Articles by Kim Hoo-ran
Kim Hoo-ran
khooran@heraldcorp.com-
[Eye interview] 'The stage is to die for'
What does a pianist who travels the world on concert tours do when the world goes into a lockdown? You go on an emotional roller coaster, refocus and record your first studio album. That is what pianist Sunwoo Yekwon did. “I was going through the same mental stages as other people,” said Sunwoo Yekwon in an interview with The Korea Herald on Aug. 17 at the Universal Music office in Seoul. “In the beginning, I was quite hopeful, hoping that things will get better soon,&rdquo
Performance Aug. 28, 2021
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[Eye interview] Documenting Korean history, culture for future generations
His penname “Gamro,” given to him by a Buddhist monk, means “spreading a valuable message to the people.” Korean-American photojournalist Kang Hyung-won is trying to live up to that name. Kang is a man on a mission. The winner of two Pulitzer Prizes – one in 1993 for coverage of the 1992 LA riots with the Los Angeles Times and the other in 1999 for coverage of the Bill Clinton impeachment and the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal for the Associated Press -- aims to highlig
Culture Aug. 13, 2021
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[Herald interview] Former ambassador recalls harrowing escape from Mogadishu in 1991
The blockbuster film “Escape From Mogadishu,” released July 28, has drawn more than 1.85 million theatergoers, becoming the biggest box office hit so far in a year that is seeing many of the films originally set for release last year finally make it to screens despite the continued pandemic. The harrowing escape scene and the exotic location -- the film was shot in Morocco for three months last year before the pandemic halted virtually all international travel -- are certainly rivet
Film Aug. 12, 2021
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[Serendipity] Indomitable human spirit soars at Tokyo Olympic
Can the safety and health of the athletes be guaranteed? What is the point of having world-class athletes perform to an empty stadium? In a city where COVID-19 is raging out of control, would not the thousands who will descend upon it exacerbate the situation? These questions and more bothered me as countries debated whether to send their national teams to the once-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. For someone who has never played competitive sports and is not a great sports fan, participating in t
Viewpoints Aug. 6, 2021
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[Eye interview] Seodo Band pioneers ‘Joseon pop’
Judging by their looks alone, Seodo Band does not immediately strike one as a “fusion gugak” band, melding the traditional music of Korea with the sounds of the West. There are no traditional instruments in the band. And all for a reason. “It is not that we don’t use them. Rather, we are not able to use them,” Seo Do, the vocalist of Seodo Band, said during an interview with The Korea Herald on July 14, explaining the absence of traditional instruments in the panso
Performance July 24, 2021
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[Serendipity] What's the rush?
Last week, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Hwang Hee announced two candidate sites in Seoul for a building to house a large collection of art donated by the family of the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee. A site in central Seoul close to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea and the grounds of the National Museum of Korea in Yongsan will be considered for the final selection, which will be announced by the end of the year, in consultation with a committee of
Viewpoints July 16, 2021
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[Serendipity] Innovations should be natural
The government recently launched a new round of publicity blitz to promote Korean culture abroad, this time involving the screening of a “fashion film” set in a Joseon period palace that is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. The aim is two-fold: Let the world know the beauty of Korea’s palaces and, perhaps more urgently, send a clear message that hanbok belongs to Korea. The latter aim has gained urgency as Chinese media have been claiming that hanbok originates from China.
Viewpoints June 25, 2021
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[Serendipity] Get ready to roar back to life
I won a trip to Tahiti. In my dream, that is. I was ecstatic at having won the lottery, but within a few seconds, my heart sank at the fact that I had not been vaccinated. Even in my dream. I don’t know what deeply seated unconscious desire to visit Tahiti may have led to the dream. Tahiti has never been on my bucket list. I suspect the dream had more to do with a pent-up desire to travel. To anywhere, really. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in January 2020, travels around the world cam
Viewpoints June 4, 2021
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[Eye interview] New book offers unfettered look into life in North Korea
“So, how much can you really know a place?” asks Lindsey Miller in her just released book “North Korea: Like Nowhere Else.” Miller, who lived in North Korea from 2017 to 2019, accompanying her husband who held the post of political secretary at the British Embassy in Pyongyang, still grapples with that question two years after returning home. And she is not alone. North Korea is an enigma that perplexes experts, visitors and even casual observers who hear about the co
Books May 8, 2021
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[Serendipity] Get the name right
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose/ By any other name would smell as sweet.” So spoke Juliet Capulet to Romeo Montague in Shakespearean tragedy “Romeo and Juliet.” But, of course, there is a lot in a name. It is by which you are called your whole life, it is your identity. In Korea, where names take on a great significance, a lot of thought and care are taken in naming a new born. Often, one character of the two-character name is used by everyone in a
Viewpoints May 8, 2021
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[Serendipity] Add color to your life
The blooming of yellow forsythias heralds the long awaited arrival of spring. The golden bells are everywhere, on the sides of Seoul’s numerous rocky mountains, by the Han River and along school fences. The golden yellows are soon joined by the creamy white elegance of magnolia blossoms that, at night, look like candle lights floating midair. All too soon, they fade, the large petals falling to the ground one by one. But don’t despair, there are delicate pale pink cherry blossoms
Viewpoints April 23, 2021
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[Serendipity] Do not ignore Myanmar’s calls for help
Since ousting the democratically elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi in a coup on Feb. 1, the military junta in Myanmar has killed more than 600 as the people of Myanmar continue to resist military rule and call for democracy. Among those killed are more than 40 children, including Khin Myo Chit, 6, who was shot while in her father’s arms as the military raided her home. There have also been reports of bodies being burned beyond recognition. In one case of egregious brutality, a ma
Viewpoints April 9, 2021
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[Eye Interview] ‘All I did was get sick but suddenly I was turned into someone who had done a terrible thing’
On March 22, 2020, Soh Chang-rok was diagnosed with COVID-19. Henceforth, he would be known as “Seongbuk-gu #13” to the public. That Soh was a professor at Korea University and a human rights expert with years of experience at the UN did not mean anything. He was just the 13th confirmed case of COVID-19 in Seongbuk-gu. In the early days of the pandemic, authorities routinely posted information on confirmed patients, including their sex, age, the district where they lived as well as
People April 2, 2021
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[Serendipity] Listen to what COVID-19 patients have to say
On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. By then, the novel coronavirus first reported by China on Dec. 31, 2019, had spread to 114 countries and been given the official name of SARS-CoV-2. A year later, COVID-19 has left virtually no corner of the world unscathed and continues to rage on in many countries. In Korea, where the third wave of the spread has continued unabated since mid-November with daily totals of new cases reported in the 400s in rece
Viewpoints March 19, 2021
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[Eye interview] ‘There are 50 million cooks in Korea’
Koreans take their food seriously. So much so that a typical greeting includes “Have you had your meal?” and phone calls more often than not end with a promise of a meal together sometime soon. Television and the internet are inundated with restaurant reviews and cook-offs between celebrities, and cooking shows in general have evolved into entertainment shows. Korea is a nation of foodies, judging by the great lengths, literally, that people will go to in order to check out the lat
Food March 12, 2021
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