North Korea: Last News

Squid Game may be the most watched Netflix original series ever, but for the Emmy-nominated stars of the Korean horror thriller, it’s all very personal.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has Dave Bautista circling to star in Unleashed, with TAG‘s Jeff Tomsic attached to direct a script by Blockers scribes Jim & Brian Kehoe.

J. Kim Murphy When audience members take their seats to watch “Bullet Train” in a 4DX auditorium this weekend, they will be greeted with a choice.

Psy’s iconic ‘Gangnam Style’ music video has hit 4.5billion views, extending its own record as the most-watched Korean music video to date.On August 4, the music video for Psy’s 2012 breakout hit song ‘Gangnam Style’ had surpassed the 4.5billion mark in views, setting a new record as the most-watched Korean-language music video of all time, according to Soompi.The previous record belonged to the same video, which had also been the first Korean music video to breach the 4billion-mark on YouTube in March. With the new record, ‘Gangnam Style’ still retains its place among the top 10 most-viewed YouTube videos of all time.‘Gangnam Style’ was first released on July 15, 2012, having recently celebrated its 10th anniversary last month. In a tribute to the song, NME’s Rhian Daly wrote that ‘Gangnam Style’ had “served as an introduction to K-pop for many, curious listeners delving deeper into the Korean music scene and finding new artists they enjoyed”, with “online viewership or K-pop artists had doubled in the US since ‘Gangnam Style’ cantered onto the landscape”.Previously, BTS rapper Suga, who also collaborated with Psy on his latest title track ‘That That’, spoke in an interview about how pivotal ‘Gangnam Style’ was in paving the way for K-pop’s success in western arenas. “He was always someone I was grateful for,” Suga said.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticIf I were put in charge of a film school, the first thing I would do is build a set — the cockpit and cabin of a modern airliner — and order all directing students to make a film that takes place aboard the plane. It’s my belief that creativity works best within constraints, and this seems as good a test as any to see what someone can do with a single location.Case-in-point Korean adrenaline rush “Emergency Declaration” begins at the airport, where a nervous young man buys a ticket aboard the most crowded flight he can find: KI501 to Honolulu.

EXCLUSIVE: Filipina acting and singing star Lovi Poe has launched her own production company called C’est Lovi Productions.

Squid Game star Lee Jung-jae has re-edited an international version of his upcoming directorial debut Hunt to suit a global audience.South Korean media outlet Yonhap News Agency reported on August 3 that Lee had revised several key lines and scenes in the film following its premiere at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in order to contextualise the film’s political setting for global audiences.An international version of Hunt will now see the addition of further elaboration of South Korean politics in the ’80s. “When writing the script of Hunt, I set younger generations in South Korea who learn about the era from history textbooks as the target audience.

Michaela Zee editorVeteran cameraman Lou Barlia, whose film credits include “Superman” and “Steel Magnolias,” died in his home in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 25, after a brief battle with mesothelioma cancer. He was 92.Born and raised in New York, Barlia started his photography career in his early teens after his father brought home a camera he spotted on the train tracks.

EXCLUSIVE: Chase Stokes (Outer Banks) is set to star in the Steve Barnett-directed thriller Valiant One from Monarch Media, which heads into production in Vancouver in September.

Partner Track on Netflix is what you get when you cross an iconic show about powerhouse women navigating relationships a la with a series about kickass lawyers like . The new show follows Ingrid Yun, an idealistic young lawyer who struggles with her moral compass and her passions as she fights to climb the partner track at an elite New York City law firm.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefLee Jung-jae, the Korean actor who has received an Emmy nomination for his role in Netflix hit series “Squid Game,” has re-edited “Hunt,” the film that marked his feature directorial debut. The new version will play at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival.“Hunt,” a 1980s-set espionage thriller about rival agents from North and South Korea, had its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.

EXCLUSIVE: North America is getting its latest free streaming service later this month. Mometu, which is marketing itself as a “hand curated” on-demand live streaming platform, will launch on August 19 and has secured free streaming rights to South Korean feature The Policeman’s Lineage.

