Yuju follows her circle of emotions with EP 'O'

Yuju on Tuesday dropped her new album "O," packed with soft, comfortable music just like the warmth of the spring air spreading gently through the nation. The new album marked Yuju's return after 14 months. The time away was a carefully-knit process of finding the right pieces to complete the full picture, the singer said. "It wasn't a short process. Usually, we'd select the songs to go into the album before going into recording, but this time, we recorded various s

March 7, 2023

Tving to present gay love drama 'Unintentional Love Story’

Online streaming service provider Tving scheduled to release “Unintentional Love Story,” a drama adaptation of a popular Naver Webtoon, on March 17. Adapted from writer and illustrator Pibi’s webtoon of the same title, “Unintentional Love Story” centers around a young man named Won-young becoming attached to Tae-jun. Gongchan of K-pop boy band B1A4 stars in the series as Won-young. Rising actor Cha Seo-won, who received nationwide recognition with his appearance in

March 7, 2023

[Today’s K-pop] Expectations push BTS’ Jimin atop iTunes charts with old songs

The first self-written song from Jimin of BTS topped the iTunes top songs chart in 51 regions, according to label Big Hit Music on Tuesday. Single “Promise” was unveiled in 2018 through music platform SoundCloud. Another work of his “Christmas Love” from 2020 claimed the No. 1 spot on the chart in 17 regions. It was a surprise gift dropped on Christmas Eve and still holds the record among K-pop solo musicians for logging 10 million views on YouTube. The artist officially

March 7, 2023

Paris Opera Ballet's 'Giselle' to capture essence of romantic French ballet

The Paris Opera Ballet, one of the leading ballet companies in the world, is set to stage “Giselle,” an iconic French romantic ballet, from Wednesday to Saturday. The oldest national ballet company in the world premiered the piece in 1841, and will be performing in Korea for the first time in 30 years. The same piece was performed in Korea in 1993. “‘Giselle’ is a performance that best captures the characteristics of French ballet,” said Jose Martinez, directo

March 7, 2023

Son Suk-ku to star as journalist in upcoming film

Actor Son Suk-ku from “My Liberation Notes” (2022) and “Big Bet” (2022) will star as a journalist in an upcoming crime action flick, tentatively named “The Comments Army.” A film adaption of Chang Kang-myoung’s award-winning novel of the same title, “The Comments Army” will be directed by Ahn Gooc-jin. Shooting officially began Monday, according to Acemaker Movieworks, the film's distributor. The film centers around Son’s character

March 7, 2023

Ravi's arrest warrant refused after he admits draft dodging

The application for an arrest warrant for rapper Ravi charged with trying to dodge mandatory military service by faking epilepsy was dismissed on Monday. According to Seoul Southern District Court, the arrest warrant was rejected as the judge who held an investigation to determine the warrant’s validity decided that the accused is unlikely to run away or seek destruction of evidence. The court saw that there was no need to hold him in custody for investigation as Ravi has pleaded guilty to

March 7, 2023

Cable channel OCN to livestream 95th Academy Awards

South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM’s cable TV movie channel OCN is scheduled to livestream the 95th Academy Awards at 9 a.m. on March 13. Honoring the films released in 2022, this year’s Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, will be hosted by popular American comedian and producer Jimmy Kimmel at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. American action comedy “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which earned a total of 11 nominations at this year's Academy Awards

March 7, 2023

Hyeri to star in Korea’s first cheerleading film ‘Victory’

Singer and actor Lee Hye-ri -- also known as Hyeri from Girl’s Day -- is starring in director Park Beom-soo’s “Victory,” the country’s first ever film on cheerleaders. Along with Lee, actors Park Se-wan and Cho Ah-ram and six other actors will star as a nine-member cheerleading group called Millennium Girls. “Victory” revolves around Pil-seon (Hyeri) and Mina (Park Se-wan) who form a high school cheerleading club. Hyeri’s acting career took off wit

March 7, 2023

[Today’s K-pop] Stray Kids set to return next month: report

Stray Kids will release a new album in late April, according to a local media report on Monday. Label JYP Entertainment acknowledged that the band finished shooting the music video for the new album but said that no specific date has been set yet for its return. Its last album was the EP “Maxident," released in October last year. It notched the top spot on the Billboard 200, as did the previous EP “Oddinary,” and sold over three million copies, a first for the band. Meanw

March 6, 2023

Creative team of 'The Phantom of the Opera' talks about much-anticipated return

The musical “The Phantom of the Opera” will kick off in Busan in March, a significant event on many levels. Not only is it the third Korean production of the iconic musical that took the local musical industry by storm with its debut in 2001, it is returning to Korea after 13 years. Danny Sihn, CEO and producer of S&CO, told reporters during a press conference on Monday that the latest production is focused on preserving the original vision of the 35-year-old musical created by l

