Seventeen has become the 1st K-pop group to be appointed UNESCO's Goodwill Ambassador for Youth. It is also the first time UNESCO has designated a youth ambassador. Seventeen has been supporting the...

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TWICE’s Nayeon has made a comeback with her 2nd solo EP.“Na” is the singer’s first solo release in two years since the release of her debut solo album “Im Nayeon” in July 2022. The...

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Jin of BTS has been discharged Wednesday, finishing up 18 months of mandatory military service. Fellow bandmates RM, J-Hope, V, Jungkook, and Jimin took the day off from their military service to greet the first...

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RM of BTS released his second solo album 'Right Place, Wrong Person' on Friday, his first solo album since 'Indigo' in December 2022.The album carries eleven songs, including the title track...

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Girl group NewJeans dropped a double single on Friday, coming back after ten months since their second mini album 'Get Up.''How Sweet' was released at 1 p.m. Friday, carrying the title track of the same...

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EXO’s Suho will release a new solo album this month. The new EP, titled “1 to 3” will drop on May 31, more than two years after his second solo album “Grey Suit” was released in April...

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Rookie girl group Babymonster will embark on its first global fan meet tour this week. “Babymonster Presents: See You There” will begin in Tokyo on May 11. The tour will also travel to Jakarta,...

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Sunmi is set to drop a new single in June. The new single has been written by the singer herself, and she recently finished shooting the music video in Croatia.The upcoming single comes around eight months after...

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TWS will release a brand new album next month. Their label, Pledis Entertainment, announced the rookie group is preparing for a comeback, adding that a pre-release for the album will drop early next month.TWS has...

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P1Harmony is set to release a best-hits album in Japan.According to the six-member boy group's agency FNC Entertainment on Friday, 'Love & P1ece : The Best of P1Harmony' will be released on August 21. It...

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Actor Yoo Teo has been included in the 2024 version of Gold House's 'The A100' list.The list, announced every May, nominates 100 of the world's most impactful Asian Pacific leaders in American culture...

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Jinjin of Astro has dropped a single in remembrance of bandmate Moonbin who passed away one year ago.The digital single “Fly”, which features Moonbin’s voice, was co-written by the two members of...

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Stray Kids is set to release a new digital single featuring global pop star Charlie Puth.The new single “Lose My Breath” will drop on May 10. Charlie Puth is a familiar name in the K-pop industry and...

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[Culture] :
The Korean tradition of making sauces from fermented soybeans is set for inclusion on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. According to UNESCO on Tuesday, its assessment body has recommended for inscription “knowledge, beliefs, and practices related to jang-making,” or sauce-making, in South ...

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[Culture] :
BLACKPINK member Rosé's latest collab with American pop star Bruno Mars, "APT.," has reached number two on the United Kingdom's Official Singles Chart, the highest ranking on the chart by a female K-pop artist. After debuting at number four on October 25, "APT." jumped two spots to number two in the ...

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[Culture] :
ADOR, the agency that manages the K-pop girl group NewJeans, has rejected a proposal to reinstate Min Hee-jin as CEO. According to industry sources, the agency’s board of directors met Wednesday at HYBE’s headquarters in Yongsan, Seoul, and the majority voted against the proposal. The board meeting was ...

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[Culture] :
Rosé of the girl group BLACKPINK has become the highest-charting female K-pop artist with “APT,” which debuted at No. 8 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart this week.  [Sound bite Rosé & Bruno Mars - APT.] On Tuesday, Billboard announced on social media that Rosé’s duet with American singer ...

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[Culture] :
Veteran South Korean actress Kim Soo-mi, best known for playing the character “Il-yong’s mom” on the decadeslong television drama series “Country Diaries,” has died at the age of 75. According to the Seoul Seocho Police Station on Friday, Kim was transported to Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital in the ...

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[Culture] :
The Seoul Metropolitan Government will run a campaign to promote standardized naming of Korean dishes in foreign languages. According to city officials on Thursday, the campaign, in cooperation with the Seoul Tourism Organization and the Korea Food Service Industry Association, is set to continue through ...

