Japanese director Makoto Shinkai of the latest adventure animation film “Suzume,” which references the 2011 Tohoku earthquake that took nearly 20,000 lives and left much devastation, said the key motif of a magical door that a protagonist tries to close to stop the disaster was inspired by the 2016 hit South Korean drama “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God.” “When I watched ‘Guardian,’ it was impressive that the characters use a concept of door to move a

K-pop girl group aespa is taking part in the American outdoor music festival Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival, the first K-pop band to do so. The festival consists of around 90 different performances on six different stages to be held on Aug. 11 to 13 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The festival also hosts diverse events and booths with foods representing different regions in America. More than 220,000 people flock to the annual festival which, this year, will feature Kendrick Lamar

Lee Ji-ah is returning to the small screen in the action-packed revenge series “Pandora: Beneath the Paradise.” The 16-part mystery-action thriller revolves around ordinary housewife Hong Tae-ra (Lee), who is living her dream life. The story develops as Tae-ra’s long-forgotten, heartbreaking memories come back to her, leading her to plot all-out revenge against those responsible. The 44-year-old actor explained that her character was raised to become a professional killer. Port

The musician’s genre-defying oeuvre is a synthesis of East and West, old and new

Yuju on Tuesday dropped her new album "O," packed with soft, comfortable music just like the warmth of the spring air spreading gently through the nation. The new album marked Yuju's return after 14 months. The time away was a carefully-knit process of finding the right pieces to complete the full picture, the singer said. "It wasn't a short process. Usually, we'd select the songs to go into the album before going into recording, but this time, we recorded various s

Online streaming service provider Tving scheduled to release “Unintentional Love Story,” a drama adaptation of a popular Naver Webtoon, on March 17. Adapted from writer and illustrator Pibi’s webtoon of the same title, “Unintentional Love Story” centers around a young man named Won-young becoming attached to Tae-jun. Gongchan of K-pop boy band B1A4 stars in the series as Won-young. Rising actor Cha Seo-won, who received nationwide recognition with his appearance in

The first self-written song from Jimin of BTS topped the iTunes top songs chart in 51 regions, according to label Big Hit Music on Tuesday. Single “Promise” was unveiled in 2018 through music platform SoundCloud. Another work of his “Christmas Love” from 2020 claimed the No. 1 spot on the chart in 17 regions. It was a surprise gift dropped on Christmas Eve and still holds the record among K-pop solo musicians for logging 10 million views on YouTube. The artist officially

The Paris Opera Ballet, one of the leading ballet companies in the world, is set to stage “Giselle,” an iconic French romantic ballet, from Wednesday to Saturday. The oldest national ballet company in the world premiered the piece in 1841, and will be performing in Korea for the first time in 30 years. The same piece was performed in Korea in 1993. “‘Giselle’ is a performance that best captures the characteristics of French ballet,” said Jose Martinez, directo

Actor Son Suk-ku from “My Liberation Notes” (2022) and “Big Bet” (2022) will star as a journalist in an upcoming crime action flick, tentatively named “The Comments Army.” A film adaption of Chang Kang-myoung’s award-winning novel of the same title, “The Comments Army” will be directed by Ahn Gooc-jin. Shooting officially began Monday, according to Acemaker Movieworks, the film's distributor. The film centers around Son’s character

The application for an arrest warrant for rapper Ravi charged with trying to dodge mandatory military service by faking epilepsy was dismissed on Monday. According to Seoul Southern District Court, the arrest warrant was rejected as the judge who held an investigation to determine the warrant’s validity decided that the accused is unlikely to run away or seek destruction of evidence. The court saw that there was no need to hold him in custody for investigation as Ravi has pleaded guilty to

South Korean entertainment powerhouse CJ ENM’s cable TV movie channel OCN is scheduled to livestream the 95th Academy Awards at 9 a.m. on March 13. Honoring the films released in 2022, this year’s Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, will be hosted by popular American comedian and producer Jimmy Kimmel at Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. American action comedy “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” which earned a total of 11 nominations at this year's Academy Awards

Singer and actor Lee Hye-ri -- also known as Hyeri from Girl’s Day -- is starring in director Park Beom-soo’s “Victory,” the country’s first ever film on cheerleaders. Along with Lee, actors Park Se-wan and Cho Ah-ram and six other actors will star as a nine-member cheerleading group called Millennium Girls. “Victory” revolves around Pil-seon (Hyeri) and Mina (Park Se-wan) who form a high school cheerleading club. Hyeri’s acting career took off wit

Stray Kids will release a new album in late April, according to a local media report on Monday. Label JYP Entertainment acknowledged that the band finished shooting the music video for the new album but said that no specific date has been set yet for its return. Its last album was the EP “Maxident," released in October last year. It notched the top spot on the Billboard 200, as did the previous EP “Oddinary,” and sold over three million copies, a first for the band. Meanw

The musical “The Phantom of the Opera” will kick off in Busan in March, a significant event on many levels. Not only is it the third Korean production of the iconic musical that took the local musical industry by storm with its debut in 2001, it is returning to Korea after 13 years. Danny Sihn, CEO and producer of S&CO, told reporters during a press conference on Monday that the latest production is focused on preserving the original vision of the 35-year-old musical created by l

SM Entertainment has openly slammed stalking fans who invade the privacy of NCT members and has warned of strict legal action against them. SM Entertainment on Monday afternoon released a press statement through which it disclosed aggressive acts of the intrusion of its artist's privacy and warned of "zero tolerance" against such behavior. "Cases of the violation of the privacy of NCT members have been increasing recently," SM said. The agency directly lashed out at &quo