Most Popular
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Korean labor force to shrink by 10 million by 2044: report
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Pandemic left Korea more depressed than before: report
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[AtoZ Korean Mind] Does your job define who you are? Should it?
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Allegations surrounding BTS resurface, enraged fans demand apology
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Students with history of violence will be barred from becoming teachers
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Medical feud leaves hospitals in financial crisis
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Samsung mocks Apple over iPhone alarm glitch
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Chip up cycle won’t stay long: SK chief
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'Queen of Tears' riding high on Netflix chart
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Top prosecutor pledges 'speedy, strict' probe into first lady's luxury bag allegations
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Broadcasters, companies pay the price for YouTube star’s unchecked background
As the popularity of YouTubers and social media influencers rise, so too do controversies surrounding them. With the online stars appearing on popular television shows and in advertisements, verification of their background has become a rising issue. Controversy arose last week when Rhee Keun, popularly known as “Lt. Lee,” faced allegations that he was convicted for a 2017 sexual assault. Lee had already gone through a debt scandal at the beginning of the month when he was accused
Oct. 18, 2020
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Rhee Keun sues Kim Yong-ho while assault victim demands end to mention of the case
Rhee Keun, also known as Ken Rhee, sued YouTube content creator Kim Yong-ho on Wednesday for claiming that Rhee lied about having worked at the United Nations. Kim raised suspicions about the document that Rhee, popularly known as “Lt. Lee,” posted on Instagram on Monday as proof of his stint at the UN. An earlier video by Kim had raised questioned about Rhee’s career record. Rhee sued Kim on charges of obstruction, defamation and dissemination of false information at around
Oct. 14, 2020
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Suzy, Nam Joo-hyuk star in tvN drama on growing up
Actress Bae Suzy has joined hands with screenwriter Park Hye-ryun and director Oh Choong-hwan once again in the newest tvN drama, “Start-up,” set to start airing at 9 p.m. on Saturday. Suzy has appeared as the lead actor in several of Park‘s dramas, including KBS’ “Dream High” (2011) and SBS’ “While You Were Sleeping” (2017), which was also directed by Oh. “I had the opportunity to work with our director and screenwriter again, and p
Oct. 14, 2020
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Celebrities head to Kakao TV for entertainment show opportunities
Over a month has passed since Kakao M launched Kakao TV, a mobile content streaming platform, on Sept. 1, with seven of the 25 original shows that it promised until the end of the year. On Monday, producers and celebrities on original Kakao TV entertainment shows gathered for an online news conference to talk about how the shows came into being and the reasons for joining the platform. “We prepared a new form of entertainment show to lead the changing trend and environment,” said
Oct. 13, 2020
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3 Wednesday-Thursday dramas kick off together
Three dramas from different broadcasting stations -- JTBC’s “Private Lives,” tvN’s “Tale of the Nine Tailed” and KBS’ “Do Do Sol Sol La La Sol” -- began last week, competing for Wednesday-Thursday viewership. The dramas all had online press conference Wednesday afternoon, before their first episodes, a presage of the head-on competition ahead. The viewership rating of the first two episodes showed tvN’s “Tale of the Nine Taile
Oct. 11, 2020
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'Lt. Lee' resolves debt conflict
One of the trainers in the first season of popular YouTube show “Fake Men,” “Lieutenant” Rhee Keun, also known as Ken Rhee, uploaded a 91-second video Monday morning announcing that the monetary conflict with one of his acquaintances, identified as Kim, has been resolved and that he has paid back all debt owed to him. The conflict rose to the surface when Kim posted on Instagram on Friday accusing Rhee of not paying back 2 million won ($1,720) he had borrowed. Although&
Oct. 5, 2020
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YouTube show ‘Fake Men’ goes multi-platform
The second season of reality show “Fake Men,” which was originally created for YouTube, is now also streaming through two local platforms -- Kakao TV and Watcha. The first season of the show, made by channel operator Physical Gallery with security and tactics consulting firm MUSAT, featured YouTube celebrities in extreme situations as they participated in MUSAT’s simulated Underwater Demolition Team training program. The show was initially a parody of MBC’s “Real
Oct. 4, 2020
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Horrors, zombie thrillers set to attract TV viewers in coming weeks
On chilly fall nights, monsters, ghosts and zombies are poised to thrill or even scare South Korean TV viewers and binge-watchers. The horror show "Sweet Home," based on a famous web cartoon with the same title, will be released on Netflix later this year. The series is about a student who faces scary experiences after moving into a new apartment, where its residents turn into monsters. It has drawn wide attention from viewers as the Netflix debut by renowned South Korean director L
Oct. 2, 2020
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Online content for the Chuseok holidays
Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving, is all about families returning to their hometowns and paying tribute to their ancestors by visiting graves and sharing a big meal. Also, the Chuseok holidays are the busiest time of the year for movie theaters with lots of new family movies being released. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has the Health Ministry strongly encouraging the public to stay home and keep a safe distance during the nation’s major traditional holiday. Although foll
Sept. 29, 2020
