EXO's D.O. discharged from military

D.O., member of K-pop boy band EXO, has completed his mandatory military service and was officially discharged Monday. D.O., whose legal name is Doh Kyung-soo, was recently on his final leave and was discharged without having to return to his base, according to the military's COVID-19 guidelines, according to SM Entertainment. In a handwritten note posted on fan community Lysn, the 28-year-old thanked fans for waiting and said he will do his best in upcoming activities. D.O., who enlisted in

Jan. 25, 2021

Kakao’s two content arms to merge into Kakao Entertainment

Kakao Page and Kakao M announced Monday that they would merge into a new entity, Kakao Entertainment. The merger, which was agreed during the board of directors meetings of the two firms earlier that day, will be finalized through a general shareholders meeting on Tuesday. The biggest merger between the two subsidiaries of South Korea’s mobile tech conglomerate Kakao, the move aims to create synergy given the two companies’ respective capabilities in the content business and digita

Jan. 25, 2021

Pixar's animated film 'Soul' brings moviegoers back to theaters

Pixar's latest animated film "Soul" has been jazzing up South Korean movie theaters, which have been nearly empty for months due to the resurgence of the novel coronavirus, data showed Monday. Released last Wednesday, "Soul" attracted 303,000 people over the Friday-Sunday period, raising its total admissions to 400,000, according to box office data by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). Directed by Pete Docter, the fantasy comedy drama is a story about Joe Gardner, a middle sc

Jan. 25, 2021

BLACKPINK's Rose to unveil debut solo song in upcoming online concert

Fans looking forward to the solo debuts of BLACKPINK members Rose and Lisa can get a glimpse of Rose's solo material in the quartet's online concert this weekend. Rose is set to perform her first solo song during BLACKPINK's online concert "The Show" scheduled for Sunday, YG Entertainment said Monday, adding the singer wanted to first share the song with her fans on stage. The agency said it plans to officially announce Rose's solo debut schedule soon as post-production for her music

Jan. 25, 2021

BTS to release new 'Essential Edition' of album 'BE' in Feb.

K-pop dynamo BTS is set to drop a new edition of its hit album "BE" next month, the band's agency said Monday. The new edition, titled the "Essential Edition," will drop on Feb. 19, according to Big Hit Entertainment. BTS initially released the "Deluxe Version" of "BE" in November. The agency explained the new edition is a way for BTS to thank their fans for the historic milestones the group has achieved, such as topping the Billboard Hot 100 and getting

Jan. 25, 2021

BTS' 'Dynamite' hits 800m views on YouTube: agency

The music video for "Dynamite," the historic BTS song that topped the Billboard's main singles chart last year, has earned 800 million YouTube views, the band's agency said Sunday. YouTube views for "Dynamite" hit 800 million views at 12:26 p.m. on Sunday, becoming the septet's sixth music video to reach the milestone, according to Big Hit Entertainment. The feat came just a month after it earned 700 million views, it added. "Dynamite," an upbeat disco-pop track t

Jan. 24, 2021

Pianist Cho Seong-jin to play 94-second of never-before-heard Mozart

Pianist Cho Seong-jin is set to perform the world premiere of a previously unknown work by Mozart, 248 years after it was composed, in celebration of the great musician’s 265th birthday. Cho will perform Mozart’s Allegro in D major K626b/16 as part of the Digital Mozart Week organized by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday, in Austria, according to German classical music record label Deutsche Grammophon. The performance will be streamed through the label’s streami

Jan. 24, 2021

[Eye Interview] Creating music as an act of virtue

From jazz club singer to YG Entertainment producer, and now a popular singer-songwriter in her own right, Sunwoo Jung-a used to make music for herself, but now she says she has other people in mind when writing songs. She made the latest step on this musical journey with the release of her single “In the Bed,” on Jan. 5, in which she sings about being thankful for living with someone you love. “Gazing at your bare feet while you’re sleeping, my heart gets all worked up

Jan. 23, 2021

tvN’s ‘Mr. Queen’ slapped with ‘administrative guidance’ by KCSC

Popular tvN period comedy drama “Mr. Queen” will receive “administrative guidance” for controversial scenes in the drama, the subcommittee of Korea Communications Standards Commission announced Wednesday. “Mr. Queen,” which revolves around a present day playboy who enters the body of Queen Cheorin of Joseon, has been enjoying steady popularity since the airing of the first episode. It reached a 13.2 percent viewership rating for the most recent episode on S

Jan. 23, 2021

Jeon Do-yeon, Ryu Jun-yeol to star in JTBC’s ‘Disqualified as a Human’

Actors Jeon Do-yeon and Ryu Jun-yeol will star in the upcoming JTBC drama “Disqualified as a Human,” according to JTBC on Thursday. The two actors have not starred in television dramas in the last five years, focusing instead on films. Jeon’s last outing on the small screen was in tvN’s “The Good Wife” in 2016, while Ryu’s last TV drama role was in MBC’s “Lucky Romance” in 2016. Jeon will play the role of ghostwriter Bu-jung while Ry

