Many celebrities are turning to online fan meetings and concerts as ways to communicate with fans without physical contact to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Comedians Song Eun-yi and Kim Sook went live online on Feb. 29 in celebration of the fourth anniversary of Vivo TV, a podcast by the two comedians. The 1,200 seats for both Feb. 28 and Feb. 29 concerts sold out in less than three minutes but the events were canceled due to the spread of the new coronavirus. The comedians decided to h

Seungri, formerly of boy band Big Bang, will begin his mandatory military service on Monday. According to reports, Seungri will go through a five-week training program at the 6th Infantry Division in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province. This is the same training facility bandmate Taeyang began his enlistment at in March 2018. Due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, enlistment ceremonies have been suspended until further notice. Some of Seungri’s close associates posted pictures of what seemed to

The website of Shincheonji, a minor Christian sect in South Korea linked to more than half of the country’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases, was hacked at 9:48 a.m. Wednesday for around 10 minutes and multiple times in the afternoon. The website was built Feb. 21 to debunk what the group called fake news about the religion and the new coronavirus. The Q&A section of the website showed a pop-up message saying, “A middle school student hacked all of Shincheonji’s website

As the number of people infected by the novel coronavirus increases daily, the gaming scene in Korea is suffering -- especially esports. The most popular esports league in Korea, the 2020 League of Legends Champions Korea decided on Tuesday to postpone the start of the second round-robin event for the spring season, following the first, initially held without spectators to prevent the spread of new coronavirus. “2020 Woori Bank LCK Spring has decided to take a temporary break from the fi

The English version of the “Baby Shark Dance” video overtook Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” to become the second most viewed video on YouTube on Monday. South Korea’s children’s educational brand Pinkfong’s “Baby Shark Dance” video sits at 4.67 billion views over Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You” which has 4.64 billion views as of 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The most viewed video on YouTube remains Puerto Rican singer Luis Fonsi&rsq

With the snowballing numbers of COVID-19 infections in Korea, more people are staying indoors and staying away from public areas. The Corea Image Communication Institute (CICI) conducted a survey on changes to daily life due to the coronavirus from Monday to Thursday morning. The online survey involved 204 Koreans and 175 foreigners who visited or are staying in Korea.   When asked what changed the most after the coronavirus epidemic, allowing multiple answers, Korean and foreign responde

Two weeks have passed since the 2020 League of Legends Champions Korea Spring season started without spectators as a precaution against the spread of novel coronavirus. At LoL Park in Jongno, Seoul, on Sunday, masks were distributed to players and staff entering the arena, as temperatures were measured and hands sanitized. Referees wore masks and gloves, while the 400 seats in the arena had posted notices prohibiting sitting. Coaches did not shake hands after the pick-and-ban phase as had be

Monsta X met with fans in Los Angeles at its pop-up store, AAL POP_UP Experience, at Tower Records on Friday to promote its first English-language album in the US, “All About Luv.” The album has received much acclaim since its release Friday, featuring in Time magazine’s “5 Best Songs of the Week,” along with Billie Eilish. Upon its release, the album took the top spot on the iTunes album charts of 17 countries. Several well-known artists, including Pitbull, Fren

The Academy of Korean Studies conferred the first Korean Studies Writing Award on Wednesday, honoring a Yonsei University scholar for his nine-volume collection of works on the history of Korean agriculture. For health reasons, professor emeritus Kim Yong-sup was unable to attend the ceremony at the school in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, so a family member accepted the prize on his behalf. “Kim Yong-sup’s Collected Works” documents the history of Korean agriculture from anci

The hype around “Parasite” after it won four Oscars on Monday has led to more theaters in the US screening the movie. Director Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” won for best picture, director, international feature film and original screenplay on Monday. It was also nominated for best editing and production design. According to entertainment magazine Variety, Neon, the film’s North American distributer, will double the number of screens showing the movie from 1,0

Director Yi Seung-jun’s “In the Absence” missed out on the award Oscar for best short-subject documentary Monday, but leaves the Academy Awards having broken new ground as the first-ever Korean documentary to be nominated. “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You’re a Girl),” a documentary on Afghanistan girls learning to skateboard and gain confidence in life, took home the prize. “In the Absence” deals with the Sewol ferry sinking in April

If one’s influence on the future can be taken as a measure of one’s greatness, a new study has added to Beethoven’s credentials as a great composer: Researchers at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have found him to have the most influence on the composers that came after him. Park Ju-yong, a professor at KAIST Graduate School of Culture Technology, and his team published a paper online in EPJ Data Science on Jan. 30 that quantifies novelty and influence of

Actor Kim Soo-hyun will star in the tvN drama “Psycho but It’s Okay,” which is scheduled to air before July, according to his agency, Gold Medalist Entertainment. This will be his first drama since his discharge from the military and subsequent change of agency. Kim will play the role of Moon Gang-tae, a psychiatric aide who has taken care of his mentally ill older brother ever since they were children and their parents died. With no goals in life, Moon presses on day by day.

Political pundit Kim Yong-min posted on Facebook on Thursday afternoon that he is stepping down as host of the second season of “Road Dinner,” which was to air its first episode Feb. 16. KBS’ announcement Wednesday that it was replacing the talk show’s three female hosts with Kim and actor Shin Hyun-joon had met with criticism. The first season -- with Park Mi-sun, Yang Hee-eun and Lee Ji-hye as hosts -- received acclaim from viewers for looking at current issues, esp