Soloist Jeon Somi is returning with her new single “Dumb Dumb” on Monday. The comeback follows a yearlong break since her latest release “What You Waiting For” dropped July 2020. “I’m really excited to finally go on the stage. I’ve been preparing hard, and I feel both thrilled and nervous right now,” the 20-year-old singer said in a video released to the media by her agency The Black Label on Monday. With a sparkly black dress and hair dyed bri

Public broadcaster KBS has been the most-watched network in Korea so far for the Tokyo Olympics, beating the two other terrestrial network broadcasters, SBS and MBC, in the ratings. KBS1’s coverage of the Tokyo Games on Sunday recorded 17.2 percent viewership, according to Nielsen Korea. It was the highest rated Tokyo Olympics broadcast, while SBS and MBC followed with 5.4 percent and 5 percent, respectively, Sunday. With its two channels, KBS offers the most events for viewing. &ldqu

Music from the beloved PC strategy game StarCraft will be brought to life through an orchestral performance later this year. According to the game music platform Flasic, “StarCraft Live Concert: Encore” will be held at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, Sept. 29-30. The concert will feature original soundtracks from the popular PC game launched by Blizzard Entertainment, including the iconic 12th Area (Terran Theme) and more. To provide a mo

Five-piece girl group Red Velvet will release a new EP in mid-August, the first new album in nearly two years, its management agency said Monday. The group's upcoming album "Queendom," which carries six tracks, will drop globally at 6 p.m. on Aug. 16, according to SM Entertainment. In line with the release, Red Velvet will host a virtual fan meet the following day. The physical album will hit shelves the same day, with preorders set to start this week. The upcoming album is the grou

Homegrown actioner "Escape from Mogadishu" topped South Korea's weekend box office in the first week of its release, revitalizing pandemic-hit theaters, data showed Monday. The film, directed by Ryoo Seung-wan, sold more than 561,000 tickets over the Friday-Sunday period, bringing its combined total to over 788,000 since its release last Wednesday, according to data from the Korean Film Council. The big-budget tentpole starring popular actors like Kim Yun-seok and Zo In-sung is based

Star stage actors Michael Lee and Ramin Karimloo are to go onstage together in South Korea as part of a musical theater concert. The “Michael & Ramin Concert” is slated to take place at the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Center, west of Seoul, Aug. 27-29. Produced by Lee, it marks the veteran stage actor’s debut as a producer. “I think there is a natural progression for actors and performers to evolve into directors and producers. For many years, I have been in this indus

Less than a week after MBC President Park Sung-jae publicly apologized for inappropriate coverage of the Tokyo Games, the broadcaster came under fire again Sunday for misleading captions on an interview with South Korean volleyball captain Kim Yeon-koung. After South Korea beat Japan in Tokyo Olympic women‘s volleyball Saturday, the broadcaster’s YouTube channel posted an interview with Kim. In the video, the reporter says, “You may not know this, but the South Korean socce

Living up to her nickname as the “Korean Agatha Christie,” screenwriter Kim Eun-hee came back with the darkest episode yet of the global hit Netflix series “Kingdom” (2019). “Kingdom: Ashin of the North,” which was released on July 23, centers around a new character Ashin (played by Jun Ji-hyun, or Gianna Jun, and Kim Sia) who is a lower-class tribe member living in what is now known as Hamgyong Province, North Korea. After Ashin finds out about her father&r

SHANGHAI -- Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu, a former member of the K-pop boy band EXO, has been detained in China over suspicions of rape. Police in Beijing said in a posting on the Chinese social media platform Weibo late Saturday that they took the 30-year-old, whose legal Chinese name is Wu Yi Fan, into criminal custody on rape charges after looking into allegations that he seduced and had sex with female minors multiple times. Police did not give further details on the rape charges. Th

SPO, violinist Park Sue-ye to record album of Yun I-sang’s works

K-pop girl group Dreamcatcher is set to release a new summer special EP, “Summer Holiday,” Friday evening. Fronted by lead track “BEcause,” the six-song package aims to alleviate music lovers’ pandemic fatigue and, most importantly, to bring the septet closer to the public, its members said during an online media showcase. 　 “We’ve prepared several songs to let InSomnias all over the world feel the summer breeze just by listening to them,” said

In the highly competitive K-pop scene, it’s hard for rookies to rise above the crowd and make a splash. Despite the global lockdown during the ongoing pandemic era, EPEX is off to a good start. Hailed as a super-rookie band, the eight-piece group under C9 Entertainment released its first EP, “Bipolar Pt. 1: Prelude of Anxiety,” June 8 and achieved the highest first-week sales for a debut album among newcomers this year: a total of 33,353 copies sold on the Hanteo chart. Wi