North Korea: Last News

K-pop boyband Stray Kids have released the music video for ‘Topline’, from their latest album ‘5-Star’.In the new music video, Stray Kids and featured artist Tiger JK perform the high-octane song in a warehouse atop shopping containers, as money falls from the sky.“On the top line, we swing to the beat show / Ha, hotline, hot, hot, we about to blow, top line / We can see the world under our feet, we’re the top line / Your neck must be stiff from only looking up,” they rap.‘5-Star’ includes a total of 12 songs, including the single ’S-Class’. The record also features their August 2022 track ‘Mixtape: Time Out’, as well as a Korean version of their Japanese single ‘The Sound’, plus ‘Get Lit’ and ‘DLC’.‘5-Star’ is Stray Kids’ first domestic release in over seven months, following their mini-album ‘Maxident’ in October 2022, as well as their first studio album since 2021’s ‘NOEASY’.The record has since become Stray Kids’ third consecutive Billboard 200 Number One, following their two 2022 releases, ‘Maxident’ and ‘Oddinary’.In other K-pop news, Tomorrow X Together (TXT) are set to collaborate with the Jonas Brothers on a brand-new single called ‘Do It Like That’.

Choi Sung-bong, an operatic singer who placed second on the “Korea’s Got Talent” television program, has died in an apparent suicide, police said Wednesday. He was 33.Choi was found dead by police at his home in the Yeoksam-dong district in Southern Seoul at 9:41 a.m. Tuesday, according to police and fire authorities.

Korean opera singer Choi Sung-bong, who has died at the age of 33. Korean Police believe he apparently died by suicide, according to the Yonhap news agency. Having shot to fame on Korea’s Got Talent, he went on to establish a successful singing career which made him famous in his homeland and beyond.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations. “We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.) Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.

the Korea Times reported.They ruled that Choi had taken his own life due to undisclosed circumstances at home, as well as a note he’d uploaded to YouTube a day before his passing. In it, he’d apologized “to all who suffered from my foolish mistake.”Choi was referring to the highly-publicized scandal, in which he was exposed for falsely claiming he had cancer and soliciting donations to fund his treatment, the Hollywood Reporter reported.Choi is perhaps most famous for competing on the 2011 season of “Korea’s Got Talent,” solidifying his spot in the finals with a knockout rendition of Ennio Morricone’s “Nella Fantasia” that reduced the judges to tears.The rising star wound up placing second behind lace behind dancer Joo Min-jungby with just 280 votes, per the Independent.However, the blossoming pop star’s spot resonated beyond the confines of the reality TV competition.

Choi Sung-bong, a South Korean pop star, has been found dead at the age of 33.

PCCW and Canal+ have announced a strategic partnership through which the French media giant will become a significant minority shareholder in PCCW’s Asian streaming service Viu. 

LE SSERAFIM and BIBI are seemingly teasing a remix of the girl group’s hit song ‘Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife’.Yesterday, LE SSERAFIM released a new YouTube Short that featured BIBI in the studio, singing a new solo verse over the beat of ‘Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife’. Later on, she’s joined by the girl group, and the six singers dance along to the song.Just hours before the YouTube Short was released, LE SSERAFIM also took to Instagram Reels with an partially instrumental version of ‘Eve, Psyche & the Bluebeard’s Wife’.

Park Seo Joon is facing some dating rumors!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief C CGV, a company that is one of the world’s top ten cinema exhibitors and is also a major cinema technology developer, is to raise close to $800 million in order to shore up its finances after a devastating COVID era. The company operates the largest cinema chain in its native South Korea and has significant numbers of screens in Vietnam, Indonesia, Turkey and mainland China, with smaller operations in Myanmar and the U.S. It also owns CJ 4DPlex, which developed the technology for films to be augmented with practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobe-lights, simulated-snow, and scents. In addition, its ScreenX system provides screenings that use the side walls of an auditorium to create a 270-degree sensory experience.

Paramount+ crime-thriller Bargain, Prime Video’s absurdist comedy I’m a Virgo and Greek infertility dramedy Babython were among the awards series winners at last week’s Seriencamp in Germany.

Naman Ramachandran Paramount+ and Tving‘s Korean series “Bargain” has won the critics’ choice award at the Serien Camp Festival in Cologne. In April, “Bargain” became the first-ever Korean series to win best screenplay at the Canneseries Festival in France. The series stars actors Jun Jong-seo (“Money Heist: Korea”) and Jin Seon-kyu (“Extreme Job”) and is an adaptation of director Lee Chung-hyun’s 2015 short film of the same name. Director Jun Woo-sung, who was part of the production team of the short, picked up the story and developed it into a six-part series. “Bargain” revolves around a group of strangers who gather at a remote motel with ulterior motives – seeking to bargain. Unlike the original film, the series follows the characters after an unexpected earthquake traps them inside the building. With no one to trust, they must find a way to survive.