March 6, 2023

SM steps up action against violations of NCT members' privacy

SM Entertainment has openly slammed stalking fans who invade the privacy of NCT members and has warned of strict legal action against them. SM Entertainment on Monday afternoon released a press statement through which it disclosed aggressive acts of the intrusion of its artist's privacy and warned of "zero tolerance" against such behavior. "Cases of the violation of the privacy of NCT members have been increasing recently," SM said. The agency directly lashed out at &quo

March 6, 2023

Le Sserafim's Kim Chaewon to star in first TV show

K-pop group Le Sserafim member Kim Chaewon is making her first appearance as a regular cast member of the TV variety show, ENA's "HyeMiLeeYeChaePa." The channel unveiled an interview with Chaewon on Monday ahead of the program's kick-off on Sunday evening. "This is my first time starring in a TV show alone and I'm thrilled," Chaewon said in a written interview with ENA. "I'm not sure exactly which part of me makes people laugh but I feel good when peo

March 6, 2023

Investigative documentary series tell stories stranger than fiction

While streaming services generally seek to entertain viewers with unique originals, Netflix and South Korea’s largest streaming service Wavve are sending shock waves across the country with their latest documentaries. Netflix released its third Korean documentary series “In the Name of God: A Holy Betrayal,” featuring four Korean religious cult leaders -- Jeong Myeong-seok of Christian Gospel Mission, better known as Jesus Morning Star, Park Soon-ja of Odaeyang Church, Kim Ki-s

March 6, 2023

SPO and van Zweden to hold charity concert in April

The Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, with its incoming music director Jaap van Zweden, will perform a special concert in April for those in need. On April 7, "A Very Special Concert" will take place at Ewha Womans University with guest violinist Kong Min-bae, an 18-year-old violinist who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at the age of 5. He first learned to play the piano as part of his treatment. At 10 years old, Kong started to take violin lessons. During a press conference i

March 6, 2023

[Herald Review] Onew of SHINee marks spring at 1st-ever solo concert with mellow, warm voice

Onew of SHINee welcomed the beginning of spring with his first-ever solo concert, “O-New Note,” filling the space with different fragrances while his mellow voice warmed things up. The concert, which was held for three days starting Friday at Olympic Hall in Seoul, was lit with the aqua-colored fan lights of SHINee’s fan community, Shawol. As soon as the concert began with the main stage opening up, everyone in the hall stood up ready to enjoy the gig to the fullest. Onew, dres

March 6, 2023

[Herald Interview] Playing villains that ring a little too true

Unlike a typical noir action flick, director Lee Won-tae’s latest film “Devil’s Deal” realistically depicts the film’s setting, focusing specifically on the year 1992 in Busan. This was the year when both the presidential election and the general election took place. This made the actors think that the characters they were playing must have really existed in the real world at some place and time. “The set was so realistic that I could easily be absorbed into t

March 6, 2023

Blackpink's Jisoo to make solo debut on March 31

Jisoo of Blackpink is set to make her solo debut on March 31, the last member of the four-piece to come out solo. YG Entertainment, the agency behind Blackpink, on Monday dropped a poster announcing Jisoo's debut as an individual musician. On the poster, a bright red cloth lies crumpled on a grassy field that extends into the distance under a blue sky. At the top of the image reads the words "Jisoo Coming Soon." While not much has been unveiled about Jisoo's solo material, YG

March 6, 2023

'The First Slam Dunk' becomes most-viewed animated Japanese film in S. Korea

"The First Slam Dunk" has become the most-viewed animated Japanese film released in South Korea ever, data showed Sunday. The film posted a total of 3.81 million admissions earlier in the day, outnumbering the top-selling animated Japanese film "Your Name." (2016), which sold 3.8 million tickets, according to the data from the Korean Film Council. It took 61 days for the basketball animation to break the seven year-old record since it hit South Korean theaters on Jan. 4. &quo

March 5, 2023

Cho Seung-woo makes triumphant return with ‘Divorce Attorney Shin’

Top actor Cho Seung-woo made his much-anticipated return to the small screen Saturday in JTBC’s “Divorce Attorney Shin,” his first TV drama in two years. The first episode saw the third highest viewership ratings of all Saturday-Sunday dramas, following KBS’ “Three Bold Siblings” and tvN’s “Crash Course in Romance,” which are scheduled to come to an end after only a few more episodes. With Saturday's episode marking a nationwide viewersh

March 5, 2023

Megabox to broadcast S. Korea's WBC 2023

Megabox, a South Korean cinema operator, Thursday announced that it would live stream South Korea’s World Baseball Classic matches in its theaters, starting March 10. The WBC is an international baseball tournament that has taken place every four years since 2009 The last tournament, scheduled for 2021, was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. South Korean outfielder Lee Jung-hoo of the Kiwoom Heroes, considered Korea's next Major League Baseball hopeful, and Major Leaguer Kim Ha-s

March 4, 2023