Seoul

Here's a good fare to Seoul: From LAX , you can fly on Hawaiian Airlines to the South Korean capital for $852, including all taxes and fees, for travel through May 30. One catch (besides that it's subject to availability): Connections by way of Honolulu require a one-night stay. Info: Hawaiian Airlines (800) 367-5320 Source : Airfarewatchdog Follow us on Twitter @latimestravel , like us on Facebook @Los Angeles Times Travel.

It's time for South Korea to face facts: The Kaesong experiment has failed. The ideologically motivated joint business venture with North Korea known as the Kaesong industrial complex is not economically viable, nor has it achieved any of its political objectives. To protest recent sanctions against it, the North pulled its workers out this month and locked out workers from the South. Seoul tried to engage North Korea to resolve the dispute, coupled with an uncharacteristic deadline and a warning of "grave consequences.

BEIJING -- Secretary of State John F. Kerry hinted at the possibility of dialogue with North Korea on the first leg of a sprint through East Asia that has been shadowed by threats from Pyongyang. At a Friday news conference in Seoul with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Kerry reiterated the U.S. commitment to the alliance forged during the 1950-1953 Korean War. "The real goal should not be reinforcing the fact that we will defend our allies, which we will, but it should be emphasizing for everybody the possibilities of peace, the possibilities of reunification, the possibilities of a very different future for the people of the Republic of Korea and ultimately North Korea," Kerry said.

BEIJING -- Secretary of State John F. Kerry hinted at the possibility of dialogue with North Korea on the first leg of a sprint through East Asia that has been shadowed by threats from Pyongyang. At a Friday news conference in Seoul with South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, Kerry reiterated the U.S. commitment to the alliance forged during the 1950-1953 Korean War. "The real goal should not be reinforcing the fact that we will defend our allies, which we will, but it should be emphasizing for everybody the possibilities of peace, the possibilities of reunification, the possibilities of a very different future for the people of the Republic of Korea and ultimately North Korea," Kerry said.

For most of his life, record store owner Kim Ji-yun has battled against a feeling he has trouble describing; a mystery of the soul, a puzzle that many say helps define their culture ? the ineffable sadness of being Korean. The concept is known as han . And for the nearly 50 million South Koreans it's as amorphous a notion as love or hate: intensely personal, yet carried around collectively, a national torch, a badge of suffering tempered by a sense of resiliency. "As a Korean, it's embedded in your DNA," said the ponytailed Kim, 46, pensively stroking his thin beard.

The question has popped into the minds of most subway commuters, only to vanish amid the chaos of the workaday rush: "What if I just got off here?" But for Charles Usher, that idle thought launched an ambitious blog project to describe the intricacies of Seoul one subway stop at a time — all 477 of them. He wanted to pierce the prevailing urban sameness of his adopted hometown, areas dominated by high-rise apartments and chain outlets. On a recent Sunday, he headed out to the byzantine subway system dressed in a white shirt with a colorful koi fish on one shoulder, cargo shorts and pink sneakers.

Who's afraid of the big, broad biennial? Not Dan Cameron, who organized ambitious exhibition events like Prospect New Orleans before becoming chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art last year. Now, his first big group show in his new job is shaping up to be a global mash-up shaped by seismic geopolitical undercurrents. Called the California-Pacific Triennial, the show features 32 artists from 15 countries that border the Pacific Ocean. This show replaces the California Biennial, a regular museum attraction that often promised more than it delivered, and the new project has a more sustainable every-three-years schedule.

French Premier Laurent Fabius arrived Sunday on a three-day official visit to South Korea. He will have talks with President Chun Doo Hwan and others on expanding political and economic cooperation.

Kang Hyun-min remembers the first time he slid an album from its cardboard jacket and delicately, almost reverently, placed it on the turntable. It was 1979, and Kang's father had made the record player off-limits to the 10-year-old. But home alone one day, the young Kang gave in to his curiosity; he flipped through his brother's album collection, thinking he might for once take control of that magical music player. Unable to read English, he knew musicians only by their album-cover art. He knew he had to hurry — someone could arrive at any minute.

Hong Ji-min cannot forget that crowded, morning rush-hour commute when she felt someone groping her. "I knew that someone did it on purpose, but it had happened so fast," the 25-year-old nurse recalled. "I couldn't do anything but look around with angry eyes. But there was no way I could identify the person in that sea of people. " Seoul city officials now may have a solution for victimized female commuters: women-only subway cars. South Korean officials next month will begin a program offering the exclusive train coaches, reviving an idea that was abandoned two decades ago. Reaction to the plan has been so mixed, however, that the city is going to test those cars only late at night to see how it goes.

