ACC World Music Festival to highlight diversity

The ACC World Music Festival will be held at ACC Art Theater in Gwangju from Aug. 20 to 22, both online and offline. The three-day festival, hosted by the Asia Culture Center of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and organized by the Asia Culture Institute, aims to encourage the audience to embrace various genres of music, from Korean traditional music to fado and tango. The festival, in its 12th edition this year, is to showcase 24 performances in genres such as pansori, jazz, tan

Aug. 17, 2021

BTS 'Butter' ranks No. 7 on Billboard Hot 100

South Korean superband BTS' mega-hit "Butter" has placed seventh on this week's Billboard main singles chart, remaining in the top 10 for 12 straight weeks. Billboard said on its website Monday (US time) that BTS' "Butter" dropped three notches to No. 7 on the recently updated Hot 100 chart. It led the Digital Song Sales chart for the 11th consecutive week, with 629,000 downloads. The summery song has finished in the top 10 for 12 weeks in a row, including a yearly high o

Aug. 17, 2021

'Sinkhole' surpasses 1m admissions at fastest pace of 2021

South Korean disaster comedy film "Sinkhole" has surpassed a cumulative 1 million admissions on the sixth day of its release, the fastest pace among homegrown flicks released this year, data showed Tuesday. The film, released last Wednesday, attracted 741,000 people over the Saturday-Monday Liberation Day holiday, bringing its combined total to 1.14 million, according to the data by the Korean Film Council. It topped the 1 million threshold on Sunday, becoming the eighth 2021 film to

Aug. 17, 2021

Yeon Sang-ho’s ‘Hellbound’ to screen at TIFF 2021

Director Yeon Sang-ho’s Netflix original series “Hellbound” will be screened at the 46th Toronto International Film Festival, Netflix announced in a press release Saturday. As the world’s largest public film festival, TIFF presents over 100 films in different sections based on genre, format and the status of the filmmaker. They include Contemporary World Cinema, TIFF Docs, Discovery, Midnight Madness, Primetime and Wavelengths. “Hellbound” has been selected

Aug. 16, 2021

[Herald Interview] Say Sue Me to start afresh after pandemic-forced break

When the Busan-based indie band Say Sue Me released their debut album “We’re Sobered Up” in 2014, they never expected the international attention they would get. “Byung-kyu, our guitarist, was already playing in a band and I was a huge fan of that band. Since there were not a lot of indie band fans in Busan, we naturally got to know each other,” Choi Sumi, the vocalist of Say Sue Me, told The Korea Herald in an online interview Wednesday. When Kim Byung-kyu was

Aug. 16, 2021

[Herald Interview] Lee Kwang-soo returns as relatable office worker in disaster comedy ‘Sinkhole’

Lee Kwang-soo, 36, returns to the big screen as a relatable young office worker in the disaster comedy “Sinkhole,” directed by Kim Ji-hoon. “Sinkhole” centers on the residents of Chungwoon Villa, one of the cheaper apartment buildings available in pricey Seoul. It took Dong-won (Kim Sung-kyun), an office worker, over 10 years to finally become a homeowner. Soon after moving in, Dong-won invites his co-workers over to his new place for a housewarming party. After the o

Aug. 15, 2021

Music playlists of Tokyo Olympics stars unveiled online

A week has passed since the close of the Tokyo Games, with Paris signaling to take over the Olympics legacy, but the enduring spirit of the athletes still remain in the hearts of many. To correspond to fans still treasuring the excitement and joy from the Olympics, the nation’s popular online music platform Melon released a series of the Tokyo Olympics heroes’ playlists on Friday. The playlist of Jun Woong-tae, who won bronze for the first time as a South Korean modern pentathlon

Aug. 15, 2021

[Anniversary Special] Stage lights stay lit, but flicker now and then

It has been a year and a half since the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Though we are still struggling to find our way out of this global crisis, the local performing arts industry has learned to cope through trial and error. Unlike the situation early last year, when South Korea’s performing arts community was pushed to the brink, theaters and performing arts companies are finding ways to keep the arts going in trying times.  The show must go on The performing arts sector has been one

Aug. 14, 2021

[Today’s K-pop] NCT Dream to host online fan meet to mark anniversary

NCT Dream will celebrate its fifth anniversary with an online fan meet, label SM Entertainment announced Friday. 　 It will host a livestream, titled “Hot! Summer Dream,” that will be broadcast on Naver’s V Live on Aug. 25. The bandmates will talk, play games and perform their hit songs for fans from around the world. Tickets for the online event went on sale Friday. 　 The septet’s most recent album was its first full album “Hot Sauce” that came out in May. Th

Aug. 13, 2021

Classic Revolution 2021 offers ‘light of hope’

Though the fourth wave of the pandemic is yet to be contained, Classic Revolution 2021 wants to offer a light of hope to audiences in these trying times. Following the first run last year, the Lotte Concert Hall in eastern Seoul is holding the second edition of the summer music festival from Friday to Aug. 22, highlighting celebrated German composer Brahms and Piazzolla, whose 100th anniversary of birth is celebrated this year. 　 The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra will kick off the 10-day fest

