North Korea: Last News

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Prime Video has set May 18 for the global release of its upcoming Indian anthology series “Modern Love Chennai.” This is the third Indian adaptation of “Modern Love,” the internationally acclaimed original anthology directed by John Carney, following “Modern Love Mumbai” and “Modern Love Hyderabad.” Produced under the banner of Tyler Durden and Kino Fist, with Thiagarajan Kumararaja as the creator, the six-episode anthology presents a bouquet of love stories set in the city of Chennai that explore relationships, push boundaries, and open minds.  “Love stories and rom-coms have never been my cup of tea. Thus, ‘Modern Love Chennai’ was an interesting challenge,” said Kumararaja, creator of the series and writer-director of one of the episodes. “With these stories, we have explored and celebrated the old-world charm of the city, which remains rooted in a distinct blend of tradition and modernity.” 

EXCLUSIVE: Hong Kong-American actor Byron Mann (Wu Assassins) has joined the cast of Korean studio Showbox’s Moral Hazard (working title), alongside previously announced Korean stars Yoo Hai-jin (The Night Owl) and Lee Je-hoon (Taxi Driver 2).

Stray Kids have released a preview of their new song ‘DLC’, from their upcoming studio album ‘5-Star’.At midnight KST on May 8, the K-pop boyband previewed ‘DLC’ with the release of a short music video for the upcoming track. In the clip, the boyband vibe to the dance-pop song in a bar and a boxing ring.“Without anyone knowing / We’re only going to dance like crazy / It’s just that, I like it, la-la-la / Nobody, nobody, please don’t care about me, it’s okay / Let’s go crazy until the sunrise,” they sing in the preview.‘DLC’ will appear on Stray Kids’ upcoming third studio album ‘5-Star’, which is scheduled to be released on June 2.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” gave the South Korean box office its biggest weekend of the year, with a $10.3 million start. The film played on more than 1,800 screens and enjoyed a 46% share of the overall market between Friday and Sunday, according to data supplied by Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. After a year of struggle for the theatrical business in Korea, the opening by “Guardians” was twice that of “The Super Mario Bros Movie” and nearly four times bigger than the next biggest individual title debut of 2023 (“The First Slam Dunk” in the first week of January scored $2.61 million). Over its opening five days, “Guardians” managed $13.2 million, making it the seventh highest grossing film of the year at the end of its first weekend.

Jessica Kiang There comes a time in many lives when a kind of matter transference takes place in the relationship between parent and child. Like a sudden change of filter or aspect ratio, we see our mothers and fathers in new ways, realizing they existed before we did, thought thoughts and felt feelings entirely separate from our own. Almost always, it’s a flower of understanding that blossoms just a bit later than we would like and when it does, it asks of us an impossible question: what to do with this new knowledge, this strange flood of retrospective awe? Perhaps, when you’re far on the other side, looking back through the reverse end of time’s telescope, and if you’re Canadian director Anthony Shim, you make a film like “Riceboy Sleeps,” a familiar immigrant song sung in such an elegant, sincere voice that it feels like a whole new arrangement.

BTS’ Jungkook online.Earlier this year, it was reported that a former foreign ministry employee, whose identity has been withheld, had been indicted for attempting to sell a hat belonging to the BTS member for approximately KRW10million (£6,600) after he had left it at the government building.On Wednesday (May 3), The Korea Herald reported that the employee had been fined KRW1million (£660) by the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office earlier that day on charges of attempting to sell the BTS singer’s lost hat online.A previous report by the media outlet states that the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office also intended to return the hat to Jungkook, though the prosecution, idol and his label have yet to provide further updates.The former employee had allegedly uploaded a photo of the hat on an online second-hand market and claimed that Jungkook had left it at the foreign ministry building after visiting to apply for a new passport.In the post, they added that the hat had been reported as lost property for six months before they decided to claim ownership of it. The listing was met with backlash, leading the employee to delete the listing and turn themselves in to the police.Shortly after this, the prosecution stated that HYBE had confirmed to police that the hat did belong to Jungkook.

K-pop soloist Kwon Eun-bi and boyband KINGDOM are set to perform at K-Fest in the Canadian capital city of Ottawa.The Korean Cultural Centre (KCC) in Ottawa in Ontario, Canada has announced that soloist and ex-IZ*ONE leader Kwon Eun-bi and boyband KINGDOM will be performing at its upcoming K-Fest event on June 10 (Saturday).The festival celebrates the 60th diplomatic anniversary between Korea and Canada, and also acts as the main event of the KCC-hosted 2023 Korea Week. Kwon Eun-bi and KINGDOM are set to perform as part of the event’s grand finale from 8:30pm EDT.K-Fest will be held at Lansdowne Park, Great Lawn, and will take place from 2pm to 10pm EDT.

, and stopped by Sephora to find a replacement on my way home from work. I figured I'd find something I liked enough and move on with my life, but just as I was about to reach for something random, I spotted the Belif tub and immediately recognized it.

Kai is preparing for mandatory military enrollment.

Starring in the Marvel franchise changed Pom Klementieff’s life.

Jennie of the K-pop girl group BLACKPINK has teased a new fashion release.Today (April 3), fashion brand Calvin Klein announced on social media that it would be collaboration with BLACKPINK’s Jennie on an upcoming capsule collection. The collection will be K-pop idol’s first-ever for the brand.The short teaser opens with a close-up shot of Jennie’s eyes, before transitioning to a silhouette of the K-pop star modelling in front of a waterfall.

