Idol group ZE:A returning this month with new EP

K-pop idol group ZE:A will be returning to the music scene this month with the release of its still-untitled EP. While many of ZE:A’s members are involved in side projects including careers in acting as well as participation in the group’s subunit act ZE:A 4U, the upcoming EP is slated to feature all nine members. A representative of Star Empire, the group’s entertainment agency, released a statement announcing that the idols will be releasing new music sometime at the end of this month. However

May 1, 2014

Fly to the Sky to release first album in five years

Male ballad duo Fly to the Sky, consisting of singers Brian Joo and Hwanhee, will release its 9th studio album “Continuum” this month, marking its official return to the local music scene in five years.The 10-track album “Continuum” is slated to be unveiled on May 20 at midnight through various music websites. The new album is the duo’s first album release since its 10th anniversary studio album “Decennium” in 2009.“Given that each member of Fly to the Sky has largely been establishing his own c

May 1, 2014

Romance novel touts bliss of financial independence

Personal-finance tomes aren’t usually bodice rippers with breathless sentences like: “She wanted him and couldn’t wait to have him, was totally addicted to his touch and couldn’t resist him.”But Boca Raton, Florida, financial planner Kathleen Grace, 46, wanted to explore women’s emotions about money and love ― and how those feelings can interfere with managing money.So Grace, who co-founded Excelsior Capital Advisors, hired a romance writer to help her create a modern fairy tale of Cinderella ―

BooksMay 1, 2014

‘Hyde’ a nightmare in the making

HydeBy Daniel Levine (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)Readers get a bonus when they purchase Daniel Levine’s “Hyde,” a new take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”: The original thriller is included as a coda in the Levine book.I strongly recommend reading the classic first, then heading into Levine’s novel, which tells the story from the monster’s point of view. As Grendel is to Beowulf or Wicked is to The Wizard of Oz, so Hyde is to Jekyll and Hyde.Levine makes

BooksMay 1, 2014

‘Family Life’ a heartbreaking novel

Family LifeBy Akhil Sharma (W.W. Norton & Co)Akhil Sharma’s new novel, “Family Life,” should come with a warning sticker: Heartbreak ahead. This slender book, hardly more than 200 pages, follows 8-year-old Ajay Mishra and his family from India to Queens, where Ajay’s older brother, Birju, fulfills his parents’ immigrant hopes by gaining acceptance to the prestigious Bronx High School of Science. Then, their world is shattered when a swimming pool accident leaves Birju severely brain-damaged ― pu

BooksMay 1, 2014

Duke lacrosse scandal revisited in ‘Price of Silence’

Financial reporter William D. Cohan likes alpha males in troubled waters, and he wades into especially brackish murk for his new investigative book, “The Price of Silence: The Duke Lacrosse Scandal, the Power of the Elite and the Corruption of Our Great Universities.”The scandal grew out of a spring break party on March 13, 2006, for which the Blue Devils’ varsity men’s lacrosse team hired two strippers. One woman accused three players of raping her in the bathroom of the off-campus house shared

BooksMay 1, 2014

Choi Si-won hits 4 million followers on Twitter

(OSEN)Choi Si-won, a member of the K-pop group Super Junior, broke the record for the number of Twitter followers among Korean celebrities on Thursday.Choi had 4,018,648 followers as of 8:00 a.m. on Thursday. He is the first Korean celebrity to break the 4 million mark.Choi writes daily status updates on Twitter, communicating with fans all over the world. His Twitter account is also well-known for having a variety of photos of him posing with A-list celebrities such as movie director Steven Sp

May 1, 2014

Manager of YG club faces trial for alleged illegal business

(OSEN)The manager of a Hongdae club reportedly co-owned by YG Entertainment CEO Yang Hyun-suk will face trial this month for allegedly registering the club as a restaurant, therefore making it an illegal business, Yonhap reported.The 33-year-old club manager, only identified by his surname Kim, operated the club spread across two basement floors in a building owned by Yang. The entertainment agency chief is known to have participated in the club business in the form of a joint investment, accord

May 1, 2014

ZE:A to reunite in May

Korea’s famous boy band ZE:A will make a comeback in late May after a 10-month hiatus since the release of their EP album “Illusion” in August last year.According to news reports, despite their respective busy schedules, the members are expected to reunite as a full group and prepare for their new album.“There is a chance that the schedule might be changed, but the members had set the date for their comeback at sometime around the end of May. They are currently putting in their best efforts for

