A group of Korean filmmakers have declared a boycott of the 21st Busan International Film Festival set for this October, raising the possibility that Asia’s largest film event may not take place at all this year. 　The decision is the result of an industry-wide survey conducted in the week of April 1 via social media and telephone, the Emergency Committee for Defending BIFF’s Independence announced Monday. The emergency committee, which has been calling for the film festival’s artistic and operat

FilmApril 18, 2016

With director Park Chan-wook’s latest mystery-thriller “The Handmaiden” confirmed to screen in the Cannes Film Festival’s competition category, speculation abounds on whether the film will be able to bring a long-awaited win this year. 　The invitation, unveiled Thursday, was welcome news to the local film industry, as it marks the first time in four years that a Korean film has entered Cannes’ competition category. Hong Sang-soo’s “In Another Country” and Im Sang-soo’s “The Taste of Money” last

FilmApril 17, 2016

Actor Song Joong-ki kicked off his Asia fan meeting tour with “Song Joong-ki the fifth fan meeting in Seoul: the day we meet again” at the Grand Peace Hall in Kyung Hee University on Sunday.　It was attended by some 4,000 fans. Tickets for the fan meeting had almost immediately sold out when they went on sale on March 31. 　Song’s last fan meeting was on Aug. 17, 2013, 10 days before he enlisted in the military. Promotional image of actor Song Joong-ki’s fifth fan meeting at the Grand Peace Hall i

TelevisionApril 17, 2016

NEW YORK (AFP) - Pop superstar Beyonce on Saturday announced a televised project entitled “Lemonade” for next week, fueling speculation that she will release a “film-album.”　Beyonce posted on Instagram a short video with the title “Lemonade,” which it billed as a “world premiere event” to air on cable network HBO on April 23.　The rest of the video is cryptic, with a faint whispering as a person -- presumably Beyonce -- slowly rises with dreaded hair and a fur jacket, but without any glance at th

PerformanceApril 17, 2016

INDIO, California (AFP) -- The most legendary names in rock including the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan are being lined up for a historic mega-festival, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.　The newspaper said organizers of Coachella, the lucrative rock festival that opened Friday, were making arrangements for the massive event to take place at the same venue in the California desert on Oct. 7-9.　A representative from Coachella's Los Angeles-based promoter Golden Voice did not re

PerformanceApril 17, 2016

Girls’ Generation member Yoona is garnering attention in China with Hunan TV’s “God of War, Zhao Yun,” SM Entertainment announced Friday.　The 60-episode TV drama series “God of War, Zhao Yun” is Yoona’s first foray into Chinese television dramas. It had a 1.73 percent viewership rating for its first episode aired on April 3. In China, a viewership rating of 1 percent or more is considered high and proves the program’s popularity.　The TV drama series also had a total of 2.35 billion views on Chin

TelevisionApril 17, 2016

Psy and iKON were picked as Asia’s most influential artists at the 20th China Music Awards at Cotai Arena in Macau on April 15, the artists’ agency YG Entertainment announced Saturday.　Psy received the Most Influential Popular Global Artist Award for his worldwide hit songs “Gangnam Style” and “Daddy” that secured his spot as a world star.Singer-songwriter Psy (YG Entertainment)　K-pop band iKON received Asia’s Most Influential Popular Artist Award, despite it being only a year since the group de

PerformanceApril 17, 2016

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- The first foreign experts who visited the museum in Palmyra after it was taken over from Islamic State militants said they spent a week collecting fragments of priceless broken sculptures from the museum grounds and preparing them for transportation to Damascus in a rescue mission they hope will help salvage most of its contents. 　Back in the Syrian capital Saturday, they offered grim new details about the extent of the destruction caused by the extremists during their 10

CultureApril 17, 2016

HONG KONG (AFP) -- He first stunned the auction world by snapping up hugely expensive Chinese antiquities, but now taxi driver turned tycoon Liu Yiqian is targeting Western masterpieces, saying it is his “social responsibility” to show them to China's younger generation.　Liu has become China’s highest profile art collector, hitting headlines with record-breaking buys and an irreverent approach.　His acquisitions have mainly been of Chinese heritage, most famously the tiny Ming Dynasty “Chicken Cu

PerformanceApril 17, 2016

Be ready to get your hands busy when eating Korean pork stew with potato, gamjatang.Gamjatang, is steaming, spicy red broth filled with generous amounts of savory bones of meat, meaning that you have to pick, extract the bits of meat on the bones and suck on the most tasty soup from tiny crevices: forks or chopsticks are too clumsy for the job. Interestingly, gamja means potato, and tang is soup, so gamjatang is supposed to mean a potato soup but it’s not. The soup has some chunks of potatoes in

CultureApril 17, 2016

Eating out in Korea goes far beyond local cuisine with kimchi.You will be surprised to see a wide diversity of dishes from Alabama-style barbecue to German schnitzel. First things first: favorite restaurants in Itaewon, the most exotic and global tourism site in Seoul. With its proximity to a huge U.S. army base Itaewon is known for its diverse food culture, which features cuisine from around world. May you enjoy your meal -- or as they say in Korea, “Masit-ge Deu-se-yo!”◇ VATOS URBAN TACOS181-8

CultureApril 17, 2016

The South Korean city of Gwangmyeong will host an exhibition of prehistoric cave drawings from France as one of many cultural exchanges to commemorate the 130th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries, the city announced Friday.In a joint press conference held in Seoul, Gwangmyeong city Mayor Yang Ki-dae and former French Culture and Communications Minister Fleur Pellerin said the upcoming event will showcase the Paleolithic drawings from the Lascaux Cave in southwestern France.

CultureApril 15, 2016

"Gangnam Style," a mega-hit song by South Korean pop star Psy, returned to Seoul on Friday in the form of a giant landmark sculpture.The sculpture was unveiled to the public in an opening ceremony at 7 p.m. on the eastern patio of COEX, a multi-cultural complex in the Gangnam Ward of southeastern Seoul. The event was hosted and organized by the city's Gangnam Ward Office.The bronze sculpture, 5 meters high and 8 meters wide, is modeled after the signature horse-riding hand motion of the Gangnam

PerformanceApril 15, 2016

Song Joong-ki (Blossom Entertainment)This is the last in a three-part series covering a group interview Friday with actor Song Joong-ki in Seoul. -- Ed.“Descendants of the Sun” has come to an end, and so has Song Joong-ki’s time as the dashing Army Capt. Yoo Shi-jin. But this may only mark another beginning for the 30-year-old actor, whose celebrity status has rocketed to a whole new level since his appearance in the military-themed TV drama. For the first time since the show’s wrap, Song met wi

TelevisionApril 15, 2016

Song Joong-ki (Blossom entertainment)This is the second in a three-part series covering a group interview Friday with actor Song Joong-ki in Seoul. -- Ed.　　“Descendants of the Sun” has come to an end, and so has Song Joong-ki’s time as the dashing Army Capt. Yoo Shi-jin. But this may only mark another beginning for the 30-year-old actor, whose celebrity status has rocketed to a whole new level since his appearance in the military-themed TV drama. For the first time since the show’s wrap, Song me

TelevisionApril 15, 2016

This is a two-part travel series on a weeklong journey to the new European capital of culture, San Sebastian, Spain, and through the heart of the country’s capital, Madrid. – Ed.SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- Located a mere stone’s throw away from the Spain-France border in the Northern Basque country hugging the Bay of Biscay is the quaint, gastronomy mecca coastal city of San Sebastian, Spain. Well on its way to becoming one of the hottest European vacation-spot destinations of the year, San Sebastia

TravelApril 15, 2016