South Korea - The Korea Times

WWD Korea hosts gala to support young artists

WWD Korea CEO Kim Yu-na, left, poses with other participants of the 2022 WWD Korea Global Woman Leaders Forum, June 15, including Maye Musk, fourth from left, and politician Na Kyung-won, third from left. / Courtesy of WWD KoreaBy Jon DunbarWomen's Wear Daily (WWD) Korea is hosting a gala dinner fundraiser event this Friday to raise funds for up-and-coming young artists. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. at Josun Palace in Southern Seoul, and is expected to be attended by over 200 employees in related industries, including C-level executives and directors of Korean and global companies, as well as art collectors, art gallery directors and artists from across the world. The VVIPs participating include Adrian Cheng, executive vice chairman of Hong Kong's New World Development and founder of K11, as well as Sotheby's director Max Moore and Xin Li-Cohen of TR Lab and Christie's Auctions, among many others. Guests will be offered dinner and entertainment, as well as a silent auction running throughout the evening, the proceeds of which will go to support artists. The following day at the same

Aug 31, 2022By Jon Dunbar

WWD Korea hosts gala to support young artists

Birthrate among multicultural families also falling

President Yoon Suk-yeol meets with members of multicultural families at a family support center in Guro District, Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapMulticultural families face diverse challenges in parentingBy Lee Hyo-jinMulticultural families in Korea are having fewer children due apparently to difficulties in raising children here. The number of students from multicultural backgrounds in Korea's schools has been growing continuously over the past decade, but the trend may end in the coming years, as more families are opting out of becoming parents, according to government data.According to data from the Ministry of Education disclosed on Tuesday, the number of students from multicultural backgrounds attending elementary and middle schools as of April 1 stood at 168,645, a 5.4 percent increase from the previous year. The figure has been increasing consistently since the government began to collect relevant data from 2012, and now accounts for 3.2 percent of the total students. It is notable, however, that the percentage of students from multicultural backgrounds in schools is increasing not bec

Aug 31, 2022By Lee Hyo-jin

Birthrate among multicultural families also falling

1,200 more foreigners to work on farms this year

A migrant laborer from Cambodia works on a farm in Chungju, North Chungcheong Province. / Korea Times fileBy Kim Hyun-binThe Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs has increased the allocation of foreign workers in the agricultural sector this year from 8,200 to 9,430, according to Foreign Workforce Policy Committee, Wednesday. The move comes as Korea has been struggling to retain foreign workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit rural areas hard with a growing number of foreign workers, who have become the backbone of Korea's agriculture and fisheries industries, returning to their home countries.In addition, the number of foreign workers small and medium sized farms are allowed to hire will also be increased. The total employment allowance for farms in the bottom 67 percent will allow the hire of two more workers each. As the entry conditions have improved this year, the number of foreign workers entering the country has increased rapidly. As of the end of July, 5,415 people entered the country and the total number employed is 20,073.This is a 13 percent increase compa

Aug 31, 2022By Kim Hyun-bin

1,200 more foreigners to work on farms this year

Zandari Festa restores hope to Hongdae area

Heynam Sin X Patients performs at Zandari Festa 2018. / Korea Times photo by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarZandari Festa, the main music showcase festival of Korea's indie music scene, will return to fully in-person events this Friday to Sunday. This year's festival boasts 17 local acts, with big names like Leenalchi, Say Sue Me and Galaxy Express, and 13 from around the world, with two showcases spotlighting bands from Taiwan and France. “It's an extraordinary chance we have, to come and play in Korea, a country we never visited before,” said Gabriel Debray and Chloe Boureux, the two primary members of “loud folk” act Grande, which will be playing at the French Night showcase on Saturday night, as well as their own set on Sunday evening. “The pandemic is unfortunately still in our lives, but we believe that we need not refuse beautiful opportunities like this to travel to new countries, discover new music, meet new people.”Busan indie band Say Sue Me / Courtesy of Say Sue MeThe festival will kick off on Friday night with the Taiwan Beats showcase, featur

Aug 30, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Zandari Festa restores hope to Hongdae area

Temple Adventures The Four Heavenly Kings of Korea's Buddhist temples

One of the Four Heavenly Kings at Borim Temple / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington By Dale QuarringtonOftentimes, Korean Buddhist artwork and architecture can seem confusing and incomprehensible, especially to those who haven't grown up in the tradition or culture. From the temple shrine halls to the artwork that adorns them, both inside and out, Korean Buddhist temple artwork can appear to be a mystery without a solution, which can often lead to the common refrain that all Korean Buddhist temples look the same. However, with a little more insight, the mystery of temple artwork unravels itself. And such is the case with the Cheonwangmun (Heavenly Kings Gate). Cheonwangmun at Borim Temple / Courtesy of Dale Quarrington The Cheonwangmun is traditionally the second of three entry gates at a Korean Buddhist temple, which include the Iljumun (One Pillar Gate)

