[Around the Hotels] Promotions and Packages

InterContinental presents ‘Holiday To-Go’ for Lunar New Year Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas in Samseong-dong is offering pre-orders for their “Lunar New Year Special Grab & Go” lunchboxes and “Chef Special Premium Ceremonial Table for Ancestors,” that features holiday dishes prepared by Korean chefs. The single-serving lunchboxes will be available for pick-up via drive-thrus for 39,000 won for the week of Feb. 8-14, and can be pre-ordered on Naver

FoodJan. 22, 2021

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Soul (US) Opened Jan. 20 Animation Directed by Pete Docter Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher, dreams of becoming a jazz musician. One day, Joe auditions for the band of jazz legend Dorothea Williams. Impressed with Joe’s piano playing, Dorothea offers him a chance to perform later that night. As Joe heads off to prepare for the show, he falls down a manhole and ends up in the “Great Before.”  Iamhere (France) Opened Jan. 14 Drama Directed by Eric Lartigau Ste

FilmJan. 22, 2021

KAIST hopes to revolutionize disease control with mobile clinic module

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology on Thursday unveiled a mobile clinic module for building negative pressure isolation facilities to combat infectious diseases. Developed by a team led by professor Nam Tek-jin, the head of KAIST’s industrial design department, each module is a negative pressure unit that can be connected to other modules to form a larger facility that can be expanded as required. According to KAIST, the module is designed mainly to accommodate patie

PeopleJan. 21, 2021

Pioneering artists of new music genre get the limelight

Sinnoi -- a Korean jazz trio that is pioneering a new music genre combining Korean folk music and jazz -- will perform their new song “Neo Simbangkok” on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30 at Arko Arts Theater in Jongno-gu, central Seoul. The trio’s performance is part of the project “Arko Selection” by the Arts Council Korea, the national art organization that supports artists and arts entities. The project aims to promote development in the music industry by selecting 21

Arts & DesignJan. 21, 2021

Netflix’s ‘Busted!’ to return for final season

The Netflix original mystery entertainment series “Busted!” will return with its third and final season on Friday, with cast members from both the first and second seasons coming together. “Busted!” was the first Netflix original Korean entertainment show on the platform when it was first released in 2018. The show is a hybrid of a reality television show and a crime drama as celebrities who appear on the show are given certain acting roles while having to solve mysteri

TelevisionJan. 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] Naver expands storytelling business with Wattpad M&A

Internet platform giant Naver announced its acquisition of web novel platform Wattpad on Wednesday, more than doubling the size of its social storytelling operations. Naver will acquire 100 percent of Wattpad shares for approximately $600 million in the first half of this year. Wattpad is an online platform that allows anyone to read and write stories. With over 90 million monthly users who spend a total of 23 billion minutes each month, Wattpad is the largest social storytelling platform in

CartoonJan. 20, 2021

For fans who missed ‘Nutcracker,’ ballet scene set for rebound in 2021

Korea’s recent third wave of COVID-19 had local ballet troupes cancel the iconic “Nutcracker” performances in December, for the first time in many years. Though the virus pandemic dealt a serious blow last year, ballet companies are gearing up for a rebound this year for fans awaiting a new beginning in 2021. The highlight of this year’s seven offerings by The Korea National Ballet is “Jewels,” slated for Oct. 20-24 at the Seoul Arts Center. It will mark th

PerformanceJan. 20, 2021

Two-term lawmaker Hwang Hee named new culture minister

Culture Minister nominee Hwang Hee is a two-term lawmaker affiliated with the ruling Democratic Party, who began his political career in the late 1990s as a secretary to the late President Kim Dae-jung. He has served as the Democratic Party’s head of public relations and as its deputy floor leader. He was elected to his first term as a lawmaker in the general elections in 2016, and was reelected in 2020. Until recently, he was the administrator of the National Assembly’s defense c

CultureJan. 20, 2021

Food Ministry simulator helps manufacturers meet labeling requirements

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has launched an online simulator to help manufacturers create standardized labels for packaged products. Dubbed a “labelbot,” the simulator was developed to help packaged food manufacturers meet the requirements more easily, the ministry said Tuesday. According to the Food Ministry, about 12,000 inquiries about what must be included on packaged food labels were submitted in 2020 alone. The labelbot provides label templates for 130 types of pr

FoodJan. 20, 2021

Blue Dragon Film Awards to be held on Feb. 9

The 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards, which were postponed last year due to the spread of COVID-19, will be held on Feb. 9, the awards’ organizers said Tuesday. The awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious film events here, was to have been held on Dec. 11 but it was postponed indefinitely due to the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in late 2020. “The Man Standing Next” has been nominated for 10 awards, followed by “Deliver Us from Evil” for eight awards,

