Four popular Korean dramas to be remade into musicals

Popular Korean TV series will return to the stage as musicals to meet the rising demand from fans who long to enjoy their favorite shows in diversified formats. The smash-hit rom-com "Crash Landing On You" (2019) with Hyun Bin and Son Ye-jin in starring roles will come back in the form of a musical in September at COEX in southern Seoul. The 16-episode "Crash Landing On You," which aired simultaneously on the South Korean cable channel tvN and Netflix, is about star-crossed

Jan. 17, 2022

[Herald Interview] Han Hyo-joo relishes role as charismatic captain in ‘The Pirates: Goblin Flag’

A female captain character is not only rare in Korean films but also for actress Han Hyo-joo, who is widely known for her roles in romantic movies. But Han said she enjoyed greatly playing the role of pirate captain in “The Pirates: Goblin Flag” directed by Kim Jung-hoon. “(Although it is set in the Joseon era,) I did not consider it as a period film but rather as a fantasy adventure movie so I could do everything freely and I really enjoyed it,” Han said. “When de

Jan. 16, 2022

Can ‘The Pirates: Goblin Flag’ be better than the original?

“The Pirates,” which attracted an audience of more than 8.6 million eight years ago, has returned as “The Pirates: Goblin Flag” directed by Kim Jung-hoon. Although it is the sequel of the hit Korean pirate film, those who have not watched the first movie can enjoy the film without much difficulty as everything -- from the director, plot to all of the cast in the film -- is new. “The Pirates: Goblin Flag” revolves around a journey by pirates looking for hidd

Jan. 15, 2022

[Today’s K-pop] SHINee’s Taemin transfers to social service

Taemin of SHINee will serve the rest of his military duty as a social service agent beginning Friday, announced label SM Entertainment. 　 He enlisted as a member of Army band in May, but his depression and anxiety disorders, for which he has long been treated, have worsened recently. It has become impossible to pursue proper treatment while serving his duty, the army decided, and from now on he will try and focus on improving his mental health. 　  In October last year, the Military Manpow

Jan. 14, 2022

‘Captain Rock Day’ to take place online for three days in February

Korean rock musician Han Kyung-rock, a bassist in the legendary punk rock band Crying Nut, will celebrate his birthday with a three-day online concert next month. The musician will be hosting “2022 Captain Rock Day,” featuring 100 artists. The event will kick off on Feb. 9, but the exact time has yet to be set. “Captain Rock Day” is an annual event that gathers big-name artists who represent the indie music scene in Hongdae. As the event has grown in size, it has come

Jan. 14, 2022

tvN to air variety show with dancers from ‘Street Woman Fighter’

 The cable channel tvN is scheduled to release a special version of its variety show “Not Hurt You” (unofficial translation) with eight dancers from Mnet’s “Street Woman Fighter” on Jan. 27. The leaders of the eight “Street Woman Fighter” dance crews -- YGX’s Leejung, Lachica’s Gabee, Want’s Hyojin Choi, WayB’s Noze, Coca N Butter’s Ri.hey, Prowdmon’s Monika, HolyBang’s Honey J and Hook’s Aiki -- will

Jan. 14, 2022

Korean movie industry adopts NFTs

The Korean movie industry is taking to non-fungible tokens to attract audiences. Based on blockchain technology, NFTs are unique digital tokens of physical or digital assets that can be traded on the market. The value of the tokens changes depending on market demands. In conjunction with the release of “The Matrix Resurrections” on Dec. 22, Lotte Cinema and Warner Bros. jointly gifted NFT merchandise to the first 30,000 people who bought tickets. Moviegoers could get one of s

Jan. 14, 2022

Kakao Entertainment releases new webtoon ‘Call Sign’

Kakao Entertainment released well-known author Cho Seok-ho’s new series “Call Sign” as both a web novel and a webtoon on Friday. “Call Sign,” one of the most anticipated projects of the first half of the year, revolves around a rookie firefighter who has the ability to save others’ lives by putting his own life at stake. “In our world, there are many people who put all of their passion and whole heart into saving other people’s lives. Similar to

Jan. 14, 2022

[Newsmaker] ‘Baby Shark Dance’ hits 10b YouTube views

“Baby Shark Dance” a YouTube videofeaturing the titular song and playful choreography, surpassed 10 billion views Thursday. Beloved by both children and adults, the two-minute video tells the story of a shark family going on an underwater hunt. The English-language version of the video came out in June 2016, soon after its success in Korean in 2015. The English version of ”Baby Shark Dance“ record far exceeds the 2.3 billion views of the Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee&rs

Jan. 14, 2022

‘PUBG: Battlegrounds’ soars to No. 1 on Steam

Krafton’s battle royal shooter “PUBG: Battlegrounds” topped the most played games chart on Steam, a digital distribution platform for PC gaming, Thursday. According to Krafton, the number of concurrent users doubled after the game switched to free-to-play mode Wednesday, recording a maximum number of 660,000 users. “Under the new theme of ‘Battlegrounds for all,’ we believe that the switch to free service allowed many users from various backgrounds to enjoy