Aug 24, 2022By Jon Dunbar

[Temple Adventures] The Four Heavenly Kings of Korea's Buddhist temples

Anti-racist skinhead punk band Oily Rag aims to ignite local scene

Members of Oily Rag sit during a technical malfunction at their debut show in Phillies Basement, July 15. / Korea Times photo by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarWhen introducing himself to this reporter, the lead singer of the new punk band, Oily Rag, threw himself down on the pavement for pictures, then leapt up, burned the back of his hand with a lit cigarette and then flipped off the camera, in what he described as a ritual learned from his time in the Japanese skinhead scene. Korea's punk scene has been a lot more lively, entertaining and friendly ever since the arrival of this young British skinhead, who goes by the nickname “Bovver,” a British-accented way of saying “bother,” meaning rowdiness, troublemaking or “aggro” (a British term meaning aggression). “Everyone called me Bovver because I was always up for a bit of the old aggro on a Friday night,” he told The Korea Times. “In most countries people can't pronounce their v's either, so I might as well be 'Boba Tea' when I'm abroad.”All this may seem like a horrifying introduc

Aug 23, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Anti-racist skinhead punk band Oily Rag aims to ignite local scene

RAS Korea Father Charles Hunt: missionary-priest, RAS president, martyr

A portrait of Father Charles Hunt is on display at the Seoul Anglican Cathedral in Jeong-dong, downtown Seoul. / Courtesy of Steven L. ShieldsBy Steven L. ShieldsRoyal Asiatic Society (RAS) Korea has had 56 presidents in its 122-year-long history. Forty-six men and women have served in the voluntary but busy role. Seven of them served non-consecutive, multiple terms. They have come from many walks of life. There have been many diplomats, including the first president elected in 1900, John H. Gubbins, who was the senior British diplomat in Seoul at the time. Bankers, businesspeople, missionaries, scholars and members of the U.S. military community have given faithful service to the Society. Koreans, Germans, British, Dutch, Americans, Canadians, French and others are included in the long list of officers and council members.In many ways, looking over the history of RAS Korea, Father Charles Hunt was an ordinary Koreaphile (lover of Korea and things Korean) like his predecessors and successors. Hunt was an Anglican missionary when he first came to Korea in 1915. His mission society, th

Aug 23, 2022

[RAS Korea] Father Charles Hunt: missionary-priest, RAS president, martyr

Korea's skateboarding scene needs more

Cho Kwang Hoon skates atop a reflective sphere. / Courtesy of NakshotBy Sarah BuhlerBirthed in 1950s California, skateboarding was born out of a desire to feel the same sense of freedom on land that surfers experienced while gliding over the ocean waves. Over the decades it developed into a worldwide sport that eventually made its way into the Olympics, debuting in the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games.Korea was no exception to jumping onto skateboarding during its global boom in the mid-1990s. Since then, the individuals who helped develop Korea's skateboarding culture (along with other street sports such as BMX) have shown a passion in building community and visibility for those who gravitate toward these athletic and artistic forms of self-expression.Sitting in a cafe in the Dongdaemun neighborhood near Cult Skate Park, one of the founding landmarks of Korea's skateboarding and BMX culture, two people shared their thoughts on their participation in each sport, and how to create more visibility in both scenes. Cho Kwang-hoon is the 37-year old co-founder of Daily Grind, currently Korea's onl

Aug 23, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Birds Korea NGO reveals impacts of climate change on birds

Nial Moores does survey work at the Hwaseong wetlands. / Courtesy of Jung Han-chul of Hwaseong KFEMBy Jon DunbarNial Moores took an interest in birds and wetlands at an early age, back when he lived in Southport in the U.K., and it has stayed with him throughout his life. “Not only are birds beautiful and important in themselves, but the diversity of species enables them to occupy almost every ecological niche on the planet,” Moores, director of Birds Korea, told The Korea Times. “Most species are sensitive to changes in their environment. Bird species, therefore, have great additional value as environmental indicators, allowing people to interpret the landscape ― and the world ― in ways that might otherwise remain intangible. Changes in populations of birds, for example, often reveal changes in the health of wetlands and forests, and make visible the realities of climate change.”This black-winged kite was seen on Baengnyeong Island, the seventh recorded spotting for Korea. The species is expanding northward in China due to climate change. / Courtesy of Nial M

Aug 20, 2022By Jon Dunbar

Birds Korea NGO reveals impacts of climate change on birds

Korean 'jang,' Japanese miso soup turn historic animosity into tasty friendship

Yasuyo Ko, center, a Japanese marriage migrant, teaches her Korean neighbors how to make “umeboshi” rice balls at a public kitchen inside a local library in Seongbuk District, Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Seongbuk District Office Local cooking club tries to mend ties broken by Japan's colonial occupationBy Ko Dong-hwanWhile maintaining diplomatic ties often proves to be a complicated matter for presidents, ministers and industrial leaders of all nations, the task can be less burdensome and sometimes even joyful at a certain down-to-earth level.Such a breakthrough took place in the Jangwi-dong neighborhood of Seoul's northeastern district of Seongbuk on Friday, where Japanese and Koreans from the neighborhood gathered to make the iconic foods from their respective countries. Since 2020, members of Ong-Gi-Jong-Gi Jangdokdae, a cooking club based in Jangwi-dong, has been breaking the language barrier and the cold relationship between Korea and Japan ― caused by Japan's c

Aug 13, 2022By Ko Dong-hwan

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