North Korea: Last News

NewJeans, the latest girl group to debut under HYBE Labels, have made their debut with a new single titled ‘Attention’.The sleek new single was officially unveiled on July 22 at midnight KST alongside its accompanying music video as the first look at the NewJeans, the first K-pop act to debut under HYBE’s recently launched independent music label ADOR (All Doors One Room).The visual for ‘Attention’ depicts the five-member act roaming the streets of Spain, depicting the narrative of a close-knit group of teenage girls as they come together to perform the song’s energetic choreography.“You got me looking for attention / You got me looking for attention / Got me confused but one thing’s for sure, I know you’re the one,” they croon in the chorus. ADOR later released a performance video for the track, watch it here.NewJeans is composed of Vietnamese member Hani, Australian-Korean idol Danielle Marsh (also known as Mo Ji-hye), Haein, former kids’ group USSO.GIRL member Hyein and Minji, who is best known for her past appearance in the music video for BTS‘ 2021 English single ‘Permission To Dance’.The release of ‘Attention’ is notably the first “content” from the girl group to have been unveiled by ADOR since the announcement of the group’s launch was made earlier this month.

BTS‘ RM has shared a much-anticipated update on his next solo material in a recent livestream.The K-pop idol held a livestream on fan community platform Weverse on July 21, where he shared several updates on the progress of his approaching solo record. “I’m just turning on the live to say… look out for my album, stay tuned,” he said in a mix of English and Korean, as translated by Koreaboo. RM also shared that a vast majority of the work for his as-yet-untitled project had already been completed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLeading Korean film and TV star Song Hye-kyo will head the cast of “The Glory,” an epic revenge drama series being produced for Netflix. The series is a change of direction for Kim Eun-sook, a screenwriter billed as the queen of Korean romance.The project is also a reunion of sorts for the pair.

Herbert L. Kloiber’s Night Train Media has acquired scripted distributor Eccho Rights from Korean giant CJ ENM, with Eccho Co-Founder Nicola Söderlund retiring.

Manori Ravindran International EditorGerman investment and co-production outfit Night Train Media has fully acquired Swedish distributor Eccho Rights, buying Korean media group CJ ENM’s majority stake in the business in the process, Variety can reveal.The Stockholm-headquartered Eccho Rights is best known for a rich catalogue of Turkish content — which travels extremely well internationally — as well as Scandinavian, Western European and Korean programs. CJ ENM bought a majority stake in the company in December 2018 as part of a drive to expand in Europe, but has now fully sold that stake into Night Train Media.The deal for Eccho comes almost exactly a year after Night Train Media, which is backed by private equity company Serafin Group, bought a majority stake in Paul Heaney’s London-based distribution outfit BossaNova.

Seoul Vibe. Netflix Golden, a social media channel of the streaming platform dedicated to celebrating the pan-Asian diaspora, took to Twitter to announce Seoul Vibe will begin streaming on August 26.The announcement also arrived alongside the first visual for the new movie: a poster depicting two race cars forming the number “88” through skid marks, setting the stage for the film’s setting in 1988. “Drive back to 1988,” reads the poster.Seoul Vibe: coming Aug.

Japanese Breakfast has joined forces with SE SO NEON singer Hwang So-yoon – AKA So!YoON! – for a Korean language version of the former’s 2021 single ‘Be Sweet’.The track comes from last year’s critically acclaimed third Japanese Breakfast album ‘Jubilee’, with Michelle Zauner performing the single on Ellen and her Saturday Night Live debut. ‘Be Sweet’ also featured on The Sims 4 and inspired a Goose Island beer.“We thought it would be fun to put out a special Korean version of ‘Be Sweet’ preceding our upcoming performance in Seoul,” Zauner explained, referencing their forthcoming August 6 show at the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival.“I’m very grateful Yaeji helped me with the translation over a year ago.

Jennie, main rapper in K-pop group Blackpink, will be seen in the Weeknd’s (aka Abel Tesfaye) upcoming HBO drama series The Idol, alongside lead Lily-Rose Depp.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJennie, part of the K-Pop girl group Blackpink will appear in the upcoming HBO TV series “The Idol.” She joins a cast that is headed by The Weeknd and Lily-Rose Depp.Co-created by The Weeknd (real name Abel Tesfaye), Sam Levinson (“Euphoria”) and Reza Fahim, “The Idol” is set against the backdrop of the music industry. The plot follows a self-help guru and cult leader who develops a complicated relationship with an up-and-coming pop idol.Jennie, expected to be credited under her full name Jennie Kim, appeared briefly in a recently released trailer for the show. The show’s release date has not been announced.HBO subsequently confirmed Jennie’s participation via Twitter.

BTS have officially been announced as the ambassadors for the World Expo 2030 in Busan, Korea by the expo’s Bid Committee.The appointment was announced by BTS’ management HYBE’s headquarters in Seoul on July 19. BTS leader RM also made a statement in a press release to Billboard, saying: “We are honoured to be appointed ambassadors for World Expo 2030 Busan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTerapin Studios, a U.S.-Korean media investor backed by NPX Capital, has paid $160 million to acquire Toomics Global, one of South Korea’s fastest rising platforms for webtoons.Webtoons, vertically-scrolling comic strips designed to be viewed on smartphones, emerged in South Korea about 15 years ago and have become a major cultural phenomenon across Japan, Korea and much of Southeast Asia.Webtoons have also been the form of IP underlying many Korean film and TV hits, including Netflix’s “All of Us Are Dead” and “Itaewon Class,” Disney+’s “Moving” and “Dr Brain” for Apple TV+.Netflix is also on course to produce a series, “Black Knight,” based on Toomics’ original webtoon IP “Delivery Knight.” The sci-fi miniseries, starring A-list actor Kim Woo Bin (“Alienoid”), is expected to premiere this year. The Terapin-Toomics deal follows a February 2022 acquisition that saw Terapin buy Copin Communications, a Korean webtoon producer.The two deals together are expected to give Terapin the capacity to take its stable of cartoon creators further into international markets and the ability to negotiate deals for its IP in multiple related or ancillary markets, from animated film and TV, to books, games, merchandize and NFTs.“A [third party] Korean production company is working with Netflix on ‘Black Knight’,” Samuel Hwang, founder and CEO of NPX Capital, told Variety.