Jan. 14, 2022

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Special Delivery (Korea) Opened Jan. 12 Action Directed by Park Dae-min Special delivery driver Eun-ha (Park So-dam) mainly works for a criminal group. She delivers anything that cannot be delivered legally. One day, Eun-ha receives a mission to deliver Seo-won (Jung Hyeon-jun), a young boy that a criminal group is chasing after. When she decides to save him, she becomes a target of not only the crime group, but also associated corrupt police officers. The Policeman’s Lineage (Korea) Ope

Jan. 14, 2022

[Today’s K-pop] Ateez logs 100m views of “Wonderland” music video, first for band

　 The music video for Ateez‘s “Wonderland” surpassed 100 million views on YouTube, according to agency KQ Entertainment on Thursday. 　 This is the band’s first video to reach the milestone. 　 The song is the main track from its first studio album “Treasure Epi.Fin: All to Action,” from October 2019. The LP topped iTunes K-pop chart in six regions and its top albums chart in eight regions at the time. 　 The tune that reminded fans of the group’s spirited

Jan. 13, 2022

Max Changmin portrays fear and stress derived from surroundings through ‘Devil’

Max Changmin of boy band TVXQ became the first artist from S.M. Entertainment to hop onto the January music chart craze with his second mini-album, “Devil.” The album, which dropped Monday evening, touches on the different colors of music. In a press conference on Thursday, the singer said he embarked on a journey of tunes and melodies while preparing for his new solo while he had been away from music for nearly two years. The musician added that he wanted to musically show that a

Jan. 13, 2022

Yoo Ah-in, Ahn Eun-jin to star in Netflix’s ‘Goodbye Earth’

Global streaming service Netflix has confirmed the casting for its original series “Goodbye Earth,” Thursday. Actors Yoo Ah-in, Ahn Eun-jin, Kim Yoon-hye and Jeon Seong-woo will star in Netflix’s new apocalypse movie, according to the company. “Goodbye Earth” revolves around the stories of individuals who are left with only 200 days to live before an asteroid hits Earth. The series is a highly anticipated project. It is director Kim Jin-min’s third Netflix

Jan. 13, 2022

Chung Myung-whun appointed KBS orchestra’s first honorary conductor

The KBS Symphony Orchestra appointed renowned South Korean conductor Chung Myung-whun as its first-ever conductor laureate, according to the orchestra on Thursdsay. Chung’s tenure began this month. Conductor laureate is an honorary position given to a conductor who has international repuation or contributed to the development of the orchestra. This is the first the KBS Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1956, has awarded the title. The news came days after Chung saved the orchestra&rsquo

Jan. 13, 2022

K-pop album sales surge 37% on-year in 2021 despite pandemic

The K-pop music industry saw a surge in accumulated album sales last year despite the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to top-tier artists such as BTS, EXO and aespa. According to a year-end report from the South Korean music chart tracker Gaon Chart on Wednesday, the nation’s top 400 albums sold 57.09 million copies in and out of the country in 2021, up by 36.9 percent from the previous year’s 41.71 million. After exceeding the 20 million mark for the first time in 2018, the

Jan. 13, 2022

[Herald Interview] As a soloist and a band, Ha Hyunsang calibrates music through self-made stories

Music is a universal language, and a powerful instrumental tool that can be a great healer. At a time when many are dogged by the coronavirus blues, people turn to songs for comfort. And for Ha Hyunsang, it was time to reset. Talking about his 3rd EP, “Calibrate,” released Dec. 21, the singer said he went back to basics to express his thoughts. “The name of my album means the reset button on the instrument. It’s like a button configuring an instrument’s origina

Jan. 13, 2022

'Squid Game' creator Hwang Dong-hyuk says he still believes in humanity

"Squid Game" creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has said he still believes in a humanity that moves people to put confidence in a better and more just society even under the life-and-death pressure of social survival games. "We are living in a society where people dare to tread on other people to survive," he said Wednesday in a pretaped interview by the Seoul-based Corea Image Communication Institute. "But I still believe that this society doesn't have to be one where we need to

Jan. 13, 2022

'Squid Game' nabs four nominations at SAG Awards

South Korea's global phenomenon "Squid Game" has earned four nominations, including the top prize of best ensemble, from the US Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards. SAG on Wednesday (US time) unveiled its final list of nominations for its 28th edition of the awards ceremony slated for Feb. 27. "Squid Game," a Korean-language Netflix original, is up for outstanding performances by an ensemble cast in a drama series, by a male actor in a leading role, by a female actor in a supp

Jan. 13, 2022

[Today's K-pop] Mirae is back, more marvelous than ever

 Boy band Mirae held an online showcase to roll out the group’s third EP “Marvelous” on Wednesday.   　  If the band has been hot, highlighting strong performances before, this time it is more about being dreamy and refreshing, as if the bandmates are relishing the party, explained Junhyuk.   　 Title track “Marvelous” is a dance-pop tune with powerful beats that expresses the band’s ambition to open a new era. It also is catchy, especially

Jan. 12, 2022