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Local streaming service provider Wavve tops 10m subscribers
The number of subscribers of the local video streaming service giant Wavve has topped 10 million on rising demand for a wide variety of content, the company said Monday. Wavve was launched last year by South Korea's top mobile carrier, SK Telecom Co., and terrestrial broadcasters KBS, MBC and SBS. "Despite a slight slowdown in the first half of this year, our memberships have been on a strong rise since July thanks to new releases of Wavve original series and exclusive foreign titles,&quo
Sept. 28, 2020
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Fresh, bizarre world of Netflix’s ‘School Nurse Files’
The first season of Netflix original drama series “The School Nurse Files” was released Friday, bringing Chung Se-rang’s fantasy novel “School Nurse Ahn Eun- young” to life in over 190 countries around the globe. The highly anticipated drama series reached the top of the list of most popular TV shows on Netflix in Korea upon its release, according to data analytics firm FlixPatrol. The six 50-minute episodes of the first season of “The School Nurse Files&rd
Sept. 27, 2020
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Brazilian TV series wins best honor at Seoul Drama Awards
Brazilian serial drama “Orphan of a Nation” won the grand prize at this year’s Seoul International Drama Awards, the nation’s biggest international television drama awards event. Instead of the usual live ceremony, a prerecorded version of the awards ceremony conducted without an audience aired at 3 p.m. on Tuesday on MBC. “Orphan of a Nation” is a 154-episode television series revolving around two refugees, a Syrian woman and a Lebanese man, in Brazil who
Sept. 15, 2020
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Park So-dam, Park Bo-gum’s ‘Record of Youth’ kicks off
Actress Park So-dam is returning to small screen for the first time in four years with the new tvN series “Record of Youth” set to start airing at 9 p.m. on Monday. Park, who had a breakthrough year in 2019 for her role in the Academy Award-winning film “Parasite,” is partnered with heartthrob Park Bo-gum and up-and-coming actor Byeon Woo-seok in the new series. The drama revolves around three 25-year-olds in the modeling business, each striving towards their dreams i
Sept. 7, 2020
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Seoul Drama Awards to go without audience, behind closed doors
This year’s Seoul International Drama Awards will go ahead without any audience, including the nominees, award presenters and guests. In accordance with the government’s “Level 2.5” social distancing measure currently placed over the Seoul area, the 15th edition of the television drama awards will be taking a different format, the event’s organizing committee announced Thursday. The organizers will personally be delivering the trophies to both the local and over
Sept. 3, 2020
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Kakao M to launch 25 original contents this year
Kakao M, the entertainment arm of internet company Kakao, on Tuesday officially launched its mobile contents streaming platform Kakao TV and unveiled seven of 25 original titles that will be available this year. “We will showcase 25 titles -- six drama series and 19 variety show programs -- totaling some 350 episodes as Kakao TV’s original content within this year,” Shin Jong-su, the director of Kakao M’s digital media content department, said in a prerecorded video mes
Sept. 1, 2020
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‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’ penalized for sexually inappropriate scenes
Popular tvN drama series “It’s Okay to Not Be Okay” has been slapped with a warning by the Korea Communications Standards Commission for sexually suggestive and inappropriate scenes. The broadcast censorship body on Wednesday held a subcommittee and decided to issue a legal sanction to the television series for several breaches against the broadcast deliberation regulations, including Article 27 on duties of integrity and Article 30 on gender equality. “Even consideri
Aug. 28, 2020
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Chinese viewers still upset with Lee Hyo-ri over ‘Mao’ quip
Chinese viewers remained unappeased and continued to demand an apology after the producers of the MBC program “Hangout With Yoo” posted a statement Monday about a comment that singer Lee Hyo-ri made on Saturday’s episode. The problem arose when Lee suggested Mao as the name of her character in “Hangout With Yoo.” “Let’s make a Chinese to be more global. How about Mao?” said Lee on Saturday’s episode. Lee’s statement infuriated man
Aug. 25, 2020
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Culture sector close to complete shutdown
With the virus pandemic here unraveling out of control nationwide, productions from the stage to the small screen are shutting down to prevent further spread of the coronavirus. After a cast member of the musical “Kinky Boots” was notified of having close contact with a person who was confirmed to have COVID-19, the show canceled its weekend performances. The musical “Rent” took a blow, too, as stage actor Choi Jae-rim, who stars in “Kinky Boots,” appears i
Aug. 23, 2020
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MBC’s ‘When I was Most Beautiful’ returns to basics of romance drama
A boy falling in love at first sight on a rainy day, a chance meeting as a teacher and a student a few days later and a romantic bike ride in the countryside seem too cliche for a Korean romance drama in a year when a series featuring a husband and wife cheating on each other was a huge hit. Yet MBC’s new romance drama, “When I Was Most Beautiful,” does just that, presenting a romance drama reminiscent of those from the 1990s and early 2000s. “When I Was Most Beautiful
Aug. 22, 2020
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COVID-19 causes TV production stoppages
The South Korean entertainment industry could face a shutdown with the growing number of COVID-19 infections among TV cast and crew members. Terrestrial broadcaster KBS is on alert after a member of the cast of “Men Are Men” was confirmed to have the new coronavirus Wednesday. While all related staff have tested negative, production at the network is encountering mass delays. A public relations official from KBS said Friday that actor Seo Seong-jong of the KBS2 drama was confirme
Aug. 20, 2020