Lee Juno, a member of the hit 1990s boy band Seo Taiji and Boys, has been booked on a charge of sexual assault, reports said Monday. 　Lee, 49, is suspected of sexually abusing two women at an Itaewon club at around 3 a.m. on June 25, the reports said, citing the Yongsan Police Station. 　Police are currently analyzing video footage from surveillance cameras inside the club. “We will summon Lee for questioning once the basic investigations are complete,” police said. Lee Juno (The Korea Herald)　Po

Actor and singer Jang Keun-suk, nicknamed “Asia Prince” by fans for his popularity throughout the region, will be touring the continent in the coming months. 　The tour, titled “2016 Jang Keun Suk Asia Tour, It’s Show Time” will kick off on July 2 in Seoul. It will then move on to Tokyo and Osaka in Japan and Shanghai and Shenzhen in China, before moving on to other cities in Asia.  Actor Jang Keun-suk (Official Website)　The tour marks Jang’s return to the stage following his regional tour last y

Four-member indie rock band Hyukoh made a quiet debut in the Korean music scene in September of 2014, dropping the EP “20.” 　Soon, however, word of the band’s moody, hip tunes began spreading via social media and the band began selling out at small clubs. And when Hyukoh appeared on popular variety program “Infinite Challenge” in 2015 and rose to even wider acclaim, it grabbed the attention of YG Entertainment, which was seeking to extend its musical reach. In July that year, Hyukoh became the f

The leaders of the Busan International Film Festival, Asia’s largest film festival which has been mired in a turbulent battle for autonomy over the past two years, said they will strive to officially secure the festival’s full independence before its 21st installment set for this October. 　Kim Dong-ho, who was appointed BIFF’s chairman on May 24 after former chairman and Busan Mayor Suh Byung-soo stepped down, expressed a firm resolve to make the festival into one that is “operated by filmmakers

When Brother Anthony was teaching English literature at Sogang University in the 1980s, he would frequent bookstores on weekends -- bookstores that were filled with students of all ages sitting on the floor, reading poetry.　“They expected to find sincerity in poetry,” he told The Korea Herald last Friday in an interview at his office in Seoul, filled to the brim with books and teapots -- Brother Anthony is a renowned Korean tea enthusiast.　“If you’re searching for some kind of in-depth meaning i

Actress Kim Min-hee of “The Handmaiden” and Cannes award-winning film director Hong Sang-soo, who is married with one daughter, are having an affair, local media reported Tuesday.According to reports, the two apparently met last year while filming “Right Now, Wrong Then,” which was directed by Hong and starred Kim as the female lead, and they have since been involved in an affair. The film opened in theaters last September.Since then, Hong and Kim have worked together on two yet to be released w

Singer and actor Park Yoo-chun on Monday filed a counterclaim against the first woman who had filed a sexual assault complaint against him. She withdrew the complaint a few days after filing it. Park’s complaint against the woman involves claims of a false statement and blackmail. Park’s legal representative from the law firm Shin & Kim filed the complaint at Gangnam Police Station on Monday afternoon. Park is reportedly considering whether to file similar complaints against the second, third an

Writers such as Han Kang and Haruki Murakami are “rapturously received” by the international audience not because they document a certain culture or ethnicity, but because of the artistic value of their work, according to award-winning translator Deborah Smith.　“When a writer succeeds on the international stage, they become, for an audience, an international writer,” Smith said at a forum on Korean literature’s global expansion held Sunday as part of the Seoul International Book Fair. Smith join

The ambitious new project “Boys 24” combines the television audition program, long-running Las Vegas-style shows, and the K-pop boy band model. 　It features 49 contestants culled from 5,500 applicants from Korea and other countries, who compete in singing and dancing contests to win a place as part of the new six-member group formed at the end of the program.　The all-encompassing, global entertainment model, in the works for the past three years, is a 25 billion-won ($21 million) project underta

Unforgettable. That’s how fans felt about Disney’s 2003 hit “Finding Nemo,” and about the film’s breakout supporting character, the infectiously energetic and forgetful blue tang Dory, voiced by Ellen DeGeneres. So unforgettable that anticipation is at a fever pitch for the sequel 13 years in the making, “Finding Dory.” It’s safe to say that fans will be delighted to be reunited with these characters in this charming and heartwarming voyage under (and above) the sea.“Finding Nemo” writer/directo