BEIJING - U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry arrived in Beijing on Saturday in hopes of turning the Chinese government's obvious frustration with North Korea's nuclear program into decisive action. Kerry's debut trip to East Asia as secretary has been shadowed by ominous threats from North Korea of nuclear attacks against the U.S. mainland and Washington's allies in the region. The Chinese have been unusually vocal in their condemnation of their old communist ally, with many prominent scholars saying it is time to cut the ties forged by Mao Tse-tung back in the Cold War era. Touching down in Seoul on Friday afternoon, Kerry met with South Korea's new president, Park Geun-hye, and Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se.

SEOUL - When North Korea last weekend declared it was in a state of war, threatening to use nuclear weapons against South Korea, reduce its presidential palace to ashes and mercilessly sweep away the warmongers, residents of Seoul reacted much as they always do. They yawned. Decades of living in the shadow of an erratic, menacing neighbor have made South Koreans almost deaf to the rhetoric from the North. Many people maintain a blase attitude, shrugging off the bombastic threats as another case of "the boy who cried wolf.

SEOUL -- In the latest in a series of escalating threats, North Korea's top command announced Tuesday that it has put its artillery and strategic rocket units under what it called "No. 1 combat readiness," targeting the U.S. mainland, Hawaii, Guam and South Korea.   The communist state's news agency, KCNA, carried the supreme command's statement, which warned of "actual military action ... to protect the nation's sovereignty and highest dignity. "   The Stalinist state has been ramping up its bellicose rhetoric in recent weeks in response to new U.N. sanctions and joint military drills by the U.S. and South Korea.

Here's a good fare to Seoul: From LAX , you can fly on Hawaiian Airlines to the South Korean capital for $852, including all taxes and fees, for travel through May 30. One catch (besides that it's subject to availability): Connections by way of Honolulu require a one-night stay. Info: Hawaiian Airlines (800) 367-5320 Source : Airfarewatchdog Follow us on Twitter @latimestravel , like us on Facebook @Los Angeles Times Travel.

Who's afraid of the big, broad biennial? Not Dan Cameron, who organized ambitious exhibition events like Prospect New Orleans before becoming chief curator at the Orange County Museum of Art last year. Now, his first big group show in his new job is shaping up to be a global mash-up shaped by seismic geopolitical undercurrents. Called the California-Pacific Triennial, the show features 32 artists from 15 countries that border the Pacific Ocean. This show replaces the California Biennial, a regular museum attraction that often promised more than it delivered, and the new project has a more sustainable every-three-years schedule.

LONDON -- David Boudia of the United States put on a diving clinic for the ages. There was emotion, drama and a packed house pulling for the local hero, Tom Daley of Britain, on Saturday night. In the end, it was Boudia who grabbed gold and became the first American male to win the 10-meter platform since legend Greg Louganis captured gold in 1988 in Seoul. In fact, the U.S. had not won a diving gold medal since Laura Wilkinson did so in 2000 in the 10-meter platform. Winning the silver was Qiu Bo of China, and Daley took the bronze.

Four escaped convicts held four sisters hostage for 12 hours Sunday in a tense standoff with police that ended with three of the escapees dead and the other wounded, police said. The four women were rescued unharmed, according to police. Police who forced their way into the house in western Seoul said they found two of the fugitives shot to death in a locked room. A third fugitive, who shot himself, died later. The fourth suffered minor injuries, police said.

Six elephants escaped from an amusement park and rampaged through Seoul, officials said. All were eventually captured and returned to the park. One elephant hit Roh In-sun, 52, with its trunk, the Yonhap news agency said. She was being treated at a hospital. Television footage showed one elephant breaking a glass door to enter a restaurant. "Three elephants came.... I hid in the closet," owner Choi Yoon-sun said.

The Seoul Philharmonic wants to be the one, not just the classical music soul of Seoul, but the first Asian orchestra to make it big on the international scene. At their Walt Disney Concert Hall debut Thursday night, the Koreans were -- in a program of Debussy, Ravel and Tchaikovsky standards -- exhilarating and, at their best, even awesome. It's an orchestra of noticeably young players, and they weren't always at their best. The Seoul Philharmonic is not quite there yet, but it's on its way. And it has more than a little help from friends in high places to help it get there.

Seoul Philharmonic Where: Walt Disney Concert Hall, downtown L.A. When: 8 p.m. Thursday Tickets: $55-$129 Information: (323) 850-2000 or http://www.laphil.org