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[Culture] :
A U.S. music magazine has picked “Ditto” by the K-pop girl group NewJeans as one of the top songs of the 2020s. According to the group’s agency, ADOR, Thursday, the song ranked 23rd on Paste magazine’s “100 Best Songs of the 2020s So Far.” According to the U.S. magazine, no K-pop group has ...

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[Culture] :
 Calligraphy by the late Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun will soon be on display for the South Korean public. According to the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History, a special exhibition on Ahn’s writings will open Thursday in cooperation with the Ahn Junggeun Memorial Association ...

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[Culture] :
Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang hopes to write three more books over the next six years. Han made the remarks Thursday as she accepted the Pony Chung Innovation Prize at an award ceremony organized by the Pony Chung Foundation. The 53-year-old author, who turns 54 next month, said ages 50 to 60 are ...

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[Culture] :
BTS member J-Hope completed his 18-month military service on Thursday. Upon being discharged earlier in the morning, J-Hope appeared at the gate of the 36th Infantry Division's Recruit Training Center in Wonju, Gangwon Province, and thanked the group's fandom, ARMY, saying he was able to complete his ...

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[Culture] :
In the six days after the announcement that Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in Literature, sales of her books exceeded one million copies.  According to major bookstore chains Yes24 and Kyobo Book Center on Wednesday, the figure had surpassed one million as of 9 a.m.  Since Han’s Nobel Prize win, one ...

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[Culture] :
Two South Korean films, "Exhuma" and "Handsome Guys," won prizes at the 57th Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, Spain. According to the South Korean film distributor Showbox on Tuesday, director Jang Jae-hyun's occult thriller "Exhuma," which was invited to the official competition ...

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[Culture] :
J-Hope of K-pop sensation BTS will complete his 18 months of mandatory military service and be discharged from the Army on Thursday.  The singer’s agency, BigHit Music, revealed the date on Monday in the group’s fan community platform, saying no event will be held to mark the occasion while urging ...

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[Culture] :
South Korea's first Nobel Prize winner in literature Han Kang's bestselling novel "The Vegetarian" will be made into a play in the Italian language. According to the Korean Cultural Center in Rome, Italian theater company INDEX is set to stage the play in nine major cities of Italy and France, including ...

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[Culture] :
The Writers Association of Korea says Han Kang’s recognition with a Nobel Prize in Literature is a blessing for literary language. The association, one of the nation’s most prominent writers’ groups, said in a statement Friday that the latest feat is a reminder of the role that literature plays in ...

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[Culture] :
Korean American writer Kim Ju-hea was named the winner of the 2024 Yasnaya Polyana Literary Award in the foreign fiction category for her debut novel, "Beasts of a Little Land." Kim and Kirill Batygin, who translated the book into Russian, were awarded Russia's largest annual prize in literature at Moscow's ...

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[Culture] :
South Korea's first Nobel laureate in literature, Han Kang, said she is surprised and absolutely honored to have won the prestigious prize. In a phone interview with the Swedish Academy, which awards the Nobel prizes, Han expressed appreciation for all the support she’s received. Asked for a comment ...

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[Culture] :
Anchor: South Korean author Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy made the announcement Thursday, and Han became the second South Korean ever to win a Nobel Prize and the first to attain the honor in literature. Kim Bum-soo has more.   Report: South Korean writer Han ...

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[Culture] :
South Korean author Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy made the announcement Thursday, making Han the second South Korean ever to win a Nobel Prize and the first to attain the honor in literature. The academy said it was awarding Han the prize “for her intense poetic ...

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[Culture] :
The culture ministry and the Korea Craft and Design Foundation are once again promoting Korea's traditional attire, or hanbok, with the seventh annual Hanbok Culture Week set to start Monday.  Exhibits will be on display and fashion shows will take place in Seoul's Jongno District and other areas of the ...

