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CEO & Publisher: Oh Young-jinDigital News Email: webmaster@koreatimes.co.krTel: 02-724-2114Online newspaper registration No: 서울,아52844Date of registration: 2020.02.05Masthead: The Korea TimesCopyright © koreatimes.co.kr. All rights reserved.

ASEAN center attracts food tourists

Southeast Asia has become one of the top tourist destinations for people living in South Korea, and among its best attractions in the ASEAN region are its delicious and diverse cuisines. The ASEAN-Korea Centre will operate a booth promoting gastronomy tourism to the region at KINTEX in Ilsan from Friday to Sunday. This booth will feature stories and information about 20 dishes from all 10 ASEAN member countries, including Vietnamese escargot noodle soup, Indonesia's spicy meat dish rendang and the Philippines' sour sinigang soup. Various other travel tips, activities and gifts will also be offered, including “ASEAN Snack Drawing” and “ASEAN Quiz.” Meanwhile, the center will also hold the ASEAN-Korea Tourism Investment Seminar on Friday at Lotte Hotel in Seoul to provide information on the investment environment and opportunities in the region's tourism industries. "Last year, 9.5 million Korean travelers, accounting for over one-third of the country's entire outbound tourists, visited 10 ASEAN member states,” ASEAN-Korea Centre Secretary General Lee Hyuk

Jun 5, 2018

Wine bar offers book club

By Hallie BradleyVineworks, an interactive wine, food and culture tasting community in the heart of Sangsu-dong, hosts a monthly book club for recreational and avid readers to discuss books over wine. Host and owner Ian Ashworth prepares regional dishes and chooses select wines with whatever connection he can make to the tale chosen. The book club recently announced Jonathan Lethem's “Motherless Brooklyn” as the book for June. It is about Lionel Essrog, a detective in Brooklyn who has Tourette's and works for mobster Frank Minna. Participants should finish the book by 2 p.m. Sunday, June 24, to join in the fun and conversation. Vineworks is near exit 1 of Sangsu Station on Line 6. Visit vineworkskorea.com for more information.

Jun 5, 2018

Art collective multiplies creativity with short-lived 'Mayfly' exhibit

An artist paints during a Crazy Multiply Mayfly event. / Courtesy of Crazy MultiplyBy Hallie BradleyThe mayfly only lives for a few hours, and so does Seoul-based art collective Crazy Multiply's bimonthly exhibition series MAYFLY. This Saturday from 6 p.m. comes MAYFLY XVI, which takes a unique approach to art by taking the jurying process out of curation, lasting only four hours. Crazy Multiply co-curator Kaleena Carter explained that instead of curators picking the artists, the submission pool is open to anyone regardless of age, background or professional experience. This allows any artist who submits art to be guaranteed a place in the exhibition. “As curators in this project, our only job is as exhibition coordinators _ the rest is up to the individual artists who are involved,” she explained. The June 9 exhibition will bring together 14 artists from as near as Korea and as far away as the U.S., Chile, South Africa and Pakistan. The concept of MAYFLY is significant because “the art world is a self-enforcing ivory tower that is heavily guarded by current market

Jun 5, 2018
Art collective multiplies creativity with short-lived 'Mayfly' exhibit

Transforming Seoul from megacity to zero-waste community

Women from Seorae Global Village Center tend an urban garden in Yongsan Family Park in central Seoul on May 30. / Courtesy of Seorael Global Village CenterBy Jon DunbarSeoul is a city in transition, grappling with waste disposal issues that leave garbage piled high on corners as garbage collectors and recycling companies struggle with or refuse to do their jobs. The city is doing what it can to reduce plastic waste, such as proposals to ban disposable umbrella covers and single-use plastic bags. But reducing waste requires society-wide cooperation, according to Loren Da Costa, a graduate student of ethics, ecology and sustainable development at Jean Moulin Lyon 3 in France. “It must concern each actor of one society, from the producers of consumer goods to the citizens that are active consumers,” said Da Costa, also an intern at the Asia Institute, a local think tank. “Empowered citizens are the actors of the current and future ecological transition. We need a complete shift in paradigm and it starts by changing our urban lifestyles.”She's been in Seoul for th

Jun 5, 2018
Transforming Seoul from megacity to zero-waste community

Korea Encounters Hysterical Korean teens greet Cliff Richard in 1969

The Korea Times published this photo on Oct. 16, 1969, captioned, “Under a forest of welcome-pickets, many girl fans of Cliff Richard cheer the British singer at Kimpo Airport yesterday noon. The frantic young fans caused a little chaos when the visiting singer left the airport.” / Korea TimesBy Matt VanVolkenburgThe hysterical fandom associated with Beatlemania made its first appearance in Korea on Oct. 15, 1969. On that afternoon, Cliff Richard arrived in Korea to play three concerts. Upon landing at Gimpo International Airport, a throng of 200 female fans dressed in “hanbok” greeted him waving signs. Among them were 100 girls belonging to the Cliff Richard Fan Club and the Cliff Richard Club, the latter of which claimed to be a “nation-wide organization”.What shocked onlookers was the scene that followed. As he tried to leave the airport, the girls, who had been waiting for hours before his arrival, surged after him, and as The Korea Times described it, “He barely escaped from the frantic fans who swarmed toward him to shake hands or to ge

Jun 5, 2018
[Korea Encounters] Hysterical Korean teens greet Cliff Richard in 1969