FilmJan. 19, 2021

Koreans defend kimchi, ssam against Chinese claims

As popular Chinese YouTubers create videos implying Korean foods such as kimchi and ssam are Chinese dishes, Koreans have decided to take a stand in the name of Korea’s food culture. A Chinese agency for popular mukbang, or “eating shows,” terminated its contract with Korean YouTuber Hamzy on Sunday after she said that kimchi and ssam were both Korean dishes. The controversy began when Hamzy uploaded a video of herself eating snail soybean stew with ssam, or a vegetable wrap

CultureJan. 19, 2021

KOFIC to launch English website promoting Korean actors

The Korean Film Council on Tuesday announced that it will start the “Korean Actor 200” global campaign to promote Korean actors overseas. A total of 200 actors -- 100 women and 100 men — have been selected for the campaign based on such criteria as domestic and international film awards received. An English-language website featuring the selected actors will launch in March, the state-run film organization said, and will include 200 videos that show the actors’ careers

FilmJan. 19, 2021

Moon So-ri to return to big screen as eager-to-please middle child

Veteran actor Moon So-ri is returning to the big screen as a middle child of three sisters, a devout Christian who always tries to please the pastor, in the upcoming movie “Three Sisters.” During a press conference held at the CGV Yongsan movie theater in Seoul on Monday, Moon said she had some difficulty understanding her character Mi-yeon at first. “I have one younger brother and no sisters. I never attended church either,” Moon said. She added that she attended chur

FilmJan. 19, 2021

Konstantin Ishkhanov: 'Phenomenal' Korean classical music stars shine brightly at InClassica

From 17 April – 11 May, Malta will host the InClassica International Music Festival, a three week programme of classical music featuring world-renowned soloists, leading international orchestras and celebrated conductors. InClassica will be hosted at Malta’s historic Mediterranean Conference Centre (MCC), a 16th century building benefitting from recent award-winning renovation in the capital city of Valletta, in addition to the iconic Manoel Theatre which will host the festival&rsq

CultureJan. 19, 2021

JTBC romance drama ‘She Would Never Know' kicks off

The first episode of JTBC romance drama “She Would Never Know,” based on a popular web novel of the same name, aired Monday, capturing viewers’ curiosity. A webtoon based on the same novel also launched on Naver this month. “The drama take place at a cosmetics company and the episodes are themed around lipstick, but it symbolizes something more than just makeup. The female protagonist wears lipstick when she meets her lover. The junior colleague tries to tell her not t

TelevisionJan. 19, 2021

National theater troupe aims to establish online screening model like NT Live

The National Theater Company of Korea plans to interact with audiences at home through online screenings of high-quality productions in these COVID-19 pandemic times. Kim Kwang-bo, the new artistic director of the state-run company, said in an online conference Monday that the company‘s online screenings would be systematized, offering performances of a high caliber. Kim took office in November for a three-year term. An established stage director, Kim was previously head of the Seoul Met

PerformanceJan. 18, 2021

A look back at the 1988 Seoul Olympics

The Gwacheon branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, is holding an exhibition titled “Olympic Effect: Korean Architecture and Design From 1980s to 1990s.” The show reexamines the foundations of South Korea’s architecture and design culture, which grew rapidly in the 1980s and 1990s. It presents some 300 artworks, photos, documents and interview clips that shed light on the effects of the 1988 Seoul Olympics on urban development and industrial desig

Arts & DesignJan. 18, 2021

[Feature] When art meets technology

In a dark room, animals bloom from digitally projected flowers on a wall. When touched, the flowers scatter and disappear -- just as it would in nature when humans seek to manipulate it. The artwork -- “Animals of Flower, Symbiotic Lives II” -- was one of several at the exhibition “teamLab: LIFE” at Dongdaemun Design Plaza in Seoul that went viral after it opened last September, attracting a large number of visitors despite the ongoing pandemic. Designed by teamLab,

Arts & DesignJan. 18, 2021

Won Buddhism appoints leader for centers in the Americas

Won Buddhism announced Monday that it had appointed Juksan Hwang Do-gook as its new leader in the Americas. Hwang’s appointment ceremony took place virtually on Jan. 13 with followers from 23 countries watching. Hwang is the first leader in charge of Won Buddhism centers located outside South Korea, according to the religious group. The decision to appoint a leader outside Korea was reached as Won Buddhism found it necessary to have a leader who understands the local situation. Hwang h

CultureJan. 18, 2021

TV shows boost book sales

Books that have been shown on TV entertainment shows are sweeping bestselling charts, reaching bestsellers lists in travel, poetry and cooking categories in the second week of January, according to the country‘s largest bookstore chain Kyobo Book Center. “A Walk in the Woods” by Bill Bryson, for example, became the bestselling travel book after screenwriter Kim Eun-hee introduced the book on KBS2’s “The Book U Love.” After the episode with a 2.3 percent vie

BooksJan. 18, 2021