South Korean major game developer NCSoft has global ambitions for its new massively multiplayer online role playing game Lineage W, set for launch Thursday at midnight. Lineage W will first be available in 12 languages for users in South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and the Middle East. NCSoft then plans to expand its service to North America, Europe and South America. Instead of operating separate servers for each country, NCSoft has created the Global One Build service that allows

For director Ahn Gil-ho, a desire to portray the life of ordinary people was the reason to film “Happiness.” “When I read the script, the scenario was really interesting and had the power to draw a viewer‘s attention. But the biggest reason for me to choose this drama was my plan to make a series that focuses on the stories and feelings of common individuals,” the director said in an online press conference on Monday. The upcoming tvN Friday-Saturday series revolv

When Super Junior D&E was formed in 2011 as a subunit of the popular boy band Super Junior, its members Donghae and Eunhyuk never expected it would remain active even after 10 years. The two, both born in 1986 and having been with the group since they were trainees, looked back on their past years during an online press conference held Tuesday to promote their first full-length album. The new release will drop at 6 p.m., ahead of the unit's 10th anniversary next month. "Super Junior D

Lisa, a member of K-pop girl group BLACKPINK, scored her second-ever appearance on the Hot 100, Billboard's main singles chart, with "Money." According to Billboard on Monday (US time), "Money," a track from Lisa's first individual single album released in September, opened at 90th on the chart for the week ending Nov. 6. The singer and rapper first entered the chart with "Lalisa," the title track of the album, ranking No. 84 in the first week of its release. The

Two TV series about the lives and struggles of K-pop singers will hit small screens in South Korea next week, their broadcasters said Tuesday. "Let Me Be Your Knight" will premier this Sunday on SBS, depicting a romance between a popular idol singer suffering from sleepwalking and a live-in doctor who has to cure his condition secretly. Former and active K-pop singers take part in the 12-episode drama, with Lee Jun-young, a former member of boy band U-Kiss, playing Yoon Tae-in who is

"Dynamite," a megahit single by K-pop superstars BTS, has received triple platinum certification in the United States. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) revealed the certification on its website Monday (US time), recognizing the song for achieving more than 3 million certified units in sales and streams. The awards range from gold certification (500,000 units) to platinum (1 million units), multi-platinum (2 million units) and diamond (10 million units). The certi

Almost all members of K-pop girl group Lovelyz will leave their management agency Woollim Entertainment this month when their contracts with the company expire, the agency said. "Exclusive contracts between our company and Lovelyz members are set to expire on Nov. 16," it said in a statement Monday. "After a long in-depth discussion, seven members -- Yoo Ji-ae, Seo Ji-soo, Lee Mi-joo, Kei, Jin, Ryu Su-jeong and Jung Ye-in -- have decided to prepare for another start." But t

The director of the upcoming Korean action film “Tomb of the River” Yoon Young-bin said he got the idea for the film’s script from the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics. The movie’s Korean title, “Gangneung,” is the name of a city in Gangwon Province, on South Korea’s east coast. The city is also adjacent to PyeongChang. “After Korea was liberated, Gangneung never received any development assistance,” Yoon said during a brief press confere

The Boyz exuded charisma at an online showcase held on Monday to introduce its third single “Maverick.” 　 It has been only three months since the release of its sixth EP “Thrill-ing,” but the members were full of confidence saying that the new single will show off the band even clearer. 　 “We wanted to showcase more diverse sides of ourselves as fast as possible,” said Eric, adding with a laugh that there were no difficulties preparing for the return except

“Neighbours,” a film by Kurdish Swiss director Mano Khalil, won the Best Picture Award at the Gangneung International Film Festival, which ended Sunday. During the 10-day festival, which kicked off Oct. 22 with Albert Birney’s “Strawberry Mansion,” 116 films from 42 countries were screened at five theaters in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, on South Korea’s east coast.   The winners of the International Narrative Competition Awards, created last year, wer

NTCK opens ‘online theater,’ offering performances with extra features such as barrier-free services, director’s cut

Just days ahead of the theater release of Marvel Studio’s “Eternals,” Naver Webtoon unveiled the movie’s Korean webtoon version Sunday. The first two episodes, titled “Intelligent Design 1“ and ”Intelligent Design 2,” have a 9.26 rating on the Naver platform as of Monday. Celebrating the release of the film, the first four episodes are available free of charge, Naver Webtoon said. The webtoon, based on the Marvel Comics series of the same titl

Actor Kim Seon-ho will remain on the cast of the upcoming film “Sad Tropics (working title),” the movie’s production company NEW said on Monday. Since the actor stepped down from the films “2 O’Clock Date” and “Dog Days” in the aftermath of a controversy surrounding his ex-girlfriend, “Sad Tropics” is the first project to keep its offer of a lead character to Kim. According to NEW, the production staff held a long discussion in makin

The upcoming superhero film "Eternals" is expected to smash the pandemic-hit South Korean box office, with its presale tickets outpacing those of its Marvel predecessor "Black Widow," data showed Monday. Marvel Studios' latest film to be released Wednesday had recorded 200,000 presold tickets as of 2:30 p.m., two days before its local release, according to the data by the Korean Film Council. The movie accounted for 78.8 percent of all tickets reserved at that time, overwhe

The music video for K-pop girl group BLACKPINK's "Boombaya" has surpassed 1.3 billion YouTube views. The video, released in August 2016, hit the milestone at 9:34 a.m. Monday, 146 days after passing the 1.2 billion mark, according to the group's management agency, YG Entertainment. "Even though four years have passed since the release of the music video, (the number of its YouTube views) has been on the steady rise," the agency said. "BLACKPINK now has its third music