Miky Lee, Vice Chairwoman of South Korea’s CJ Group, will receive the International 2022 Directorate Emmy Award.

Manori Ravindran International EditorCJ Group vice chairwoman Miky Lee is this year’s recipient of the International Emmy Directorate Award.The International Academy’s Special Emmy will be presented to Lee at the 50th International Emmy Awards gala on Nov. 21 in New York.“Miky Lee is in a class of her own, a visionary leader who has harnessed her exceptional business acumen and love of her country’s culture by tirelessly spearheading the global phenomenon of the Korean wave for over 25 years,” said Bruce L.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Contents and Film Market, the industry component of the Busan International Film Festival, is to launch an in-person story market at this year’s event.The ACFM has for ten years operated what it called an Entertainment Intellectual Property Market. But where the E-IP Market has been a one-way pitching event, the new Busan Story Market is conceived as something functionally closer to a conventional rights market, with buyers and sellers meeting at sales booths, but trading books, webtoons, web novels, games, and stories.The Busan Story Market is an outgrowth of the E-IP event and will operate in addition to the continuing pitching sessions.

HyunA has unveiled a cheeky new music video teaser for her upcoming single ‘Nabillera’.In the vibrant Y2K-inspired visual, the singer-rapper is surrounded by butterflies as she shows off colourful outfits and confident poses. “Me so fly, like a butterfly,” she declares boldly, shedding her jacket.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKorean streaming platforms Tving and Seezn have announced plans to merge. The consolidation move is seen as a means to counter the dominance of Netflix, which is by far the largest subscription video player in the country.The move was unveiled in two regulatory filings by KT Studio Genie, the media unit of telecoms operator KT Studio Genie, owner of Seezn, and by CJ ENM, the 57% majority owner of TVing.The merger is intended to “strengthen the over-the-top (OTT) platform competitiveness within the domestic media and contents industry, and accelerate the growth of K-contents,” KT Studio Genie said.Tving CEO Yang Ji-eul said the enlarged entity aims to become the world’s No.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Top Gun Maverick” reclaimed the lead at the South Korea box office as “Thor: Love and Thunder” slowed rapidly and Korean cinemas endured a weekend that slowed the recent recovery trend.“Top Gun Maverick” earned $5.77 million between Friday and Sunday, in its fourth week of release in Korea, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a drop of only 11% from its previous weekend.In contrast, “Thor Love and Thunder” registered a 66% weekend-on-weekend tumble, falling from $9.88 million previously to $3.34 million.

Secret chef! Jamie Chung opened up to Us Weekly about what fans might not know about her — and the Reunion star has some serious cooking skills.

cultural phenomenon Gangnam Style was released on YouTube. If you could believe it.A decade ago the South Korean singer and rapper Psy broke onto the music scene in a bright blue tuxedo with the catchy K-pop theme and meme-able horse-riding dance to lyrics that muse ‘Oppa Gangham Style’ (with ‘oppa’ meaning ‘older brother’ in Korean).Ahead of the anniversary, Psy addressed the pressure and impact of creating such an iconic song. ‘When the song is a hit, then your songs need to continue to be hits,’ he told CNN. ‘When the person is a hit, the success is more sustainable.’ Psy also led the way for other K-pop bands to enter the global market, such as BTS who have often cited the Gangham Style singer for their massive, worldwide success.

BTS alum on Friday released his debut solo album,, alongside a fiery new music video for the song «Arson.» The 10-track full-length can be streamed in full now via digital media services. According to a press release, the 28-year-old South Korean superstar is «leaping out of the box,» showing off new sides of himself and how much he has grown as an artist. In the first two tracks, listeners will hear the story behind the origin of J-Hope's stage name, born from Greek and Roman mythology of «Pandora's Box.» The dual main tracks «MORE» and «Arson» dive deeper into the artist's authentic and personal story. The release comes as J-Hope tops Billboard's Emerging Artists chart with «MORE,» becoming the fifth member of BTS to do so as a soloist. Earlier this month, J-Hope shared with fans a visually stunning music video for that first single.

TWICE have unveiled their latest Japanese single ‘Celebrate’, alongside its music video.The energetic new track was released on July 14 along with its accompanying video treatment on the K-pop girl group’s official Japanese YouTube channel. The visual sees the nine members of TWICE prepare for a summer’s night out and ends in the group performing ‘Celebrate”s choreography in the middle of a pool party complete with neon lights and fireworks.“I’m next to you, still / You’re next to me, whatever your whereabouts, present / Let’s ce-ce-ce-celebrate,” they harmonise on the chorus.‘Celebrate’ is both a pre-release and title track for TWICE’s forthcoming Japanese studio record of the same name, due to arrive on July 27.