Korean gov't rejects visa request from same-sex marriage couple

The rejection letter from the Ministry of Justice. / YonhapBy Jung Min-hoThe government has declined to issue a marriage immigration visa (F-6) to a British man who married his Korean male partner in Britain three years ago.The Ministry of Justice said Sunday it recently turned down Simon Hunter-Williams' request for the visa, saying Korean laws do not recognize same-sex marriages.“Whether a nation or a society accepts, same-sex marriage needs a careful and comprehensive consideration of many factors, such as interpretation of constitutional values regarding the definition of marriage … And it requires national consensus,” the ministry said in response to Hunter-Williams after he sent his request to President Moon Jae-in.Same-sex marriages and civil unions are not legally recognized here, though some members of the National Assembly proposed a bill to legalize such partnerships several years ago.In a highly publicized case, actor Kim Jho Gwang-soo and his male partner Kim Seung-hwan filed a lawsuit in 2013 after the Seodaemun District Office in Seoul declined

Jun 5, 2018
Korean gov't rejects visa request from same-sex marriage couple

38,000 foreigners eligible to vote in Gyeonggi left in dark

A mailman delivers packages containing material for the June 13 local elections at an apartment block in Seocho-gu, Seoul. / YonhapBy Ko Dong-hwanWith the quadrennial local elections due on June 13, more than 38,000 foreign residents in Gyeonggi Province have little knowledge about the candidates because the region has neglected to inform non-Koreans about them.There are 38,542 foreigners eligible to vote in the province ― those who have lived in the country for three years or longer with permanent residency and are registered at local district offices. The Gyeonggi Province Election Committee introduced voting rights for foreigners in 2005.But the foreigners have no way to know about the candidates because no information material has been translated into other languages. The provincial election committee has mailed packages containing basic information on how to vote in the seventh local elections. The information for foreigners has been translated into four languages ― but this does not include information about the candidates. Previously, the committee has arranged election semina

Jun 4, 2018
38,000 foreigners eligible to vote in Gyeonggi left in dark
  • 106,000 foreigners eligible to vote in June 13 local elections

106,000 foreigners eligible to vote in June 13 local elections

The number of foreigners eligible to vote in the June 13 local elections surpassed the 100,000 mark for the first time, the election watchdog said Monday.The number reached 106,205, more than double the 48,428 recorded for the 2014 local elections, according to the National Election Commission (NEC). They will make up 0.25 percent of the total eligible voters of 42.9 million.The country began to allow foreigners to vote for quadrennial local elections in 2006.Foreigners who are over age 19 and have had permanent residence for more than three years are entitled to cast ballots in local elections if they are on a provincial government's foreigner registration ledger.A total of 4,028 officials, including 17 metropolitan mayors and provincial governors, will be chosen in the upcoming elections. Parliamentary by-elections in 12 districts will be also held together with the local elections for the first time.The NEC said it will cost 1.07 trillion won ($998 million) to hold the June elections.The country will open 3,512 poll stations nationwide for early voting on Friday and Saturday. A to

Jun 4, 2018
106,000 foreigners eligible to vote in June 13 local elections
  • 38,000 foreigners eligible to vote in Gyeonggi left in dark

Buddhists kick off football club for migrant workers

Workers from Myanmar and Nepal and Korean youths play football at Kumjung Middle School in Busan on June 3. / Courtesy of Korea Youth Buddhist Association Busan OfficeBy Ko Dong-hwanA Korean Buddhism congregation in Busan has established a football club for migrant workers ― most of whom are homesick and worn out from harsh working conditions ― to boost their morale. The Korea Youth Buddhist Association's branch office in the southern coastal city launched the club on Sunday at Kumjung Middle School. A foundation ceremony was held for the “foreigner football club” and the Buddhist group gave a donation. Association president Kim Sung-kwon, monks from Buddhist football community “Football Love,” workers from Myanmar and Nepal and Korean youths participated.The club so far has 15 players from Myanmar and 15 from Nepal, according to the association's Busan office president, Yoo Jin-sang. The club is also talking with workers from Vietnam, Cambodia and Sri Lanka who want to join the club. Migrant workers from the “foreigner football club" shake hands after a

Jun 4, 2018
Buddhists kick off football club for migrant workers

Students of all ages prep for disaster at safety experience center

Students assemble in the lobby of Gwangnaru Safety Experience Center, in front of a very violent mural fit for a PG-13 movie. / Image by Jon DunbarBy Jon DunbarSafety has been a supreme but recurrent concern in Korea, as high-profile disasters continue to make headlines each year. Just this last winter, Korea experienced two shocking fires, the first killing 29 in Jecheon last December and the second claiming 37 lives at a Miryang hospital in January. The two tragic fires were foreshadowed by another pair of fires close together, back in 1999. First, a fire at the Sealand Youth Training Center killed 23 in June, then in October a fire at an illegal bar in Incheon killed 54. Most of the victims in both cases were underage. Those two fires led to the opening of safety experience centers across the country. Seoul has two: one at Boramae Park in Dongjak-gu, the other in Children's Grand Park in Gwangjin-gu. Gwangnaru Safety Experience Center is a fancy government building on the outside, nestled between a fire station and Children's Grand Park. On the inside, it at first seems childish _

Jun 4, 2018
Students of all ages prep for disaster at safety experience center
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