MBC said Wednesday it will replace Kim Young-hee, the veteran producer of singer survival program “I Am a Singer,” admitting that the producer’s decision to keep Kim Gun-mo ― who should have been eliminated in the first round of the competition with six other singers ― was wrong.In each episode, seven singers are given a mission to perform in front of a 500-member audience made up of ordinary view

Maestro Chung Myung-whun, Seoul Philharmonic to perform in Verdi’s ‘Simon Boccanegra’Popular operas by Italy’s two most famous opera composers ― Puccini and Verdi ― will be staged in Seoul in April.The Seoul Metropolitan Opera Company will stage opera “Tosca,” one of the most frequently performed operas among Puccini’s works, from April 21 to April 24 at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts’

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A song by a California teenager that has been mercilessly panned by music critics has topped 30 million views on YouTube and rocketed up Apple’s iTunes charts.“Friday,” sung by 13-year-old Rebecca Black, was uploaded to YouTube last month by Ark Music Factory, a Los Angeles-based company that was hired by the girl’s parents to produce the song for their daughter.“It’s Friday, Fr

 WEST HOLLYWOOD, California (AP) _ Authorities in Los Angeles say Lindsay Lohan's father has been arrested over allegations he held his girlfriend against her will and prevented her from calling police.Sheriff's investigators say deputies were dispatched on a domestic violence call at 9 p.m. Monday to Michael Lohan's apartment. (AP)A news release says the 51-year-old was booked for investigation o

HONG KONG (AFP) ― South Korea’s finest in film celebrated after blitzing the annual Asian Film Awards on Monday, bolstering the country’s growing reputation as the pre-eminent force in the region.South Korean movie stars and filmmakers dominated the glitzy ceremony in Hong Kong, now in its fifth year, snapping up awards for best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress and be

Like the woman of the same name who was known to have been one of the four beauties of ancient China, the “Yang Guifei,” or “poppy flower,” was so mesmerizingly beautiful that he stopped short and stared for a long time. Artist Kwon In-su, who had never really been into flowers before, was totally captivated by the flower and ended up opening a solo exhibition entirely dedicated to it. “It was a t

Popular Longquan ware found in sunken ship off coast of Sinan shows beauty and culture of 14th century AsiaThe National Museum of Korea is holding a special exhibition featuring about 90 pieces of 14th century Chinese celadon ware found in a shipwreck.The featured pieces are known to be from the Longquan region of China’s southern Zhejiang province, where the most superior kind of Chinese celadon

MBC’s new singer survival program is mired in controversy as its participant Kim Gun-mo ― who was eliminated in the first cut on the episode televised on Sunday ― was given a special offer to compete in the next round. The decision to keep Kim in the next episode breaks the rules of the show.The show, “I Am A Singer,” pits a total of seven real-life, big-name singers in Korea ― Kim Gun-mo, Baek Ji

NEW YORK (AP) ― Sometimes it’s a fast-moving ooze: A street becomes a stream, grows into a river and then a raging mountain of moving debris. Sometimes, it’s a wet curtain of water crashing over a shoreline, tossing trees, ships and cars casually aside as a child would a stack of Legos.Until a week ago, a tsunami was one of the most mysterious of natural events, its devastating power usually evide

LOS ANGELES ― When pop stars Mariah Carey, Beyonce, Nelly Furtado and 50 Cent recently said they’d renounced millions of dollars they’d received for performing for members of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi’s family, they drew attention to a growing and controversial cultural phenomenon: celebrity artists being hired by rich, powerful and sometimes disreputable clients to play at private or semi-

Easy-to-follow story, timely changes and wit are keys to success for small-stage performancesNo matter how much blockbuster musicals boast of their leading stars, or how low and lewd some small theater shows become in a quest for custom, there remain several decent small-stage musicals that are long-running successes. South Korean original musicals such as: “Finding Kim Jong-wook;” “Sarangun Birul

Actor Jung Woo-sung has admitted to having a special relationship with Lee Ji-ah, who played a former lover of Jung in the spy drama “ATHENA: Goddess of War.” Jung told his fans at a fan meeting on Sunday that he has been dating Lee Ji-ah. “The relationship has just started. I hope you all understand in a good way,” Jung said. The two stars in “ATHENA: Goddess of War” were spotted on a date in Par

German museums pull out 116 artifacts from their Korean art collections for traveling exhibitiA two-year touring exhibition of Korean art and cultural artifacts in Germany will kick off Friday at the country’s Museum of East Asian Art in Cologne. The exhibition “Korea Rediscovered ― Treasures from German Collections” is co-organized by the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, and the Korea Foundat