Monty Python star Sir Michael Palin has announced the death of his wife of 57 years. The actor and TV veteran, 79, wrote on his website that Helen, whom he met while still a teenager, had been suffering from chronic pain and kidney failure. He described her as “the bedrock of my life” and asked for privacy while their family grieves.

McKinley Franklin editor Eileen Saki, known for her role as bar owner Rosie in “M*A*S*H,” died on Monday in Los Angeles after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 79. Saki’s rep confirmed her death to Variety. The actor was featured on nine episodes of “M*A*S*H,” the television series based on the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital that cared for patients during the Korean War. The TV series aired from 1972 to 1983.  Saki played the role of Rosie, the local bar owner of “Rosie’s Bar.” She was the third actor to take over the role and the longest to do so. Her career in acting continued on with roles featured in other projects such as Dr. Fujimoto in the 1984 film “Splash” with Tom Hanks, “CHiPs” and “History of the World: Part I.” 

Naman Ramachandran British presenter, broadcaster, filmmaker, author and historian, professor David Olusoga, will be presented with a BAFTA Special Award at the upcoming BAFTA Television Awards on May 14. The award is one of BAFTA’s highest honors recognizing an outstanding contribution to film, games or television. Olusoga’s credits include presenting history series “A House Through Time” (BBC Two), writing and presenting series “Black & British: A Forgotten History” (BBC Two) and the BAFTA-winning “Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners.” In recent years he led major interviews with the former President of the United States, Barack Obama and lectures including the Edinburgh TV Festival MacTaggart Lecture in 2020.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After reaching a fresh peak of 4.6 million net new customer additions in the final quarter of 2022, boosted by the FIFA World Cup soccer competition, premium subscription video growth in Southeast Asia slowed sharply in the first three months of 2023. Research from consultancy and advisory firm Media Partners Asia and its consumer use unit AMPD, showed only 300,000 net new subscriptions between January and March in the five principal markets of Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The study focused on premium VOD streaming and SVoD, while excluding YouTube, TikTok and other social video platforms.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hybe Corp., the structure behind K-pop icons BTS, enjoyed strong financial performance during the first three months of the year. The results were achieved despite BTS’s effective hiatus and quarter of corporate skirmishing in the Korean music sector. The company Tuesday reported revenues of KRW411 billion in the three months to end of March and operating profit of KRW52.5 billion, increases of 42$ and 44%, respectively. Adjusted earnings before interest taxation, depreciation and amortization were up 12% at KRW71.9 billion. Hybe did not confirm financial media calculations that it would net an investment profit of some $87 million on the sale of shares in SM Entertainment, which it bid to control but lost to Kakao.

Angelique Jackson On the heels of a breakthrough role in Netflix and A24’s “Beef,” actor Young Mazino has signed with M88 for representation. The Korean American actor stars in the dramedy series as Paul Cho, the crypto-investing younger brother of Danny (Steven Yeun), whose road rage incident with a woman named Amy Lau (Ali Wong) marks the show’s central “beef.” With Danny and Amy unable to move past their vitriolic interaction, Paul finds himself increasingly embroiled in their drama to a dangerous end. Strong reviews for Mazino’s performance amid the buzz for the show — which premiered at SXSW before launching on Netflix last month — have put him in the mix for his first Emmy nomination (in the outstanding supporting actor in a limited series or TV movie category).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Super Mario Bros Movie” and a local sports movie “Dream” gave the South Korean box office some bounce on their first weekend on release. Opening in Korea on Wednesday, some three weeks after the beginning of its international and North American campaigns, “Super Mario” earned $4.67 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). The film has a cumulative of $5.76 million over its opening five days, plus previews. The film’s weekend numbers are the second highest opening tally recorded by any film this year in Korea. And its weekend score represented a comfortable 40% market share.

K-pop boyband Stray Kids have unveiled a new trailer announcing their June return with the studio album ‘5-Star’.On April 28 at midnight KST, the group uploaded a trailer revealing the title and release date of their next record. Titled ‘5-Star’, Stray Kids’ upcoming full-length album is due out on June 2 at 1pm KST/12am ET.The boyband’s new trailer is based on a popular Korean game called ‘I Am Ground’, where players choose a nickname for themselves.

Film and TV studio Fifth Season has reduced its staff by 2%. Eight executives are leaving as part of the cuts, including SVP Marketing Beth McPhee, who previously worked for Focus Features and Bloom; SVP Communications Sharon Liggins, a veteran, respected communications executive who spent many years at Disney; and Jennifer Saull, Counsel, TV Business and Legal Affairs.

Rebecca Souw Artificial Intelligence dominated the conversation at the inaugural Moving the World with Music conference in Seoul. But K-Pop executives said that copyright law is lagging far behind technologies such as ChatGPT and Midjourney. Supertone, a Korean startup that has financial backing from BTS promoter Hybe Corp., used its platform at MWM to demonstrate voice technology and reduce barriers in music production. “Our ultimate goal is to create a link between creators and technology, making what creators thought was impossible into reality,” said Lee Kyogu, Supertone’s CEO and co-founder. Pozalabs, backed by CJ ENM, was established in 2018 after CEO Huh Wongil saw growing demand for affordable background music to be used in video content creation. Current music copyright clearance complexities are an obstacle to the (legal) use of previously recorded music and could not keep up with the Korean industry’s “ppalli ppalli” (everything fast) work routine. “Typically, it takes about two weeks to create music, but it takes about 5 minutes for our system. That means we can make 50-60 tracks, while others can only do five,” said Huh.