Great Mountains Music Festival & School -- originally envisioned to promote the PyeongChang Olympics -- has set out to go beyond just outliving the Olympic Games.Festival artistic director and pianist Son Yeol-eum and Gangwon Art & Culture Foundation Chairman Kim Sung-hwan announced the summer festival’s program, as well as future plans at a press conference in Seoul on Tuesday.The music festival will continue to hold winter concerts, while keeping the 15-year tradition of the summer music festi

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

With the full-fledged summer season just around the corner, South Korea’s water parks are preparing their staff for emergency handling.On Tuesday, theme park Everland’s Carribean Bay water amusement establishment carried out training sessions for their lifeguards at its artificial wave pool. The lifeguards, dressed in bright red-and-white uniforms for immediate recognition for visitors, demonstrated physical training, CPR and other rescue routines.Indoor water parks have increasingly become a co

TravelMay 29, 2018

Writers Kim Ae-ran and Han Kang have been shortlisted for a literary award given by a German organization that promotes work from Asia, Africa and South America.Litprom recently commenced online voting for its Liberaturpreis prize, an annual award given to a female writer from the aforementioned continents. Its candidates consist of female writers whose works have been included in the quarterly recommendation by the organization.  The cover for ““My Palpitating Life” (Literature Translation Inst

CultureMay 29, 2018

Niel of boy band Teen Top will get his first leading role in the upcoming film “Swag,” marking the big screen debut for the K-pop star.The music-themed film will feature the singer as a rich youngster, who matures through music. Filming started on May 14, and was shot in Korea and in Los Angeles. Niel (TOP Media)“I feel some pressure as I’m starring in my first movie, but I feel a connection (to the role) as he, too, is a singer. I want to depict him growing as a true artist,” he said.The film’s

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

One of the hottest and most influential hip-hop icons of today’s music scene, Kendrick Lamar will visit Korea in July for his first concert in the country.The organizers of the Hyundai Card Super Concert on Tuesday announced that the concert would be held at 8 p.m. on July 30 at Jamsil Sports Complex. With 12 Grammys under his belt, Lamar is one of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful rappers. He is noted for his storytelling abilities, with his lyrics touching on social iss

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

With K-pop sensation BTS’ unprecedented rise in the global music scene, overseas direct purchases of the group’s album are soaring on Korean online retail sites. BTS’ third and most recent album “Love Yourself: Tear” has been sold to over 54 countries from April 18 to May 18 on Gmarket Global Shop, the online retailer operated by eBay Korea announced Tuesday. Orders continue to flood in despite the album’s steep price, 65,000 won ($60.4), Ebay Korea said. BTS (Big Hit Entertainment)The largest p

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

Rapper C Jamm has been arrested and is being investigated for illegal marijuana use, local police said Monday. Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency announced Monday that C Jamm and another man in his 30s were taken into custody on April 13 for allegedly possessing and smoking marijuana. The rapper is currently being held in Suwon Detention Center and is being investigated by the prosecution.  C Jamm (Just Music)Six more suspects, including a widely-known rapper Vasco, also a former “Show Me t

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

Upon leaving YG Entertainment, Katie Kim, winner of Korean audition program “K-pop Star 4,” moved to a new agency under which she will make a debut as a soloist.On Tuesday, AIXS, a newly established agency Kim has recently signed with, said that the singer has been gearing up for a debut with a plan to release an album under a new stage name, Katie.   Katie Kim‘s concept photo (AXIS)After winning the popular audition program in 2015, the Korea-American singer was signed by YG Entertainment. Howe

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

Amid busy diplomatic talks with North Korea and the US, South Korean president Moon Jae-in took to his official social media account to congratulate BTS for reaching the No. 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart.On Monday, President Moon shared a statement, written in English, on his official Facebook account to express his excitement over the K-pop group’s recent achievement on the chart. BTS on Monday debuted its “Love Yourself: Tear” album at No. 1 on the competitive tally, becoming the first K-p

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

After hitting a rough patch with former member Choa’s departure last year, AOA returned even stronger with its summery fifth EP.The EP “Bingle Bangle” is led by a lead track of the same title, a punky retro-pop song that boasts catchy refrains like “Bingle Bangle” and “Shake your hip.” Upbeat and vibrant in its synth and melody, the song is addictive due to its head-bopping whistle sound that augments the hook. Now a six-piece act, the band’s return marks its first official activity since Choa l