May 1, 2014

Sistar Soyou feels beyond Bora in team hierarchy

Korean girl group Sistar’s Soyou said her presence within the team hierarchy surpassed superstar Bora, thanks to the recent success of her recent duet track “Some” with Jung GiGo. Soyou’s comment came during MBC’s variety show “Radio Star” on April 30, when show host Kim Gura began praising Soyou, 22, for her recent success in the K-pop scene. When another “Radio Star” MC, Kim Guk-jin, asked her if she feels more self-confident these days, she said, “I don’t feel so self-confident but I feel lik

May 1, 2014

Former foreign minister Hong dies at age 77

Hong Soon-young, a retired diplomat who served as South Korea's foreign minister, unification minister and ambassador to five countries, died Wednesday at age 77, officials said.Hong, who was the foreign minister from 1998-2000, was considered one of the best known diplomats in South Korea. He entered the foreign service in 1961 and served in various other posts, including ambassador to Pakistan, Malaysia, Russia, Germany and China.Hong served as unification minister from 2001-2002. (Yonhap) 

PeopleApril 30, 2014

Film fest explores women’s experiences after 2008 global financial crisis

The annual International Women’s Film Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS) returns this month, paying special attention to women’s experiences after the 2008 global financial crisis worldwide.Celebrating its 16th edition this year, the upcoming festival will bring 99 films from 30 countries, including documentaries by Chinese women filmmakers, films about women’s experiences in the neo-capitalist economy, and a retrospective of veteran Japanese actress Kyoko Kagawa.“This year’s theme is ‘The Vision of 99

FilmApril 30, 2014

John Mayer contemplating ways to aid Sewol victims

American singer-songwriter John Mayer, scheduled to stage his first concert in Korea this month, has expressed his sympathy for the victims of the deadly Korean ferry sinking.Mayer revealed on his Twitter on Tuesday that he has been contemplating ways to provide aid and support for the victims and their families of the ferry disaster.“In Japan and loving it, but thinking about the people of Korea, my next stop. Having conversations about how we can help while there,” wrote Mayer.John Mayer is sc

PerformanceApril 30, 2014

Author Bae Su-ah to attend PEN World Voices Festival

Korean author Bae Su-ah has been invited to the PEN World Voices Festival, an annual literary festival underway in New York, LTI Korea said.Bae is one of about 150 writers from 30 countries who have been invited to the weeklong event, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Two other Korean writers, Hwang Sok-yong and Kim Young-ha, participated in the festival in 2009 and 2011, respectively.During the festival, Bae will read excerpts from her short story “Highway with Green Apples.” It

BooksApril 30, 2014

Managing expectations

Kim Myung-min knows how to act. He has managed to captivate viewers on screens big and small, perfectly morphing into whichever characters he was given. The star of two MBC dramas, “Great White Tower” (2007) and “Beethoven Virus” (2008), is now tackling the role of a cold-hearted hotshot lawyer who, after suffering from amnesia, turns into an opponent of social ills in a new MBC drama that went on air Wednesday.In “A New Leaf,” he plays Kim Suk-joo, a high-flying attorney at a major law firm who

April 30, 2014

Lena Park’s EP reduced to single as nation mourns

The 38-year-old Korean-American gospel-singer-turned-K-pop-star Lena Park (also known as Park Jung-hyun) has finally made a belated return with “Syncrofusion.” However, instead of releasing an EP album as originally intended, she decided to release only one single. Park was initially going to release “Syncrofusion” as a three-track EP on April 18. However, considering the tragic ferry sinking that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of young high school students, the singer’s agency announced tha

April 30, 2014

Hooni Kim, deconstructed

Danji and Hanjan owner-chef Hooni Kim is in town to star as a judge on cable channel Olive’s third season of “Master Chef Korea,” in which aspiring chefs from around the nation compete to make it to the top. Already knee-deep into filming, the famous New York City-based Korean-American chef looks comfortable in his role as mentor-judge, ready to dish out constructive criticism and help contestants grow with some tough love. “I think I am very highly critical about food and cooking,” Kim, 41, con

FoodApril 30, 2014