Proof of Innocence(Korea)Opened June 16Crime, Drama. Directed by Kwon Jong-kwanOnce a model cop, Pil-jae (Kim Myung-min) now brokers cases to lawyers. One day, he and his lawyer partner (Sung Dong-il) receive a mysterious letter from a criminal on death row claiming his innocence. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows(U.S.)Opened June 16Action, Fantasy. Directed by David GreenThe Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are living in secret, when a villain, Shredder, joins forces with mad scienti

A second woman has filed a complaint against actor and singer Park Yoo-chun for sexual assault, police said Thursday.　The complaint comes after the woman who previously claimed sexual assault by Park last week withdrew the charge Wednesday morning. Police, however, said the same day that they would investigate the case nonetheless. 　The second woman claimed she was assaulted by Park on June 12 in much the same manner as the first woman, inside a bathroom at a Gangnam bar in which she worked, pol

Award-winning translator Deborah Smith said Wednesday that staying faithful to the spirit of a text was her priority. And the spirit that she tried to preserve in Han Kang’s “The Vegetarian” was one of “tenderness and terror at the same time, never too far one way, always this very perfect balance,” said Smith at a press conference held at the Seoul International Book Fair on Wednesday.“The style was so controlled, restrained, without being cold and indifferent, and so those two things were the

“The Truth Beneath” tries a little too hard to thwart expectations at every turn. Director Lee Kyoung-mi had previously said she wanted to “avoid the typical” in this film. The result is a plot that lacks logic, characters that are frenzied but hollow, and a jarring mix of genres.　Lee, whose 2008 comedy “Crush and Blush” received favorable reviews, has returned with a thriller starring actress Son Ye-jin as the harangued heroine. 　Son, known primarily for detailed romantic portrayals, and Kim Jo

Since the smash-hit drama series “Descendants of the Sun” ended its 16-part run, speculation has abounded as to who is to succeed Song Joong-ki -- who played dashing Army Capt. Yoo Si-jin -- as Asia’s next leading heartthrob. 　From medical dramas to period pieces, an ambitious roster of TV shows starring some of the country’s most in-demand male leads are scheduled to launch in the coming months.Actor Kim Rae-won in “Punch” (SBS)　First up is the SBS show “Doctors,” featuring actor Kim Rae-won as

While the tradition of busking -- performing music outdoors for passersby -- is appreciated as a spontaneous display of creativity unique to indie musicians, a growing number of K-pop groups are straying from the confines of their scrupulously set stages to roam the streets. 　Live outdoor performances allow management-led singers to show off their talents, display a more carefree side, stripped of K-pop’s notoriously choreographed stage sequences, and bond with the crowd. In addition, with live

This year’s Seoul International Book Fair, set to take place next week at Coex Convention & Exhibition Center in Seoul will highlight French and Italian books, the annual book fair organizers said at a press conference Wednesday.　France, invited as the “Culture Focus” country, will introduce a new generation of French writers, said Anthony Chaumuzeau, director of the French Institute in Seoul. From left: French writer Antoine Laurain (Philippe Matsas/Seoul International Book Fair), French cook a

NEW YORK (AP) -- An online resource for literary content is hoping to create the publishing equivalent of Rotten Tomatoes.Literary Hub (lithub.com) announced Tuesday the launch of Book Marks, compiling reviews from more than 70 outlets ranging from the New York Times to the Las Vegas Weekly. Reviews will include links to the original publications, and individual books will be assigned composite letter grades by Lit Hub editors. Any work that has been reviewed three or more times will be listed i

Ultra Korea, also known as Ultra Music Festival Korea, has come around again this year, offering partygoers and music fans in Korea a rare chance to see some of the world’s most acclaimed electronic musicians. 　In celebration of its fifth anniversary this year, the festival will go on for three days instead of the usual two, at Seoul’s Olympic Stadium from Friday until Sunday. 　Headliners will include world-class acts such as Avicii, Afrojack and Armin van Buuren, all of whom previously took to

Solo albums released by K-pop singers Jonghyun, Tiffany and Jessica are ranking high on the Billboard World Albums Chart.　The most recent chart, which shows the results for the week of June 11, lists SHINee’s lead vocalist Jonghyun’s first album “She Is,” released on May 24, at the No. 4 spot.  　Reports say the position is a testament to the continued global popularity of five-member group SHINee, which debuted in 2008 under S.M. Entertainment. Lead vocalist Jonghyun of boy group SHINee (S.M. En