South Korea and Japan should work out their wartime disputes before it is too late, President Moon Jae-in said in his first phone call with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida since he took office last week, Cheong Wa Dae said Friday. But the talks, which came amid worsening ties over disagreements on virtually every issue between the two neighbors, did little to close the widening gap. “We should leave open our communication channels and continue to engage each other for a way out of

The 26th Busan International Film Festival wrapped up its 10-day run on Friday at the Busan Cinema Center, with the closing ceremony hosted by two Korean rookie actors -- Lee Jun-hyuk and Lee Joo-young. This year‘s BIFF, which opened Oct. 6, screened 223 films from 70 countries offline at six selected theaters in Busan. This change was significant as the BIFF organizer held a much scaled-down event last year in light of COVID protocols. Each film was also screened only once at the Busan

In the 1970s, when it was still a struggle for South Korean women to establish art careers, a group of female students from the Hongik University College of Fine Arts gathered together to break stereotypes and defy conservative social norms. In 1982 they formed Hongik Women Artists Association and held an exhibition, which has continued every year uninterrupted for 40 years. Now the 40-year anniversary exhibition -- “Hongik Root Now! Again!” -- is running at the Hongik Museum of A

The Boyz will come out with new music in November, agency Cre.ker Entertainment announced Friday. 　 It has been only three months since it rolled out its sixth EP, “Thrill-ing,” which brought five trophies from television music chart shows. The title track “Thrill Ride” topped iTunes’ songs chart in 36 regions. 　 Local media reported last week that the band was shooting a music video in Seoul. 　 Earlier this month, the boy band was named artist of the year at 20

Porsche Korea just built an indoor playground in Seoul as part of its Porsche Dream Playground program. The carmaker said Thursday that it has completed construction of the playground on the premises of Seokgwan Elementary School in Seongbuk-gu, northern Seoul. Holger Gerrmann, CEO of Porsche Korea, and officials from the school and ChildFund Korea attended a ceremony on Wednesday to mark the project’s completion. Through its community outreach program, Porsche Dream Playground, the c

South Korea’s market bellwether Samsung Electronics increased 1 percent to 70,100 won ($59.28) on Friday, after remaining below the sensitive threshold for four consecutive days. The benchmark Kospi climbed 0.88 percent to 3,015.16 points in the same day. Samsung Electronics, Korea’s largest company by market cap, has the biggest group of retail investors -- some 4.54 million -- as of the end of June. Samsung’s stock prices soared to as high as 91,000 won on Jan. 11 but li

Raid comes a day after court refuses to issue arrest warrant for key suspect

North Korea has opened a key sea route on the western coast to receive humanitarian aid deliveries following its closure attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic, a United Nations agency official said Friday. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has begun shipping medical supplies from the Chinese port of Dalian to North Korea's Nampo and plans to deliver more items, according to its Seoul office.  "A limited shipment of health and nutrition supplies has been delivered through th