Lifestyle

Cheong Wa Dae to open to public this week

People stand near Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, May 8. YonhapCheong Wa Dae will open to the public on incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol's inauguration day Tuesday as the sprawling compound ended its 74-year-old role as the site for the presidential office and residence in line with Yoon's pledge to relocate the top office.With online reservations, visitors will be able to look around the compound, including the Nokjiwon garden and the state guest house of Yeongbin-gwan, from noon to 8 p.m. on Tuesday and then from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day after that, according to the officials of the Cheong Wa Dae relocation task force. The inside of Cheong Wa Dae buildings, however, will be off-limits until after all sensitive equipment and documents are carried out. Visits will be limited to 6,500 people per two-hour time slot and 39,000 per day.The tour program was launched in accordance with Yoon's election promise to relocate the presidential office out of Cheong Wa Dae and give the compound back to the public. He said the move would help him connect better with the people as Cheong Wa Dae had become

Investment in small shares of artworks increases in recent 3 yrs

The first-ever auction organized independently by the Galleries Association of Korea was held at the Westin Josun Seoul, Jan. 26. Courtesy of Galleries Association of Korea Total investments into small shares of blue-chip artwork in Korea amounted to nearly 100 billion won ($78.5 million) over the past three-and-a-half years, industry data showed Monday.Four local online art investment platforms, including industry leader ArtnGuide, allow consumers to invest in iconic artwork by buying small ownership stakes, attracting small-sum investors interested in diversifying their portfolios to a field that had been previously only available to the wealthy.According to the data compiled by the four companies, a combined 96.3 billion won worth of such art portfolio investments have been made since the platform was launched in November 2018.The yearly total has been on a sharp rise from 270 million won in the last two months of 2018 to 2.5 billion won in 2019, 5.1 billion won

Jeju Air to resume Busan-Singapore route next month

Jeju Air / Yonhap Jeju Air said Monday it will resume the Busan-Singapore route next month as eased virus restrictions unleash pent-up demand. Korea's biggest low-cost carrier (LCC) will offer two flights a week on the Singapore route from June 24 after it suspended the route 28 months ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company said in a statement. Singapore currently allows fully vaccinated travelers to visit the country without a quarantine period.Jeju Air also plans to resume two flights a week on the Busan-Bangkok route in late June.It resumed flights from Incheon to Saipan in July, and Guam in November. Flights from Incheon to Weihai and Harbin in China, Cebu and Clark of the Philippines, and Osaka are currently available.Jeju Air operated 39 B737-800 chartered planes on 87 routes, including six domestic ones, before the pandemic. (Yonhap)

Asiana to expand flights to Europe amid eased virus curbs

Asiana Airlines Airbus 380 / Courtesy of Asiana Airlines Asiana Airlines said Monday it will expand flights on its European routes later this month as eased virus restrictions unleash pent-up demand.The carrier will increase flights on routes from Incheon to Frankfurt and London beginning May 28 and May 30, respectively, it said in a statement.The company will resume flights from Incheon to Paris and Rome, June 18 and June 22 respectively, while planning to resume flights on routes from Incheon to Barcelona and Istanbul July 23, it said.With the planned flight resumption and expansion, Asiana said it will be able to offer half of the flights it used to serve on European routes before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the airline industry nearly two-and-a-half years ago.On non-European routes, Asiana reopened Incheon-India flights in late April and will expand the number of flights to Sydney, Los Angeles, Osaka, Fukuoka, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Manila starting this month

Centuries-old passion play returns after pandemic break

Rochus Rueckel as Jesus performs during the rehearsal of the 42nd Passion Play in Oberammergau, Germany, May 4. AP-YonhapAlmost 400 years ago, the Catholic residents of a small Bavarian village vowed to perform a play of ``the suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ'' every 10 years, if only God would spare them any further losses from the plague known as the Black Death.Legend has it that ever since 1634, when the villagers of Oberammergau first performed their passion play, no more residents died of that pestilence or any other plagues ― until 2020, when the world was hit by a new plague, the coronavirus pandemic. Oberammergau, like so many places worldwide, suffered some COVID-19 deaths, though residents who confirmed that were unsure how many.Another consequence: The villagers could not fulfill their vow to stage the play after a 10-year interval. It was set to open in the spring of 2020, but was postponed due to the pandemic.Now, after a two-year delay, the famous Oberammergau Passion Play is finally opening on May 14 ― the 42nd staging since its long-ago debu

