South Korea’s Damwon Gaming took down Europe’s G2 Esports in a convincing 3-1 win at the League of Legend World Championship semifinals on Saturday. This is the first time a Korean team has made the finals in three years at the biggest esports event of the year. For the past two years, Chinese teams have played against European teams at the finals, including the 2018 finals in Incheon. Damwon looked unstoppable as they finished the last game of the series against G2 in just 19 min

The Korean Film Council announced Wednesday that “The Man Standing Next” by director Woo Min-ho was chosen out of the 13 films that applied for submission for the Oscar for best international feature film. The 13 movie submissions included “Peninsula” by Yeon Sang-ho, “Deliver Us from Evil” by Hong Won-chan and “Beasts that Cling to the Straw” by Kim Yong-hoon, among others. “We had a lot of discussion as to which movie made this year has t

Popular EBS penguin mascot character Pengsoo will perform in a duet with AKMU’s Suhyun at 7:30 p.m. on Friday’s episode of “Giant PengTV” on EBS 1TV. Suhyun uploaded a picture of herself with Pengsoo on Thursday in an Instagram story, foreshadowing the collaboration between the two. EBS confirmed Friday they will take to the stage together in the evening’s episode. Pengsoo topped local music charts in April with “This is Pengsoo,” collaborating with

The first game of the semifinals for the League of Legend World Championships will feature Korean top seed Damwon Gaming against European first seed G2 Esports on Saturday at 7 p.m. The match will decide which of the two regions will be knocked out of the tournament and which will head to the finals. Damwon Gaming went undefeated in the second round robin of the LoL Champions Korea Summer, going 9-0 in match score and losing only one set against Gen.G. They’ve dropped a single game o

Multiplex cinema chain CGV announced Thursday that it would close seven of its branches, including the Daehangno location in Seoul, due to the financial burden of COVID-19. The announcement came just three days after CGV decided to reduce the number of branches by 30 percent due to COVID-19 losses on Monday. The company announced that 35-40 branches of the current 119 branches will close within three years. “As COVID-19 continues, we have unfortunately decided to stop operation of some

InterContinental presents Halloween Special　 Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas and InterContinental Seoul COEX in Samseong-dong offer horror-themed Halloween desserts for the Halloween season. Deli of Grand InterContinental Seoul Parnas presents horror-themed Halloween desserts prepared by patissier Eric Kalaboke from New York. Five types of desserts, Halloween Chocolate Cake decorated as a skull, Pumpkin Tart, Mummy Cake Slice, a pumpkin-shaped Pumpkin Mousse Cake Slice and Ghost Hot Chocol

Different human desires are set to clash in SBS’ new suspense drama “The Penthouse: War in Life” starting at 10 p.m., Monday. Director Joo Dong-min and screenwriter Kim Soon-ok have joined hands again for this drama after “The Last Empress,” their previous SBS drama featuring actress Jang Na-ra, met with success in 2018. “The Penthouse: War in Life” is set in Hera Palace, a 100-story luxury apartment in the heart of Seoul. It deals with two of the hot

After the success of K-pop, K-drama and even K-movies internationally, the letter “K” is now often placed in front of Korean products that make Koreans proud. “K-quarantine” was a word used in multiple headlines this year to recognize the relative success of Korea in containing the COVID-19. However, there is one K- word that became widespread online this year that does the opposite: “K-censorship” is a derogatory term used to criticize excessive censorship

MBC’s drama series “Phoenix” from 2004 that featured actor Lee Seo-jin, Mun Jung-hyuk and the late Lee Eun-ju returns as an SBS daily morning soap opera starting from Monday at 8:35 a.m. The script for the 2020 “Phoenix” remake is once again written by Lee Yoo-jin, who wrote the original series. “Pheonix” revolves around Jang Se-hoon, who is poor, and Lee Ji-eun, from a rich family, as they get married, get divorced and meet again after their financi

Mnet announced Tuesday that rapper Owen of MKIT Rain Records is stepping down from the rap competition program “Show Me the Money,” following a local media report that he and four other rappers were found to have used marijuana last year. The local Channel A News reported Monday that the police investigated MKIT Rain Records and found all five rappers of the label had used marijuana sometime in August and September last year at the company’s office. The five rappers were Nafl

After European powerhouse G2 Esports swept Korean team Gen.G Esports 3-0 Sunday night, Damwon Gaming became the only Korean team left in the League of Legends World Championships, heading to the semifinals. For Korean fans, the match between G2 and Gen.G on Sunday brought back nightmares of last year’s World Championships. G2, regarded as League of Legends Champions Korea’s kryptonite, took down Damwon Gaming in the quarterfinals and Korean team T1 with superstar “Faker&rdquo

The 2020 Seoul International Writers’ Festival, the largest international literary festival in South Korea, will take place online Nov. 2-8, with the aim of expanding opportunities to enjoy literature while providing a platform for literary exchange. Eleven writers from 11 foreign countries and 14 Korean writers are taking part in this year’s festival, themed “Writing Tomorrow.” Participating writers include Luis Eduardo Garcia of Mexico and Paolo Giordano of Italy, the

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

An English translation of Kim Yi-deum’s book of poetry “Hysteria” (Action Books) became the first-ever book to win both the National Translation Award and the Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize given by the American Literary Translators Association on Friday (local time). “Hysteria” is Kim’s third book of poems to be translated into English with the support of the Literature Translation Institute of Korea. The title poem is about a women being groped on a

S.M. Entertainment, friends, fans and family commemorated the first anniversary of death of Sulli, whose real name was Choi Jin-ri, on Wednesday. S.M. Entertainment posted on Sulli’s official Facebook page a photo of Sulli on Wednesday with the caption, “We remember your smile.” Actress Kim Sun-a, who was a close friend of Sulli and who took custody of Sulli’s cat after her death, posted a photo of herself visiting Sulli’s grave on Wednesday. “Not a day no

Multi-resort complex Jeju Shinhwa World offers two packages for autumn season Jeju Shinhwa World offers the Poolside Picnic Package and the Lounge & Cozy Package for travelers going to Jeju Island. The Poolside Picnic Package comes with a one-night stay at the Marriott Resort, premium breakfast for two at Sky on 5 Dining restaurant, a special chicken-and-beer set at the poolside cafe and free use of the guest room minibar. The package is available until Dec. 29 for 230,000 won. The Lounge

The graphic novel “Grass” by Keum Suk Gendry Kim was awarded “Best International Book” at the Harvey Awards, while the German translation of “Memoir of a Murderer” by Kim Young-ha was selected by Germany‘s Hotlist this month. “Grass” is a story about women forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military during World War II. Most of the women were Korean. The book was published in English last year by Drawn & Quarterly, a publisher i

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

The chance of Korean teams facing each other in the finals of League of Legends World Championships went to ashes Sunday as the quarterfinals draw put all three Korean teams on the same side of the tournament bracket. The eight teams that made the quarterfinals are: Damwon Gaming, DRX and Gen.G Esports of Korea; Top Esports, JD Gaming and Suning of China; and two European teams, G2 Esports and Fnatic. Damwon Gaming, Gen.G Esports, Top Esports and Suning topped their groups in the group stages

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