Seoul Lantern Festival The annual Seoul Lantern Festival, held until Jan. 21, 2024, is made all the more memorable this year with the event spanning areas from Gwanghwamun Square to Seoul Plaza. The areas light up from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The lighting show, which first began in 2009, features installations and media facades, as well as on-site programs. The festival is taking place concurrently with the Gwanghwamun Flea Market, a pilot program that took off last year. The market offers not only ha

South Korean actor Seo In-guk said that through his latest drama series "Death's Game," he sought to deliver the message that all moments in life are worth living, even those that we consider a "waste of time." "Death's Game," Korean streaming service Tving's original series, is an 8-part fantasy drama series based on the popular webtoon of the same title, in which an unemployed man attempts suicide after a series of misfortunes. As he attempts suicid

The Korea Creative Content Agency announced on Tuesday its plans for 2024 to support Korean content firms and revamp internal management, in a bid to promote K-content both domestically and globally. The agency's main goals for next year center around K-content export, structural reorganization and the implementation of environmental, social and governance values in its business activities. To accelerate the export of K-content, KOCCA said it will increase the number of its overseas busines

Social networking service Instagram is slowly rising as one of Korea's most popular platforms for reading webtoons. The new content format known locally as "instatoon" is growing in popularity as people increasingly seek freely serialized webtoons, autobiographical content and easy access to webtoons. In a Korea Creative Content Agency survey of 3,500 Korean webtoon readers aged 10 to 69 conducted between July 2022 and May 2023, Instagram was ranked as the fifth most-used platform

Hyundai Motor's luxury vehicle brand Genesis has won an award for its contribution to raising South Korea's image globally, the Corea Image Communication Institute said Monday. The award will be presented at the Korea Image Award ceremony in Seoul on Jan. 10, 2024. The Korea Image Stepping Stone Award, awarded to Genesis, recognizes individuals or businesses who played a part in advancing South Korea's image on the global stage. Swiss architect Mario Botta was named the Korea Imag

South Korean romance reality shows are taking the world by storm. The latest to heat up the screens is the third season of the Korean Netflix original series "Single's Inferno" released Tuesday. The first season secured a spot on Netflix's Global Top 10 TV Shows list for three consecutive weeks following its December 2021 release, the first Korean reality show to accomplish such a feat. "Single's Inferno 2," which was released a year later after the explosive r

South Korean actor Yoo Yeon-seok, famous for playing kindhearted, gentle heartthrobs in hit dramas such as "Dr. Romantic" and "Hospital Playlist," said he sought to change dramatically his well-known image through his latest thriller drama series, "A Bloody Lucky Day." Korean streaming service Tving original series "A Bloody Lucky Day" is a 10-part drama series based on the webtoon of the same title, which focuses on the story of an innocent taxi driver wh

Naver Webtoon on Thursday said that Webtoon Entertainment, Naver's subsidiary in the United States responsible for the webtoon service's North American business, has made a new addition to its top brass. David J. Lee has been appointed chief financial officer and chief operating officer at Webtoon Entertainment, according to Naver Webtoon. Upon taking the new role, Lee will be in charge of unifying and overseeing global corporate, financial and operations teams at Webtoon Entertainment

The first season of South Korean Netflix original drama series "The Glory" was the third-most watched title on Netflix globally in the first half of this year, according to Netflix. On Wednesday, Netflix released its first biannual report titled "What We Watched: A Netflix Engagement Report," covering some 18,000 titles ranked based on the hours viewed during the January to June period. The report shows "The Glory: Season 1," which includes parts 1 and 2, ranked as

Samansa, a streaming platform that specializes in short films, has soft-launched operations in South Korea, becoming its second country of operations. The service, founded in Japan in 2021, provides some 800 short films from around the world, with subtitle options including Japanese and Korean. The platform claims 45,000 subscribers and 200,000 monthly active users in Japan, with numbers growing by 10 to 15 percent, monthly. "There's rapid technological development in the way people wa

