hankyoreh

Stephen Bosworth, U.S. special representative on North Korea policy, said Tuesday he expects “effective coordination” with South Korea during his one and a half day visit to South Korea after meeting Wi Sung Lac, South Korea’s chief envoy to the nuclear talks, at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul.
Bosworth will reportedly meet with National Security Advisor Chun Yung Woo and Unification Minister Hyun In-taek. His second visit since January comes after North Korea last week dismissed South Korean President Lee Myung Bak’s conditional proposal for a summit with Kim Jong-il.
　
Credit card spending up 16.3 pct in April
South Korea’s credit card spending expanded 16.3 percent in April from a year earlier due mainly to a rise in consumer prices and increased consumer spending, a trade association said Tuesday.
Purchases made by credit cards totaled 36.3 trillion won ($33 billion) in April, compared with 31.2 trillion won during the same month a year earlier, according to the Credit Finance Association (CFA). Compared with the previous month, however, credit card spending slipped 3.3 percent due to the fewer number of days, the CFA said.
South Korea‘s consumer prices rose 4.2 percent in April from a year earlier, surpassing the upper ceiling of the central bank’s 2-4 percent inflation target band for the fourth straight month.
(Yonhap News)　
　
Wheelchair dance company found residence at an art center
Dancers’ free movements conveying inner expressions achieve true communication with an audience, whether the dancers are physically challenged or not.
“Fun & Art Company” is Korea’s very first and the only dance company composed of performers with and without disabilities. They were formed in 2008, and since then, they have developed a wheelchair dance to show audiences the joy and bliss of dancing.
And the good news for them is that they were selected as one of the final 11 artist teams, to be given space at the city-funded Seoul Art Space Hongeun, which opened recently.
Dancers in wheelchairs no longer need to ride piggyback on colleagues, in order to get in a practice room, because dancing halls in the center are designed with people with disabilities in mind, and there is an elevator.
The dance company will perform at the closing ceremony of the Busan International Dance Festival early next month, spreading hopes and dreams with their wheelchair dancing.
(Arirang News)
　
Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]