‘Halli-Galli’ is notably produced by Hot Sauce, a JYP Entertainment producer. In addition to the title track, PLAN B’s debut release will include two other songs, ‘LON (Overflow)’ and ‘Sunday to Monday’.The upcoming H.LAND Entertainment group comprises five members: Hwi, Roy, Hao, James and Han, who hail from South Korea, Thailand and China.Members Roy and James had previously participated in the reality TV competition Seven Stars, through which Thai-Korean boyband THE7 was formed.

Gyeongseong Creature, Mask Girl, A Time Called You, Song of the Bandits, Doona!, Celebrity and Daily Dose of Sunshine.Netflix’s new video also previews the upcoming second seasons of hit K-dramas D.P and Sweet Home In addition, the clip also highlights the original Korean films Ballerina and Believer 2.All nine K-dramas and two films were previously announced by Netflix back in January 2023, when the streaming platform unveiled its slate of upcoming Korean dramas and movies set to premiere this year.Notably missing from the new preview are K-drama Goodbye Earth and feature film The Match, both of which had previously been slated for release in the fourth quarter of 2023. The two Netflix original properties star Yoo Ah-in of Hellbound fame.However, Yoo has since been dropped from Hellbound, following a police investigation in South Korea for illegal drug use.

BTS singer V has released a cover of Bing Crosby’s ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’ and Ella Fitzgerald’s ‘Cheek To Cheek’.On June 16, the BTS singer released a clip titled ‘Le Jazz de V’ on YouTube in celebration of the boyband’s 10th anniversary. In the new video, V first performs a jazzy cover of Crosby’s 1951 song ‘It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas’.“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas / Everywhere you go / Take a look at the five and ten, it’s glistening once again / With candy canes and silver lanes that glow,” V sings.Later, he is joined by Korean singer-songwriter Minna Seo for a performance of Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s 1956 duet ‘Cheek To Cheek’.The new clip is one of several special releases by the members BTS in recent weeks, as part of their 2023 BTS Festa celebrations for their tenth anniversary as a group.These include the new single ‘Take Two’ which they released earlier this month, the rock version of rapper J-hope’s solo single ‘Arson’ and a special episode of Suga’s talk show Suchwita, among others.BTS are also set to release their first book, Beyond The Story: 10-Year Record of BTS next month, which the members co-wrote with journalist Myeongseok Kang.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean blockbuster “The Roundup: No Way Out” suffered a 50% week-on-week decline, but it was still strong enough to see a pair of Hollywood newcomers. The third part of the Don Lee-starring Roundup franchise, “No Way Out” earned $5.16 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. It accounted for a 42% share of the market and attracted 650,000 additional spectators.

Netflix has revealed a trailer for the streaming giant's new reality competition series based on the hit dystopian Korean drama Squid Game. In the teaser for Squid Game: The Challenge, which is set to be released in November, a warehouse is used to construct an elaborate set where contestants battle through a series of games, inspired by the original show.The 10-part competition will see entrants try to win a prize of 4.56 million dollars (£3,736,054) as they are seen being watched by a similar doll to the Korean series while wearing comparable green tracksuits.There will be 456 real players entering the game – and each round contestants are eliminated when their strategies, alliances and character are put to the test.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Netflix’s controversial reality competition show based on its smash South Korean drama “Squid Game” will finally debut in November, and the streamer offered up a very brief glimpse of reality show “Squid Game: The Challenge” on Saturday during its global, virtual Tudum fan event from Brazil. “The world’s most notorious game becomes reality,” the teaser clip says, before showing contestants exiting their rooms and heading to the game of “Red Light Green Light” — featuring the giant, killer doll that in the scripted “Squid Game” swivels its head around and fires gunshots to eliminate players who were moving. The unscripted game show, which was first announced in June 2022, was shot across two studios in the U.K. and produced by Studio Lambert and The Garden. Like the series, 456 contestants were cast (in this case, from around the world) to compete in various challenges based on the Korean children’s games featured on the show, as well as new games. The winner receives a $4.56 million cash prize.

Charna Flam “Squid Game” Season 2 has added an additional four more cast members, Yim Si-wan, Kang Ha-neul, Park Sung-hoon and Yang Dong-guen, Netflix announced at its Tudum event out of Brazil on Saturday. The four new actors join returning cast members Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-Hun, Wi Ha-jun and Gong Yoo, all of who made main roles in Season 1.Lee Jung-jae, Lee Byung-Hun, Wi Ha-jun, and Gong Yoo will all be returning for Squid Game Season 2! And #TUDUM just revealed four new actors who will be joining the cast! pic.twitter.com/0iofoBQ1kB The second season is set to premiere on the streamer in 2024, reported director Hwang Dong-hyuk at a Netflix press conference in Sept. 2022. “We will start shooting Season 2 next year [in 2023] and it’ll be released the following year,” said Hwang.

“The world’s most notorious game becomes reality.”

A pub boasting some of the best views of Greater Manchester has reopened its doors after a major refurbishment. The Hare & Hounds, in Hyde, was closed for several weeks for a six-figure makeover which has modernised the entire site.