Lifestyle - The Korea Times

Former MBC producer Jung Gil-hwa takes helm at KOFICE

Jung Gil-hwa, president of the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) speaks during his inauguration ceremony, held in western Seoul's Mapo District, Monday. Courtesy of KOFICEBy Lee Gyu-leeThe Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) has appointed former producer and professor Jung Gil-hwa as its president. KOFICE President Jung Gil-hwa / Courtesy of KOFICEThe foundation, which was founded in 2003, held a small-scale inauguration ceremony to welcome its new head Monday at the DMC High-Tech Industry Center, located in western Seoul's Mapo District. The event was also streamed online as social distancing guidelines restrict large gatherings.“Cultural exchanges (between countries) are especially needed during this time. So the role and responsibility of this foundation that offers a platform for related parties are crucial in shaping the direction of the policies and structure of international cultural exchange,” Jung said during the ceremony.“I will do my best to cooperate with the related agencies and lead substantial ch

Apr 20, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

Former MBC producer Jung Gil-hwa takes helm at KOFICE

Number of Korean stay-at-home fathers hits new high in March

A father spends time with his children at home after taking a vacation from work. Korea Times fileThe number of South Korean stay-at-home fathers reached an all-time high in March as fewer women took charge of bringing up kids, government data showed Monday.A total of 13,000 South Korean men outside the labor force were in charge of child care last month, up 6,000 from a year earlier, according to the data from the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS).It was the largest number since data tracking began in 1999. The on-year increase was also the biggest since March 2018.The number of such men has been on the rise over the long term. In March 2011, the figure stood at 3,000 before climbing to 11,000 in January this year, 9,000 in February and 13,000 last month.Those in their 30s and 40s accounted for 74.5 percent of stay-at-home dads. Men aged 60 and older took up nearly 18 percent.In contrast, the number of South Korean stay-at-home mothers came to 1.112 million last month, down 93,000 from a year earlier. From 10 years earlier, last month's tally was down 373,000.Amid a ris

Apr 19, 2021

Number of Korean stay-at-home fathers hits new high in March

Pastors, Korean public poles apart over churches' responses to social distancing

People queue to enter Yoido Full Gospel Church for Easter service in Seoul, April 4. YonhapChurch leaders blame media's biased portrayal of churches during pandemic By Park Ji-wonA recent survey has found a deep gap in perceptions about the role of Protestant churches in social distancing with the vast majority of pastors saying churches were cooperative and did a good job in their responses to the government's regulations, while non-Protestants disagreed.The survey by the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary conducted on 1,406 respondents found eight out of 10 pastors were positive about the role Protestant churches are playing during the pandemic. However, among the general public only 12 percent spoke positively about the church's cooperation with social distancing. Pollsters surveyed four different groups: pastors, lay Protestant believers, journalists and activists from Jan. 1 to 17. The results showed a divide between Protestants and non-Protestants. Nearly 60 percent of lay Protestant people spoke positively about cooperation with the government in social distancin

Apr 15, 2021By Park Ji-won

Pastors, Korean public poles apart over churches' responses to social distancing

Over 100 people line up in front of Chanel shop amid rumors of price hikes

In this photo from May 13, 2020, people line up in front of AVENUEL of the Lotte Department Store in the Myeongdong area of Seoul, on the day before Chanel's May price hike. Korea Times fileBy Ko Dong-hwanMore than a hundred people lined up in front of Lotte Department Store's main store in Seoul Wednesday amid rumors that Chanel will raise prices soon.People crowded around the facade of AVENUEL, an annex to the department store in the Myeongdong area of Jung District, where shops selling luxurious brands are concentrated. According to Yonhap, a local news agency, several people started lining up sitting on portable folding chairs before 6 a.m., more than four hours before the department store's opening. By 8 a.m., there were more than 100 people in line.Temperatures dropped from the previous day to 3 degrees Celsius in the early morning, but that did not stop eager shoppers from waiting. A kiosk in front of the shop handed out a number of tickets to keep the situation orderly.Luxury brands, according to Yonhap, tend to be quiet about any looming price adjustments. But it has been th

Apr 14, 2021By Ko Dong-hwan

Over 100 people line up in front of Chanel shop amid rumors of price hikes

Park Ark interprets Korean seasonal customs with contemporary dance

Park Ark, left, poses for a photo after being named the top content creator for Korean seasonal customs by the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (KCDF), April 9. Courtesy of KCDFBy Kwon Mee-yooPark Ark's video series depicting Korean traditional seasonal customs in contemporary dance won the best creator award from the Korea Craft & Design Foundation (KCDF).The KCDF and the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism selected and supported 12 creators to produce videos related to seasonal customs and the 24 seasonal divisions, and Park's creation won the top accolade, April 9. Park's videos “Winter,” “Summer” and “Spring” were recognized for interpreting Korean seasonal divisions through contemporary dance, corresponding to the contest's aim of modernizing the ideas of seasonal customs.Park is an artist who works with video and virtual reality (VR) and is currently enrolled in the graduate program of the School of Film, TV & Multimedia at Korea National University of Arts (K-ARTS).“Though this project ran for about six months, I had bee

