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'Minari' star Han Ye-ri tapped for goodwill ambassador for int'l dance festival

Actor Han Ye-ri / Courtesy of Hanfilm, MODAFEBy Park Han-solAn official poster for the 40th International Modern Dance Festival to be held from May 25 to June 13 / Courtesy of MODAFEActor Han Ye-ri, who played the role of the mother and wife of a Korean migrant family in the award-winning film “Minari,” has been appointed as goodwill ambassador for the 40th International Modern Dance Festival (MODAFE) to be held in Seoul from May 25 to June 13.“We found Han, who was a choreography major with experience in Korean dance, contemporary dance and ballet, to be perfect for the role of ambassador of the festival,” the event organizer Contemporary Dance Association of Korea announced in its press release on Thursday, introducing her as an actor known for her delicately expressive and sincere performance across a wide range of genres.The 37-year-old actor majored in Korean dance at the Korea National University of Arts and studied contemporary dance and ballet before college. MODAFE naturally occupied a big part of her life during her middle and high school years.&ldqu

May 6, 2021By Park Han-sol

'Minari' star Han Ye-ri tapped for goodwill ambassador for int'l dance festival

INTERVIEW Startup founders seek to ignite boom for vegan meat substitutes

Food tech startup DEVOTIONFOODS makes non-genetically-modified, gluten-free plant-based meat substitutes from textured vegetable protein. Courtesy of DEVOTIONFOODSBy Lee Gyu-leeAlthough debuted in the 1960s as an alternative source of protein for vegans, substitute meat made from fermented soy wallowed in obscurity for decades. It was only recently that the plant-based protein market has emerged as a healthier, eco-responsible dietary alternative for conscious consumers. And with key players like Impossible Foods and Beyond Meat continuing to evolve to make their plant-based proteins taste, smell and look more like real meat, the substitute meat business is on the rise; the global plant-based meat market is expected to reach $450 billion by 2040, according to the consulting firm Kearney. The co-founders of food-tech startup DEVOTIONFOODS ― CEO Park Hyung-su and CTO Lee Yong-min ― seek to become game-changers in the food industry as the food-tech market is just beginning to take off in Korea. “Like Impossible Foods took the plant-based market by storm in the U.S, we aimed to int

May 6, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

[INTERVIEW] Startup founders seek to ignite boom for vegan meat substitutes

Net zero in food industry in the making

Online shopping at 2nd-highest point in March amid contactless trend

gettyimagesbankOnline shopping in South Korea continued to soar in March as more people bought goods via e-commerce platforms amid a non-contact consumption trend caused by the pandemic, data showed Thursday.The value of online shopping transactions stood at 15.9 trillion won ($14.1 billion) in March, up 26.4 percent from 12.6 trillion won the previous year, according to the data from Statistics Korea.The March tally marks the second-highest monthly reading since December last year when the comparable figure was 15.99 trillion won.The use of online shopping has accelerated since last year as people preferred shopping in a non-contact manner due to the COVID-19 pandemic.Purchases made through smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices rose 29.4 percent on-year to 11 trillion won in March. Mobile shopping made up 69.1 percent of the total value of online shopping.Online purchases of foodstuffs, food delivery services and electronics goods remained firm, the statistics agency said.Online transactions of food delivery services jumped 62.4 percent on-year to 781 billion won, and those

May 6, 2021

Online shopping at 2nd-highest point in March amid contactless trend

Net zero in food industry in the making

Corporations and government are making a leap towards sustainable consumption as more consumers become aware of ethical spending. gettyimagesbank Retailers unveil sustainable food, packaging to woo ethical consumersBy Lee Gyu-lee“You are what you eat.” This proverbial saying has never been truer than recently, given the COVID-19 pandemic, which has entered its second year, is propelling people to mull ways to stay healthy and avoid infections. With health and wellness becoming two of the top concerns for people around the world, people are increasingly wary of their health and nutrient intake in their daily lives. And as people have become aware of the importance of what they eat to stay healthy amid the pandemic, they are paying keen attention to “how” the food they're eating was brought to the table. Ethical consumption has gathered buzz among concerned consumers. When purchasing produce, they think of the environmental, societal and political impacts of their shopping choices. Shoppers have found alignment with the “meaning-out” hashtag campaign

May 6, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

INTERVIEW Startup founders seek to ignite boom for vegan meat substitutes

Millennials, Gen Z stressed out over team chat

gettyimagesbankBy Kang Hyun-kyungMillennials (those born between 1981 and 1995) and Generation Z (born between 1996 and 2005) are more stressed out as a whole than baby boomers or other older generations by Korea's favorite smartphone chatting app, KakaoTalk, being used as a tool for communication in the workplace.According to a recent survey conducted by market research firm Opensurvey of 1,000 workers, over five out of every 10 millennials and Gen Zers, who together are called Gen MZ in Korea, said that they feel disturbed by the fact that KakaoTalk is being increasingly used for team chat in workplace.In contrast, only 25.7 percent of baby boomers, who are in their 50s, felt stressed out about KakaoTalk being used for team chat.Nearly 60 percent of the younger generation said that they find it difficult to keep their personal and professional lives separate because of the workplace chat app, while 18 percent mentioned privacy concerns as the main reason for their discomfort.The survey found that KakaoTalk is the most popular app used for group chatting at work.

