[Eye Interview] From foreigner to neighbor

When he took his first step on Korean soil in 1996 to study in here, Abhishek Gupta, more widely known as Lucky, could not have imagined himself staying for more than 25 years. “Back in the day, many of my friends went to English-speaking countries like the UK, the US or Canada to study abroad. I wondered why my parents sent me to Korea,” Lucky said in a recent interview with The Korea Herald. “But any 19-year-old loves to travel outside, don’t they? I was one of them,

Jan. 13, 2023

[Newsmaker] Former pope Benedict XVI dies aged 95

VATICAN CITY (AFP) - Former pope Benedict XVI has died at the age of 95, the Vatican announced Saturday, almost a decade after he became the first pontiff to resign in six centuries. "With sorrow, I inform you that the Pope Emeritus, Benedict XVI, passed away today at 9:34 in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican," Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said in a statement. The German pope emeritus, whose birth name was Joseph Ratzinger, had been living a quiet life in a former convent

Dec. 31, 2022

Jungheung Group vice chairman elected to head local housing association

Jungheung Group Vice Chairman Jung Won-ju has been selected as the new chairman of Korea Housing Builders Association. KHBA is one of the two largest housing associations in South Korea. The association has around 7,800 construction companies as its members. The association on Thursday held a general meeting where they elected Jung as its new leader. “I feel a great responsibility as business conditions for construction companies are becoming tougher amid recent interest hikes and real eco

Dec. 18, 2022

All members of parliament sign declaration against hate speech

All members of the South Korean parliament have pledged to take part in a campaign to get rid of hate speech, bullying and human rights violations in cyberspace, the Sunfull Foundation said Sunday. “All 299 lawmakers have signed a pledge to support using good language during their political activities,” announced the organization’s founder Min Byoung-chul during an award ceremony held Dec. 7 to commend 35 parliamentarians for using what they perceive as a respectful language, a

Dec. 11, 2022

Actress Son Ye-jin gives birth to son with actor Hyun Bin

South Korean actress Son Ye-jin has given birth to a son, her management agency said Monday, eight months after marrying actor Hyun Bin. Son delivered the baby Sunday and both of them are in good health, MSteam Entertainment said. The celebrity couple, both aged 40, tied the knot in March and announced her pregnancy in June. They co-starred in the 2018 film "The Negotiation" and "Crash Landing On You," cable TV channel tvN's 2019-20 global hit rom-com TV series. (Yonhap)

Nov. 28, 2022

[Newsmaker] Self-understanding the best antidote to digital addiction: expert

  MADRID -- Self-understanding is the most critical part of treating children with video game addiction, which can be caused by various factors, a game addict-turned-psychiatrist and founder of a mental health coaching company said Thursday. “The best antidote to the digital addiction is self-understanding,” Alok Kanojia, president and co-founder of Healthy Gamer, said during the fifth edition of the enlightED 2022 conference hosted by Fundacion Telefonica together with IE Unive

Nov. 21, 2022

[Eye plus] Connecting strings, weaving tradition

“The process attracts me more than the results,” says Kim Na-yeon a spinner and weaver of Hansan ramie fabric, which is made from the plant ramie, used to make traditional summer costumes. Ramie fabric from Hansan, South Chungcheong Province, has a long tradition that goes hundreds of years, and its production process was designated as a cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The making process of Hansan ramie fabric starts with making strings with parts of ramie stems to weaving the

Nov. 19, 2022

Archbishop Peter Chung Soon-taick recieves archiepiscopal pallium

A ceremony of investiture of a metropolitan archbishop with the pallium, a symbol of a special relationship with the pope, took place on Monday for the first time in South Korea. Peter Chung Soon-taick, the Archbishop of Seoul, received the archiepiscopal pallium from Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea Alfred Xuereb during a mass at Myeongdong Cathedral in Seoul. The pallium is a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese and in the other dioceses of his ecclesi

Nov. 8, 2022

[Interview] ‘It’s just a job’: Actor-turned-shaman speaks against prejudice toward shamanism

Many Koreans have a love-hate relationship with traditional shamans, or “mudangs” as they are called here. While it is not unusual to find a practitioner around the block, they are still widely frowned upon by the majority of the public. Jeong Ho-geun, a 58-year-old veteran actor better known as a shaman nowadays, has experienced such prejudice firsthand since he decided to become a shaman in 2014. His friends started dodging his calls and people left him “like the parting of t

Oct. 29, 2022

[Newsmaker] Church finalizes punishment on pastor for blessing LGBT people

The Korean Methodist Church’s court on Thursday upheld its earlier decision to suspend a pastor from his duties for two years for blessing sexual minorities in 2019. “According to the creed of the Methodist Church, praying in front of sexual minorities can be seen as advocating or agreeing with their actions,” the court said, on why it decided to deny the appeal made by Rev. Lee Dong-hwan, the 42-year-old pastor of Glory Jeil Church in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province. The decision was