Aug. 13, 2021

CL to begin rollout of long-awaited solo project in August

CL, the fierce and talented K-pop singer-rapper, will release her solo debut studio album in October following a series of single releases starting this month, her label said Friday. In the run-up to the full album release, CL is first set to drop a single for the solo project "Alpha" on Aug. 24 with another single scheduled to follow in September, according to Very Cherry. The album will be released in its entirety in October. Her agency did not elaborate on the details for the full

Aug. 13, 2021

[Today’s K-pop] Park Jihoon returns to stage with 4th EP

Park Jihoon held an online showcase on Thursday to introduce his fourth EP, “My Collection.” 　 It has been nine months since his last album. Since that time he starred in the television drama “At a Distance, Spring Is Green.” 　 “I wanted to show another me by transforming myself externally,” he said. “Acting, I believe, helps me a lot as it makes me more comfortable and freer in expressing myself onstage.” He also admitted that he always wishes he

Aug. 12, 2021

Documentary ‘Assassins’ focuses on aftermath of murder of N. Korean leader’s half-brother

Ryan White’s documentary “Assassins” tells the story of Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam -- the two women who killed Kim Jong-un’s half-brother Kim Jong-nam -- and what happened to them afterward. The documentary features surveillance footage of the murder of Kim Jong-nam and shows how the two women were arrested. It also shows how they were duped into smearing the lethal chemical agent VX on Kim Jong-nam’s face at Kuala Lumpur Internatio

Aug. 12, 2021

DMZ Docs aims to be leading documentary film festival in Asia

The 13th DMZ International Documentary Film Festival will kick off in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Sept. 9 under the theme of “peace, communication and life.” DMZ Docs, which uses images taken by Korean documentary photographers every year for its poster, unveiled this year’s poster, titled “Baek Gi-wan’s fist.” The image, taken by photographer Noh Sun-tag, shows the clenched fist of social activist Baek Gi-wan who passed away in February. “The fist r

Aug. 12, 2021

Ballet pays tribute to revered Korean independence fighter

“Ahn Jung-geun, a Dance in the Heaven” will take the stage at the Seoul Arts Center from Friday to Sunday, in celebration of South Korea’s Liberation Day on Aug. 15. The ballet, which premiered in 2015, tells the story of Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun (1879-1910). This year marks the 111st anniversary of his death. Ahn is one of Korea’s most honored independence fighters. He assassinated Ito Hirobumi, Korean’s first Japanese Resident-General during t

Aug. 12, 2021

Disaster-comedy 'Sinkhole' sets opening-day record for S. Korean movie this year

Disaster-comedy film "Sinkhole" has attracted over 147,000 moviegoers on the first day of its release, marking this year's highest opening-day attendance for a South Korean movie, data showed Thursday. The film drew 147,304 viewers upon its debut on Wednesday, pushing two-week box office leader "Escape from Mogadishu" to No. 2, according to data compiled by the Korean Film Council. "Sinkhole" logged the third-highest first-day score among all movies released this

Aug. 12, 2021

[Herald interview] Former ambassador recalls harrowing escape from Mogadishu in 1991

The blockbuster film “Escape From Mogadishu,” released July 28, has drawn more than 1.85 million theatergoers, becoming the biggest box office hit so far in a year that is seeing many of the films originally set for release last year finally make it to screens despite the continued pandemic. The harrowing escape scene and the exotic location -- the film was shot in Morocco for three months last year before the pandemic halted virtually all international travel -- are certainly rivet

Aug. 12, 2021

Kim Tae-ho makes Netflix debut with ‘The Hungry and the Hairy’

Television director Kim Tae-ho is producing a Netflix original entertainment series titled “The Hungry and the Hairy,” starring the artist Rain and comedian Ro Hong-chul, Netflix said in a press release Monday. According to the global streaming giant, while the release date has yet to be decided the program will be another variety show. Kim previously produced two of South Korea’s longest-running and most successful variety shows, “Infinite Challenge” and “H

Aug. 11, 2021

[Today’s K-pop] TXT gives taste of upcoming repack

Tomorrow X Together shared a preview of its repackaged second studio album on Wednesday. 　 The video snippet included samples of three songs from the repackaged album titled “The Chaos Chapter: Fight or Escape” -- title track “LO$ER=LO♡ER,” “Exchange Diary” and “0X1=LOVESONG (I Know I Love You) feat. Seori (Emocore Mix).” 　 The focus track is about a boy who may look like a loser but hopes to love someone who means the world to him. “Excha

Aug. 11, 2021

BTS' 'Permission to Dance' ranks No. 27 on Billboard Hot 100

"Permission to Dance," K-pop sensation BTS' latest release, has ranked No. 27 on this week's Billboard main singles chart, spending its fourth consecutive week on the popular American music chart. The septet's third English number dropped 18 notches to No. 27 on the Hot 100 chart, refreshed Tuesday (US time), a month after its release. The song had topped the Billboard chart in the fourth week of July, replacing BTS' previous release "Butter," allowing the group to score ba

Aug. 11, 2021