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Korea Rotary to Open Hospital in Tanzania

By Kim Jong-chan Political Editor Rotary, one of the world's largest humanitarian service organizations, has announced the launch of a new $1-million mother and child care initiative that seeks to improve the quality of medical services for women and children in Tanzania. The dedication of the Rotary Mother and Child Medical Complex and the Tumbi Hospital Renovation Project in Kibaha is scheduled for Wednesday, a Korea Rotary spokesman said Tuesday. Rotary International President Lee Dong-kurn will attend the dedication ceremony. Worldwide, an estimated 26,000 children under the age of five die every day from preventable diseases such as pneumonia, measles and malaria. ``Once I understood the issues behind that terrible number, I made reducing childhood mortality my main focus during my term as president," Lee said. The new hospital is expected to save up to 42 children per day, the spokesman said. Lee sees this initiative as an essential step to reduce childhood mortality in Africa. Yun Sang-koo, a member of Sae Hanyang Rotary Club in Seoul spearheading the ini

Apr 14, 2009

American University to House Korean Garden

By Lee Tae-hoon Staff Reporter American University, a distinguished private institution located in the heart of Washington D.C., will build a Korean Garden on its campus next year as a symbol of its deep-rooted ties with the country. ``Our school will build a garden that will surround the School of International Service, the largest school of its kind in the world, to memorialize the relationship between American University and Korea,'' Neil Kerwin, the president of the university, said in an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Monday. Kerwin hopes that the new garden, where more than 100 Korean cherry trees are expected to be planted, will expand the school's growing partnership with Korea and offer both its students and visitors an opportunity to learn about their long connection. Kerwin also believes that the 3,300-square-meter garden with a budget of $3 million will become an important source of national pride for Koreans. The history of cherry trees in the campus can be traced back to April 1943, when Korea was still under Japanese colonial rule. Korea's

Apr 14, 2009

Nomad Settles Down to Share Experience of Lifetime

By Kang Hyun-kyung Staff Reporter Despite being in the minority, there certainly does exist such a species as nomads, who consider jobs instruments to finance their explorations of other cultures. Nam Wan-wook, 32, who teaches English conversation to aspirant working holidaymakers at a private institute in Seoul, is one of the nomads who wishes to work six months a year and embark on adventures among other cultures the rest of the time in her future. Nam likes traveling off the beaten track, and, therefore, exploring other cultures is much more than having fun or a getaway to her. Her 20s were filled with three events: attending college for four years, living in Australia, New Zealand and Canada for one year each on working holidays and preparing for her overseas adventure between the two. ``The work and travel program, especially that in Australia in 1999, was an experience of a lifetime,'' she told The Korea Times. ``I met really wonderful friends out there who shared their wisdom with me,'' Nam recalled. In retrospect, her Australian friend Jason w

Apr 14, 2009

Cellist Koh Contributing to Medical Research at Harvard

By Lee Hyo-won Staff Reporter ``Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,'' but instead of wondering about the road not taken, scientist-musician Koh Bong-ihn is straddling both paths ― playing the cello on the world stage while contributing to medical research at Harvard's Stem Cell Institute. ``Music requires practice, just like experiments require repetitions to yield results. They're also all about interpretation,'' the 23-year-old told The Korea Times at Seoul Arts Center in a recent interview. His family and friends, including Koh's former teacher, the feted cellist Chung Myung-wha, were seen congratulating his impassioned performance of Elgar's Cello Concerto with the Jeonju Symphony Orchestra. Born in Jeonju in 1985, Koh made his international debut as an artist at age 12. But unlike most prodigies, he pursued a double degree at Harvard and the New England Conservatory, studying molecular biology while participating in Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road project among other musical engagements. He certainly enjoys the tension of balancing art and science, but interestingly enough, i

Apr 13, 2009

X-Men Stars Visit Seoul

By Lee Hyo-won Staff Reporter ``X-Men Origins: Wolverine'' stars Hugh Jackman and Daniel Henney fueled up the already escalating temperature in Seoul, Friday, as they spoke to the South Korean press and fans, mixing in fluent Korean sentences. Jackman hosted a special event featuring an extended 20-minute trailer of the latest ``X-Men'' franchise in Daehan Theater, Chungmuro. ``Anyeonghaseyo,'' he greeted reporters, and continued impressively in Korean, ``Thank you for coming, I hope you enjoy `Wolverine.' Seoul is awesome.'' The media buzz continued at the Korea House next door, where Henney joined the Australian superstar for a press conference. Jackman, who was officially appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Seoul the same day, chose the traditional venue himself. The ``Australia'' star said his father had worked in Korea for nearly 20 years, and was ``the greatest ambassador for Korea. ``When I first visited three years ago, I felt like I knew Korea very well,'' he said, adding that he didn't take back many souvenir gifts during his 2006 visit with ``X-Men: The Las