Oct. 21, 2022

[Eye Plus] Digging for answers

Chi Hye-seol was crouching down inside a pit 1 meter deep. With her face covered in dirt and one hand holding a "homi," a Korean hand plow, she was carefully digging. “I am looking for clues into the past that are deeply asleep under this dust,” said Chi, a senior student majoring in convergence archaeology at Korea National University of Cultural Heritage. When The Korea Herald met her on Sept. 30, she was working on an excavation at Hongsan-myeon, Buyeo, South Chungcheong

Oct. 8, 2022

Methodist pastor fights against punishment after blessing LGBT people

Behind doors closed to the press, the Korean Methodist Church’s court heard an appeals case brought by one pastor to reverse the church's decision to suspend him from his duty for two years at its headquarters in Seoul on Thursday. His sin? Blessing gay people at the Incheon Queer Culture Festival in 2019. “From September 2019 until now, (my action) has been reviewed for three years and we are now finally waiting for the ruling. What I wanted to do from the very beginning was to

Oct. 7, 2022

Global volunteer group Rotary holds workshop at Jeju Island

Rotary, an international volunteer organization with 70,000 participants in Korea and 1.4 million members around the world, is holding 2022 Rotary training session at the Maison Glad Hotel in Jeju City on Sept. 26-29. The workshop will be a venue for learning and exchange for leaders who lead Korean Rotary. About 500 people will attend, including Rotary’s President Jennifer E. Jones and Trustee chair Ian Riseley. Jones is the first female president in Rotary's 117-year history, a memb

Sept. 26, 2022

[Eye Plus] The song must go on, says gayageum byeongchang specialist

It was somewhat natural for Gi Yoo-jeong, a 30-year-old gayageum player, to turn to the Korean traditional twelve-string instrument. "My mom was a gayageum player, and I grew up listening to her playing it at home all the time. And naturally, I became one too,” she said. “My mom didn’t say a word about my career. It was solely at my will to play gayageum,” said Gi, as she played the instrument at her home. When she began to play gayageum, her first child Ji-an sat be

Sept. 24, 2022

[Herald Interview] Miss Bhutan shares story of coming out, self-love

Tashi Choden, a Bhutanese social media influencer who was crowned this year’s Miss Bhutan, was 15 when she first realized she was "different." “I first came out as a bisexual person to my friends, but soon realized that my affection tilted more towards women,” Choden, now 23, told The Korea Herald in an exclusive interview. “After doing some research on gender identities, I found out that I was a genderfluid lesbian.” Being gender-fluid means that one&rs

Sept. 19, 2022

Ahn Sook-sun named Intangible Cultural Heritage holder of 'Chunhyangga' pansori

Veteran gugak musician Ahn Sook-sun, 73, has been recognized as the National Intangible Cultural Heritage holder of "Chunhyangga" pansori, the Cultural Heritage Administration announced Tuesday. "Chunhyangga" is the best-known among the pansori genre, depicting a love tale between a daughter of an entertainer and the son of a magistrate. Ahn surrenders the "Gayageum Sanjo and Byeongchang" holder's qualification, since the CHA states that a single person should not

Sept. 6, 2022

[Newsmaker] Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik becomes S. Korea’s fourth cardinal

Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik became the fourth South Korean cardinal in an appointment ceremony at the Vatican on Saturday. You, 70, was sworn in at St. Peter’s Basilica at 4 p.m. as one of 20 new cardinals appointed by Pope Francis. The appointment was announced in May. He was also among 16 cardinal electors under 80 years old, who are eligible to vote for the next pontiff in a secret conclave. You became the fourth Korean cardinal after the late Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan, th

Aug. 28, 2022

Iron Museum founding director Chang In-kyung appointed vice president of International Museums Council

The International Council of Museums named Chang In-kyung, former head of the ICOM Korea Committee and founding director of the Iron Museum in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, as co-vice president of ICOM headquarters, on Thursday. The announcement was made after the 37th ICOM General Assembly held in Prague, on Thursday. Emma Nardi, professor in University Rome Tre’s Experimental Pedagogy studies department, was elected president, and Terry Simioti, assistant curator of Ichthyology

Aug. 26, 2022

[Herald Interview] The masks of perfection, humility in Korean psyche

Everyone puts on a mask. Sometimes it is a persona of a good son, a model parent, a dependable co-worker, a trusted friend, or a combination of these. Or perhaps even all of them. But what if the mask gets stuck and you feel your life is a masquerade and a fraud? Lisa Son, professor of psychology at Barnard College of Columbia University, points out the risks of what is known as “impostor syndrome,” a feeling of constant self-doubt and perceived fraudulence, particularly in high-ac

July 21, 2022

[Herald Interview] How Pungwoldang, old-school classical music store, survived nearly 2 decades

In a corner of Sinsa-dong in Seoul’s Gangnam district, there’s a nearly two-decade-old record store dedicated to classical music. With a collection of more than 200,000 CDs and vinyl records as well as some 3,000 books on the world’s greatest musicians and music history, the shop – Pungwoldang – is not an ordinary shop. It is a salon, school and publishing house for classical music aficionados and musicians. But above all, owner Park Jong-ho, 62, wants it to be

July 16, 2022