Poet and democracy activist Kim Ji-ha dies at 81

Kim Ji-ha / YonhapKim Ji-ha, a Korean poet and democracy activist who was imprisoned for being critical of the authoritarian government in the 1970s, died at the age of 81 on Sunday, a source said.Kim died at his home with his family at his bedside at around 4 p.m. in Wonju, 132 kilometers east of Seoul, after suffering from a disease for about a year, according to the source at the Toji Cultural Foundation."His conditions abruptly deteriorated, so we called emergency services, but he just passed away," the source said.Born in 1941, he majored in aesthetics at Seoul National University and began his career as a poet in 1969, publishing poems such as "The Yellow Earth."He drew attention from the public but also ran afoul with the dictatorial Park Chung-hee government when he published a poem entitled "The Five Bandits" in 1970, which scathingly criticized rich and well-heeled people in a satirical way. He was arrested for penning the work. In 1974, Kim was sentenced to death for allegedly instigating a group of students in cahoots with North Korea to overthrow the authoritarian govern

DAILY FORTUNE - MAY 09, 2022

Gimpo-Haneda flight service to resume early next month: diplomatic source

Travelers queue in lines at Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, July 8, 2021. Korea and Japan have agreed to resume flight services between major airports in their capitals early next month. YonhapKorea and Japan have agreed to resume flight services between major airports in their capitals early next month after suspending them for more than two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a diplomatic source Friday.The Northeast Asian neighbors plan to reopen the air route between Gimpo International Airport in Seoul and Haneda Airport in Tokyo in early June, at the latest, the source said.While flights between Korea's main gateway Incheon International Airport and Japan's Narita International Airport have remained operational, services between the Gimpo-Haneda airports, more convenient in terms of public access, had been shuttered since March 2020.Late last month, a delegation sent by Korean President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol to Japan proposed reopening the Gimpo-Haneda route among several measures to boost people-to-people exchanges during its meetings with Japan's Prime Ministe

'Jikji' project to shed new light on world's oldest surviving book printed with metal type

Pages of “Jikji,” the oldest surviving book printed with movable metal type / Courtesy of National Archives of Korea By Park Han-solA collaborative international research project launched last year to analyze the 918-1392 Goryeo era's Buddhist scripture “Jikji Simche Yojeol,” better known as “Jikji,” is taking a new step forward with a grant awarded by the Washington, D.C.-based National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).“From Jikji to Gutenberg,” led by the UNESCO International Centre for Documentary Heritage (ICDH) and the University of Utah's J. Willard Marriott Library, is a joint research project involving over 50 scholars from 25 prominent institutions, including the Library of Congress, Smithsonian Institution and Gutenberg Museum in Germany.Its aim is to study Jikji and the Gutenberg Bible ― historic, cultural artifacts that are believed to be the origins of print practices in Eastern Asia and Western Europe, respectively.Both relics were inscribed in UNESC

Film industry wishes for veteran actress Kang Soo-yeon's recovery

Actress Kang Soo-yeon was taken to a hospital after suffering a sudden cardiac arrest and intracerebral hemorrhage. Korea Times fileVeteran actress in hospital after cardiac arrestBy Lee Gyu-leeThe film industry and fans are pouring out messages of support for award-winning actress Kang Soo-yeon, wishing her recovery, as she remains unconscious after suffering a cardiac arrest at her home on Thursday.Kim Dong-ho, the former executive committee member of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), who is a friend of the actress, reportedly rushed to the hospital where Kang was transferred.“Her doctor informed the family that her condition might not get better even if she undergoes surgery, so they haven't decided whether to proceed with it,” he told local media.Adding that he met Kang about a week ago, Kim said, “She seemed to be fine … She would go to the hospital for checkups but she wasn't sick. I heard that she was planning to visit the United States soon.” The actress finished filming director Yeon Sang-ho's new Netflix film “Jung-E” e