celebrate the grand opening of the Nerium Korea Brand Center in Gangnam, southern Seoul, Tuesday. Standing withTruett are, from left, Mark Smith, chief field officer of Nerium International; Choi Bum-jin, general manager of Nerium Korea; and Dennis Windsor, chief networking officer. / Courtesy of Nerium Korea

Jun 24, 2015

Boston marathon winner recalls glorious days

Ham Kee-yongBy Nam Hyun-wooFormer marathon runner Ham Kee-yong, 85, best known for winning the 1950 Boston Marathon, is recalling his success as he participates in a Korea Olympic Committee (KOC) project archiving the history of Korean sports.April 19, 1950, was a glorious day for Koreans. Ham, then 18 years old, finished in 2:32:39, coming in first in the event with his compatriots Song Gil-yun and Choe Yun-chil following him onto the podium.“I was the first Korean to win an international competition with the Korean national flag printed on my bib,” Ham said.Coached by marathon great Sohn Kee-chung, winner of 1936 Berlin Olympic marathon, the Korean victory not only surprised the world but helped the country, which had gained independence from Japanese colonial rule only five years beforehand, to regain its pride.On returning home, President Rhee Syng-man held a parade to celebrate their victory.“Rhee shed tears saying we (Ham, Song and Choe) did a greater job than hundreds of diplomats could do,” he recalled.But their celebration did not last long as the Kor

Jun 23, 2015

Boston marathon winner recalls glorious days

'Beauty entertainer' leads new trend

Park Su-hyeBy Bahk Eun-jiPark Su-hye, 24, describes herself as a “beauty entertainer,” who uploads cosmetic and make-up tutorials on YouTube. She started uploading videos on the website four years ago.“At that time, I ran a blog usually about costume-play makeup as a hobby. But I was interested in media content because I studied visual design in college,” she said.Park, now better known as “Ssin,” is one of the first generation of YouTube stars in Korea. Her page has more than 460,000 subscribers and has had around 56 million views.Unlike other beauty gurus, beauty and lifestyle vloggers make up some of the highest view counts on YouTube.  Park’s style is wild. She doesn’t make an extra effort to be pretty, but tries to be honest even when she introduces products that have sponsored her.“In the beauty industry, people, I mean mostly my viewers in this case, are very sensitive if the product review is sponsored or not, as they are already accustomed to commercial content,” Park said.“I’m not saying I don&rsqu

Jun 22, 2015By Bahk Eun-ji

Collegian challenges 'silver' industry

 Lee Hwan-hee / Yonhap  By Jhoo Dong-chan A sophomore at Konkuk University has jumped into a “silver” business related to senior citizens.Majoring in business administration, Lee Hwan-hee, 20, has always been interested in inventing things to make life easier for the elderly. He has invented several kitchen and stationary items since he was a middle-school student.He decided to invent a walker when he was a high school student after seeing an elderly woman struggling up a steep hill.At first, Lee surveyed the existing products in the market, looking for their shortcomings. He even interviewed several old people in his neighborhood.Lee found that the elderly were dissatisfied with their walkers because most required significant upper-body strength.For his new walker, Lee applied a rest rack on which users can rest their elbows, dispersing the amount of required body strength. The walker also offers a height adjustment so the elderly can lean onto it more easily.By folding the rest rack, the walker also transforms into a wheelchair.Before he entered univ

Jun 19, 2015

Model-actress Jung In-ah dies in skydiving accident Saturday

Jung In-ahBy Lee Min-hyungModel-actress Jung In-ah has died in a skydiving accident.Jung, 35, went missing after jumping from a plane on Saturday afternoon in Goheung, South Jeolla Province.She had been practicing skydiving for a year for a role in a new movie.Her body was found tangled with her parachute near a seawall in Goheung Bay.“She died from drowning,” news media quoted a Goheung police official as saying. “The parachute opened completely. But it appears she failed to land on the ground, falling into the sea. It has yet to be confirmed whether rough weather contributed to the accident.”The actress appeared in MBC TV sitcom “The Secret of Keu Keu Island” in 2008, but had not been on TV since. She was also a yoga instructor.She debuted as a garment company model when she was 16.Her funeral will be held in Incheon on Friday morning. 

Jun 18, 2015

Model-actress Jung In-ah dies in skydiving accident Saturday

'A good pianist should be subjective'

Pianist Kim Jae-young performs at Carnegie Hall in this January 2012 file photo.  / Korea TimesPianist Kim Jae-youngBy Park Jin-haiKim Jae-young, 21, won this year’s prestigious Yamaha Young Performing Artists (YYPA) Competition for Piano, with eight other young musicians also victorious in different musical fields.The only Korean among the winners will leave for the YYPA Celebration Weekend to be held at Ball State University in Indiana from June 20 to 23. This will include rehearsals, master classes and workshops focusing on having a career in music.Kim, a Juilliard undergraduate student, under the tutelage of Jerome Lowenthal, says he started playing the piano when his mother noticed he had perfect pitch at the age of five.  “Since then, my life has been deeply involved with the piano. All those good and bad years, the piano has been always by my side,” said Kim, during an e-mail interview with The Korea Times.He studied at the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul before moving to the United States in 2011. Kim also took lessons at the Eastman Sch

Jun 18, 2015By Park Jin-hai

Wine competition

Sommelier Lee Jung-hoon sniffs Australian wine to examine its quality during the final contest of the Korea Wine Challenge 2015, an international wine competition, in the Korean Wine Challenge office in Jongno, downtownSeoul, Wednesday. The 11th annual event, sponsored by the monthly magazine Wine Review, was held from June 8 to 17 to select the best wine. Among 705 entries from 20 countries, six wines were selected as winners in each category — sparkling, white, red, rose, fortified, sweet — by fivejudges including Lee. Maycas del Limari Quebrada Seca of Spain was chosen as the trophy red wine./ Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Jun 17, 2015

Golf gathering

Ambassadors representing 13 countries and honorary consuls representing 15 countries pose before they play golf at Lakeside Country Club in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. The 13 ambassadors are from Switzerland, Thailand, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Pakistan, the Philippines, Mongolia, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Morocco, Peru and Fiji. The honorary consul corps led by Yu Seung-pil, honorary consul-general of Haiti, hosts the friendship golf competition every year to strengthen ties. / Courtesy of Yu Seung-pil

Jun 17, 2015

'Bi-cultural self-esteem essential for interracial children'

Olivia IhBy Yi Whan-wooKorea faces growing challenges in successfully embracing interracial children as members of society. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, their numbers peaked at 204,204 in January 2014.Olivia Ih, 29, a native French lecturer at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy (KNDA), says self-esteem and critical thinking as a bi-cultural and bi-lingual person are essential for interracial children to adapt to the communities of their parents’ origin.Having been raised by a Korean father and a French mother, Olivia married a Korean man in 2013 and is now working on her doctoral thesis on marriage migrants at Ewha Womans University.“Be proud of who you are, of having two cultures, and you will become a valuable member of Korean society,” she said in an e-mail interview with The Korea Times, Tuesday.Olivia advised people with a diverse background to remain objective when speaking about different cultures, not making superficial observations while considering why cultural differences exist.“For instance

Jun 17, 2015By Yi Whan-woo

'Bi-cultural self-esteem essential for interracial children'

Yangpa sings at baseball stadium

Korean singer Yangpa performs during a baseball match between theTexas Rangers and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Globe Life Park in Arlington, Texas, Monday. She sang the national anthems of Korea and the United States consecutively, winning the applause of spectators. / Yonhap

Jun 16, 2015

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