May 5, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung

Millennials, Gen Z stressed out over team chat

North Korean-born designer tells stories of fellow defectors through fashion

Kang Ji-hyun, left, and Marie Boes, founders of social impact fashion brand ISTORY / Courtesy of ISTORYBy Park Han-solFor North Korean-born Kang Ji-hyun, her chance sighting of a foreign tourist at Mount Paektu at the age of 15 forever changed her life.What started out as a routine family trip to the mountain became her first time spotting an actual foreigner outside the television screens and textbooks. What caught her eyes wasn't his height or his unkempt beard ― but his ripped jeans. He must be a beggar, she immediately thought to herself, asking her father why in the world a homeless person would be walking around Mount Paektu. Her father, after some thought, told her that the tourist's clothing must be a sign not of his status but rather his choice of style.The fact that the ripped outfit, an immediate indication of homelessness in her country, could be a fashion item was a newfound revelation for Kang. But in North Korea, social and academic barriers as well as strong opposition from her parents prevented her from studying and charting a path toward fashion design. As her passi

May 4, 2021By Park Han-sol

North Korean-born designer tells stories of fellow defectors through fashion

KOCCA launches mentoring program for artists

The Korea Creative Content Agency has opened the application process for its annual creative content training program. gettyimagesbank By Lee Gyu-leeThe Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), designed to promote and strengthen Korea's cultural content, is kicking off its annual program to nurture artists.The state-run agency under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, announced, Monday, that it has opened the application process for the program, which will run through 11 a.m., May 14 ― 440 applicants will be accepted.“I'm proud to say that this year's program, which marks its 10th anniversary, is our main project that discovers talented creators who will lead Korea's content industry,” said Park Kyung-ja, the director of the creative human resources development team.For this year's program, 17 mentoring organizations and platforms have been selected to carry out programs to train applicants to produce seven types of creative content: games, music, concerts/ev

May 3, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

KOCCA launches mentoring program for artists

One-person households account for 33% of total in Seoul

One-person households accounted for the largest proportion of all households in Seoul at 33.3 percent, the city government said Saturday. gettyimagesbankPeople living alone accounted for the largest proportion of all households in Seoul at 33.3 percent, the city government said Saturday. Of 4,041 households surveyed between November and January, those with singletons were the most common, followed by two members (25.8 percent), three (20.6 percent) and four (19.2 percent), it said.About 41 percent of the one-person households consisted of young people, with senior citizens accounting for 22.6 percent and middle-aged people accounting for 16.2 percent.The biggest difficulties of living alone were reported to be handling illness or emergencies (32.5 percent), loneliness (23.3 percent) and financial insecurity (20.3 percent), the city government said.The average annual income of households rose to 50.82 million won (US$45,900) from 49.2 million won in 2018.Average household debt came to 44.08 million won, while the average solely among households with debts was 99.78 million won.The top

May 1, 2021

One-person households account for 33% of total in Seoul

Royal Culture Festival to be held online and offline from Saturday

By Park Ji-won Poster for Royal Culture Festival / Courtesy of Cultural Heritage Administration The seventh Royal Culture Festival will begin Saturday in royal palaces in Seoul and through online channels to display traditional Korean cultural heritage sites and practices. The organizers said the festival aims to comfort pandemic-weary citizens.Starting with the opening ceremony at Gyeongbok Palace Friday, themed “rest,” the annual festival will run until May 9 at five palaces ― Gyeongbok, Changdeok, Deoksu, Changgyeong and Gyeonghui ― as well as the royal shrine Jongmyo and the altar Sajikdan.The on-site events will include “Cinema in Palace” at Gyeongbok, where critics will share their thoughts with audiences after the screening of three films about palaces and kingdoms; “Prince Yeonsan,” (1962) “The Fatal Encounter” (2014) and “Forbidden Dream” (2019).“Self-discovery Time in Palace” at Changgyeong, allows participants to write a statement and draw a picture on the

May 1, 2021By Park Ji-won

Royal Culture Festival to be held online and offline from Saturday

INTERVIEW Pastor suspended for blessing LGBTQ questions meaning of love in church

Rev. Lee Dong-hwan, the pastor of Glory Jeil Church in Suwon who was suspended from duty after holding a “blessing prayer” at the 2019 Queer Culture Festival in Incheon, poses during an interview at The Korea Times office in Seoul, April 23. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chulBy Park Ji-wonInstead of delivering sermons and rubbing shoulders with his congregation, Rev. Lee Dong-hwan, a Methodist pastor in Suwon south of Seoul, spends most of his time these days discussing legal plans with his attorney and strategizing with a group of activists who banded together to support him.Lee has been accused by the Korean Methodist Church (KMC) of disobedience and an ecclesiastical tribunal upheld that allegation, suspending him from being a pastor for two years. His crime: holding a blessing prayer at the Queer Culture Festival in the western port city of Incheon two years ago.“If holding a blessing prayer for sexual minorities can be a punishable sin, why doesn't the church punish those pastors who blessed Chun Doo-hwan, who was behind the May 18 massacre? Why doesn't the ch

Apr 29, 2021By Park Ji-won

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