[Video] A walk through K-pop paradise: SMTown and K-Star Road

The iconic picture of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr crossing Abbey Road turned 50 last year. The zebra crossing featured on the group’s 11th album is now the world’s most famous crosswalk. Similarly, the 1-kilometer-long K-Star Road features the Gangnamdol -- the name is a mixture of Gangnam, idol and doll -- which represent renowned K-pop groups. Hallyu Street, situated in this affluent district of Seoul, is modeled after the Walk of Fame in Hollywo

June 12, 2020

Video unveiled for BTS' autobiographical song 'We are Bulletproof: the Eternal'

K-pop giant BTS on Friday released a music video for "We are Bulletproof: the Eternal," off of its most recent album "Map of the Soul: 7," as part of the group's annual fan celebration event. The animated music video shared on YouTube features adorable versions of individual BTS members walking and running through a variety of locations. The seven later join one another to be launched above the clouds riding a whale. Included in "Map of the Soul: 7," released i

June 12, 2020

[Box Office] Movies in theaters this week

Innocence (Korea) Opened June 10 Crime, Drama Directed by Park Sang-hyun A hotshot attorney from a big law firm, Jeong-in (Shin Hye-sun) defends her long-estranged mother Hwa-ja (Bae Jong-ok) in a murder trial. Hwa-ja, suffering from dementia, is accused of tampering with makgeolli served at her husband’s funeral, leading to the death of one of the guests. Delving into the case, Jeong-in finds suspicious signs of a scheme surrounding the town’s Mayor Chu In-hoe (Heo Joon-ho) and se

June 12, 2020

Stradeum to hold offline concert for audience of 30

Music concert hall operator Stradeum announced Thursday that it will hold the “Stage 30” concert series from June 16 to July 10 jointly with performance-planning company United Producers. The Stradeum, a 100-seat venue, will only seat 30 concertgoers to comply with social distancing guidelines. Stradeum added that everyone in the audience must go through temperature checks and wear masks. “This concert is part of the musician’s process to find ways to meet with audienc

June 11, 2020

BTS to release 'Stay Gold' from upcoming Japanese album next week

K-pop superstar BTS will release "Stay Gold," the title track of its upcoming new Japanese full-length album, next week. The original Japanese song will be revealed to the public at 6 p.m. on June 19, according to an announcement posted on the website of the band's official Japanese fan club Thursday. "Stay Gold" is also a soundtrack of a Japanese TV series, "The Spiral Labyrinth-DNA Science Investigation." The drama was originally set to be aired in April, but i

June 11, 2020

Actor Ryu Seung-beom to marry Slovakian girlfriend

South Korean actor Ryu Seung-beom will tie the knot with his Slovakian girlfriend this year, his management agency said Thursday. "Ryu will soon marry his foreign girlfriend," said SEM Company. "He'd planned to have a small wedding ceremony with just family members, but it has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic." He will become a father, it added. Ryu's girlfriend, an artist living in France, is about 10 years younger than the 39-year-old actor. The couple has b

June 11, 2020

BLACKPINK announces June release date for new single

K-pop girl group BLACKPINK on Wednesday announced the release date of their first new song in 14 months. The band's label-management agency, YG Entertainment, said the quartet will put out a new track on June 26. Other details, such as the title of the track, have not been shared. The song will be a track from their upcoming first studio album, which will be fully unveiled in September. YG has announced that the band's new album will be released under a three-tier scheme, with the first si

June 10, 2020

[Herald Interview] Focus on viewer empathy, attention to details spell success

Just as they did with their previous shows, including the three “Reply” series and “Prison Playbook,” producer Shin Won-ho and screenwriter Lee Woo-jung captured the hearts of viewers with likeable characters and heartwarming stories in “Hospital Playlist.” The 12-episode series racked up a 14.1 percent viewership rating on its final episode last month. “I feel relieved. While my previous works left me feeling ‘done’ with them, because &ls

June 10, 2020

Actor-turned-director Jung Jin-young says directorial debut ‘Me and Me’ a sad comedy

It is not easy to truly see ourselves as we are seen in the eyes of others. The confusion stemming from the gap between the “me” I know and the “me” that others see may be overwhelming. Jung Jin-young said his first film as a director, “Me and Me,” depicts such confusion experienced by a “delicate being.” “The film can be considered a sad comedy about the loneliness of a delicate human being,” Jung said at the film’s premiere Tu

June 10, 2020

Number of moviegoers rebounds in May

The number of moviegoers in South Korea rebounded from a month earlier in May on the back of an extended holiday and relaxed social distancing, data showed Wednesday. A total of 1.53 million movie tickets were sold in May, up from an all-time low of 970,000 tallied in the previous month, according to data from the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). It is the first on-month growth in 2020, since the film industry was hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic. The monthly figure came to 16.84 millio