Apr 10, 2009

Hugh Jackman to Promote Seoul

By Kwon Mee-yoo Staff Reporter Hollywood actor Hugh Jackman is expected to be appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Seoul today. ``As a goodwill ambassador, Jackman will help raise the brand value of Seoul and publicize the city's policies to the world,'' a local official said. ``He will play an important role in promoting Seoul's charm, especially to America and Europe.'' Jackman is visiting Seoul to promote his new movie ``X-Men Origins: Wolverine.'' Korea is his only Asian destination on the world tour, which was Jackman's choice. Daniel Henney, a Korean-American actor co-starring in ``Wolverine'' and also a Seoul goodwill ambassador, suggested Jackman join him in promoting Korea's capital city. Henney will accompany Jackman to the appointment ceremony. Jackman expressed affection for Korea, saying his father has visited the country for some 20 years on business. Having already visited Korea in 2006, Jackman then cheered the Korean team while wearing a Red Devil T-shirt, a popular item for Korean soccer fans. ``As a goodwill ambassador to Seoul, which

Apr 9, 2009

Blindness Cannot Blind Dream

By Park Si-soo Staff Reporter Kim Kyung-min still vividly remembers how the sky looked like one day in late July 2000. ``It was clean and bright enough to defy description; the shining color of yellow on my room's paper-pasted floor and all the other stuff on my desk,'' she said. Days later, however, everything before her eyes suddenly turned black. ``It was exactly August 1. When I woke up in the morning, everything I saw was gray. I saw dimly and colorlessly,'' Kim said. She was in the sixth grade at that time. The 21-year-old is now a junior at Sookmyung Women's University in Seoul, double majoring in pedagogy and English, and almost totally blind. Despite the handicap, she has shown outstanding academic performances. She received perfect scores in all subjects last semester to win a full scholarship for this semester. It is the first time that a seeing-impaired student has gotten straight ``A-pluses'' at the school. ``The scholarship was very helpful in lightening the (financial) burden on my parents, who manage to make ends meet these days by selli

Apr 9, 2009

Rain and JYP Call for Retrial

By Han Sang-hee Staff Reporter Korean singer Rain and his former agency, JYP Entertainment, currently facing a lawsuit regarding the cancellation of the singer's Hawaii concert, hired new lawyers and requested a retrial last Thursday. According to the federal court in Hawaii Tuesday, the popular singer and agency separately applied for a retrial on April 2. They also requested the suspension of the decision issued last month by the federal court. Rain and JYP Entertainment also stated that there was no evidence that the contract between Hawaii-based promoter Click Entertainment and Revolution Entertainment, owners of the North American rights to Rain's concerts, was on the behalf of JYP. Judge Kevin Chang of the federal court in Hawaii will deliberate the singer's and agency's claim for suspension on May 4. The agency replaced the original five lawyers with seven appeal lawyers as of April 2, while Rain also appointed attorney Terrence O'Toole as of Tuesday. The popular singer got himself into a multi-million dollar lawsuit when his concert, part of his world t

Apr 8, 2009

Ahn Unveils 3 Steps for Forgiveness, Reconciliation

By Kang Hyun-kyung Staff Reporter A top government commission official admitted that plenty of victims and their families suffered the consequences of false accusations and fabricated charges made during authoritarian governments and some of them are still being harassed with the truth remaining hidden. Ahn Byung-ook, president of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, proposed a three-step reconciliation approach, characterizing the wounds and traumas that still exist in society as ``a major stumbling bloc'' to the Global Korea vision. ``To move on, our society needs to offer a sincere apology to those victims so that they can accept it and forgive what the past regimes did to them. We will be able to remove the hurdle as mutual recognition will naturally lead to reconciliation,'' Ahn said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Tuesday. He went over the truth verification process of a kidnapped fisherman to illustrate how the three-step reconciliation approach works. Back in 1967 during the Park Chung-hee government, a 23-year-old fisher

Apr 8, 2009

German Embassy Here Opens New Web Site

By Kim Se-jeong Staff Reporter With the opening of www.germany-in-korea.or.kr, live and moving images of Germany are now just clicks away. The Web site, which had its grand opening Monday, provides viewers with images in a moving 360-degree panorama. From a museum in Berlin to an arboretum in Frankfurt, the site has a pool of 60 different images of Germany to be updated on a monthly basis, said Anton Scholz, who designed the Web page. The images are selected according to the interests of Korean tourists, he added. The virtual images drew a pile of exclamations from the audience during the launching presentation at Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. The site has been a long time coming. In 2006, the embassy conducted a survey revealing Koreans' knowledge of Germany was relatively shallow. ``Through the opening of ``Germany in Korea,'' the embassy wants to enhance the knowledge of Germany among Korean people,'' German Ambassador Norbert Baas said. He added the embassy aims particularly at appealing to young Koreans. The site is only in Korean, offering info

Apr 6, 2009
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