South Korean director Park Chan-wook will start shooting his new film, “Decision to Leave,” in October, having cast all the main characters. Tang Wei and Park Hye-il will star as the protagonists. Lee Jung-hyun, Go Kyung-pyo and Park Yong-woo are also part of the cast. The new movie centers on a polite and honest police officer named Hye-jun, played by Park Hye-il. Hye-jun looks into a suspicious death that occurred on a mountain and comes to suspect the dead man’s wife, Se

Film Oct. 13, 2020

Thirteen Korean movies have applied to be selected as Korea’s entry for the Academy Award for best international feature film, according to the Korean Film Council on Monday. Since Director Bong Joon-ho won the Oscar for best international feature film for “Parasite” at the 92nd Academy Awards in February, movie industry insiders’ eyes are now on who will be selected to compete for the nomination next year. The selected film will be announced at the end of this month.

Performance Oct. 12, 2020

Actor Yoo Ah-in said he put no extra effort into playing a character with no lines in the upcoming crime drama “Voice of Silence.” “There was no extra preparation for the character. I just tried to form a stronger trust in director Hong Eui-jung and actor Yoo Jae-myung,” Yoo Ah-in said Monday during an online press conference. Tae-in, Yoo Ah-in’s character in the movie, has the unusual job of disposing of corpses and cleaning up crime scenes for an organized crim

Film Oct. 12, 2020

The Russia-Korea Arts and Culture Society (KORACS) and The Gorchakov Fund on Thursday jointly held a seminar to mark the 30th anniversary of the two countries’ cultural exchanges and discussed their future relationship. “Following the first forum which was held in 2017 in Seoul, this year’s event was supposed to be held at Moscow. But due to the virus pandemic, it had to take place in virtual space via video conference to connect Moscow and Seoul. I would like to express speci

Culture Oct. 11, 2020

Actress Kim Hye-soo, who played an impressive police officer in the hit TV series “Signal,” is returning to the big screen as a cop in “The Day I Died.” “At first, I was aware of the fact that Hyun-soo is a police officer character (like Soo-hyun in Signal.) But for Hyun-soo, I could naturally focus more on portraying her emotions and less on her occupation,” Kim said during an online press briefing on Thursday. “I expect audiences will feel the same wa

Film Oct. 9, 2020

Pawn (Korea) Opened Sept. 29 Family drama Directed by Kang Dae-kyu In 1993, Doo-seok (Sung Dong-il) and Jong-bae (Kim Hee-won) work as debt collectors in Incheon. They may look intimidating, but they are soft inside. One day, the two go to collect a debt from Myung-ja (Kim Yun-jin) who unexpectedly offers her 9-year-old daughter Seung-yi (Park So-yi, Ha Ji-won) as collateral. When Myung-ja is deported from Korea, the two collectors suddenly become Seung-yi’s guardians.   Greenland

Performance Oct. 8, 2020

The sixth Royal Culture Festival will kick off Saturday at 7 p.m. at Gyeongbokgung’s famous venue for state banquets during the Joseon era (1392-1910). “For this year’s festival, we prepared a performance at Gyeonghoeru Pavilion, a place that drew global attention after the BTS performance for … ‘The Tonight Show,’” Na Myeong-ha, a Cultural Heritage Administration official, said Wednesday during a press conference at the palace. The opening performa

Culture Oct. 7, 2020

The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and its affiliate agency the National Institute of Korean Language on Wednesday jointly published a 29-page guide book on translation of widely used Korean words. The publication comes after the ministry published guidelines on the translation of Korean words that often cause confusion due to the absence of clear standards on July 15. The book provides a translation guide for three languages -- English, Chinese and Japanese — and mainly conta

Culture Oct. 7, 2020

The 25th Busan International Film Festival, originally set to open Oct. 8, will be held Oct. 21-30 both offline and online, according to the festival organizers. “We will screen a total of 194 films, and 125 will be screened through our online channel,” a BIFF organizer told The Korea Herald on Wednesday. “There will not be any outdoor events, including opening and closing ceremonies, outdoor greetings and open talk sessions, which can gather crowds. Instead, we will focus

Performance Oct. 7, 2020

If you see people wearing T-shirts with Cakeshop designs on them, they are more likely to be supporting a nightclub in Itaewon than expressing their love for desserts. Struggling to stay afloat during the pandemic, nightclubs in Korea are selling T-shirts and other goods. Cakeshop is one such nightclub, selling goods through crowdfunding platform Tumblbug. "We approached several cultural spaces which have been suffering due to the coronavirus to jointly find a possible solution to sust

Culture Oct. 6, 2020

Comedy crime film “Collectosr” is ready to steal moviegoers’ hearts with its original story about tomb robbery. “As the first Korean film about tomb robbery, we will present new visuals that the audience has never seen before,” director Park Jung-bae said during an online press briefing Tuesday. “Collectors” is Park’s debut feature.  　 “Collectors” introduces three robbers. Kang Dong-goo, played by Lee Je-hoon, is a genius robb

Performance Oct. 6, 2020

The Korea Foundation on Tuesday said that it has launched a lecture series using ‘Learn! KOREAN with BTS’ at Middlebury College, a liberal arts college in Middlebury, Vermont that is known for its foreign language programs. In August, the KF, K-pop powerhouse Big Hit Entertainment’s education business unit Big Hit Edu and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies announced that they were working together to develop and provide Korean language learning programs. The e-school lectu

Culture Oct. 6, 2020

Netflix on Monday said its highly anticipated K-pop documentary “Blackpink: Light Up the Sky,” directed by Korean American film director Caroline Suh, is set to premiere on Oct. 14. Once the film is released, Blackpink will be the fourth female act featured in a Netflix original documentary, following Lady Gaga, Beyonce and Taylor Swift. The documentary will mainly feature Blackpink’s short but intense journey to K-pop superstardom now from rookies in 2016. It also will hav

Film Oct. 5, 2020

A wide range of events will be held at 32 Korean Cultural Centers located in 27 countries to mark the 574th Hangeul Day on Oct. 9. the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and Korean Culture and Information Service announced Monday. Hangeul is the writing system for the Korean language, consisting of 24 letters. King Sejong the Great (1397-1450) led the invention with a team of scholars and Hangeul was promulgated in 1446. “Through holding these events to commemorate Hangeul Day, we

Culture Oct. 5, 2020

The second season of reality show “Fake Men,” which was originally created for YouTube, is now also streaming through two local platforms -- Kakao TV and Watcha. The first season of the show, made by channel operator Physical Gallery with security and tactics consulting firm MUSAT, featured YouTube celebrities in extreme situations as they participated in MUSAT’s simulated Underwater Demolition Team training program. The show was initially a parody of MBC’s “Real

Television Oct. 4, 2020