Stranger Things added a few more tens of millions of hours viewed to its Season 4 tally this past week.The final viewership for the new season (Vol.1 and Vol.2 combined) is 1.352B hours in the first 28 days of release. That is the most for any English-language series on Netflix and more than twice the hours viewed logged by the second most popular season of an English-language series on the streamer, Bridgerton 2 (656M).

Scots band The Ronains received a death threat from Russia after their new single artwork for Lunatics featured an image of Vladimir Putin.

BTS have announced that their variety show Run BTS will be returning with a new special episode.On August 2 at Midnight KST, the boyband unveiled a surprise teaser video for an upcoming special episode of Run BTS, their web variety series that first began in 2015. It will mark the first episode of the show in 10 months, after its third season concluded in October 2021.The new teaser features the BTS members themselves, who introduce the upcoming episode.

Little Women, which is also coming to Netflix, is set to premiere next month.On August 2, South Korean cable network tvN shared the premiere date and first poster for the adaptation, which will star Kim Go-eun (Yumi’s Cells), Nam Ji-hyun (100 Days My Prince) and All Of Us Are Dead breakout star Park Ji-hu.“From the lowest and darkest, to the highest and brightest,” reads a quote in the accompanying Instagram caption.A post shared by tvN 드라마 공식 계정 (@tvn_drama)Little Women will air at 9:10pm KST every Saturday and Sunday night on tvN from September 3, a week later than originally projected. It will also be available on Netflix in selected regions.The upcoming drama follows a trio of sisters, In-ju, In-kyeong and In-hye (played by Kim, Nam and Park respectively) who struggle to survive living in poverty.

Jacob Davenport is set to arrive at Hearts on Tuesday as Robbie Neilson plays the waiting game over South Korean forward Lee Seung-woo has been successful. Former Blackburn star Davenport will hold talks with the club and could even begin training at their Riccarton base this week. Gorgie boss Neilson is keen to add another midfielder and the 23-year-old looks likely to be that man.

Jonathan Majors and Glen Powell are taking off in the official trailer for “Devotion,” the new drama set to release this Thanksgiving.Based on the nonfiction book by Adam Makos, “Devotion” focuses on the military careers of Jesse Brown (Majors) and Tom Hudner (Powell), two elite Navy fighter pilots who served during the Korean War. In spite of the racism that Brown experiences as one of the first Black aviators, he forms a close camaraderie with the white Hudner, and the two go on to work together as wingmen in several battles, including the Battle of Chosin Reservoir.Along with Majors and Powell, “Devotion” also stars Christina Jackson, Joe Jonas and Thomas Sadoski. J.D.

With BTS definitely not on hiatus, the debate continues regarding how South Korea’s compulsory military service rules will impact on the K-pop powerhouse. And now the country’s defence minister has suggested maybe BTS members could continue to be involved in the group while also fulfilling their military service obligations.Under South Korean law, all able-bodied men must begin serving around two years in the military at some point between the ages of eighteen and 28.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefA powerful debut for “Hansan: Rising Dragon,” a locally-made historical action film, lifted the South Korean box office to its second highest weekend of the year and helped July to be the best month of 2022.The film is a prequel to “Roaring Currents” a tale of an heroic 14th century naval admiral that amassed some 17 million admissions in 2014 and is currently the most-watched Korean film of all time.Data from KOBIS, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic), showed that “Hansan” earned $13.4 million from 1.63 million ticket sales between Friday and Sunday, for a market share of 60%. Over its first five days in theaters, the film amassed $17.9 million from 2.27 million spectators.

Cynthia Littleton Business EditorBurt Metcalfe, the revered TV producer who worked on all 11 seasons of “MASH,” died July 27 in Los Angeles. He was 87.Metcalfe was an actor turned director-producer who was recruited to work on “MASH” by director Gene Reynolds, who launched the series adaptation of Robert Altman’s 1970 black comedy released by 20th Century Fox. Metcalfe started out as an associate producer and rose to showrunner for the show’s final six seasons.