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Korea Times

Korea Times

News and features from the Korea Times, South Korea's oldest English-language newspaper.

last updated:

28 August, 2024

Korean actress Song Hye-kyo at the launch of her new film, Dark Nuns, co-starring Jeon Yeo-been and Lee Jin-wook. Photo: Instagram/enykajol

Asian cinema: Korean films

Why The Glory actress Song Hye-kyo is taking on darker roles

Back on screen in Dark Nuns, movie about nuns saving a boy who is possessed, Korean actress says The Glory reignited her passion for acting.

24 Jan 2025 - 7:15AMvideocam

K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop

K-pop star Minnie of G-(I)DLE on launch of first solo album, Her

21 Jan 2025 - 5:00PMvideocam

In South Korea, crisis means cash for Yoon’s far-right cheerleaders

21 Jan 2025 - 12:57PMvideocam

Anorexia, extreme dieting, body shaming: singers on K-pop’s dark side

Soyou of Sistar and other K-pop stars open up about extreme dieting and depression in a documentary, sparking discussion about body shaming.

21 Jan 2025 - 7:42AM

K-pop girl group Mamamoo perform in Taipei in 2019. Group member Hwasa has opened up about extreme dieting. Photo: Unioncom/Visual China Group via Getty Images

The Penthouse K-drama actor Um Ki-joon marries ‘at 49, finally’

Actor posts announcement with photo of himself in white tuxedo, having revealed he had not expected to find ‘someone to spend my life with’.

19 Jan 2025 - 10:34AM

KIA 2025 Niro Hybrid test drive: SUV a fuel-efficient, smooth ride

KIA’s Niro SUV debuted in 2016, and since then has proven to be comfortable and cheap to buy and run, although it lacks horsepower.

19 Jan 2025 - 8:34AM

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K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop

K-pop group Oneus members reflect on new album Dear.M and look back

Oneus members talk about competing in two seasons of the Road to Kingdom reality show and how the Dear.M album is a thank you to their fans.

18 Jan 2025 - 4:15AMvideocam

South Korean K-pop band Oneus have a new album, Dear.M, dedicated to their loyal fans. Photo: Instagram/official_oneus

Asian cinema: Korean films

Korean actress Kim Min-hee pregnant with first child at 42

Director Hong Sang-soo, 64, left his wife for actress Kim Min-hee in 2015. The child she is carrying will be the first for both of them.

19 Jan 2025 - 1:18PMvideocam

South Korea woos tourists with discounts, tours and promotions

Cheap flights with free Wi-fi, tours, and shopping, hotel and restaurant discounts offered by 1,680 companies to encourage visits to country.

16 Jan 2025 - 6:15PM

K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop

Baby V. O. X, 2NE1, BigBang … older K-pop faves are coming back

K-pop legends like 1990s girl group Baby V. O. X, 2NE1, BigBang and GFriend have been making highly successful returns to the stage.

16 Jan 2025 - 5:45AMvideocam

K-pop girl group 2NE1 on stage in Seoul during a reunion concert in October 2024. The girl group is one of many older K-pop acts getting back together after years of inactivity. Photo: Instagram/2ne1official

Seoul Philharmonic, Jaap van Zweden’s new orchestra, aims for ‘world-class’

Jung Jae-wal, the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra’s new CEO, wants it to compete with the world’s most prestigious orchestras within 10 years.

15 Jan 2025 - 11:15AM

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra music director Jaap van Zweden conducts the Korean orchestra, which its new chief executive says aspires to reach a world-class level in the next 10 years. Photo: Instagram/immoyangviolin_fan

K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop

New K-pop girl group Hearts2Hearts to debut in February

The eight-member outfit are Korean music label SM Entertainment’s first rookie girl group since Aespa in 2020 – find out their names here.

15 Jan 2025 - 9:49AM

4 snake-themed Korean travel spots to visit in the Year of the Snake

From a Seoul park to nature spots, these serpentine sites make for great Lunar New Year travel ideas. They aren’t known for real snakes.

13 Jan 2025 - 12:57PM

TV shows and streaming video

‘I feel much more loved,’ Lee Byung-hun says after Squid Game success

Lee, whose Front Man has a much bigger role in Squid Game season 2, says the Netflix series has brought him far more fame than Hollywood did.

10 Jan 2025 - 7:15PMvideocam

Lee Byung-hun as the Front Man in a still from the hit Korean drama Squid Game season 2. Photo: No Ju-han/Netflix

Books and literature

New Korean books in English to look forward to in 2025

Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang’s translated novel We Do Not Part leads a strong line-up of new English-language Korean literature this year.

