Korean

Mark Keppel Elementary School students will soon be able to check out books written in Korean from the school library. The school is building and stocking a Korean-language reading room, the latest step in growing its dual-language Korean program. "It is very important to have resources, and for the parents to be able to read to their child," said Vickie Atikian Aviles, assistant director of intercultural education for Glendale Unified. The new reading room is being funded by $11,600 in donations from the Young Nak Outreach and Transformation Foundation and the Los Angeles Korean Consulate General, officials said.

Reporting from Seoul - In a canine experiment in better policing, the LAPD recently spent months training a pair of South Korean-bred Jindo puppies as possible new street enforcement partners. But the Jindos are in the doghouse as a replacement for more traditional European bloodlines, such as German shepherds or Belgian Malinois. The loyal but excitable Jindos, officials said, just didn't take to the exacting work of crowd control, weapons detection and drug sniffing.

Burbank officials are seeking applications from artists for a commission celebrating 50 years of being a "sister city" with Incheon, South Korea. Incheon Mayor Young-Gil Song proposed that the two cities exchange sculptures of art and cultural delegations to commemorate the anniversary, according to Burbank officials. A delegation from Incheon is scheduled to deliver that city's sculpture in the fall. Burbank officials are seeking credential from artists in the greater Southern California region to create an art piece that fits with the theme "friendship" between the two cities.

The Crescenta Valley High School Korean-American Parents Club, in association with the Rosemont Middle School Korean-American Parents? Club and the Korean-American parents of all seven local elementary schools, held a barbecue at the Crescenta Valley Sheriff?s Station for the men and women in uniform who serve our community. The ?thank you meal? was held on Saturday, Dec. 15. ?We just wanted to show our appreciation because they do so much for us all year long,? explained Vicky Song, representative of the CVHS parents.

Would she pick a pencil? A piece of fruit? One of the bowls with thread, coins, rice or yarn? How about a nice red ball? The choices were almost too much for 1-year-old Kelcie Peterson last Friday morning as she — dressed in traditional Korean attire — sat atop her daddy’s lap and performed a first-birthday ritual in front of her brother Eric’s pre-school class at La Crescenta Presbyterian Church’s Center for Children....

Joyce Rudolph GLENDALE -- Korean-American pianist Seung-Un Ha will perform her debut concert with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra at 8 p.m. Saturday at The Alex Theatre in Glendale. Jeffrey Kahane will conduct. Ha made her New York orchestral debut in Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in 1989, and her Hollywood Bowl and Los Angeles Philharmonic debuts in 1998. She has performed throughout this country and Germany, France, Brazil and Taiwan. For Saturday's concert, Ha will play the Mozart Piano Concerto No. 25. Also on the program is the chamber orchestra's premiere of Lutoslawski's "Dance Preludes," featuring principal clarinet Gary Gray; Arvo Part's "Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten"; and Benjamin Britten's "Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge."

Twenty-two students from Goseong, South Korea, visited Glendale and La Crescenta this week. The students stayed with local families, attending Toll, Roosevelt and Rosemont middle schools. On Friday, the three middle schools held assemblies for the visiting students to showcase their dance and martial arts skills. Alex Woo of the Crescenta Valley Drug and Alcohol Prevention Coalition helped organize the weeklong stay. He was inspired by the five Rosemont students and five Wilson students who went to Goseong, South Korea, last April and stayed with local families there.

A 49-year-old Glendale man is expected to appear in court today on suspicion of stealing the personal information, including Social Security numbers, of more than 90 Korean-Americans, police said. Dong Ho Han, who is being held in lieu of $4.6-million bail, was arrested early Wednesday on suspicion of identity theft, possessing a forged driver's license or identification card and possessing pills without a prescription, according to Glendale police reports. “There is no indication of what he was going to do with them,” Financial Crimes Sgt. Harley Wing said.

Students in the Korean Dual Language Program at Mark Keppel Elementary School welcomed the start of the Lunar New Year in Korean fashion on Thursday, with food, games and expressions of respect for their elders. Thursday was the first day of the Year of the Rat according to the lunar calendar, which is celebrated in many east Asian countries, including China and Korea. In Korea, children frequently celebrate the start of the new year by dressing up in traditional clothes and visiting extended family members.