The American epic sci-fi film "Dune," which grossed $402 million worldwide, will hit local theaters in February with its long-awaited sequel. "Dune" is the film adaptation of Frank Herbert's renowned novel of the same title released on 2021. The film follows the narrative of Paul Atreides -- a young nobleman who rises to command a desert army in a conflict for dominance over the planet's precious resource, Spice. Denis Villeneuve, the French Canadian film director a

South Korean drama production Studio Dragon said Friday it notched accolades at the 2023 Asian Academy Creative Awards for the second consecutive year with its megahit Netflix original series "The Glory." The AACA is the largest content awards ceremony in Asia held annually in December in Singapore. Works from 17 countries across the Asia-Pacific, including Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Viet

Global streaming service Netflix on Thursday unveiled part of the set for the second season of "Squid Game" to the press as it continues production, with filming scheduled to extend into 2024. "We have been filming the second season of 'Squid Game' since July with the interest and support of many viewers. We are burdened with the pressure to do well, but we will make sure to repay viewers with a good result," said Hwang Dong-hyuk, the director of the 2021 Netflix su

Christmas-themed media facade in Myeong-dong Shinsegae Department Store in Myeong-dong, Seoul, has become a must-visit Christmas spot in the city. The building’s facade has been transformed into a splendid Christmas lights display with the theme of “Magical Winter Fantasy.” Once the Mitsukoshi Department Store in the 1930s during the Japanese colonial era, the building holds historical significance, and started to grab attention a couple of years ago during the holiday season

South Korean actor Lee Young-ae will be making her comeback to television after a near two-year hiatus via cable TV channel tvN's 12-episode drama series, "Maestra: Strings of Truth." Based on French television series "Philharmonia," the series narrates the story of a globally renowned female violinist-turned-conductor with a secret past. After returning to Korea, Cha Se-eum, played by Lee Young-ae, becomes the conductor of a Korean orchestra where mysterious incidents h

Four South Korean dramas have been nominated at the 29th Annual Critics Choice Awards, which is slated to be held in Los Angeles on Jan. 14. Of the seven nominations for the best foreign language series, four are Korean dramas -- Korean streaming service Tving's original series “Bargain,” Netflix's original series "The Glory" and "Mask Girl" and Disney+'s original series "Moving" -- according to the Critics Choice Association on Tuesday.

The star director of hit Korean TV dramas "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2016) and "Mr. Sunshine" (2018), Lee Eung-bok is back with the much-awaited second season of Netflix's "Sweet Home." Lee's first season of "Sweet Home," a 10-part Netflix original series, gained a global following in 2020, making it to the Netflix US top 10 list as the first Korean TV drama to do so. "When I decided to direct 'Sweet Home', I didn't

Netflix Korea's popular dating reality show "Single's Inferno" has returned with its third season, with a brand new group of young, attractive singles and a plot that moves faster than ever. “Single’s Inferno,” the first season of which debuted in December 2021, has garnered worldwide attention, with the series becoming the first Korean reality show to be listed on Netflix's global top 10 chart. Building on this success, Netflix extended the series wi

The 49th Seoul Independent Film Festival, the only independent film festival in South Korea that features a competitive showcase, will for the first time screen independent Korean animation films from the 1980s and 1990s in local theaters. This year's Independent Film Archive Exhibition, being held alongside the film festival, will feature six indie Korean animations from the 1980s and '90s created using the cel animation method. Cel animation involves the manual creation of two-dimens

Netflix's monster horror franchise "Sweet Home" is back with new characters and more sophisticated visual effects. "Sweet Home 2" is directed by Lee Eung-bok, who helmed the series' first season three years ago and a slew of other megahits such as "Descendants of the Sun" (2016), "Guardian: The Lonely and Great God" (2016) and "Mr. Sunshine" (2018). The first season of "Sweet Home" followed people living in Green Home, a dilap