June 10, 2020

Lee Joo-young goes to bat for hope in ‘Baseball Girl’

  There are moments in life when we persevere, believing in our dreams and efforts, even as the rest of the world does not. Such trust in oneself makes the impossible possible. That is the message of upcoming indie film “Baseball Girl,” the story of 18-year-old Joo Su-in, who strives to join a professional baseball team. Directed by Choi Yun-tae, the film features rising actress Lee Joo-young as Su-in and Lee Joon-hyuk as Su-in’s coach Choi Jin-tae. According to Lee J

June 9, 2020

Festival to show ‘here and now’ of Korean music

The annual Yeowoorak Festival, a gugak-themed festival organized by the National Theater of Korea, is to kick off on July 3, featuring 12 performances over 23 days. This year’s festival, titled after an abbreviation for the Korean sentence meaning “our music (gugak) is here,” will focus on the “here and now” of gugak, with an emphasis on the expansion of the traditional music genre. Cheolhyeongeum (steel-stringed zither) player and percussionist Yoo Kyeong-hwa,

June 9, 2020

BTS' agency inks partnership with US streaming firm Kiswe

Big Hit Entertainment, the management company of K-pop super stars BTS, said Tuesday it has inked a deal with US streaming service provider Kiswe Mobile to cooperate in areas of real-time online concerts. Big Hit said it signed a memorandum of understanding with the American video technology startup on Monday. The deal was signed between Big Hit Global CEO Lenzo Yoon, and Kiwse Chairman Jeong Kim and Mike Schabel, Kiswe's CEO and president. Kiswe was co-founded by Kim, former president of Be

June 9, 2020

Novice TV directors dazzle S. Korean entertainment scene

JTBC's "The World of the Married" and SBS' "Hot Stove League" are some of the biggest hit TV series in the first half of this year. The two dramas have one thing in common: They are works by up-and-coming young directors who get a good head start on their careers in the rapidly changing media entertainment. Based on the BBC One TV series "Doctor Foster," which aired in 2015 and 2017, the JTBC series is about a dedicated wife, played by Kim, who finds out about he

June 9, 2020

Return of superstars, in different personas

“Hi, we’re Ssak 3!” said Yoo Jae-suk, Lee Hyo-ri and Rain, as they introduced themselves in the way such groups commonly did in the ‘90s. On the latest episode of MBC’s “Hangout With Yoo” on Saturday, the trio announced the name of the group as well as their individual characters, along with plans to release their song in July. The appearance of the three celebrities saw the show hit the highest viewership rating out of all Saturday entertainment pro

June 8, 2020

Discounts, new releases bring back moviegoers

Despite lingering criticism that a return to cinemas is premature while COVID-19 continues to spread, government-issued discount coupons for movie tickets seem to have done their part in luring South Koreans back. Last week, the state-funded Korean Film Council distributed discount coupons for tickets to films screened Thursday through Sunday. Over those four days, 485,000 people went to the movies. According to data from the Korean Film Council, over 84,000 people went to the cinemas each da

June 8, 2020

Daechwita: When traditional music meets K-pop

Suga’s solo track “Daechwita” under the alias Agust D in late May begins with a powerful burst from a taepyeongso -- a Korean wind instrument -- as the BTS member sits up from a throne in a period thriller-themed video reminiscent of Netflix’s zombie series Kingdom. “I sampled ‘Daechiwta,’ which is the music played for when a king was on the move,” the rapper said on the group’s YouTube channel. In a swirling pre-chorus, he sings, “Wh

June 8, 2020

[Herald Interview] Natty makes miraculous debut after six years

Natty is a super rookie in the K-pop world who debuted only a month ago with the single “Nineteen.” Among fans of the genre, however, her name is not unfamiliar. Having been an idol trainee for six years, Natty was a contestant on a JYP Entertainment and Mnet girl group competition in 2015 called “Sixteen” that created Twice. She was also on Mnet’s “Idol School” in 2017. While not able to make the final cut in the groups then, causing her to doubt he

June 8, 2020

‘Phantom’ to sing at MMCA

The international tour production of musical “The Phantom of the Opera” is to collaborate with the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), sharing an online performance by its lead actors singing iconic numbers from the musical in front of the MMCA Seoul. The live outdoor performance will be streamed online Friday on MMCA’s YouTube channel and local video sharing platform Naver TV. The three lead actors will sing “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Agai

June 8, 2020

20 songs from BTS Suga’s mixtapes

1. Moonlight Suga chronicles his music career from working in a small music studio located in his hometown of Daegu, releasing his first mixtape album to yielding success as BTS in the self-reflective track. The only thing that hasn’t changed throughout the roller coaster of years is the bright moonlight up in the sky. 2. Daechwita Incorporating Korean military traditional instruments and hip-hop sounds, this swaggering song identifies the rapper as a domineering king who comes fr

June 8, 2020