“Snow,” the collaboration track between R&B singer-producer Zion. T and veteran singer Lee Moon-sae, has topped major music charts upon its release Monday. 　As of Tuesday, the song sits at the top of eight major music charts including Melon, Bugs Music, Genie and Mnet.　The two singers met on the SBS music program “Fantastic Duo” last year and kept in touch, eventually deciding on a collaboration, Zion. T said at a showcase in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, Monday. 　 Zion. T performs at a showcase for his ne

PETA Asia, the Asian affiliate of international animal rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has selected director Bong Joon-ho as 2017’s Person of the Year, the group announced Monday. 　Bong’s latest film “Okja,” released on Netflix and in select theaters in June, draws on the tale of mountainside girl Mija and her best friend, the genetically-modified, docile super-pig Okja. 　The film competed at the 70th Cannes International Film Festival in May. 　 Director Bong Joo

Perhaps for the first time, reality show “My English Puberty” follows Korean celebrities as they struggle to learn English. 　The new tvN program features six entertainers who find English daunting. For eight weeks, Girls’ Generation’s Hyoyeon, balladeer Wheesung, actresses Jung Si-ah and Hwang Shin-hye, comedian Ji Sang-ryul and model Han Hyun-min take on the challenge of furthering their English skills.The show, which kicked off Monday at 8:10 p.m. on tvN, began by testing the English levels of

Producer-CEO Bang Si-hyuk of Big Hit Entertainment, the label of K-pop boy band BTS, is to receive a Presidential Citation for his contribution to cultural exchange, the Korea Creative Content Agency announced Monday. 　Bang is being recognized for spreading Korean culture through BTS, who became the first Korean artist to rank 7th in the Billboard top 200 and win top social artist at the Billboard Music Awards earlier this year. 　Bang is being recognized as part of the 2017 Korean Content Awards

Like his debut film “End of Winter,” Kim Dae-hwan’s sophomore feature “The First Lap” takes place in the wintry cold, zooming in on two characters huddled together in bulky parkas, rubbing their hands and wondering where to go. 　The film follows a fresh-faced thirty-something couple who are clumsy when it comes to life and romance. After seven years of dating, they’re under pressure, both from families and others, to move forward to marriage. 　That next looming step of adulthood causes anxieties

BTS became the first K-pop band to have a song listed on top 100 single charts in Germany and the UK, its agency Big Hit Entertainment said Saturday. 　The boy band’s remix of the song “MIC Drop,” originally released in September, ranked 46th on the UK’s official top 100 single charts. The song ranked 71st on Germany’s official top 100 single charts. 　The song’s original Korean version -- written by Pdogg, Supreme Boi, Bang Si-hyuk, J-Hope and RM -- is included in BTS’ album “Love Yourself: Her.”

Korean radish, mu, is sweet and juicy these days! Make some soup with it. While the radish soup (mu guk) made with beef is more common, this doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste) based radish soup, called mu doenjang guk, is light yet full of flavor.Doenjang guk is most commonly made with anchovy broth, but I used vegetable broth here. It’s vegan! Simply boil some basic aromatic vegetables, such as onion, garlic, scallion, dried kelp (dashima) and dried shiitake mushrooms -- all common ingre

Forgotten(Korea)Opened Nov. 29Mystery, thriller. Directed by Jang Hang-jun　On the night two brothers move into a new home, the older sibling Yoo-seok (Kim Moo-yeol) is kidnapped by a group of unidentified criminals. Younger brother Jin-seok (Kang Ha-neul) is haunted by hallucinations, both visual and auditory, since that day on. Yoo-seok miraculously resurfaces 19 days later with no memory of his disappearance or capture, but seems different. While tailing his returned brother, who disappears wi

Mime, beatboxing, juggling and babbling like babies while dressed in pajamas –- this is the brand of non-verbal, family-friendly comedy that Korean team Ongals hopes to spread around the world. In its next gig, the now seven-member team will become the first Korean group to perform in London’s West End, the home of world-class theater. Ongals will be performing in a five-week run starting Jan. 4, 2018 at the Soho Theatre, a comedy venue founded some 40 years ago. “Since ten years ago, we’ve been

The Seoul Independent Film Festival is set to spotlight films by female directors and debut features by promising indie filmmakers this year.The 43rd edition of the nine-day festival -- Korea’s only competition film festival for indie films -- takes place from Thursday to Dec. 8. This year’s opening film is “Cinema With You,” a 36-minute omnibus film by Yoo Ji-young, Jeong Ga-young and Kim Tae-jin. The film begins by tracing the life of Sun-mi, an office worker who has been dispatched to a remot