PerformanceMay 29, 2018

K-pop boy band SHINee returned to the K-pop circuit with a new single “Good Evening.”The song, a lead track off its “The Story of Light EP.1,” the first segment of its sixth full-length album “The Story of Light,” was released on Monday evening via local streaming sites. The five-track album includes “All Day All Night,” “Undercover,” “Jump” and “You & I.”  SHINee (S.M. Entertainment)“The Story of Light” is the first SHINee album since the repackaged album “1 and 1” of November 2016, and the fir

PerformanceMay 28, 2018

Celebrated violinist Joshua Bell will conduct and perform with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields in Seoul on Thursday at the Seoul Arts Center, marking his first visit to Korea as the music director of the chamber orchestra and the second visit with the ASMF since 2010. 　Together with the orchestra, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, Bell will perform a wide range of classical music, from Baroque to Romantic and contemporary.   Joshua Bell, violinist and the music director of

PerformanceMay 28, 2018

Kim Whan-ki’s 1972 panting “3-II-72 #220” was sold for 8.5 billion won ($7.87 million) at Seoul Auction’s Hong Kong sale Sunday, topping all previous auction records set by Korean artworks, the auction house said.The sale of “3-II-72 #220” also broke the record set last year by another of the celebrated Korean abstract painter’s works, “Tranquility 5-Ⅳ-73 #310,” a painting that features blue dots and a white-edged square. “Tranquility 5-Ⅳ-73 #310” fetched a record-high price of 6.55 billion won

Arts & DesignMay 28, 2018

K-pop star-wannabes around the world will get a chance to learn from people on the scene as the government on Monday launched a program on the global phenomenon.“K-pop Academy Project” plans to deploy musicians to Korean Cultural Centers in 25 regions outside Korea, starting with one based in India. The program will run for the next eight months, running classes in singing and dancing.While the Korea Culture and Information Service has been operating singing classes for the past three years, but

CultureMay 28, 2018

K-pop act BTS’ dream has become a reality, topping the Billboard 200 chart only a few days after the group named it as one of its goals.On Sunday, the group’s “Love Yourself: Tear” album, its third full-length album, ranked No. 1 on the Billboard main albums chart, making the seven-piece K-pop powerhouse the first K-pop act to do so.  K-pop boy band BTS performs "Fake Love" at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. (AP-Yonhap)“Love Yourself: Tear” album, performed mostly in Korean, is the first non-En

PerformanceMay 28, 2018

As Seoul continues to evolve into an epicurean city dotted with popular eateries, customers are seeking increasingly exclusive dining experiences.Trending these days are small-scale, one-chef restaurants that often only seat three to four tables. At Rawpie Table, chef Lee Hae-chang wears multiple hats. He’s the cook, the server, the cashier, the kitchen assistant, and even the interior designer at the Italian diner that opened last November in Seoul’s Huam-dong. It’s not an easy task. In charge

CultureMay 28, 2018

"Where is my umbrella?” Jung Hae-in chose the sentence as the most memorable line from “Something in the Rain.” The rookie actor who recently starred in the hit JTBC series along with veteran actress Son Ye-jin. The chemistry between Jung and Son was remarkable, earning them the nickname of “the next Song-Song couple,” referring to Song Hye-kyo and Song Joong-ki who, after starring as a couple in the 2016 mega-hit series “Descendants of the Sun,” tied the knot.Having wrapped up the 16-part serie

TelevisionMay 28, 2018

The Korea Tourism Organization’s “46th Korea Tourism Photo Contest” will award a cash prize of 600,000 won ($560) to a winning international entrant.The contest, open to all who are interested, accepts up to five submissions per person. The submitted photos have to be in JPG format with dimension of at least 2,200 by 3,200 RGB pixels. Only the photos taken after January 2015 that have not been published or released elsewhere are eligible.Photos that feature tourists at popular attraction sites w

TravelMay 28, 2018

The members of the boy band BTS have become the first Korean artists to top the Billboard 200 with their third studio albumThe band's "Love Yourself: Tear" ranked No. 1 on the Billboard main albums chart on Sunday (US time).On the Billboard Hot 100 main singles chart, rapper Psy is the highest-charted K-pop singer as he stayed on the chart for two consecutive weeks for "Gangnam Style" in 2012.The BTS album, released May 18, launched with 135,000 equivalent album units earned in the United States

PerformanceMay 28, 2018