The Korea Tourism Organization is creating a promotional video and K-pop act EXO is to appear on it.According to the KTO, officials are created series of videos on the theme “Korea Asks You, Have you ever?” referring to the unique experience in Korea from a foreigner’s perspective. (Korea Tourism Organization)“EXO, a top K-pop act has performed in front of the people from all around the world at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, has a large fan base across the world, and is an influential figur

Lotte Duty Free, South Korea’s top duty-free operator, apologized via its official Instagram account Saturday for sending girl group Black Pink off stage mid-performance at its Lotte Duty Free Family Festival. The organizer of the two-day festival, held at the Seoul Olympic Stadium Friday and Saturday, said in its post that the “performance was interrupted during BLACKPINK’s third song, ‘Forever Young’” due to safety issues. Black Pink performed at the opening of the festival on Friday.  Black P

Han Seo-hee on Saturday explained in a social media post how she allegedly came to meet BTS’ V at a club. Han had come under heavy fire after she let slip that she met V at a club when she was partying at the age of 19. Both Han and V were born in 1995. Her remark which suggested that V got into a club underage enraged the BTS fan club ARMY. “I didn’t know him. I had a table with my friend, and he just came. Kim Ki-bum brought him. I didn’t even know who he was. ARMY, please don’t yap at me. I d

Celebrity couple Jo Jung-suk and Gummy will be tying the knot this fall.  Jo announced the happy news on his fan site, writing, “Maybe I’m standing at a new starting line of my life or at a crossroads where I can grow up as an actor, and I feel excited and somehow nervous, as I’ll be walking that road with someone else.” (Culture Depot, C-Jes Entertainment)“While the exact date hasn’t been set yet, the reason I couldn’t tell you earlier, I’m going to get married this year. I decided to marry her

Twice is set to drop its first Japanese full-length album in September, its agency said.According to JYP Entertainment on Friday, the nine-piece K-pop girl group will release “BDZ” on Sept. 12. With “BDZ” standing for bulldozer, the album produced by the agency’s head producer Park Jin-young embodies the band’s determination to move forward. Twice (JYP Entertainment)　It will include five new songs and five of Twice’s previous Japanese singles such as “One More Time,” “Candy Pop,” “Wake Me Up,”

A five-piece Korean boy band debuted during the summer of 2016 after signing a contract with an agency in December 2015. However, the group’s hopes of becoming part of the next generation of Hallyu were shattered in less than a year.The agency, downsizing its workforce, did not provide the band with a manger, a vehicle or vocal and dance lessons.The bandmates were asked to pay for their own hairstyling and makeup, as well as aesthetic procedures such as dermal fillers and botulinum toxin injecti

Just as its name refers to a “purple rainforest,” Jaurim’s music is the epitome of profoundness and mysteriousness. Or, life itself. Seesawing between extreme highs and lows, the band dives deep into dark human emotions of angst and touches on societal illnesses. But it also coos about hope and lasting love in the most sophisticated language, as if trying to say life’s not always miserable.  Celebrating 20 years in the music scene, the band -- vocalist Kim Yoon-ah, bassist Kim Jin-man and guitar

Girl group GFriend on Thursday confirmed that it will hold concerts from Sept. 8-9 in Seoul as the grand finale for its ongoing Asia tour.Its agency Source Music, through its official social media pages, announced that it will hold the concerts at SK Olympic Handhall Gymnasium. It will mark the first Seoul concert in eight months, since the K-pop act‘s first solo concert in January.  The teaser image for GFriend’s upcoming Seoul concert (Source Music)The concert in January kicked off an Asia tou

Musicians in Korea will make more money from their products starting next year, as a law revision approved Wednesday will increase their share from streaming music. According to the revised law, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism said, copyright holders of music will now get 65 percent of the profit earned by streaming their product. Currently, they are entitled to 60 percent. The discount rate on package deals on sales of more than 30 songs, which can be purchased at a discount of 35 t

BTOB“This Is Us” (Loen Entertainment)While it’s a widely known fact that BTOB rarely disappoints fans with its ballads, the group proved that it does indeed have a range in its new album “This Is Us.” With the members’ fingerprints all over it, the seven-track collection features an array of light and vocally-driven tracks that are perfectly baked with all kinds of ingredients that even non-K-pop listeners can relish. Opener “Call Me,” in which Ilhoon lent his hand in writing lyrics and composin

DJ Soda has partnered with Warner Music Group. The 28-year-old DJ signed a distribution deal for her upcoming record with Warner Music Group, according to her agency House of Music on Wednesday. Warner Music Group is home to big-name pop artists such as Ed Sheeran, Bruno Mars and Coldplay.  DJ Soda (House of Music)“I am happy to work with Warner Music Group, which many global artists are a part of. I will work on making better music,” DJ Soda said through her agency. Recently, DJ Soda, whose rea

Bang Si-hyuk, CEO of Big Hit Entertainment and producer of BTS, has joined Variety’s list of international music leaders for 2018. The list by the US magazine recognized 23 figures in the global music industry who are currently “driving music consumption with creativity, acumen, and passion” and companies “best poised to forge into a promising future.”  Bang Si-hyuk (Big Hit Entertainment)Introducing Bang as one of the “game changers,” the magazine chronicled his feats as a producer of BTS, stat

An aerodrome shot in a BTS music video has become a popular tourist site with fans from around the globe.The city of Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province, posted a YouTube link for “EPILOGUE : Young Forever” on its official website to promote the city with growing interest in Mosan Aerodrome.It also put up a banner saying, “Come to Jecheon, BTS’ Music Video Site.”(YouTube)A part of the video displays the Korean boy band walking on Mosan Aerodrome, which is located in the city’s Goam-dong.The aero

K-pop boy band BTS' latest record and its title track made it to the competitive Billboard charts of the 200 most popular albums and the 100 hottest songs for the fourth week in a row respectively, the group's agency said Wednesday."Love Yourself: Tear," the third full-length BTS album, released May 18, charted 20th in the Billboard 200 album chart as of Wednesday after landing atop the list in the week starting May 27. The following week, it slipped to sixth place.  BTS (Yonhap)The album's main

Taeyeon’s latest album EP has topped iTunes charts in 12 countries, according to her agency Tuesday. “Something New,” the artist’s third solo EP and her first record since “This Christmas? Winter Is Coming” EP released in December, climbed to the top of iTunes charts in Chile, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam and Cambodia, S.M. Entertainment said. Taeyeon (S.M. Entertainment)Along with the neo soul title track, the six-track album also includes “All Night L