Apr 14, 2021By Kwon Mee-yoo

Park Ark interprets Korean seasonal customs with contemporary dance

Korea marks world's lowest birthrate: UN report

gettyimagesbankSouth Korea continues to have the lowest birthrate in the world this year amid fast growth of its elderly population, a United Nations report showed Tuesday.The country's total fertility rate per woman amounted to 1.1 in 2021, unchanged from a year earlier, according to the report from the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA).The fertility rate refers to the average number of children each woman is expected to give birth to over her lifetime.South Korea's rate is the lowest among all 198 countries surveyed and is far lower than the global average of 2.4, according to the UNFPA."While the country continues to see a low fertility rate and fast aging of the population, the proportion of its population aged between 0-14 years came to 12.3 percent, which is the same with that of Japan and about half of the global average of 25.3 percent," the UNFPA said.No country has a smaller proportion of the young population than South Korea and Japan.The proportion of people over 65 came to 16.6 percent of South Korea's overall population, sharply up from 15.8 percent a year earlier, according

Apr 14, 2021

Korea marks world's lowest birthrate: UN report

US Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, 5 others recognized for promoting hanbok

Participants pose during an award ceremony to give a certificate of appreciation to those who contributed to promoting Korea's traditional hanbok attire, at the Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul, Monday. From left are Korea Craft & Design Foundation President Kim Tae-hoon, Netflix series “Kingdom” costume designer Kwon Yoo-jin, K-pop singer and actress Jun Hyo-seong, Vice Minister of Culture Oh Young-woo, hanbok ambassador Kwon Na-ra, Lakai Korea CEO Shin Jung-hun and Riot Games PR leader Gu Gi-hyang. YonhapBy Park Ji-wonU.S. Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland and five teams have received a certificate of appreciation from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism for promoting Korean traditional hanbok attire.During an award ceremony hosted by the ministry in collaboration with the Hanbok Advancement Center, Monday, Strickland was recognized along with a collaboration between K-pop singer and actress Jun Hyo-seong with fashion label Lakai Korea, as well as graffiti artist Chris Chanyang Shim, Netflix series “Kingdom” costume designers Kwon Yoo-jin and Chae

Apr 13, 2021By Park Ji-won

US Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland, 5 others recognized for promoting hanbok

Survivors of xenophobia, hate crime captured in photos

An elderly 'Koryo-saram' with deep wrinkles on his face is seen in this 2001 photo taken by documentary photographer Kim Ji-youn. Kim recently released the photo essay book, “Korean Diaspora,” which delves into the harsh lives of ethnic Koreans overseas. Courtesy of Noonbit Publishing 'Korean Diaspora' shows struggle of Koreans overseas to retain ethnic identityBy Kang Hyun-kyungDocumentary photographer Kim Ji-youn was puzzled when she learned about a group of Koreans in Japan called “Chosen-seki,” or “Korean domicile,” the descendants of Koreans who migrated to Japan before its surrender in 1945.Unlike Zainichi Koreans or Korean-Japanese who are legal residents in Japan, Chosen-seki identify themselves as the people from Joseon, the Confucian dynasty that existed on the Korean Peninsula from 1392 until Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910, and chose to live as stateless aliens there, enduring the consequences of negative stereotyping.Children are bullied due to their parents' vulnerable legal status. For adults, discrimination is part of life and so

Apr 12, 2021By Kang Hyun-kyung

Survivors of xenophobia, hate crime captured in photos

KOCCA's digital showroom 'The Selects' ends F/W 2021 collection on high note

The picture shows advertisements of KOCCA's digital showroom, “The Selects,” in Time Square. Courtesy of KOCCA By Lee Gyu-leeThe Selects, a showroom operated by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), has successfully finished the 2021 Fall/Winter collection. The showroom's sales during the collection reached around $230,000, which is twice that of last year, according to the agency.The showroom, which was created to introduce talented Korean designers to the global fashion market, started in Soho, New York in 2018. But due to the coronavirus pandemic, the agency ran a digital showroom last year, along with an on-site shop.“We offered full support to help designers reach a global market through our fashion business platform, The Selects, despite difficulties in offline overseas sales due to COVID-19,” said Lee Hyun-joo, the head of pop culture at KOCCA. “We will continue to do our best to promote K-fashion and help

Apr 9, 2021By Lee Gyu-lee

KOCCA's digital showroom 'The Selects' ends F/W 2021 collection on high note

Hanbok Culture Week kicks off

K-pop juggernaut BTS performs "Idol" in hanbok costume in Gyeongbokgung Palace for NBC's "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," Sept. 29, 2020. Courtesy of HybeBy Park Han-solThe official poster for Hanbok Culture Week 2021 / Courtesy of Ministry of Culture, Sports and TourismHanbok Culture Week 2021, a nationwide cultural festival designed to promote the beauty of Korean traditional clothing held since 2018, kicked off Friday and will run until April 18. As part of the event, hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Hanbok Advancement Center, three CGV branches in Seoul ― Myeongdong, Myeongdong Station Cine Library and Piccadilly 1958 ― will operate hanbok-themed theaters, where they will provide free admission to screenings of Korean movies for the first 1,000 filmgoers wearing the traditional attire.A free exhibition, “K-pop X Hanbok,” will also be open to the public at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul from April 13 to 25. Twenty-five sets of 25 hanbok costumes worn by eight K-pop acts, including BTS, Oh My Girl, Zico and Chun

Apr 9, 2021By Park Han-sol

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