South Korea’s Gangnam-gu Office in the affluent southern district of Seoul will further revamp the streets of Cheongdam-dong to recreate them as streets of hallyu, or the Korean Wave, as part of efforts to attract foreign tourists.The renovation of the streets called the “K-Star Road,” modeled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, has entered its second phase of construction, the district office said. Its first phase involved developing local stores where Korean singers and artists regularly visited

April 12, 2015

South Korean hip-hop group Epik High nabbed one of the top honors at a Chinese music awards event Saturday. The trio scooped the Best Performance Artist of the Year at the third YINYUE V-Chart Awards held at the MasterCard Center in Beijing. “Thank you, Chinese fans. We love you. We will come to China more often,” Epik High said during its acceptance speech. Epik High performed two of its hit songs, “Happen Ending” and “Born Hater,” double lead tracks from its eighth studio album, after receivin

April 12, 2015

Actor Kim Soo-hyun will return to the silver screen in the second half of next year with the movie “Real,” his agency said Thursday. The movie, slated to start production in October, will be Kim’s first appearance on the big screen since 2013.With the exception of a cameo appearance in the 2014 comedy “Miss Granny,” Kim’s last major film role was that of a North Korean agent in “Secretly, Greatly,” which drew 7 million viewers in 2013.  Kim Soo-hyunThe upcoming movie is an action film that tells

April 9, 2015

K-pop girl group Miss A has held onto the No. 1 spot on Korea’s music charts with its latest track “Only You” for five straight days. As of Friday morning, “Only You,” from the group’s seventh project album “Colors,” came in first on Korea’s nine major real-time charts, including Melon, Genie Music, Olleh Music, Naver Music and Daum Music.  Miss A (JYP Entertainment)Produced by Black Eyed Pilseung, who is behind Sistar hit “Touch My Body,” Miss A’s latest dance track describes a modern-day appro

April 3, 2015

Yunho, one half of K-pop idol duo TVXQ, will enter military service this year, his label SM Entertainment told media Friday. His exact enlistment date is yet to be confirmed.  Yunho of TVXQ. (SM Entertainment)The announcement came after a Japanese media outlet, the Sankei Shimbun, reported Friday that the 30-year-old singer’s enlistment was approaching. He is reported to have cried at a recent Tokyo Dome concert and said he won’t be able to perform at concerts for a while. The news also reported

April 3, 2015

Actress Song Hye-kyo and actor Song Joong-ki will pair up in the new drama “Descendants of the Sun,” it was revealed Thursday. The drama is scheduled to simultaneously air in the second half of the year in Korea and China.  Song Hye-kyo in “That Winter, the Wind Blows.” (SBS)It is being produced by the state-run broadcaster KBS in Korea and follows the lives of doctors and soldiers on an overseas disaster relief mission. The series will be written by Kim Eun-sook, whose previous work includes th

April 2, 2015

K-pop boy group Big Bang will make a grand return to the music scene in May, its agency YG Entertainment said Wednesday. Big Bang will release a new album on May 1, more than three years after putting out its mega-hit album “Still Alive” in 2012, the label said on Facebook. The announcement was made with a poster titled “Big Bang,” with the dates from May 1 to Sept. 1 listed, suggesting the group will unveil a new song on the first day of every month from May.  A poster announcing Big Bang’s com

April 1, 2015

The unexpected news that mega celebrities Suzy and hallyu star Lee Min-ho are dating has been all the buzz in the local entertainment industry this past week.Exactly one week since the story broke, K-pop star Suzy returned to the stage Monday alongside the other members of Miss A, to promote the album “Colors,” the act’s first EP in more than a year. Despite Miss A reigning at the top of the charts with its latest single, “Only You,” during a press conference at the Seoul Olympic Park’s K-Art Ha

March 31, 2015

JYJ’s Jaejoong and Super Junior’s Sungmin both enlisted in the Army Tuesday for their mandatory military service.Jaejoong made a low-key enlistment. It is not known where he will receive his weeks-long training before entering active military duty. (Yonhap)He will be discharged from service 21 months later on Dec. 30, 2016. The 29-year-old singer-actor previously bid farewell to his fans at the two-day concert “The Beginning of The End” at Korea University in Seoul. Ticket prices for Sunday’s sh

March 31, 2015

South Korean singer-actress Yewon, or Kim Ye-won, is under increasing pressure to quit the popular television show “We Got Married” over her squabble with actress Lee Tae-im.“We Got Married” is a popular MBC TV show that puts celebrities in a mock marriage situation. The show, now in its eighth year on air, is also attracting keen attention in Asia, with two global editions and one Chinese edition successfully launched. Lee Tae-im (left) and Yewon. OSENThe controversy over Yewon, which occurred

March 30, 2015

K.Will, one of the K-pop world’s most popular R&B ballad singers, will drop his latest six-track EP “[re:]” on Wednesday, the musician said Tuesday. Continuing his signature passionate vocals and gut-wrenchingly heartfelt lyrics, the singer’s new EP features his latest ballad “Growing.”  For his newest title track the singer teamed up with composer Kim Dong-hoon, who was behind his 2009 hit single “Tear Drops.” The EP comes nearly a year after K.Will unveiled his previous EP “One Fine Day,” whic

March 24, 2015

South Korean singer Tae Jin-ah, 61, has denied reports about his alleged illegal gambling at a casino in the U.S. and vowed to take legal action against the media which put out the article in question.“I have never spent hundreds of million won on gambling in the U.S. My son did not even participate in the gambling,” he said at a press conference held in Seoul on Tuesday. “I already made it clear that I had visited a casino only for fun on a family trip in the U.S,” he said.The remark came after

March 24, 2015

Actor Lee Min-ho and singer-actress Suzy on Monday confirmed they are in a relationship.  Lee Min-ho (left) and Suzy. OSENHowever, the two top stars are just one couple in a long line of top-star couples who have made their relationships public. Before the Lee-Suzy union there was Girl’s Generation’s Yoona and singer-actor Lee Seung-gi. The fact that the two were dating was made public in January 2014 following a news report with photographs of the two meeting for dates, much like Lee and Suzy.L

March 24, 2015

Actor Lee Min-ho and Suzy of K-pop group Miss A revealed on Monday that they are in a relationship.Following reports from Dispatch, a local media outlet that broke the news, Lee and Suzy confirmed through their agencies that they have been dating for about a month.Earlier in the day, Dispatch reported that the two had been dating for about two months and published photographs of them in London on March 15.(OSEN)According to Lee’s agency Starhaus Entertainment, however, the two have only been tog

March 23, 2015

“Hallyu” continues to grow worldwide as Korean artists become more active internationally than they do at home.Also known as the Korean Wave, referring to the popularity of Korean pop culture, most hallyu fandom starts at a young age, as do the K-pop artists and teen idol groups. However, this wasn’t the case for Katherine Kokenes, a mother of three college graduates.Kokenes has been in love with K-pop since 2007 and became a huge fan of the K-pop duo TVXQ. She has been actively supporting them

March 17, 2015

Eleven year-old Jeon Min-woo, known as a child double of Korean singer Psy, has seemingly recuperated from a terminal brain tumor, local media reported on Tuesday. Jeon, who is Korean-Chinese, was diagnosed last summer with a terminal illness of the brain that left him with just six months to live. Jeon Min-woo with Psy (Yonhap)However, in an interview on Tuesday, Jeon’s mother revealed that an MRI scan in December had shown the tumor has been reduced and Jeon has since grown 6 centimeters in he

March 17, 2015