Singer Rain spoke up about his marriage to actress Kim Tae-hee on the travel reality show “Carefree Travelers,” which aired Tuesday evening.　Rain, whose real name is Jung Ji-hoon, said he feels “comfortable” giving into his wife’s wishes. 　Rain and Kim wed in January after five years of dating and welcomed a daughter on Oct. 25. 　The JTBC show featured comedians Kim Yong-man and Jung Hyung-don, announcer Kim Sung-joo and former soccer player Ahn Jung-hwan on a trip to Taiwan. 　 Rain stars in “Ca

Ryu Jun-yeol is in the last stages of accepting an offer to star in the upcoming police film “Hit and Run Unit (Bbaengban),” his agency C-Jes Entertainment said Monday.If confirmed, the actor will be teaming up with Gong Hyo-jin in a film dealing with a group of idiosyncratic police detectives in the hit-and-run unit of a police station.   Ryu Jun-yeol (Herald Pop)The film is set to hit theaters next year.It will be helmed by director Han Jun-hee, who previously helmed the female-driven crime th

Kim Min-hee wins best actress at Gijon Int’l Film Fest Actress Kim Min-hee has nabbed another award for best actress, this time at the Gijon International Film Festival which took place in Spain from Nov. 17-25. Kim won the award for her performance in Hong Sang-soo’s “On the Beach at Night Alone.” Kim previously won best actress at the Berlin International Film Festival in February for the same role. Actress Kim Min-hee speaks during the award winners press conference for the film “On the Beach

New K-pop-themed drama series “Part-time Idol” premiered Monday on online streaming platform Netflix. 　The show was jointly created by SBS Mobidic, the mobile content arm of major broadcaster SBS, and YG KPlus, a model management agency and subsidiary of K-pop powerhouse YG Entertainment.“Part-time Idol” will begin airing on SBS on Dec. 10 at midnight. 　The show centers on a famed K-pop producer who, disillusioned by the industry, leaves the entertainment scene and returns to help train a new co

This year’s Korean box office has once more seen a deluge of dark thrillers spotlighting tortured male characters.From the Cannes-screened “The Merciless,” starring Sol Kyung-gu and Im Si-wan as gangsters, to “Bluebeard,” in which Cho Jin-woong plays a doctor driven to psychological and financial edge, films this year presented struggling male characters as leads. “Memoir of a Murderer” saw Sol Kyung-gu as a serial killer with Alzheimer’s disease. The recently opened “The Swindlers” features Yoo

The Swindlers (Korea)Opened Nov. 22Action, crime. Directed by Jang Chang-won Ambitious, ruthless prosecutor Park Hee-soo (Yoo Ji-tae) decides to venture outside the law and employ the help of a gang of scammers to entrap another renowned scam artist. Skilled scammer Hwang Ji-sung (Hyun Bin) is central to the plan, hatching a grand scheme to both help Park and catch his father’s killer. Prosecutor Park goes on to form precarious ties with politicians and does not hesitate to delve into the illega

Schedules for the annual award ceremonies hosted by major television networks remain murky this year in the aftermath of major broadcasting union strikes, which lasted from September until last week.　Only SBS, which was not affected by the strikes, has confirmed that it will host the SBS Entertainment Awards on Dec. 30 and the SBS Drama Awards on Dec. 31. The SBS Gayo Daejeon, a major end-of-the-year music program, will take place on Dec. 25.　Planning for the events is in full swing at SBS, acco

Comedy police drama “Two Cops,” starring Jo Jung-seok and Hyeri, is the first series broadcaster MBC will be airing after the end of a two-month strike by MBC union members that crippled the broadcaster’s programming. 　The show, airing Mondays and Tuesdays at 10 p.m., mixes elements of fantasy with romantic comedy and police thriller, producer Oh Hyun-jong said at a press conference at MBC headquarters in Mapo-gu, Thursday. “It will deliver a satisfying blow through a multi-genre drama,” he said

Comedian Kim Saeng-min, who has risen to popularity for his humorous penny-pinching habits, will attempt to scrape by on a shoestring-budget travel plan in “Salt Tour,” which begins airing on tvN Saturday. “It is actually my first reality show,” said Kim at a press conference for the show in Mapo-gu, Seoul on Thursday. 　The veteran television presenter who debuted in 1992 recently became popular for his advocacy of the frugal life. His KBS pilot program “Receipt,” where he analyzed and criticize

In reality show “Livin’ the Double Life,” set to air on cable channel tvN on Thursday, K-pop songstress CL opens up on her struggles to break through the American pop scene, post-2NE1 gloom and more. “The reason I went to the US and the reason I agreed to shoot this show is because I wanted to give hope to young aspiring singers,” CL said at a press conference for the show in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on Wednesday. “I wanted to show them that I could do it.　“It could also help other singers who wan