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[Culture] :
Considering the growing popularity of the Korean language around the world, the government plans to double the number of internet-based Test of Proficiency in Korean(TOPIK) sessions and offer the test in more countries next year. According to the education ministry on Thursday, the online test, designed to ...

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[Culture] :
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the nation has a duty to further develop the Korean alphabet, hangeul, which has gained worldwide recognition as a unique writing system. At a government ceremony marking the 578th Hangeul Day on Wednesday, Han raised concerns about “indifference to the Korean language” ...

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[Culture] :
The 31 Korean Cultural Centers in 28 countries around the world will hold various events promoting the value and beauty of Hangeul as South Korea will mark the 578th Hangeul Day on Wednesday.  The center in France will provide the first performance of a song created by South Korean composer Kim Dae-seong ...

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[Culture] :
KBS hit drama "Winter Sonata" which led the Korean Wave in the 2000s will be released as a theatrical film in Japan next year. Pan Entertainment, which produced the show, announced Monday that it had decided to release a film version after receiving continuous requests from Japanese distributors and ...

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[Culture] :
Anchor: South Korean Pianist Lim Yunchan has won the Gramophone Classical Music Award in the piano category. This marks the first time that a Korean pianist has received the prestigious prize, often called the Oscars of the classical music world. Kim Bum-soo has more.   Report:   [Sound bite: Lim ...

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[Culture] :
Pianist Lim Yun-chan has won the prestigious Gramophone Classical Music Award in the piano category. Lim received the award for his album, "Chopin: Etudes" during a ceremony on Wednesday in London, becoming the first South Korean to win the award in the piano category.  Lim also won the special award of ...

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[Culture] :
To strengthen the global competitiveness of K-contents, eleven organizations will pool their resources to create a strategic fund worth approximately 600 billion won, or over 454 million U.S. dollars. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Ministry of Science and ICT announced Wednesday that ...

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[Culture] :
The Busan International Film Festival(BIFF) is set to start its ten-day run Wednesday.  Asia’s largest film festival will kick off with a grand opening ceremony at 7 p.m. at Busan Cinema Center in the southern port city of Busan, featuring 224 films from 63 countries. The 29th BIFF will open with ...

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[Culture] :
The government has designated the seven days from Friday to next Thursday as the "2024 Hangeul Week," on the occasion of the 578th Hangeul Day on October 9 to mark the creation of the Korean alphabet. According to the culture ministry on Monday, a number of cultural events that can help participants better ...

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[Culture] :
A documentary about a 1970s campaign in the United States to release a Korean immigrant, who was wrongfully convicted of murder, from prison was honored at this year's Emmy Awards. According to the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences(NATAS), the documentary, titled "Free Cholsoo ...

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[International] :
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that Washington will sternly respond to North Korea’s deployment of troops to the war in Ukraine.   Ahead of attending a meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels on Wednesday, Blinken said North Korean troops have been sent to the battlefield ...

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[International] :
Anchor: U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is moving fast to complete appointments for his national security and foreign policy teams, with his latest pick being veteran-turned-conservative news host Pete Hegseth to head the Pentagon. The incoming administration faces a number of foreign policy challenges, ...

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[International] :
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has picked Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency along with former Republican presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said the nominees will pave the way for his government ...

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[International] :
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth, a Fox News host and veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as the next secretary of defense. In a statement issued Tuesday, Trump called the nominee “tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” adding that with Hegseth at the ...

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[International] :
South Korea, the United States and Japan are set to hold their trilateral multidomain Freedom Edge exercise this week.  According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff(JCS), this year’s second Freedom Edge exercise runs Wednesday to Friday in international waters south of Jeju Island.  The three ...

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[International] :
The U.S. State Department has confirmed that North Korean troops deployed to Russia’s Kursk region are engaging in combat against Ukraine. In a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said he can confirm that over ten-thousand North Korean soldiers have been sent to eastern ...

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[International] :
Media outlets in Japan have reported that talks are underway for a summit between Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and President Yoon Suk Yeol on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) Summit in Peru. Japan’s Kyodo News said the two sides are discussing details of the potential ...

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