8 Jan 2025 - 5:15PM

(From left) Counterattacks at Thirty by Won-pyung Sohn, We Do Not Part by Han Kang, and A Thousand Blues by Cheon Seon-ran are among the many English-language Korean books to look forward to in 2025. Photo: Harper Collins/Penguin

Squid Game accused of whitewashing South Korea’s Vietnam war ‘atrocities’

Vietnamese authorities are reviewing whether the second season of the Netflix smash-hit series violates the law amid calls for a boycott.

7 Jan 2025 - 9:02AM

Food and Drinks

Premium kimchi from luxury hotels trends among Koreans

Created with recipes from hotel chefs and made with top-notch ingredients, premium kimchi in Korea can cost almost US$20 per kilogram.

30 Dec 2024 - 6:14PM

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‘So exhausting I feel like crying’: shock for Filipino carers in Korea

Filipino carers in Seoul are grappling with high living costs that mean they can’t save money, and with having to perform unexpected tasks.

29 Dec 2024 - 7:45AM

A group of 100 Filipino women at Incheon International Airport in Seoul. They are among a batch hired under a foreign domestic worker pilot programme. Many say the high cost of living prevents them saving money. Photo: EPA

Actress Lee Min-jung shares update on her son with Lee Byung-hun

Korean actress, who is set for return to screens after long break, posts photo of son Joon-hoo captioned ‘How dependable. Merry Christmas!’.

14 Jan 2025 - 1:20PM

Drunk surfing – yes, it’s a thing – to be outlawed in Korea in 2025

Under the coming Korean law, offenders can be fined up to US$676 for using water craft while drunk or refusing a blood-alcohol test.

27 Dec 2024 - 5:56PM

Asian cinema: Korean films

Song Joong-ki opens up on Bogota struggles and why he supports Hyun Bin

Song, whose new film Bogota: City of the Lost was heavily delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic, says he is driven by a sense of challenge.

27 Dec 2024 - 3:04PMvideocam

Korean actor Song Joong-ki, 39, says that his new movie, Bogota: City of the Lost, is fundamentally about responsibility. Photo: Instagram/hi_songjoongki

Suspended jail term for actress Han So-hee’s mother over illegal gambling

Identified only as A, Han’s mother was given a suspended prison sentence for running illegal gambling dens. Prosecutors lodged an appeal.

27 Dec 2024 - 3:01PM

Korean actress Han So-hee attends the Christian Dior Haute Couture spring/summer 2024 show as part of Paris Fashion Week in January 2024. Her mother received a suspended prison sentence for running illegal gambling dens. Photo: Getty Images

Asian cinema: Korean films

‘I’m second,’ says South Korean star Hyun Bin on life now he’s a dad

Hyun Bin says his son and his wife, Crash Landing on You co-star Son Ye-jin, are his priorities, and reveals the pressures of making Harbin.

19 Jan 2025 - 10:35AMvideocam

Lee Min-ho makes return to TV in Netflix space romcom When the Stars Gossip

The new series, set aboard a space station, boasts a production budget of US$34.5 million and aims to set a new standard for K-dramas.

23 Dec 2024 - 11:15AMvideocam

Nearly two-thirds of Korean women OK with being childless, survey finds

South Korea has world’s lowest fertility rate, and 65 per cent of women and 41 per cent of men say they could accept a life without children.

14 Jan 2025 - 1:27PMvideocam

Commuters in South Korea, where more than 40 per cent of men and more than 65 per cent of women surveyed would be OK with not having children. The country has the world’s lowest fertility rate. Photo: Yonhap/dpa

Actor Ju Ji-hoon on the message of Disney+ K-drama Light Shop

Ju runs a light shop to which other characters are drawn. He recalls the ‘emotion I was experiencing for the first time’ shooting the series.

14 Jan 2025 - 1:28PM

Ju Ji-hoon in a still from Disney+ Korean drama series Light Shop. The actor says he experienced an emotion he’d never felt before in acting during one scene. Photo: Disney+.

K-pop, Mandopop, other Asian pop

Are Winner’s Song Min-ho and Korean actress Park Ju-hyun dating?

‘Impossible to verify’ report the K-pop star is dating actress, his agency says. ‘Difficult to confirm’ a relationship, her agency says.

14 Jan 2025 - 1:32PM

Asian cinema: Korean films

Will these films draw Koreans back to cinema after protests over Yoon?

Cinema-going fell in South Korea amid mass protests after President Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration. Distributors hope for a rebound.

16 Dec 2024 - 2:15PMvideocam

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