V of BTS is coming out solo with NewJeans' producer Min Hee-jin at the lead of production. The group's agency Big Hit Music on Wednesday announced that V will collaborate with Min, who is the CEO and executive producer of NewJeans' label Ador. Big Hit Music and Ador are two independent labels housed under the multilabel entertainment company Hybe. According to Big Hit Music, the collaboration started from V's idea, and Min will take the helm of the singer's solo projec

Novice label Grid is set to launch its first boy band next month. The multinational quintet will include reality audition program "Loud" contestant Youn Dong-yeon and Thai singer-actor Yorch, the agency said in a press release on Wednesday. "Our first five-piece boy band has confirmed its name as Pow and will officially debut in September," Grid announced. Along with Yorsch and Youn, Korean members Jungbin, Hyunbin and Hong will comprise Pow. Yorch, whose real name is Yongsin

In less than five months after its debut, boy band Xikers returns revamped, ready to invite listeners deeper into its universe. Opening the second chapter of their fledgling journey is the band's second EP, "House of Tricky: How to Play," which is set for release on Wednesday evening. In March 30, the 10-member boy group -- consisting of members Minjae, Junmin, Sumin, Jinsik, Hyunwoo, Junghoon, Se-eun, Yujun, Yechan and, the band's only foreign member, Hunter -- debuted as th

Seoul’s iconic Gwanghwamun Square is gearing up for a remarkable transformation into a space for dancing, DJ parties and an opera performance later this month. The outdoor Sejong Summer Festival will be held under a “Groove” theme from Aug. 11 to Sept. 9, according to the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts on Monday. This is the first outdoor event organized by the Sejong Center in four years and the first since the pandemic. Five performances are scheduled, with seating cap

Jungkook of BTS maintained a spot among the top 10 on Billboard’s Hot 100 as his solo single “Seven” ranked No. 9 on the main singles chart dated Aug. 5. The single debuted atop the chart last week as well as its Global excl. the US and Global 200 charts, making him the first solo musician from Asia to top all three at once. It kept its spot at the top of both global charts this week. “Seven” hit the iTunes top songs chart at No. 1 in 114 regions so far and is stay

Infinite to hold a Asian concert tour starting in Seoul on Aug. 19

Having debuted in 2011 with “Bleak Night,” actor Park Jung-min has worked with renowned filmmakers and appeared in hit films at a relatively early stage of his acting career. He has worked with director Lee Joon-ik in “Dongju: The Portrait of a Poet” (2016), director Yeon Sang-ho in “Hellbound” (2021) and director Park Chan-wook in “Decision to Leave” (2022), to name a few. He has played powerful and impressive characters in films like “Svaha

From an Alzheimer’s patient in his 80s in “Remember” (2022) and Sunyang Group’s founder Jin Yang-chul in “Reborn Rich” (2022) to veteran detective Kim Taek-rok in “Shadow Detective 2,” Lee Sung-min is on a roll with unique elderly characters. Though the diversity of portrayals was a huge challenge, Lee was certain that the roles would become a assets in the future. “I had a chance to feel what it would be like to perform 10 to 20 years in the

Blackpink amassed 2.1 billion views on YouTube with the music video for “Ddu-du Ddu-du” on Sunday, according to label YG Entertainment on Monday. It is the first music video in K-pop history to reach the milestone. “Ddu-du Ddu-du” is the main track from its first EP, “Square Up,” that was released in June 2018 and swept all music charts here. The single ranked No. 55 on Billboard’s Hot 100 while the album was No. 40 on the Billboard 200, both records fo

In Myeongju-dong, an older neighborhood in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, a group of eight older women who have lived in the area for over 30 years and have an average age of 75 among them gather to go over video footage they took over the past week. Besides meeting friends, volunteering, doing housework and gardening, these women have a new thing to cross off their to-do lists: shooting moments of their everyday lives with their smartphones. It is part of a community center program. Some of the women t

Close to a third of K-pop idols-in-training at Hybe, the company behind boy group BTS, are non-Korean nationals, The Korea Herald has learned. Roughly 28 percent of trainees under Hybe’s domestic labels are of foreign nationality, the firm said in response to a media inquiry from the Herald. “Although we don’t have a particular strategy aimed at increasing the proportion of foreign trainees, Hybe supports the selection and development of trainees irrespective of country or regi

SM Entertainment is debuting a new boy band, Riize, in September. The K-pop powerhouse on Monday announced the new group will be a seven-piece act that will carve out a new niche in emo-pop, an unconventional sound yet to be explored inside the K-pop scene. According to SM, the group's name compounds "rise" and "realize" to convey the group's ambition to rise up and realize its dreams. Consisting of seven multinational individuals with different strengths and charac

Boy band kicks off nine-city global concert series in Seoul

PYEONGCHANG, Gangwon Province -- On Saturday afternoon at the Alpensia Resort Concert Hall, a special concert took place as part of the Music in Pyeongchang festival. Kyiv Virtuosi, a chamber orchestra hailing from the war-torn country, led by cellist and conductor Dmitry Yablonsky, performed a program of Mendelssohn’s “String Symphony No. 10 in B minor,” Berg’s “Sieben fruhe Lieder,” Mahler’s “Ruckert-Lieder” and Berliner’s “Jaco

Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios’ “Elemental” has become the most-viewed foreign film this year in South Korea, contrary to the film’s not-so-positive North American box office record. According to data compiled by the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), “Elemental” has drawn 5.58 million moviegoers here as of Sunday since its release on June 14. “Elemental” took over the title of the most-viewed foreign film, previously held by Japanese animated film