• East Asia

    Koreans lack understanding of hanok’s cultural value

    An American, who has lived in Korea and been involved in preserving traditional Korean houses, Hanok, for more than 40 years, claimed there is little understanding and awareness of the cultural value of the buildings among Korean people. Peter Bartholomew, managing director of iRC, a a Korea-focused business development consultancy,…

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  • East Asia

    Van Gogh exhibit opens today

    Some 60 works from post-Impressionist Vincent van Gogh’s oeuvre, including nine acclaimed self-portraits, will be on exhibition at Hangaram Design Museum of Seoul Arts Center in southern Seoul. The exhibit runs through March 24, 2013. The gallery is rather dimly-lit to protect oil paintings. This exhibition provides a rare chance…

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  • East Asia

    Yeokjeon Market struggles to survive mega retail giants

    SUWON, Gyeonggi Province ― Jeon Hea-ok, 29, recalls the 1990s when Yeokjeon outdoor market near Suwon train station was still bustling with people seven days a week. Her parents ran a small stationery store in the market for several decades, and back then, take-home income was good for them and…

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  • East Asia

    Blackout feared

    Concerns are rising that Korea will face serious power shortages this winter following the unexpected stoppage of two nuclear reactors in Younggwang, South Jeolla Province due to faulty parts. The demand for electricity surges when temperatures fall. Yet it’s believed that the two reactors ㅡ each capable of generating one…

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  • East Asia

    Foreign Student’s first experience of taking school exams in Korea

    Mid Term Examination period officially ended for Korean university students. Many students must hope that their weeks of preparation for the exam would pay off. Cafes are turning into place for hanging out once again, not as ‘fun study room’ anymore. Read also Cafe emerges as a favorite spot for Korean students…

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  • East Asia

    [The AsiaN 1st Anniv] Message from Mohammed Larbi Messari

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  • East Asia

    In the land of legends, South Korea

    South Korea is a lot different from its southern neighbor also from the rest of the Asian countries. I’ve finally managed to experience such difference. Visiting South Korea has always been one of my dreams. In Incheon airport I saw where many of my favorite dramas were shot, in Seoul…

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  • East Asia

    Children In Quake-Hit Yiliang County, China, Resume Class In Makeshift Classroom

    Students attend class on the makeshift campus of the Guoquanyan Elementary School in the earthquake-affected Yiliang County, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, Nov. 5, 2012. Classes have resumed at Yiliang’s Guoquanyan Elementary School after a magnitude 5.7 earthquake damaged the school campus in September. Students will study in six makeshift classrooms…

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  • East Asia

    Two South Korean Presidential Candidates Get Together To Talk About Single Candidacy

    Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in, left, shakes hands with Independent candidate Ahn Cheol-soo for the photographers prior to their meeting in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2012. Ahn and Moon met to agree on a single candidacy ahead of the Dec. 19 presidential election. <AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon>

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  • East Asia

    Access to drugs on the rise

    Korea is no longer a country free of drugs. Drug users and traffickers, sometimes orchestrated by organized crime rings, are smuggling marijuana and other illegal substances in and out of the country. In a police report published last month, the number of people annually arrested for drug-related offences reported by…

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