The biggest change at Seoul Fashion Week this season was a second location. For the first time, the event split between Dongdaemun Design Plaza and the World Park at Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, a site intended to bring fashion closer to shoppers and tourists. The 2027 spring-summer edition, which closed Sunday, was also the most ambitious version yet. Kimhekim, which built its international reputation at Paris Fashion Week beginning in 2019, held its first show at Seoul Fashion Week, backed by

For Koreans already worried about the future solvency of the National Pension, reports that foreigners could pay into the system for only a few months, make years of retroactive contributions and qualify for a lifelong pension were bound to be provocative. One case can be enough to prove a failure. It is not always enough to prove a pattern, especially when it touches a mandatory pension system that millions are required to pay into and whose long-term viability is already under question. Presid

Hybe's newest girl group Tuide already found a way to attract attention before releasing a single song. The group's Seoyeon was revealed to be the younger sister of Jihyo, leader of JYP Entertainment's Twice. The connection quickly drew attention to Tuide, the first act launched by ABD, Hybe's new subsidiary dedicated to producing girl groups. But being Hybe's newest girl group inevitably invites another comparison: NewJeans. Four years after NewJeans' arrival reshaped the K-pop girl group lands

KiiiKiii, a rookie girl group under Starship Entertainment, home to Ive, has been steadily building momentum with each release, most recently with its third EP "WhyKiiiKiii," which dropped Monday. The EP's main track "Pop Off Pop Off" topped YouTube's worldwide trending music video chart shortly after release and had peaked at No. 27 on Melon's Top 100 as of Tuesday. The album also topped iTunes' K-pop albums chart in France, the Netherlands and Australia, and entered the top 10 in 13 countries.

Two K-pop acts have been making headlines in Korea this summer, and their stories are both triumphs of tenacity. Girl group Rescene finally topped a music chart with "Love Attack," a song that had gone largely unnoticed for two years. Ateez, a group long celebrated abroad but overlooked at home, cracked South Korea's own charts for the first time with its new single "Bad" — eight years into its career. Such reversals of fortune look glamorous from the outside. But they remain the exception, not

BTS' announcement that it will not submit music to next year's Grammy Awards has set off a wave of reactions. The group's fandom answered on the charts. Army, as the group's fans are known, pushed "Aliens," a B-side from the group's fifth full-length album "Arirang" about being cast as outsiders and owning the label, to No. 1 on iTunes song charts in 78 regions this week, months after the album's release. Many see the group's decision as a protest against the Recording Academy's new best Asian p

A government-backed K-culture festival has revived a question that follows Korean pop culture abroad: how much of it was the government's doing? The question was put to the organizers of Fanomenon on Monday. The 11-day festival of concerts, fandom awards and industry exhibitions, set for December 2027, will be staged by Korea's four biggest music agencies — JYP Entertainment, Hybe, SM Entertainment and YG Entertainment — with state support, under the Presidential Committee on Popular Culture Exc

Mirae Asset Securities, the South Korea-based brokerage that has long sought to expand its global footprint, hit a setback in its ambitions when it failed to secure SpaceX shares for local investors earlier this month for its initial public offering. The miss came as a surprise to the Korean market, given Mirae Asset's close ties with SpaceX. The market deemed Mirae Asset Securities had an upper hand in the IPO allocation, as Mirae Asset Financial Group was an early investor in the rocket compan

It was a freezing morning when I lined up outside the US Embassy in Seoul on Nov. 17. Despite having a visa agency staffer hold a place for me, I waited more than 30 minutes just to enter the building, followed by another hour and a half for my interview — all to apply for an I-visa ahead of the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. This marked the first time Korean reporters were required to obtain an I-visa. In previous years, journalists had traveled under the Electronic System for

Korea stands tall as a global gaming powerhouse, fueled by cutting-edge tech, the widespread usage of personal computers and a passionate gaming community. Its thriving industry not only dominates at home but sends Korean games around the world, making the country the fourth-biggest game exporter in the world and driving 70 percent of Korea's total media content exports. Despite the success, the industry still battles a deep-rooted stigma linking games to harmful addiction. The latest controvers