Jan. 23, 2021

Hyun Bin to return as North Korean agent in ‘Confidential Assignment’ sequel

CJ ENM on Friday announced that Hyun Bin will join the sequel of the Korean comedy-action film “Confidential Assignment” and play North Korean agent Lim Cheol-ryeong again. Released in January 2017, the original “Confidential Assignment” was a movie about an inter-Korean secret police mission. The film at the time garnered more than 7.81 million viewers. Hyun Bin’s character Lim in the previous film was dispatched to South Korea to capture his superior Cha Ki-se

Jan. 22, 2021

2 K-pop agency execs fined for rigging votes on audition show

Two talent management agency executives have been sentenced to fines on charges of rigging votes on a popular K-pop audition program in which their trainees were competing, judicial sources said Friday. According to the sources, the Seoul Central District Court has slapped Kim Kwang-soo, the founder and chief production director of MBK Entertainment, with a fine of 10 million won ($9,090) on account of business obstruction. Another man surnamed Park, the CEO of Pocketdol Studio, which is a sub

Jan. 22, 2021

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Soul (US) Opened Jan. 20 Animation Directed by Pete Docter Joe Gardner, a middle school music teacher, dreams of becoming a jazz musician. One day, Joe auditions for the band of jazz legend Dorothea Williams. Impressed with Joe’s piano playing, Dorothea offers him a chance to perform later that night. As Joe heads off to prepare for the show, he falls down a manhole and ends up in the “Great Before.”  Iamhere (France) Opened Jan. 14 Drama Directed by Eric Lartigau Ste

Jan. 22, 2021

NCSoft to launch new K-pop platform next week

South Korean online gaming giant NCSOFT Corp. said Thursday that it will launch its K-pop fan platform globally next week. The platform, named Universe, will be simultaneously available on Google's Android and Apple's iOS devices on Jan. 28, NCSOFT said. Universe allows users to enjoy different K-pop content on mobile devices through the gaming firm's latest artificial intelligence (AI) technology. More than 4 million K-pop fans around the world have already pre-registered in 188 countries, N

Jan. 21, 2021

Rookie boy band TREASURE to drop first Japanese album in March

Rookie K-pop act TREASURE is set to release its first full album in Japan in March, officially debuting in the Asian country, its agency said Thursday. "The First Step: TREASURE Effect," set to drop on March 31, is a Japanese version of the band's debut full album and carries 13 tracks sung in Japanese, according to YG Entertainment. Apart from the 12 songs included in the Korean version of the album, it also includes "Beautiful," the band's first song sung only in Japanese

Jan. 21, 2021

Netflix’s ‘Busted!’ to return for final season

The Netflix original mystery entertainment series “Busted!” will return with its third and final season on Friday, with cast members from both the first and second seasons coming together. “Busted!” was the first Netflix original Korean entertainment show on the platform when it was first released in 2018. The show is a hybrid of a reality television show and a crime drama as celebrities who appear on the show are given certain acting roles while having to solve mysteri

Jan. 20, 2021

[Newsmaker] Naver expands storytelling business with Wattpad M&A

Internet platform giant Naver announced its acquisition of web novel platform Wattpad on Wednesday, more than doubling the size of its social storytelling operations. Naver will acquire 100 percent of Wattpad shares for approximately $600 million in the first half of this year. Wattpad is an online platform that allows anyone to read and write stories. With over 90 million monthly users who spend a total of 23 billion minutes each month, Wattpad is the largest social storytelling platform in

Jan. 20, 2021

For fans who missed ‘Nutcracker,’ ballet scene set for rebound in 2021

Korea’s recent third wave of COVID-19 had local ballet troupes cancel the iconic “Nutcracker” performances in December, for the first time in many years. Though the virus pandemic dealt a serious blow last year, ballet companies are gearing up for a rebound this year for fans awaiting a new beginning in 2021. The highlight of this year’s seven offerings by The Korea National Ballet is “Jewels,” slated for Oct. 20-24 at the Seoul Arts Center. It will mark th

Jan. 20, 2021

Blue Dragon Film Awards to be held on Feb. 9

The 42nd Blue Dragon Film Awards, which were postponed last year due to the spread of COVID-19, will be held on Feb. 9, the awards’ organizers said Tuesday. The awards ceremony, one of the most prestigious film events here, was to have been held on Dec. 11 but it was postponed indefinitely due to the spike in the number of COVID-19 cases in late 2020. “The Man Standing Next” has been nominated for 10 awards, followed by “Deliver Us from Evil” for eight awards,

Jan. 19, 2021

EXO's Baekhyun to release 1st solo album in Japan this week

Baekhyun, the lead singer of K-pop boy group EXO, will release his first solo album in Japan this week, his agency said Tuesday. His first Japanese EP, titled "BAEKHYUN," is set to hit Japan on Wednesday, according to SM Entertainment. It is his first time to release a Japanese album as a solo artist since his debut in 2015. The main track of the love-themed album will be "Get You Alone," which was first performed during his first solo concert held on Jan. 3 and pre-releas

Jan. 19, 2021